Category: Police Brutality

The death of George Floyd at the hands of officer Derek Chauvin, whose record of brutalityis well known, shows that years of police reform efforts to educate and retrain officers havefailed. Decade after decade, the so-called bad apples remain in abundance on theMinneapolis police force. Systematic brutality, harassment and killing goes unabated. It appears it’s police officers who control the police, not the City Council, not the mayor andnot the police chief. If they did, officers like Chauvin would long ago have been terminated.It is time elected officials admit what is common knowledge in the community; they are notin control …

The recent open letter issued by the police union presidents of Minneapolis and St. Paul (1/4/15) does not indicate a readiness to listen, but to lecture those critical of law enforcement. (URL: http://www.mpdfederation.com/police/.) Like police union leaders in New York City and elsewhere their letter seems to make the same spurious claim that protests against police brutality and discrimination may have incited Ismaaiyl Brinsley to murder two NYPD officers. In light of protesters just anger over the killing of unarmed black Americans, even suggesting such a link lacks respect for the communities that law enforcement serves. Protesters are as heartsick over …