Tag: cops
Police Kill TV Crew Member Filming Reality Show ‘Cops’

Police Kill TV Crew Member Filming Reality Show ‘Cops’

Washington (AFP) — The filming of the reality show “Cops” turned deadly when U.S. police firing on a man suspected of robbing a restaurant hit a TV sound man and killed him, police said.

The suspect, later found to have a pistol that fired pellets, was also killed in the incident in Omaha, Nebraska, on Tuesday night.

The audio technician was named as Bryce Dion, 38, and his death is believed to be the first in the 25-year history of the show, one of the first American reality programs, U.S. media said.

In “Cops,” TV crews embed with the police and film them in action.

Omaha police chief Todd Schmaderer said Dion was in the vestibule of a Wendy’s fast food restaurant as the suspect, identified as Cortez Washington, came out firing his pellet gun.

“He’s on his way out. Officers are returning fire. Bryce is in that vestibule and gets struck by a round,” Schmaderer told a news conference.

The police chief said it was “absolutely ridiculous” to suggest that officers might have been showing off for the TV cameras, according to CNN.

The production company that makes “Cops,” Langley Productions, said it was “deeply saddened and shocked by this tragedy and our main concern is helping his family in any way we can.”

AFP Photo/Jim Watson

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Feds Condemn Use Of Deadly Force By Albuquerque Police

Feds Condemn Use Of Deadly Force By Albuquerque Police

By Cindy Carcamo, Los Angeles Times

Albuquerque police have used deadly force more often than necessary, resulting in a series of unjustified fatal shootings by officers, according to a damning report released Thursday by U.S. Justice Department officials.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels said the Albuquerque Police Department needs a “systematic change” to address a long-ingrained culture of using deadly force.

“This is no longer an acceptable way to proceed,” Samuels said.

Speaking to a crowded room of reporters and community leaders in a televised news conference from Albuquerque, Samuels listed a number of recommended reforms, such as stronger oversight of the department and better police training.

The federal recommendations come on the heels of a string of fatal shootings by officers, including the death March 16 of a homeless and mentally ill man, James “Abba” Boyd, who was illegally camping in the Sandia Mountains. Boyd had been acting erratically and got into a confrontation with officers before he was shot.

A video of the shooting that surfaced last month touched off mass protests and unrest in this desert city of 550,000 residents. The video also has prompted calls for better police training, especially on how to deal with the mentally ill.

Since 2010, Albuquerque police have shot 37 people, 23 of them fatally. The shootings prompted the Justice Department to open its investigation.

Mayor Richard J. Berry had called Boyd’s death a “game changer” and urged the Justice Department to expedite its investigation. He also introduced a raft of proposed “sweeping changes” to be implemented by Albuquerque police Chief Gorden Eden Jr., who has been in his post for about a month.

However, Berry stopped short of saying there was a cultural problem in the agency.

Tension between police and parts of the community has been brewing for years, and Boyd’s death was not just an isolated incident, experts and community leaders have said. A Department of Justice letter to Berry seems to agree with that assessment:

“For too long, Albuquerque officers have faced little scrutiny from their superiors in carrying out this fundamental responsibility. Despite the efforts of many committed individuals, external oversight is broken and has allowed the department to remain unaccountable to the communities it serves. Based on our investigation, we find that the department engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force during the course of arrests and other detentions in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” the letter states.

Samuels said federal officials planned to meet with city leaders, community members and police union officials, among others, to discuss the recommendations and come up with a plan of action.

“It’s unclear how long that process will take,” Samuels said. “It is one that we are committed to for as long as it takes.”

Photo: OregonDOT via Flickr.com

How To Co-Opt Those Cops On Wall Street

The young (and not-so-young) protesters who came to Occupy Wall Street — and have stayed despite mass arrests — deserve thanks from the “99 percent” of Americans they claim to represent. Without articulating a clear set of demands, they have nevertheless voiced the frustration felt by millions of ordinary people who have lost homes, jobs, income, and security in the post-crash economy and see little help coming from government offices or corporate suites. Soon, however, someone will have to decide whether Occupy Wall Street eventually concludes in mere symbolic success, which would be little more than glorified failure, or evolves into a powerful political current that can rival the Tea Party.

If the pivotal moment of this protest continues to be a video of a high-ranking police officer brutally “macing” innocent women, then it is unlikely to grow far from its anarcho-bohemian roots. There are simply too many Americans who will never side with “hippies” against cops, no matter how wrong the cops may be. But if the sympathetic statements from labor leaders of the past few days turn into supportive action — and if teachers, bus drivers, firefighters, nurses, and yes, police officers show up to demand change — then this could be the beginning of something very, very big.

Don’t scoff too quickly: Last winter, hundreds of off-duty law enforcement officers from around Wisconsin repeatedly joined the statehouse sit-in against Governor Scott Walker’s attack on labor, even though their own unions were exempt from his proposed law — and even as their fellow officers were standing guard over the protesters. In those circumstances, the cops were just as capable of understanding the stakes behind the protest as any other workers, or the students who supported them. A policeman who had retired from the Madison Police Department after 20 years on the force explained to USA Today that “we all see this as union busting and wage suppression. This is a long-term, downward spiral of wages for working families.”

Such progressive insights probably don’t fit the anarchist stereotype of the cop, whose enmity is cherished as a token of the alienated lifestyle. But not all of those who have flocked to Zuccotti Park and the other protest sites that have sprung up around the country are committed to political irrelevance as proof of authenticity. Many, perhaps even a majority, might be intrigued by an opportunity to provoke something more significant than a cloud of tear gas or a court summons.

The protesters have serious grievances, from mass youth unemployment to burdensome student loans that cannot begin to be paid off if there are no decent jobs. What would happen if they began to articulate the connections between their own problems and the assault on the living standards of public employees and unionized workers? How would the angry middle class respond if the “kids” made common cause with those downwardly mobile working families — demanding debt relief for everyone, a special prosecutor for the financial crooks, and higher taxes on those who have profited from the crisis? Why shouldn’t the students (and former students) stand with teachers against cuts in education and for rebuilding public schools and colleges? Even those who understandably disdain partisan politics, with its endemic money corruption, could swiftly change the direction of the national debate.

It is encouraging that many young activists came down to Wall Street from Wisconsin, where they have conducted themselves with impeccable style and effectiveness. Four decades ago, the goons in Richard Nixon’s White House egged on construction workers in downtown Manhattan to beat up anti-war students, who had allowed themselves to be portrayed as enemies of working-class soldiers and cops. Repeating that same mistake now would be tragic for everyone — except the one percent.