#cw: police brutality

[kenotype]

Upon exiting a peaceful sit-in against Scotiabank's complicity with the genocide in Gaza, the TPS assaulted us.

[palipunk]

X X X

All eyes on Al-Aqsa mosque

[reasonsforhope]

"The New York City Council voted to ban most uses of solitary confinement in city jails Wednesday [December 20, 2023], passing the measure with enough votes to override a veto from Mayor Eric Adams.

The measure would ban the use of solitary confinement beyond four hours and during certain emergencies. That four hour period would be for "de-escalation" in situations where a detainee has caused someone else physical harm or risks doing so. The resolution would also require the city's jails to allow every person detained to spend at least 14 hours outside of their cells each day.

The bill, which had 38 co-sponsors, was passed 39 to 7. It will now go to the mayor, who can sign the bill or veto it within 30 days. If Mayor Adams vetoes the bill, it will get sent back to the council, which can override the veto with a vote from two-thirds of the members. The 39 votes for the bill today make up 76% of the 51-member council. At a press conference ahead of the vote today [December 20, 2023], Council speaker Adrienne Adams indicated the council would seek [a veto] override if necessary.

For his part, Mayor Adams has signaled he is indeed considering vetoing the bill...

The United Nations has said solitary confinement can amount to torture, and multiple studies suggest its use can have serious consequences on a person's physical and mental health, including an increased risk of PTSD, dying by suicide, and having high blood pressure.

One 2019 study found people who had spent time in solitary confinement in prison were more likely to die in the first year after their release than people who had not spent time in solitary confinement. They were especially likely to die from suicide, homicide and opioid overdose.

Black and Hispanic men have been found to be overrepresented among those placed in solitary confinement – as have gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

The resolution in New York comes amid scrutiny over deaths in the jail complex on Rikers Island. Last month, the federal government joined efforts to wrest control of the facility from the mayor, and give it to an outside authority.

In August 2021, 25-year-old Brandon Rodriguez died while in solitary confinement at Rikers. He had been in pre-trial detention at the jail for less than a week. His mother, Tamara Carter, says his death was ruled a suicide and that he was in a mental health crisis at the time of his confinement.

"I know for Brandon, he should have been put in the infirmary. He should have been seeing a psychiatrist. He should have been being watched," she said.

She says the passage of the bill feels like a form of justice for her.

"Brandon wasn't nothing. He was my son. He was an uncle. A brother. A grandson. And he's very, very missed," she told NPR. "I couldn't save my son. But if I joined this fight, maybe I could save somebody else's son." ...

New York City is not the first U.S. city to limit the use of solitary confinement in its jails, though it is the largest. In 2021, voters in Pennsylvania's Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, passed a measure to restrict solitary confinement except in cases of lockdowns and emergencies. The sheriff in Illinois' Cook County, which includes Chicago, has said the Cook County jail – one of the country's largest – has also stopped using solitary confinement...

Naila Awan, the interim co-director of policy at the New York Civil Liberties Union, says that New York making this change could have larger influence across the country.

"As folks look at what New York has done, other larger jails that are not quite the size of Rikers will be able to say, 'If New York City is able to do this, then we too can implement similar programs here, that it's within our capacity and capabilities," Awan says. "And to the extent that we are able to get this implemented and folks see the success, I think we could see a real shift in the way that individuals are treated behind bars.""

-via NPR, December 20, 2023

[hussyknee]

Rundown of the current protests, rioting and state crackdown that have erupted in France over the police murder of a 17 year old brown boy.

I've seen way too many Europeans on here insisting ACAB is just a USAmerican thing. It's really important y'all know that it isn't. Cops as an institution is fundamentally fascist, and in the Global North, white supremacist.

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Rest in power baby boy.

*Correction: Nahel wasn't Black, but Maghrebi (of North African descent). Apologies for the mistake.

[roguekhajiit]

Let's take a moment to look at the Roger Fortson case.

An active duty senior airman alone in his off-base apartment with only his dog to keep him company. He had been home maybe 30 minutes, relaxing, playing games, and facetiming his girlfriend when suddenly he had the sheriff's office banging on his door and demanding that he open the door.

Not being able to see who was on the other side of the door, he grabbed his legally owned gun and held it down by his side as he went to open the door. Remember that it was down by his side and not held up or aimed in any way at anybody.

As soon as he opened the door, the deputy ordered him to step back, and within seconds of the door opening, he shot Fortson 6 times.

As Fortson lay on the floor bleeding out, he ordered him to drop the gun and not move. Don't move?! He's laying on the floor bleeding with 6 gunshot wounds, where the fuck is he gonna go?! Now lets also talk about this shoot first ask questions later mentality the deputy displayed. He didn't tell Fortson to drop the gun before shooting but waited til after he was bleeding on the floor to issue that order.

Why did this all even happen? Because some random woman, presumably a neighbor, called and reported a domestic disturbance in progress. She claimed to hear yelling and someone being slapped, and she claimed this all came from Fortson's apartment. She specifically identified his apartment number, where he was alone with only his dog. The cops took her word as infallible. Then, after they killed him, she changed her story and said she wasn't actually sure which apartment the noise was coming from. Excuse the fuck outta me? Her extremely incorrect and probably fabricated report led to the murder of a service member.

Don't make any mistake about it. This was murder plain and simple. We need to hold our police accountable. Even our service members aren't safe from trigger-happy cops.

Protect and serve doesn't equal shoot first and ask questions later.

[mirkobloom77]

‼️🇵🇸🎓✡️ Police physically assault 65-year-old Annelide Orleck, head of the Jewish Studies at Dartmouth.

🔸Source: ROSSWMUR, Wear the Peace, Wissamgaza, everydaypalestine, khaledbeydoun and zeenaaqel

[suresne]

my husband is doing a high MOT playthrough of de right now and started the communist quest last night. this hand/eye coordination passive popped up that i've never seen before, and it kind of messed me up

[Photo ID: A screenshot from FAYDE of dialogue from the game Disco Elysium.

Kim Kitsuragi - You notice the lieutenant is looking uncustomarily anxious. His posture is rigid, his right hand hovers near the zipper of his jacket.

Hand/Eye Coordination - He wants so badly to draw his Armistice, but he also doesn't *want* to want to draw it. End ID.]

kim is trigger happy, but it isn't because he likes to brandish his authority. he's fucking traumatized

kim's trauma has been addressed before, but i think this passive check is especially revealing because it specifically shows that kim's instincts contradict his will. as someone who has struggled with OCD, i know how excruciating it can be to feel like your mind is your enemy. like it's driving you to hurt people.

i imagine that kim probably has not a little self-loathing because of this, which maybe feeds into his need to keep himself on a short leash (the one cigarette per day, the strict routines). he fears his proven capacity for violence, and on bad days may listen to that part of his brain that says he does actually like killing, that he does really want to pull the trigger

[thesmegalodon]

i made posters

feel free to substitute the bottom image with your own

cw for police brutality, including violence against a wheelchair user and brown/black bodies

[thecruellestmonth]

Do you guys really believe that killing is the singular bad thing that cops do?

Or even that killing is the most frequent bad thing that cops do?

Are you saying that if cops didn't kill, then they'd be the same as Batman? Because then you're suggesting that effectively Batman already is a cop, with the exception that he hasn't killed (just like the majority of U.S. cops, who have never once shot or killed anybody).

I'm a bit worried to see opinions suggesting that only killing is wrong—and that violence, stalking, and humiliation are okay. In real-life, police commit countless acts of those "little" abuses, terrorizing entire communities, before they murder anybody.

Invading people's privacy is wrong. Hurting people to the point of hospitalization is wrong. Forcibly drugging people is wrong. Putting people in cages is wrong. Torture and "enhanced interrogation" are wrong. Ambushing people in their homes and safe places is wrong. Keeping inexhaustible wealth is wrong.

Superhero comics are power fantasies. Not all fantasies need to reflect our ideology in reality. But once you apply your real-life values to fiction, once you decide that fiction showcases exemplary real-life ideology—then your praise for Batman's ideology does become a worrying reflection of your real-life understanding of social issues.

[transrevolutions]

was reading a stupid ass article for shits and giggles and there was a part that was talking about "anarchist violent extremists" and they were listing anarchist attacks and they admitted "only one such attack resulted in fatality"

it was an anarchist who firebombed an empty ICE building. the "fatality" was the anarchist, who got shot by cops.

they're straight up fucking projecting.

[barkyboybeloved]

This is such a hyper specific ask but other therians, can you tag your police dogs? Most of the time they are just posted under "working dog" and I'll be honest, I Hate seeing cop dogs. They are used for almost nothing except violence and the history of when and why they started to be used is actually horrorifying.

Tag your police dogs, I have the tag blocked for a reason and I feel bad blocking people for something as Lil as this but idk I've seen an influx on cop dog posts.

They are incredibly triggering (to me and my general circle at least) to PoC and specifically Black folks. Police dogs have never been a cool or fun thing to our communities. /nm /srs

••Edit••

Reblogs are definitely okay and appreciated

[doccywhomst]

hey I respect you a lot which is why I’m reaching out to you about this. Maybe you’re just unaware, but a LOT of the protesters are not just “breaking into buildings”. They are harassing, attacking, and calling for the genocide of Jewish people. Do you think there shouldn’t be protection for Jewish students? I’m concerned that we’ve reached a point where all protests are becoming acceptable, and the rhetoric of that post you reblogged is only normalizing violence. It claims that it doesn’t support state-sanctioned violence, but clearly accepts violence from protestors, which is proving to be increasingly dangerous to Jewish people on and off campuses. I recommend you take a closer look into what’s really happening at these protests. You have to consider if you’d find the same actions acceptable from a cause you do not support. And if you do, maybe you should examine why you think violence and hate speech is acceptable. You don’t have to publicly respond to this ask, I just want you to consider these things.

my very basic interpretation of this post (i’m a blogger not an epistemologist) is that police brutality/negligence is unacceptable. do i think violence and hate speech are acceptable? also no.

but this is a very relevant topic, because today is May 4th, the 54th anniversary of the Kent State Shooting: police shot live ammunition into a crowd of college students protesting the Vietnam War, killing four people and injuring nine.

not the same situation at all, but all the same - i would never support state sanctioned violence against people protesting a genocide. that isn’t a controversial statement to me…. i would never support state sanctioned violence against ANYONE! ​i would also never support violence or hate speech against anyone! why should i have to surrender either of these beliefs?

[txttletale]

wanted 2 ask u cuz i think u know more than me:

most of the acab / police aboltion stuff i see is based on the US system, backed up with US stats and events, and suggesting changes to the US policing system.

but a lot of the proposed changes i see are similar (i think?) to what we currently have in the UK, and the power imbalance and training issues and violence are much worse in the US (but not absent here obvs). while the institution is still racist. but I'm wary of the usual 'it doesn't happen here' response that ppl usually employ to dismiss movements like BLM in the UK.

how much of acab rhetoric applies here, and how should we adapt the plans for reform for the UK policing system?

i mean the USA is definitely an outlier in terms of police and prison violence but this is broadly a quantitative rather than qualitative difference. i assure you that the police in the UK are just as horrifically racist and violent--they're just not as armed and don't have the same amount of political capital as the far more militarized USAmerican police.

the Metropolitan Police's own report (lol) found them to be 'institutionally racist'. police in the UK have fucking absurd powers, such as being permitted to commit any crime while undercover without judicial review, as long as it's in the interests of 'national security' or 'preventing disorder' or 'protecting the economic well-being of the United Kingdom' (!). they are relentlessly and disproportionately violent towards BAME people. they have a systemic culture of violence and brutality. Bristol police tased their own race relations advisor, twice. when a woman, sarah everard, was raped and murdered by a police officer, police suppressed and brutalized protesters at her vigil.

here are stop and search statistics for the UK police in 2021:

the UK policing system is just as racist and just as much of an oppressive apparatus as the USAmerican one. don't trust anyone from the UK who tries to tell you otherwise. all cops are bastards because the institution of policing under capitalism exists first and foremost to protect capitalist property relations.

obviously the demands of BLM protesters in the USA cannot be adapted 1-for-1 to the UK, and as a revolutionary communist i think there are very hard limits to what can be meaningfully accomplished under liberal democracy. but i think a good place to start if you want achievable short-term reform to happen is relentless protest and action against the recent bills that have expanded police powers more than ever, against the Blair-era counterterrorism legislation, for the abolition of the Met Police, and for justice for victims of police brutality.

Because the state arose from the need to hold class antagonisms in check, but because it arose, at the same time, in the midst of the conflict of these classes, it is, as a rule, the state of the most powerful, economically dominant class, which, through the medium of the state, becomes also the politically dominant class, and thus acquires new means of holding down and exploiting the oppressed class […] This public power exists in every state; it consists not merely of armed men but also of material adjuncts, prisons, and institutions of coercion of all kinds

— Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State

[jesperfaheys-defenseattorney]

Police Arrested Over 100 Students at Colombia University for Peacefully Protesting

{If you all scroll to the end of this there's some articles on what to do if arrested if peacefully protesting as well as some pictures and videos from Columbia last night and today.}

Rarely do I make posts about global issues on my blog, I usually just reblog to spread support, however as someone who's currently heavily studying the Civil Rights movement for school and watching my country's law enforcement violate our civil liberties, so let's talk about something.

Firstly, a lot of Americans misunderstand how our justice system works. Firstly, in most states if you are detained without sufficient evidence you must be released after 72 hours, it's your right to a speedy trial. The prosecutor has to decide charges within 72 hours, and usually you'll be released before then if you're arrested for something like, I don't know, peacefully protesting which is kind of a right you have here? Says so in this long paper that helped found the country.

Anyways, last night, hundreds of Columbia University students were arrested for protesting in support of Gaza. The university is insisting it wasn't due to the cause the protest argued for, but the fact there was "vandalism and violence". Let's be clear on one thing: There was in fact vandalism going on, but not by a few hundred people. However, the only violence that occurred was from the NYPD, who showed up in riot gear with a military grade armoured vehicle. The police denied using tear gas but they did use flash bangs and used zip ties to arrest the protesters, who were then filed onto a bus. Sound familiar? Look up the Birmingham, AL Child Crusades during the Civil Rights Movement:

If anyone has been reading about this as well, a lot of the university officials and police are saying there were outsiders who were let into the library to assist in the protest, and that they were arrested for trespassing; Several students participating in and observing the protest have stated that this is not true and the protestors were students who were wrongfully arrested for this.

The dean of journalism at the university was also threatened with arrest if he came outside during the police arrests of the protestors; The police had no grounds to arrest this man on and were coercing him with arrest to stay inside. The police also claim their arrests of students were perfectly peaceful, while once again, both onlookers (with video and pictures) as well as students who were arrested said they used excessive force in their arrests.

Before everyone cries innocence, let me say as someone with several defense attorneys in her family that some of these students were in fact guilty of an actual crime when they began to vandalize the building. Also, there were fight outbreaks among students, however police didn't show up until after most of these fights and during said fights, stood and watched in front of the student crowd outside. (It should be mentioned, however, that these student fights were not mentioned by police or protesting/onlooking students, but students not involved in the protest and the media, so there is a chance they didn't happen at all and student injuries are from police or breaking into Hamilton Hall. It's likely the fights were not started by the protestors, but the students at Hamilton Hall as a response to the break in). However, the police had no reason to: A) Use the force and riot gear that they did. B) Threaten onlookers and staff. C) Arrest over 100 people. They didn't have reason to arrest that many people as that many people were not associated with the vandalism or trespassing, and due to the amount of people at the protest those people couldn't have been arrested for assisting in vandalism due to not even knowing about it. One of the students stated she was unaware of what was happening in most parts of the building during the protest.

The police let most of these students go pretty quickly post arrest due to: What's that? Oh yeah, lack of evidence. Either due to the amount of random arrests or because they quite literally did nothing wrong and were exercising their right to peacefully protest.

To those of you who stuck around to read this to the end: Firstly, thank you I hoped you learned something. And two, if you're planning on going to any Pro-Palestine protests, or any protests, for that matter, and you're doing so peacefully: Here's an article specifically for protest rights, and then a general article about your arrest rights in America and what to do if arrested, detained, and how to file for violation of rights or witnessing police brutality. They're very helpful and apply to all of us in America.

I'm all done rambling but here's videos and images about this if you're interested:

The Police (videos and pictures):

Interview from student who was threatened with arrest if they left the dorm (described injured students and showed video of a girl telling police she needed medication and was unable to get it due to being forced to stay in dorms)

Vandalism at Hamilton Hall:

The Protestors:

Interviews from Students and Journalists about arrests and student motivation (ft. videos of arrest)

Anyways, free Palestine, that's the message, but for your own sake take a page out of MLK's book and do it as non violently as possible. That's what garners the most sympathy and makes it so you can point to the aggressor as, well, the aggressor 🇵🇸

[thekimspoblog]

This post about Iranian women who have "accidentally" died in police custody is worth sharing. But I've instituted a policy against including graphic images in my timeline. Please click the link to learn more.

[sistervirtue]

people to this day are still defending the use of stun cuffs on inmates. for the record. which is insane. people will get up in arms about shock collars on animals (fair) but not on inmates prison and the prison system truly is the breeding ground for the closest thing to pure evil humanity has to offer