Are you interested in what you can do improve relations between the cops and the community?

Question

Write to your city government and urge it to provide full funding for citizen review of police officers accused of human rights violations. If your city, county, or town does not have citizen review of your police, call for the creation of an effective civilian review unit. Police officials should do a better job at holding officers accountable if there is community pressure and knowledge about police investigations and disciplinary actions.

Write to your city government and urge it to require your police department to create and utilize "early warning" or "at-risk" systems to identify officers who are the subjects of repeated complaints or civil lawsuits alleging misconduct. A small percentage of officers often taint an entire police force because police superiors do not act to hold them accountable by supervising, disciplining, or dismissing them when appropriate. An effective early warning system could make a difference.

Write to your state legislators and governor urging the creating of a special prosecutor's office to handle the investigation and prosecution of police officers accused of brutality or corruption. As it is, local prosecutors are often reluctant to pursue cases against officers they typically work with, and federal prosecutors are under-staffed and similarly reluctant. Special prosecutors' offices in each state could go a long way toward prosecuting officers who commit criminal offenses; in turn, effective prosecution should act as a deterrent for officers who now believe they can avoid criminal prosecution for brutality in most cases.

Write to your U.S. Representative or Senators, urging them to condition federal funding to police departments on those departments' reporting on incidents of excessive force by their officers and on respect for human rights. Specifically, federal assistance should be conditioned upon the recipient police department providing data on excessive force to the Justice Department. In 1994, the Justice Department was instructed by Congress to produce an annual report on excessive force used by police, yet four years later no such report exists. Federal aid should also be conditioned on the development of an effective "early warning" system to identify "repeat offenders" on the force. Furthermore, any police department the Justice Department determines as exhibiting a "pattern or practice"of abuse and which fails to implement reforms as agreed to with the Justice Department should have all federal aid terminated. Just as the U.S. is supposed to condition foreign military and other assistance on a country's human rights record, the federal government should not provide assistance to departments where officers are allowed to commit abuses with impunity.

Courtesy of++++++++++++++++++++
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States

cnsdubie, Nobody rioted for the loss an the officers life but they riot due to the death of a citizen killed by cops.
I assume that is what you are getting at.
Well, I look at it this way ( as do a lot of others) the cop chose his/her career knowing the risks.
A person listening to a radio loudly doesn ot desrevr nor did she aske to have her door kicked in and be shot to death.
Nobody is asking that the good cops are to be punished. Quite the opposite.
The country NEEDS better officers.
One's who do not steal cocaine from te evidence room or kick their dog to death or shoot and kill aman for knocking on the wrong door at 10 am.
It is unfortunate when a cop is killed.
Good or bad cop.
AND it is unfortunate when a citizen is killed, troubled or not!
Difference being... citizens do not kill cops then get together w/ other citizens and do happy dance.
Or cover each others lies w/ more lies and planting evidence.
truth is truth no matter what bubble u live in!

Answer 1

You are right the truth is the truth, and its obvious that you feel wronged by the police in some way. I agree about having an accountability system, but why make them opposing forces or groups, why not get people who are interested in what the police are doing and build a partnership. A good Police or Sheriff's department would welcome this approach. There should be anything to hide, but don't start off as if there are more wrong than right being done. I would incourage people to get to know what their local law enforcement department is doing by getting involved as volunteers and asking about Citizen Police academies. Because if you just get a "watch" group and they don't know anything good or bad about what the police are supposed to do then everyone will be counter-productive. A CITIZEN's Advisory group is what Law Enforcement needs. A group that can give their point of view. The police are here to serve, and what better way to provide service than to ask the people who are the customers. Law Enforcement is the only profession designed to put its self out of business, but do you think this will happen? Unfortunately no. I say get involved and stop passing the buck and hoping someone else will take up the slack.

Answer 2

with the aid of at the same time reaping rewards a elect team of properly suited international locations, the excluded international locations could concern and admire us. there is no longer, and not may be, a international community. From a reasonable point of view somewhat than the self-unfavourable fantasy of internationalism, our coverage ought to be to correctly known that each and one and all Islam is the enemy of effective international locations. We ought to bankrupt this enemy with the aid of seizing and dividing up the Moslem oil fields: China could take Indonesia's, Russia could take Iran's, etc. the 20 th Century became right into a mutual suicide p.c.. between international locations that ought to have been united.

Answer 3

I'd have to say the first step to improving relations would be to address the problem where it is, with the individual (or corporate, if an entire unit is corrupt) who is/are abusing power.

While your question offers a lot of good ideas, it left me with the idea that you believe the problem is the majority of officers, rather than the minority. I cannot agree.

It is usually a thankless job of public service. Officers see people at their worst, and who can they call to deal with it? The buck stops there, so to speak. We all want safe roads but get pissed off when the trooper writes us a ticket for speeding.

I got these statistics from the National Law Enforcement Officers' Memorial fund website... www.nleomf.com

A total of 1,635 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty during the past 10 years, an average of one death every 53.5 hours or 163 per year. There were 155 law enforcement officers killed in 2005.

On average, more than 56,000 law enforcement officers are assaulted each year, resulting in over 16,000 injuries.

No one rioted or burned the cities for them.

Answer 4

One of the major complaints against a "Civilian Review Board" is the inability to understand the procedures and laws established.

It's difficult to pass judgement when your qualifications are not the same as that of the officer.

You already have a system in place to determine if an officer has committed an offense....it's called "due process of law."

Answer 5

Nope. Not interested in creating another level of bureaucracy...and certainly not one that isn't answerable to anyone else. It's just a situation begging to become corrupt...with payoffs to "citizen review members" in order to facilitate the status quo. Enough is enough. Leave the review to those who can be held accountable.

Answer 6

If people learn to behave themselves and not act like animals then there is no need for police intervention now is there?

Answer 7

I'm white, I don't have to worry about that.