Tag: police accountability

Biden’s Plan to Create Police Oversight Agency Put On Hold, White House Says

A police oversight commission promised by US President Joe Biden during his election campaign has been put on hold, as the move was considered “not the most effective” against police brutality, Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice told Politico.

Biden pledged to establish a police watchdog within the first 100 days of his presidency last June, in the wake of the death of African-American citizen George Floyd while being arrested by a white police officer. The incident sparked mass protests against racially-motivated police brutality.

“Based on close, respectful consultation with partners in the civil rights community, the administration made the considered judgement that a police commission, at this time, would not be the most effective way to deliver on our top priority in this area, which is to sign the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act into law,” Rice said in a statement late on Sunday.

The authorities held consultations with police unions as well and concluded that an oversight commission would likely be redundant.

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NO JAIL for Cop Who Admitted He Raped Woman in Patrol Car to Avoid Arrest

In October of 2018, Tyneka Cephas had driven down to Wilmington to visit the grave of her daughter Tynesia who had tragically been killed at age 16 in a random shooting in 2017. Her pilgrimage of grief morphed into a nightmare of sexual abuse, however, when Wilmington Police Cpl. Thomas R. Oliver Jr. pulled her into his car and proceeded to sexually violate her.

Now, after fighting for her abuser to be held accountable for the last 2 years, Cephas found out that Oliver will not be going to jail. Instead, he was given a year of probation, despite admitting to the entire situation.

“It was a horrid thing,“ Cephas said of the incident. “He treated me as if I was a prostitute.”

“I had just come up here from Georgetown, Delaware, because it was my daughter’s 18th birthday. She was a victim of gun violence and we were celebrating her birthday at the gravesite,” she explained to reporters in a press conference.

That day, Oliver, an 11-year veteran of the force, decided to drive up to Cephas as she walked down the 700 block of East Ninth Street on the way to her daughter’s gravesite. When Oliver pulled up, he told Cephas to sit in the front seat of his car. He then told Cephas she had a warrant for her arrest, while simultaneously exposing himself to her.

He then issued the ultimatum; perform oral sex, or face arrest. He then grabbed her by the head and forced her onto his exposed penis. These facts are undisputed by both parties.

Cephas would then file a complaint and an investigation was launched into the allegations.

Months after the incident, Oliver would be arrested and charged with second-degree rape, sexual extortion, and having sex with a person in police custody. He was ordered held on $66,000 cash bail following the nearly five-month investigation.

At the time, Police Chief Robert J. Tracy called the charges “deeply troubling and disheartening. The charge that one of our officers abused his authority to victimize a member of the public in this manner is sickening.”

Fast-forward to this month, however, and the deeply troubling and disheartening act by one of their officers, has been swept under the rug. Oliver beat all charges except official misconduct and was sentenced to just one year of probation — this, in spite of the fact that he admitted to the entire ordeal.

“It’s all undisputed,” Cephas’ lawyer Emeka Igwe said. “The officer does not dispute that this horrible incident took place while he was in uniform in his patrol car and he’s even admitted that it was wrong and he’s apologized to Ms. Cephas in court, but yet, the mayor of Wilmington and the police chief have yet to reach out to Ms. Cephas.”

The defense likely claimed that Cephas somehow consented to the act, which is as asinine as it is insidious.

Oliver had a gun, handcuffs, and threatened to throw her in jail when he demanded oral sex.

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‘Bad Apple Act’ to End Qualified Immunity for Corrupt Cops Who Violate Rights

Over the past few years, the residents of Illinois — especially those who live in Chicago — have been subjected to a militarized police state occupation. Innocent family after innocent family each waking up in the middle of the night as heavily armed storm troopers throw flash bangs into their homes, haul them outside in the cold, point guns at their heads, and even handcuff small children. These families are being terrorized in their own homes, many of them left with PTSD, and no one is being held accountable — because the state is the one behind the terror — and the doctrine of qualified immunity protects them all.

House Bill 1727, introduced by Rep. Curtis Tarver sets out to change this paradigm. The aptly titled Bad Apples in Law Enforcement Accountability Act aims to end qualified immunity for cops who violate the rights of citizens.

For those who may be unaware, the Supreme Court created qualified immunity in 1982. With that novel invention, the court granted all government officials immunity for violating constitutional and civil rights unless the victims of those violations can show that the rights were “clearly established.”

The court held in Harlow v. Fitzgerald that government actors are entitled to this immunity due to the “need to protect officials who are required to exercise discretion and the related public interest in encouraging the vigorous exercise of official authority.”

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CA Bill Proposes Removing Cops Who Express Religious Or Conservative Beliefs

A new bill introduced by California State Assembly Member Ash Kalra in San Jose would prohibit police officers from serving if they have used arbitrarily defined “hate speech” or are affiliated with a “hate group.”

The bill, known as the California Law Enforcement Accountability Reform Act (CLEAR Act), claims to combat “the infiltration of extremists in our law enforcement agencies” and would mandate a background check for all officers who have “exchanged racist and homophobic messages.”

Kalra claims that AB 655 is necessary to prevent “the apparent cooperation, participation, and support of some law enforcement” in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

The bill defines hate speech as “as advocating or supporting the denial of constitutional rights of, the genocide of, or violence towards, any group of persons based upon race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.”

Pacific Justice Institute Senior Staff Attorney Matthew McReynolds said this broad and purposefully arbitrary definition could give way for Christians and conservatives to be classified as “hateful” based on the premise of rejecting abortion or supporting Proposition 8 in California, a same-sex amendment that passed in 2008.

“Under the guise of addressing police gangs, the bill at the same time launches an inexplicable, unwarranted, and unprecedented attack on peaceable, conscientious officers who happen to hold conservative political and religious views,” wrote Reynolds. “Indeed, this is one of the most undisguised and appalling attempts we have ever seen, in more than 20 years of monitoring such legislation, on the freedom of association and freedom to choose minority viewpoints.”

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Cop Crushes Harmless Hippie to Death With Bulldozer for Growing Cannabis — Taxpayers Held Liable

As TFTP reported, Pennsylvania State Troopers garnered national attention following a deadly officer-involved incident whereby a man was killed by a bulldozer commandeered by one of their officers. Gregory Longenecker, 51, was run over by the bulldozer and killed as the PA State Trooper and the dozer operated by the PA Game Commission were supposedly attempting to flush him out. After police refused to hold their own accountable, Longnecker’s family is seeking justice in the form of a lawsuit.

After battling for justice for several years, it was announced this week that the state of Pennsylvania will pay $475,000 to the Longnecker estate — an insultingly small amount considering this man was crushed to death by cops in a bulldozer for growing a plant that is legal in many states.

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