im*pu*ni*ty
Posted by Michelle Moquin on January 9th, 2014
|imˈpyoōnitē|
noun
exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action : the impunity enjoyed by military officers implicated in civilian killings | protesters burned flags on the streets with impunity.
Good morning!
Juliette: Since you brought up impunity…this one from Think Progress is for you.
Report: 99 Percent Of Police Brutality Reports In Central New Jersey Never See The Light Of Day
Just one percent of complaints about excessive use of force by police are actually acted upon in central New Jersey, according to an investigation by Courier News and the Home News Tribune.
The papers looked into the number of excessive force complaints in the area between 2008 and 2012, then found out how many were actually accepted as legitimate by the internal review mechanisms meant to investigate them. Just one percent were — a full seven percentage points below the national average. In many towns and cities, not a single complaint was recognized:
Elizabeth, for example, processed 203 such complaints in the five-year period and not once sided with a complainant. Woodbridge had 84 complaints, New Brunswick had 81, Perth Amboy had 50 and Linden had 33. In all those cases, these agencies either “exonerated” the officers, dismissed the complaints as frivolous, determined that they did not have sufficient evidence or simply never closed the investigations.[...]
Woodbridge had 84 force complaints, New Brunswick had 81, Perth Amboy had 50, Edison had 32 and Carteret had 21. Carteret sustained one. Rutgers police sustained one of four.
Some of these places have had notorious incidents of police brutality. In Edison, New Jersey, for example, one police officer was the subject of 11 excessive force complaints. While this investigation shows none of those were honored, he eventually was arrested on attempted murder and drug charges. During that investigation, lawyers said they found brass knuckles and a small club in his patrol bag. Both items are prohibited.
*****
Howie: Yes, I am the boss of this territory (Damn it:) But hey…I’ll trade ya! Your “walking encyclopedia” – CARR – for my “archives.” Deal?
Peace & Love, everyone!
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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January 9th, 2014 at 10:11 am
Hafa adai Peter,GU. Whaaaaat !!! say it aint so !!! well maybe we can push to cancel the organic act and write our own constitution and become our own country/island like Saipan and become a world wide international grower/manufacturer of medicinal marijuana.
If Senator Barnes wants it that bad she can make it happen. I’m sure of it ! We can start a profit sharing plan for all living on this beautiful island. That way no one becomes disgruntled.
We can have rainbows with marshmallow unicorns adorn our new marijuana leaf shaped flag with a latte stoner in the center .
Aaaahhh! I’m lovin it already ! Come on Senators ! just ignore all federal laws and go rogue . You can do it !!!
January 9th, 2014 at 10:12 am
The reason they never see the light of day is because the brutality is directed towards OTWs.
January 9th, 2014 at 10:30 am
Michelle, In response to your Post — Not in a million years. You are asking a rhetorical question. I would not trade Carr in for all the gold in the world. I would have difficulty living without him watchiing over me. He brought me back from death. Al is a witness to this.
The Doctors who saw me alive the next few days in Intensive Care had to come in and tell me that they could not believe I was sitting and talking with them . . . “Impossible.” I should have been dead. So I thanked Carr and he casually responded with “What are friends for?”
HOWIE
January 9th, 2014 at 10:34 am
If you are looking for a good investment look for companies that work towards making hydrogen automobile fueling stations possible. California will lead the way in the states. The cars will have about 300 miles per fill up.
The bad news it they will sell for about $50 to $100,000.00. The good news is they have ZERO emissions and the only by-product is water from the tail pipe.
January 9th, 2014 at 10:38 am
Michelle, how’s this murder by a Southport cop in NC grab you?
——————————————————-
Schizophrenic 18-year-old Keith Vidal was having an episode on Sunday when his parents called the police for assistance. Instead, an officer shot and killed their son right in front of them.
During Sunday’s incident, Vidal had apparently picked up a small screwdriver — small enough that it couldn’t have caused serious harm, his family says, but enough that they sought law enforcement assistance. Three different police departments’ officers arrived at the scene. The first two were able to restrain Vidal and calm him down, according to Vidal’s father. But then a third entered, and that’s when he says things went sour.
He says the third officer tased Vidal, knocking the 90-pound teenager to the ground. The officer then allegedly stepped forward with a firearm and said, “we don’t have time for this,” before shooting the teen dead.
Southport Police Department, one of the three North Carolina agencies that responded to the call, has put one of its detectives on administrative leave in relation to the case, reports WECT. The department did not say whether the officer was the one who had fired the weapon. The other departments, Boiling Spring Lakes PD and the Brunswick County Sheriff’s office, said that they have not put their responding officers on leave. The State Bureau of
Investigation is looking into the incident.
Sadly, families often treat police officers as assistants in home disputes or conflicts. But law enforcement officials have a long history of turning heated situations deadly. Protocol for police who take out their guns is to aim for the head or chest, and that’s exactly what the officer did in this case.
Too often, the mentally ill are on the other end of the barrel. Just last month, police fired 15-20 rounds at a schizophrenic man who they mistook for drunk, killing him. The month before that, in a similar incident to Vidal’s, a mentally ill man carrying a shovel was gunned down by police after his mother called them for help calming him down.
“This is what’s wrong with our mental health system,” Vidal’s mother, who was reportedly treated at the scene for an emotional breakdown, told reporters.
UPDATE
Two of the cops involved in the shooting have been cleared by an internal investigation. One officer, Southport Officer Bryon Vassey, remains on paid administrative leave.
January 9th, 2014 at 10:39 am
I’m really sick of hearing about cops murdering people.
January 9th, 2014 at 10:44 am
“Just one percent were — a full seven percentage points below the national average.”
That means the title could be revised to say:
92 Percent Of Police Brutality Reports In America Never See The Light Of Day
That’s the national average folks.
92% of police brutality reports in America get filed in the F*ck You Citizen bin.
And yes, wearable cameras for cops might help citizens.
January 9th, 2014 at 10:45 am
I’m surprised they weren’t all nominated for appropriate awards. The Iron Cross First Class comes to mind. Sig Heil, Fuhrer Christie!
January 9th, 2014 at 10:46 am
Some of these cops need to have heart attacks in their sleep, never to wake up again.
January 9th, 2014 at 10:47 am
If 3 groups of police officers cannot disarm a skinny 18 year old with a little screw driver they DOn’t’ NEED TO BE COPS. With that being said we need to address our issues with mental illness as killing them is unacceptable. This is more like an execution then self defense..
January 9th, 2014 at 10:47 am
Like so many issues these days, Police Brutality doesn’t change, just because people talk about it. In fact there are people who will come here and COMPLAIN about the coverage, just because, since nothing changes, the issue never goes away…
Some people, I guess, just get tired of hearing about our problems, and would like us to just shut up about them…
January 9th, 2014 at 10:48 am
The way police officers are dealt with in a corrupt totalitarian regime like the U.S. Government is to covertly encounter them individually when one has the advantage.
Open a large can of Medieval and met it out generously. During active rebellion against tyranny, police will be the main initial frontline force to have to be dealt with. Their extermination will be justified and necessary.
January 9th, 2014 at 10:48 am
Just one more thing we can thank Christie for. Not him alone, but he does nothing to stop it. My guess is that he encourages it. I have no proof, but he’s a bully with a microphone, why would he reprimand bullies with guns?
January 9th, 2014 at 10:49 am
If you remember watching the Civil Right movement on TV you remember the number of people beaten by the cops. If you remember the protest against the Viet Nam war you remember the cops beating the protesters.
The list is endless and it continues to grow only now more than ever before more people are dying. We see more unarmed citizens being shot and killed. We see more people even the elderly, children and the disabled being pepper spraying and tased.
This is nothing new BUT because we did nothing in the past so the problems grows. The question is will we find a way to stop it now or will we allow it to continue to grow like a weed, well will we??? I am not being a smart AZZ because to tell you the truth I don’t know what we can do with the police force and even the judges standing behind them. Any ideas??????????
January 9th, 2014 at 10:51 am
An idea that serves all if it becomes law – camera carrying cops: http://www.bohemian.com/northb…
January 9th, 2014 at 10:52 am
Lyric#10:
Actually it sounds like the first two officers were being reasonable & actually trying to help. It’s easy to subdue a person if you want to harm them but not so easy if you are trying to protect them from themselves. Don’t blame all the officers for the actions of one worthless killer, it’s intellectually lazy.
January 9th, 2014 at 10:53 am
Ah, my favorite excuse, “we don’t have time for this.” Translation- my time is more valuable than your son’s life. If this story holds true, put him on death row. Sadly, nothing can undo the murder.
January 9th, 2014 at 10:54 am
I am beginning to think that far too many people who are, themselves, mentally ill, racist, misogynists, or bigots are attracted to careers in law enforcement. There need to be much more thorough, effective and ongoing psychological screening processes for LEO’s at every level.
These people are given the power of life and death over civilians, and too many of them aren’t capable of handling that power responsibly.
January 9th, 2014 at 10:55 am
thanks repubs for ripping apart our mental health system..
just another reason to keep r’s out of power, please help…
January 9th, 2014 at 10:55 am
If you are going to call the cops for help DO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A CAMCORDER RUNNING. Otherwise it’s just he said she said.
January 9th, 2014 at 10:57 am
Nina#16; Nina Smith Please show me where I blamed ALL the cops? My statement was the following..” If 3 groups of police officers cannot disarm a skinny 18 year old with a little screw driver they DOn’t’ NEED TO BE COPS. ” Have you any sense of awareness of the number of officer involved killings or the number of inane people who are killed via the police force?
Clearly not.. Then of course.. Were there 3 groups of officers? yes.. Did the first two groups calm and restrain him? Yes. Then enter the 3d.. Who tazed him knocking him down then shot him. If this person were restrained then how is it that he was in a position to be tazed and knocked down?
Did the two previous groups of officers not disarm this boy? Where exactly where they when this boy was shot? There is a lot about this story that is highly suspect…
With that being said.. before you tell another person ” not to blame all officers you might want to actually make sure that’s what they said as clearly you took what YOU wanted from my statement with little regard for what was actually written. That my dear is begin intellectually lazy..
January 9th, 2014 at 10:59 am
Timothy#17, he won’t do a day in jail. He’ll be back out on the streets in a month. Cops protect their own. That’s why I hate them. I hate prosecutors, too.
A guy can sit on death row for years for a crime he didn’t commit. When DNA evidence exonerates him, the prosecutor will still claim the guy is guilty, because they’re too arrogant to admit they were wrong.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:00 am
Kitty#14, “I don’t know what we can do with the police force and even the judges standing behind them. Any ideas??????????”
Well, Kitty, I hear they’re looking for cheap, hard-ass materials to pave the failing road system with…
January 9th, 2014 at 11:01 am
Timothy#17, that is the statement that stands out in this case. God help us all if the policeman doesn’t have “time for this” and uses his gun. Please tell me that severe punishment will follow.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:02 am
Kenneth#22, I hate bad cops. I love good honest cops. Not all cops are bad but alot of them are.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:03 am
Donna#18, I was thinking that exact same thing!
January 9th, 2014 at 11:04 am
Donna#18, You are right. The truly mentally ill are the ones making the rest of us feel like we’re crazy ;)
January 9th, 2014 at 11:05 am
Norman#19:
Reagan started it but the democrats did their share…
January 9th, 2014 at 11:07 am
Republicans are the ones cutting everything that will help the American people ,accept themselves. And police have become killers at a rapidly increasing rate, 99.9 percent of the time they shoot or tazer it makes it easier for them and they never get in trouble. NEVER.
If you’re a border guard and shoot some drug smuggler in the butt trying to run you go to jail for years. This crap drives me crazy.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:08 am
Xena#20, they will lie. Believe me. The other two cops who heard the shooters words will get behind the blue line and commit perjury on the stand without remorse.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:10 am
Xena#20:
If you feel your safety is threatened enough that you need to call the police, I really doubt setting up a camcorder is the first thing on your mind, and taking out your iPhone to film the scene would probably just upset both the attacker and the cops.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:11 am
I have Schizophrenia and I must make note of this: Police officers MUST HAVE ways of controlling those with mental illness. Some type of training on mental illness, specifically Schizophrenia and many mood based illnesses.
What that officer should be held accountable for what he did. When did our police force become an occupying army?
January 9th, 2014 at 11:12 am
Michelle, your article is from the from page one of the Police State Handbook.
Cover-up EVERYTHING.
If no one knows about the police brutality, it never really happened, did it?
It goes right down the ’1984′ Memory Hole.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:17 am
All this is nice. But I came to read Alien accounts, which means that I am here to hear from Howie. Cops murder the innocent and defenseless because the society they are supposed to serve allow them to.
They work for society, they do NOT serve as the military does. They are NOT heros. They are just like any other civil servant only we give the a license to use deadly weapons while doing their jobs. It’s simple make sure they are doing their jobs.
If they commit crimes while doing it, they should be judged as we would any other civil servant caught performing criminally.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:19 am
Etienne#31, you must be a fucking Canadian. Fine…so they cap your kid and you wind up contradicting the cops. Your choice. I think I’ll prefer the camera. You can second guess whatever all you want, but the first thing on your mind is probably the well-being of your loved one.
So gee, if you can’t set up a camera or have one ready because you’re too frazzled to think of it you’re doing it wrong.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:20 am
Isaac#32, “Some type of training on mental illness, specifically Schizophrenia and many mood based illnesses.”
Keep in mind that training costs money, and in the teabilly state of North Carolina, I’m sure the taxpayers don’t want to foot that bill.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:23 am
Zoey#36, and therein lies the problem. Everyone wants mental illness to be looked at. They want those suffering from mental illness to be treated as equals, but no one wants to help those who deal with it.
That is a shame in of itself.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:30 am
This is a warning that thousands of the Pacific Man-of-War have washed up on shore. If you don’t know what one looks like here’s a pictorial link. Stay away form them because although they may be dead, their tentacles can still sting. http://www.guampdn.com/article/20140110/NEWS01/301100005
Hafa Adai
Anna
January 9th, 2014 at 11:34 am
If the police were good at what they do, we wouldn’t have story after story of them using excessive force against non-violent citizens, as well as many stories of police using firearms in a situation that didn’t warrant it. A person who literally just turned 18 holding a tiny screwdriver isn’t armed compared to a grown man with a gun, taser, pepper spray, baton, and handcuffs.
The police’s “original goal” is to protect and serve the community, not just open fire on the first threat they notice. I haven’t allowed a system to continue, I protest/dissent/petition to strip police of their power as well as prevent their militarization, so the notion that I allow it is completely false.
I am mad at the system. I’m mad at a system that is handing military weapons/tanks over to county police precincts. I’m mad at the fact that cops can shoot a civilian without justification and get a taxpayer funded vacation instead of a jail cell.
I’m mad that the government instead of addressing mental health in a reasonable manner, leaves it up to corrupt enforcers with badges to handle inappropriately and inhumanely.
They shot a kid because they felt threatened by a screwdriver that wasn’t going to cause anyone any harm. And meanwhile the media and public at large has little to no outrage at the irresponsible criminal who pulled the trigger on someone and murdered them for doing nothing more than suffering from an illness that he had no control over.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:35 am
The cop will get off scot free. They almost always do. I spent six years in the MPs in what amounted to a small American town of almost 30,000 US service members and their dependents during the late 70s in Nurnberg, Germany.
We routinely handled everything from bar brawls to domestic disturbances, murders, rapes, robberies, and race riots without ever using a firearm. Tasers had not been invented. I took my share of cuts, bumps, and bruises, but there is almost never a need to pull a gun unless the individual is armed.
Of course, the fact that the officers rarely face any consequences is a huge part of the problem.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:37 am
Jake#5, that’s crazy, they need to take that gun away from the officer and fire him, at 90lbs and two other officers already had him restrained..sounds like that officer has a mental problem.crap do mental evaluations on your policemen…
January 9th, 2014 at 12:19 pm
Luv the thought of blog archive and CARR exchange though I knew the response to that : )
The idea that we have to video tape how people behave to get the to behave better is a problem in and of itself, there’s little in the way of proper protocol and just plain common sense being trained into our police, so we are forced to tape their every move bc their responses 90% of the time are punishing people for crimes they didn’t even commit or a gross over-reaction to the crime they did commit, up to and including murdering them in cold blood, that’s ice cold behavior. (and insane) and it is done with impunity. It is in the playbook though….’cover thine ass and the asses of thine fellow officers – unless their female and then they’re on their own also’ yea, I think that’s in page 1 intro of da book…fek…
Luv, Zen Lill
January 9th, 2014 at 12:31 pm
When you coming home chou chou?
January 9th, 2014 at 3:52 pm
This saying was taught to me when I was young and needed it. Most if not all MM Blog Readers have read this comment:
Power Corrupts . . . Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.
It is true. Give someone a tiny bit of power over something like a Department in a Department Store and they will take their tiny Power to the Maximum — acting like Dictators of their little Department. If someone is raised to a Mangerial Position from a simple job and they now have some Power to Abuse . . . Believe me the will use it one their inferior workers.
It seems to be the way of our world.
Give a Cop a gun and the permission to use it — they probably will.
HOWIE
HOWIE
January 9th, 2014 at 9:47 pm
Succinctly said. Howie.
January 9th, 2014 at 10:56 pm
Xena#35, I am a Canadian, and as often as I can I try to do some fucking.