There's a police trend of "shoot the suspect" that has emerged. I've been following the "police shoot and kill" stories for a couple of years because there are so many police shootings in the State of Utah.
Todd Blair, shot in his home. Here's 1 minute vid where Police break into a suspects house and just shoot him seconds after the door is broken down. It's the Police's Video Tape:
The shooting officer was cleared of all charges.
What with the Police Brutality we have seen during Occupy Protests, and this Shoot the Suspect trending upwards, now is the time to demand some accountability.
Who's the top cop in this country?
The numbers of unarmed "suspects" shot to death don't lie. "Shoot the suspect" is a growing trend that has to stop.
To be honest, if a couple of Undercover Cops shouted for me to "Stop" while I was innocently walking down the street, I'd be terrified and probably run because I wouldn't believe they were cops. If they were in uniform, based on the statistics below the fold, I'd probably have a heart attack at my age.
And I can assure you that, if my door was kicked in at 5:00 AM, and then my bedroom door, the first arm through that door would be whacked with my metal baseball bat that I keep handy "just in case." In short, I'd be one of the "Shoot the Suspect" victims the police would get away with because I had the audacity to defend myself. Nowadays, who can believe it is the Police breaking down the door and not a gang of thugs pretending to be the police?
Here are a few recent cases that might not have made the national news as well as those that have:
Cops Shoots Unarmed Woman Motorist, Patricia Cook, To Death For Rolling Up Her
Police Shoot and Kill unarmed Elderly Veteran, Kenneth Chamberlain, in his own home. In his sleep, the elderly black veteran accidently set off his medical alert button. At 5 AM the police kicked in his door and shot him to death claiming the elderly man "came at them with a knife"
Scottsdale Police Feels Wrath of Citizenry After 2nd Fatal Shooting of Unarmed Victim. This Police Officer had 6 fatal shootings on his record, as of this shooting.
SFPD Ruthlessly Shoots and Kills Unarmed 19yr old Man over $2 Bus Fare. Six shots! Warning, this shows Kenneth Harding, Jr bleeding to death alone, on the sidewalk, surrounded by armed police, while the crowd of bystanders are kept back from helping Kenneth.
Oscar Grant shot by BART
There's the case of Ramarley Graham.
NYPD Slays Unarmed Black Teen as Outrage over Targeting of People of Color Grows
Ramarley Graham's grandmother was interviews and asked "Do you trust the police?" she responds:
"How can you trust police?"
"I don't, I'm scared for my life, they are cruel"
Is this a glimpse into what's behind the increase of police shooting suspects?
NM police involved in shootings got union checks (sort of like a bounty or shooting bonus, insertion here mine)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Albuquerque police officers involved in a rash of fatal shootings over the past two years were paid up to $500 under a union program that some have likened to a bounty system in a department with a culture that critics have long contended promotes brutality.
Mayor Richard Berry called Friday for an immediate halt to the practice, which was first reported in the Albuquerque Journal during a week in which Albuquerque police shot and killed two men. Since 2010, Albuquerque police have shot 23 people, 18 fatally.
Then there's the case of Byron Carter, Jr. being shot four times as a passenger in a vehicle owned by his 16 year old friend who was also shot, not fatally, and cleared of any wrong doing.
If you read the story and listen to this video, the fact that these two young, black men were sitting innocently in the vehicle owned by one of them just doesn't pop out, but it is the fact.
Man was shot four times by police, including in back of head, autopsy report says
Oh, right. Young Carter is dead for having commited no crime and the police are worried about ruining the shooting officer's case? Has this country lost its mind?
Did the Austin Police gin up evidence? Lie? Stretch the truth?
Why would we even think of such questions? Here's why. Read this Blockbuster Expose of Police Coverup Tactics
Granted this is a 2007 story, but it hits the nail on the head in so many ways. From the Chicago Tribune, many of the "tricks of the trade" to cover up wrongful shootings by the police are outlined. Chicago's finest cost the City $4,000,000 in lawsuit payouts in 2006:
The Rush to Clear Police in Shootings
PART 1 OF 2
• Nearly every shooting in last decade 'justified'
• Investigations ignore witnesses, forensics
• Shot-in-back findings raise questions
Chicago police shoot a civilian on average once every 10 days. More than 100 people have been killed in the last decade; 250 others have been injured. But only a tiny fraction of shootings are ruled unjustified -- less than 1 percent, police records and court testimony indicate.
When Off-Duty Police Fire Their Weapons Part 2
SECOND OF TWO PARTS
• Officers who shoot civilians treated with deference even when they are off the clock
• Tribune inquiry of fatal 2000 incident prompts rare investigation
Most police don't receive punishment for their misconduct.
The Statistics below, as well as a link to an AWESOME Blog Site that is tracking and reporting Police Injustice
I found this awesome site.
I just knew someone out there would be interested in this data. Welcome to
Injustice Everywhere The National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project
You can follow on twitter: Injustice News Feed
https://twitter.com/...
A list of Police Injustice items is produced daily here
http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/
From the Injustice Everywhere webpage, I found this interactive map that shows the results for Police Misconduct in 2010.
This map displays the number of officers per county reportedly involved with credible allegations of police misconduct through the year of 2010 as recorded by the National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project.
How do we stop this trend? Here's how the citizens of the City of Downey are doing it.
Maybe you haven't heard of the case of Michael Nida? An innocent man, shot five times by Downey Police.
Another interesting site for police misconduct is
________________
INTO THE WEEDS:
To show how the "Police shoot suspects" issue is on the rise, I performed a loosely constructed research project. I simply used Google Earth. I know, not very scientific, but I am finding as I age that I'm not up for intense research anymore.
The numbers below signify number of articles Google found per search parameter. Although the numbers certainly have no connection to the number of events, this simple search did show some stark increases.
We can debate the efficacy of this method for determining whether police shootings of suspects are on the rise, have bloggers number caused the rise, and/or are improvements in Google's Crawl & Find responsible.
Google Search results for "shot by police"
1999 - 2,310,000 hits
2000 - 2,850,000 hits
2001 - 2,500,000 hits
2002 - 1,890,000 hits
2003 - 2,650,000 hits
2004 - 2,410,000 hits
2005 - 3,310,000 hits
2006 - 3,390,000 hits
2007 - 3,750,000 hits
2008 - 4,550,000 hits
2009 - 4,640,000 hits
2010 - 4,990,000 hits
2011 - 6,600,000 hits
2012 - 7,190,000 hits
Google search for "officer convicted in shooting"
1999 - 6,300 hits
2000 - 7,760 hits
2001 - 7,230 hits
2002 - 6,480 hits
2003 - 7,350 hits
2004 - 8,380 hits
2005 - 8,020 hits
2006 - 8,490 hits
2007 - 9,629 hits
2008 - 10,100 hits
2009 - 11,500 hits
2010 - 12,100 hits
2011 - 15,900 hits
2012 - 12,200 hits
Google Search for "unarmed black" "shot and killed"
1999 - 46,800 hits
2000 - 66,000 hits
2001 - 75,600 hits
2002 - 63,000 hits
2003 - 65,000 hits
2004 - 72,000 hits
2005 - 80,000 hits (includes Zimmerman's 2005 police record)
2006 - 76,000 hits
2007 - 97,500 hits (includes Zimmerman's 2007 marriage)
2008 - 118,000 hits
2009 - 158,000 hits
2010 - 183,000 hits
2011 - 153,000 hits
2012 - 167,000 hits*
* The Trayvon Martin Case and the fatal shooting of Ramarley Graham by NYPD in his parents home account for the majority of the 2012 search hits.
