Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey has quite the record.
At Alternet, Steven Rosenfeld writes
Abusive Cop Picked to Head Police Reform Commission. An excerpt:
Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey, one of two co-chairs apppointed by President Obama on Monday to head a commission on ways to demilitarize police departments, is known for leading repeated bloody and abusive crackdowns on protesters when he was Washington, D.C.’s chief a decade ago, according to a civil rights attorney who won millions of dollars in damages for hundreds of citizens attacked by the police.
“If the president’s idea of reforming policing practices includes mass false arrests, brutality, and the eviscerating of civil rights, then Ramsey’s his man. That’s Charles Ramsey’s legacy in D.C.,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, speaking of the ex-D.C. chief and current Philadelphia Police Commissioner. “Obama should immediately rescind his appointment of Commissioner Ramsey, who is a mass violator of civil rights and civil liberties.”
On Monday, Obama appointed Ramsey and Laurie Robinson, a George Mason University professor of criminology, law and society, to head a commission that the president said will suggest steps that the executive branch can take to unwind the most visible aspects of America’s militarized police—its domestic use of military gear. [...]
Obama’s focus on militarized policing is sparked by the overly aggressive response by St. Louis area departments to the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, this past summer and fall after a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown. Those protests were broken up by police SWAT teams in battle dress, the use of tear gas, and other outsized and disproportionate surplus military weaponry that is distributed through a mix of Pentagon and Department of Justice programs.
More than a decade ago, when Ramsey was the D.C. police chief, he lead numerous crackdowns and mass arrests of protesters—starting in 2000. His most high-profile assault was in September 2002 at Pershing Park, where demonstrators protested World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings. The police locked down the park and arrested everyone there—400 people—including journalists, legal observers and bystanders.
The Partnership for Civil Justice sued and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled the arrests violated the protesters' Fourth Amendment rights and held that Ramsey could be personally liable. In August 2007, City officials agreed to pay $1 million to more than 120 of the protesters, as part of settlements that cost the city $22 million. A detective at the scene testified Ramsey gave the arrest order, saying, “We’re going to lock them up and teach them a lesson.” Later Ramsey denied ever saying that.
Verheyden-Hilliard said the Pershing Park protests were part of a larger and especially bloody pattern of police crackdowns on protesters personally ordered by Ramsey.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2002—The Bush Administration is out of control:
Bush is enraged that -- get this -- UN weapons inspectors are not finding any hidden weapons.
The lack of a confrontation thus far between Iraq and inspectors has the White House worried that the Iraqi president might be winning the early public relations battle by creating an impression that he is complying. Aides said those fears prompted the president and Vice President Dick Cheney to deliver separate speeches Monday casting doubt on Saddam's intentions. |
How about this—if the Bush Administration has proof that Iraq is hidding weapons of mass destruction, then release this evidence! Otherwise, shut up. It's telling that the best the Bushies can do is whine:
A regime that fires upon American and British pilots is not taking the path of compliance. A regime that sends letters filled with protests and falsehoods is not taking the path of compliance," Bush said.
He was referring to Iraqi letters to the U.N. protesting terms of the resolution.
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Oh no! Saddam is complaining about the terms of the resolution! What is Bush waiting for? Nuke the bastard?
Is Iraq impeding the inspectors? No. But they complained about them! The horror! The humanity!!!!
Jesus. The US is not just losing the PR war. It is being unmercifully slaughtered.
Tweet of the Day
On
today's Kagro in the Morning show,
Greg Dworkin brings us selections from the morning papers: Elizabeth Lauten and the last taboo; the latest CNN polling; oil prices plunge & the economy perks up.
Armando joins in briefly to comment on the Lauten story and President Obama's proposals on military gear and cameras for cops, which of course are no panacea. Republicans pull back from impeachment, but float "censure." Remember that one? And a few more notes on Uber-gate: how secure is their database, both internally and externally?
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