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ausetkmt · 8 months

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Nine current or former Northern California police officers were charged Thursday in a federal corruption investigation that found evidence they committed civil rights violations and fraud in an effort to get a pay raise and lied on reports to cover up the use of excessive force, U.S. authorities said.

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Ismail J. Ramsey, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, filed four indictments that outlined charges including wire fraud, deprivation of rights under color of law, conspiracy against rights, and conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids. Nine police officers and one community service officer are named in the charges, though only two are charged in multiple indictments.

The investigation centered on the departments in Antioch and Pittsburg, two cities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Only three of the officers remain employed by the departments and were not on active duty, officials said.

Arrest warrants were served Thursday in California, Texas and Hawaii, said Robert Tripp, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office. One has not yet been arrested, officials said.

Morteza Amiri, Eric Allen Rombough, Patrick Berhan, Samantha Peterson, Brauli Rodriguez Jalapa and Ernesto Juan Mejia-Orozco pleaded not guilty to various charges, and most were released on condition that they posted property bonds, the Bay Area News Group reported.

Rombough appeared in Oakland federal court dressed in ripped clothes, with bloody hands and knees and wearing a shirt that read: “don’t weaken,” the Bay Area News Group reported.

His attorney, Will Edelman, told the judge that there was “absolutely no reason” that his client had to be taken into custody and handcuffed because he would have willingly appeared if ordered.

The defendants could face decades in federal prison if convicted of the charges.

Tripp said the arrests were the result of a two-year investigation.

“Any breach of the public’s trust is absolutely unacceptable,” Tripp said while discussing charges against Antioch officers that include using their official positions as officers to deprive people of their rights.

Charges against Amiri, Rombough and Devon Christopher Wenger say the three Antioch police officers conspired between February 2019 and March 2022 “to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate residents of Antioch, California” and later falsified reports about the encounters.

In obscenity-laden text messages, the three men referred to some suspects as “gorillas.” They laughed and joked about harming people who apparently had surrendered or appeared to be asleep by setting Amiri’s police dog on them or Rombough shooting them with a 40mm “less-lethal” projectile launcher, the indictment said.

Prosecutors say from 2019 to 2021, the dog bit 28 people while Rombough used the launcher 11 times in 2020 and 2021.

Amiri posted graphic photos of the dog wounds, and Rombough said he was keeping the projectiles to make a trophy flag, according to the indictment.

In one case, a man suspected of five armed robberies had given up and was lying on the ground when Amiri’s K-9 bit him, the indictment alleged.

In one text, Amiri wrote: “let’s (f-obscenity) some people up next work week.”

Amiri says that he will find some action and write up the police report, adding: “Just come over and crush some skulls.”

In one 2020 text sequence, Amiri says that he confronted a transient he believed had stolen his mail “and dragged him to the back of a car to ‘discuss’ the matter.”

“Lol. Putting a pistol in someone’s mouth and telling them to stop stealing isn’t illegal,” he texted. “It’s an act of public service to prevent further victims of crimes”

“Defendants authored police reports containing false and misleading statements to suggest that the force they used was necessary and justifiable,” the indictment said. “In truth and in fact, and as the Defendants well knew, Defendants willfully used excessive force in numerous incidents, including those identified in this Indictment.”

Police unions did not immediately respond to requests for information on whether the defendants had lawyers who can speak on their behalf. Emails to the Pittsburg and Antioch police departments seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Thousands of incendiary text messages by more than a dozen officers in the Antioch Police Department had previously come to light and led to a federal lawsuit. The texts contained derogatory, racist, homophobic and sexually explicit language. In some of them, the officers bragged about making up evidence and beating up suspects. They freely used racial slurs and made light of the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.

The city of Antioch, with about 115,000 residents 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of San Francisco, was once predominantly white but has diversified in the last 30 years. Federal and state prosecutors have dropped or dismissed dozens of cases that relied on the impugned officers, and the city now faces a federal civil rights lawsuit over the text messages.

Jalapa, Mejia-Orozco and Amanda Carmella Theodosy/Nash, as well as Antioch community service officer Peterson, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud surrounding allegations they had other people take and complete online university courses toward a criminal justice degree. The police departments offered reimbursement for college tuition and pay raises for those who graduate college, prosecutors said.

Two Antioch officers, Daniel Harris and Wenger, were charged with several counts related to distributing anabolic steroids.

Another Antioch officer, Timothy Manly Williams, faces charges related to the obstruction of a federal investigation for allegedly using a personal cellphone in 2021 to talk to the target of an FBI wiretap investigation and then made sure the call wasn’t recorded or accurately logged.

“Today is a dark day in our city’s history, as people trusted to uphold the law, allegedly breached that trust and were arrested by the FBI,” Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe said in a statement. “As our city absorbs this tragic news, we must come together as one. Today’s actions are the beginning of the end of a long and arduous process.”

Thorpe is among three Black, progressive members of the five-person council who have said they are committed to holding police accountable.

“To those that have accused me and others of being anti-police for seeking to reform the Antioch Police Department, today’s arrests are demonstrative of the issues that have plagued the Antioch Police Department for decades,” he added.

#FBI Arrests Antioch #Pittsburg Police Officers Following Indictments #fbi arrests california cops #fbi arrests antioch and pittsburg california cops #bad policing #FBI #civil rights violations #end qualified immunity in policing #Youtube

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reasoningdaily · 9 months

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#Detroit #Facial Recognition #Bad Policing #bad facial recognition program #DPD

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pocoloco2018-blog · 3 months

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California city to pay $5m to family of Willie McCoy, who police shot 55 times

This is one reason your taxes go up every year. Bad policing, and bad behavior just gets taken care of by city managers. I'm so glad that there is some sort of recourse for the victim. This is only one of many many instances of bad cop behavior across the country.

Even though money can't bring loved ones back, they have something to help that family out.

#bad cops #cop behavior #cops kill #city pay outs #U.S.cities #USPolicing #USPolicedepartments #bad policing #law enforcement #bad law enforcement #police across the USA #taxes

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nando161mando · 9 months

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Rehabilitation, not Devastation. Fuck The Police.

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clickxit · 8 months

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Diaspora in Politics: Navigating the Shadow of Greed

The influence of diaspora communities on politics is a complex and multifaceted topic that goes beyond just cultural ties and shared heritage. While many diaspora groups aspire to play a positive role in the political landscape of their home countries, the element of greed can sometimes cast a shadow over these aspirations. In this article, we delve into the interplay between diaspora engagement in politics and the potential pitfalls of greed, examining how these dynamics can impact both nations and their global citizens.

The Diaspora's Role in Politics:

Diaspora communities have historically served as bridges between their home countries and adopted lands. They often seek to contribute to their homeland's development, promote cultural exchange, and advocate for the rights of their compatriots. From financial contributions to knowledge sharing, the diaspora's involvement in politics can bring about positive change and innovation.

The Dark Side of Greed:

Greed, however, can infiltrate the noble intentions of diaspora involvement. When political agendas are driven solely by self-interest and financial gain, the original purpose of representing the interests of the homeland can be compromised. This could result in exploitation of resources, manipulation of policies, and even erosion of democratic values.

Influence Peddling and Corruption:

Greed can manifest as an eagerness to use political power to benefit personal or corporate interests. Diaspora members who accumulate wealth abroad might attempt to wield their influence back home, often leading to corruption, unequal distribution of resources, and a disregard for the needs of the broader population. This not only damages the credibility of diaspora-led initiatives but also hinders the progress of the nation.

Economic Exploitation:

The desire for financial gain can sometimes drive diaspora members to engage in economic activities that exploit their home country's resources. This can lead to a loss of control over vital assets, environmental degradation, and a skewed distribution of wealth. Such actions, fueled by greed, can perpetuate a cycle of economic dependency rather than fostering sustainable development.

Undermining Unity:

Greed-fueled political involvement can also exacerbate existing divisions within diaspora communities. Differing financial interests and priorities may lead to disunity, hampering collective efforts to effect positive change. Additionally, it can strain relations between the diaspora and those living in the homeland, as locals may perceive diaspora involvement as self-serving rather than altruistic.

While diaspora engagement in politics has the potential to be a force for good, the influence of greed cannot be underestimated. The delicate balance between advancing the interests of the homeland and succumbing to self-serving agendas requires careful consideration. By recognizing and addressing the corrosive effects of greed, diaspora communities can harness their collective power to drive positive political change that benefits all, rather than a select few.

#diaspora #politics #bad policing

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mtsodie · 18 days

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anyhoo

#sam and max #sam & max #freelance police #🎨#can u tell i like drawing sam in that one pose . im bad at the hands still tho

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hedgehog-moss · 1 year

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(TW POLICE VIOLENCE)

France has been feeling like a police state this week, there were 5000 cops deployed in Paris yesterday (watch this video and tell me this is a normal amount of cops and they're behaving normally) and they keep acting like they have total immunity*, to beat up protesters, to arrest protesters, or just random people walking in the vicinity of a protest. My 70+-year-old dad tried to go to a peaceful protest and had to abandon the idea because of all the tear gas being used by police.

*Which they do—as Le Monde pointed out, the cops who are violent risk nothing because they can't be identified because almost none of them wear their identification number even though it's supposed to be mandatory. They're not being penalised for not wearing them, so why should they?

If you can stomach it, please have a look at the photos and videos on this Twitter account documenting French police brutality against protesters—as I write this, the most recent tweet is about a journalist who was beaten up by a BRAV-M cop* using his steel baton; he had his head cracked open and his hand broken.

(* BRAV-M is a motorised repression corps—cops on bikes—a unit that was dissolved in 1986 after some of them beat a student to death, who wasn't even attending a protest but walking near one. Macron changed the unit's name, from Voltigeurs to BRAV-M, and reestablished it to suppress the Yellow Vests protests. This week, a BRAV-M cop deliberately drove over a 19-year-old's leg at a protest after chasing him on his bike. The victim said he heard a cop say to others "Smash him." Another BRAV-M punched a protester unconscious on March 20. And today Le Monde published an article about BRAV-M cops being recorded bragging about "breaking elbows and faces.")

In Paris last week the CRS arrested a 14-year-old kid because they took him for a dangerous black bloc protester I guess?? A child spent a night in police custody without knowing why. They've also arrested several 15 / 16 year-olds. Let's teach the youth what happens when you exercise your right to protest!

On March 16th in Paris, within one evening, they arrested 292 people, and 283 were released without charges, which means they're mass-arresting people for peaceful protests as a strategy of intimidation. The student I mentioned in my post the other day, who spent 48 hours in custody and was eventually charged for refusing to have his DNA samples taken and filed, asked the cops why they were arresting him + 4 other people who were walking down the same street and they said "Because you look like fucking leftists."

The government tells us "We fully support our brave police forces" when the cops are arresting people for "looking like leftists." How are we still a democracy? The guy also mentioned that during the time he spent at the police station, the police was mostly arresting Maghrebis, though they made an exception for him, a Black guy. There are videos from the past week of cops beating up women, tear gassing protesters in the face from 20cm away, kicking protesters in the face when they're already on the ground, crushing their heads under their boot, brutalising a homeless man and old ladies, tear gassing crowds with young children in them. I'm having trouble finding links to these specific incidents I remember because there are so many videos circulating.

Look at this video, they're violently striking the back of people's heads with steel batons even when the protesters are already going in the direction they're told to. The little old lady shoved around and trying to protect her head from the strikes is breaking my heart.

Surely at the point when enforcers of state authority are arresting middle schoolers, beating up citizens for exercising their rights and gassing and pepper spraying elderly people, children and babies in strollers, the government might want to make some sort of statement condemning this state of affairs, but instead they have been telling us they're proud of & grateful for their police forces, which of course angers people and makes protests more violent. The Minister of the Interior, who supervises the police, praises them wholeheartedly and excuses all instances of deliberate brutality as 'isolated incidents' due to 'tiredness'.

Here's a thread in English describing a protester's experience—"Yesterday (March 23) the level of arbitrary police violence clearly leveled up. I was tear gassed three times without being able to move in a very dense crowd; policemen took advantage that people were unable to move more than 20cm to pounce on us and bludgeon us in a totally arbitrary manner." (you can see an example of this behaviour in this video from a different protest)

Yesterday, after a day of nationwide protests that brought a fresh new wave of video evidence of cops beating up protesters and making reckless use of tear gas—at the end of a day when a special ed teacher at a protest got her thumb torn off by a tear gas grenade—this is what the French Prime Minister said:

They're not even trying to play it off like "both sides made mistakes" they're telling us they condone everything the police is doing, that this is what they're deploying them for:

(screencap from this video)

(this is from this video, in which you can hear a woman screaming "Stop it! You're strangling him! You have no right! I'm filming you!" The cops don't seem to care about being filmed. They're beating up citizens with the government's full blessing after all.)

Macron's government is trying to intimidate people into giving up their right to protest, by deploying cops in huge numbers and publicly voicing complete support for their behaviour, by allowing them to beat and arrest hundreds of people and to use tear gas indiscriminately. Tear gas has been completely normalised as a means of state violence, it's very practical that it doesn't leave traces of blood or broken bones I guess, but it's still violence, it burns, it's a chemical whose effects on people's health we don't know a lot about.

^ Paris (from this vid; caption: "one tear gas grenade after the other")

Macron condescendingly told us there's no "magic money" which is why the pension reform is needed, but he did find the money to stockpile these apparently unlimited amounts of tear gas grenades to suppress protests against his reform to make poor people work longer.

^ Nantes (screencap from a vid in which the cops throw three or four grenades at once and you can hear people say "oh come on, seriously? this is crazy. Why? go fuck yourselves" in a tired tone)

We've also found out yesterday that three Corsican MPs were pressured not to support the Assembly's no-confidence vote against the government—by being told if they didn't vote it, a teaching hospital would be built in Corsica.

The island of Corsica is the only region of France that doesn't have a teaching hospital; due to lack of medical resources Corsicans often have to travel to mainland France for healthcare. Just last month the Minister of Health said sorry, still no teaching hospital for Corsica, it's just not possible right now. Then last week some "magic money" was apparently found to build it but only if the Corsican MPs didn't support the no-confidence vote. I know this kind of thing isn't exactly unique in politics but Macron has been slashing hospital budgets to the point that 20% of French hospital beds are closed due to lack of staff, and he used the health of 340,000 French citizens as a bribe to save his ass. The three Corsican MPs ended up voting in favour of the no-confidence vote despite of that, as it was what their constituents wanted (honour to them). Macron's government survived the no-confidence vote by only 9 votes.

Whatever legitimacy Macron has as a President right now is being clung to by MP corruption and police repression. How do we move forwards knowing that, I don't know. How does he have legitimacy to govern on any issues after the way he handled this reform and the following protests? His police forces are drowning city centres in tear gas, a chemical whose effect on birds and other fauna is not known, and we're supposed to listen to him talk about the environment? They're wasting thousands of litres of water using water cannons to disperse protesters, and we're supposed to listen to him talk about low groundwater levels and how we need to save water? I was going to say, what about his legitimacy abroad but other Western governments don't seem too bothered so far by his handling of the protests—though I'm grateful that Amnesty International did condemn it, and that a Belgian deputy made a speech in Parliament this week asking his government to condemn Macron's use of violent police repression.

[Wait, I just saw that as I was writing this post, the Council of Europe condemned the "excessive use of force" in France. Saying that 'sporadic acts of violence' of some protesters can't 'justify the excessive use of force by agents of the State' or 'deprive peaceful protesters of their right to freedom of assembly'. This is the opposite framing as the one our government is standing by—sporadic acts of violence by cops that are either justified or excusable—it's refreshing.]

Between that and Charles III cancelling his visit (and lots of tourists cancelling trips to Paris which is bound to piss off the tourism industry) and our own media waking up and starting to talk about the government's brutality, I hope Macron starts being held accountable. He has been fanning the flames of this crisis at every turn, by telling us that the crowds protesting in the street have 'no legitimacy', by sending cops to break strikes even though striking is a Constitutional right (but the only part of the Constitution he cares about is the one that starts with 49.3), by condemning the protesters when asked to condemn police violence—saying "When [protesters] use violence, unregulated, absolute, we're no longer in a Republic." I agree, but he's describing himself.

When you resort to using article 49.3 to bypass the National Assembly for the 11th time this term to impose a reform that 70% of the country is against (and 93% of working people) that will force the poorer classes of the population to work longer, and your only response to people's distress at being told to work until they die is to force them to accept it by allowing your police forces to beat up protesters, to arrest them and to gas them, you have failed as a democratic leader.

The next organised protest and strike is next Tuesday (if you want to give something to the strike solidarity fund, here it is); in the meantime spontaneous protests are still erupting pretty much every day and cops are getting burnt out (good! There are fun videos from yesterday's protests of cops accidentally tear gassing one another, or a police car accidentally running into another as people laugh and clap.) And yes some protesters are getting more extreme and destructive, but Macron is the one choosing to stand by his reform at all costs and let this country burn. And when I look at what we're being expected to tolerate and to normalise, I'm kind of proud that French people's gut reaction was "burn it all."

Some popular Twitter hashtags for the protests:

#ToutCramer - Burn everything #CensurePopulaire - People's no-confidence vote #MacronDémission - Macron resign #OnLâcheRien - We won't cede an inch.

#frpol #i know french people who aren't following this closely aren't aware of how bad things got #as i said our media is finally commenting on CRS and BRAV-M behaviour but seeing the videos #for the protests is kind of necessary i feel to see how omnipotent the police feel thanks to macron #his ''fuck you i've already passed the reform idgaf about your protests'' attitude in the face of all this is unforgiveable #even if he somehow sees the light it won't erase all the violence and destruction that he caused #and that he doesn't care about #not to mention the damage done to democracy

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minticai · 2 months

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I love arrested development so so much

#my art #bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #akutagawa ryuunosuke #dazai bsd #you know that one arrested development episode where they set up a fake police sting operation to teach George Michael a lesson?#Dazai would absolutely do that and it would bad fire just as badly as it did to Micheal

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intersectionalpraxis · 1 month

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Ryan was also a cross-country running enthusiast who aspired to study engineering. He was murdered heartlessly -lynched by a cop, who are now trying to carefully justify this by saying HE was the violent one... Ryan was on the spectrum of autism, and he was triggered by something before his killers arrived -and although he was being calmed by his father, he became very understandably upset when the cops arrived -and instead of LEAVING Ryan alone and calling in for additional mental health support -and attempting to de-escalate the situation a cop shot him at least 3 times. WTF can a garden tool have on a fucking gun? And not only did these cops LET Ryan bleed to death on the ground, the Sheriff's department has yet to release a full, unedited bodycam video to the family.

The cops have been called a handful of times previously, so they knew Ryan had autism. These cops need to be held accountable, and there needs to be better interventions with mental health crises. Cops should NEVER be on the front lines for this. They're not educated, trained, or have the abilities to help people -especially kids and youths in vulnerable situations.

Ryan, may you rest in peace and power.

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ausetkmt · 8 months

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Dozens of community members, families of police violence and activists joined a rally outside of the Antioch Police Department on April 18, 2023, to protest the racist and homophobic text messages shared among the department. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

The FBI arrested nine East Bay police officers on Thursday for alleged civil rights violations, interfering with investigations and defrauding their employers, Ismail Ramsey, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

The arrests were made in a series of raids early Thursday morning across and beyond the Bay Area, following an 18-month FBI investigation and the release of four federal grand jury indictments against the officers. Charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, deprivation of civil rights and destruction of records.

“Today is a dark day in our city’s history, as people trusted to uphold the law, allegedly breached that trust and were arrested by the FBI,” Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe said in a written statement shortly after the arrests. “As our city absorbs this tragic news, we must come together as one. Today’s actions are the beginning of the end of a long and arduous process.”

The FBI arrested nine officers on Thursday and a total of 10 have been charged across four indictments, federal law enforcement officials said at the press conference Thursday. Eight of those arrested have made initial court appearances so far.

“This case is one of the highest priorities for the San Francisco Field Office,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp. “Law enforcement officers bear a tremendous responsibility to police out communities lawfully in keeping with the constitution, and we must always be true to that guiding principle.”A chart showing the list of charges against Antioch and Pittsburg police officers by a federal grand jury on Aug. 16, 2023. (Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman/KQED)

“Today’s announcement reporting the arrest of current and former APD officers is disheartening and undermines the incredible work our staff does on a daily basis,” Acting Antioch Chief of Police Joe Vigil said in a press release. “Any police officer who breaks public trust must be held accountable, especially because our effectiveness relies heavily on confidence and support from our community.”

The first indictment includes charges against Morteza Amiri and Samantha Genoveva Peterson of the APD, along with Pittsburg Police Department officers Brauli Rodriguez Jalapa, Ernesto Juan Mejia-Orozco, and Amanda Carmella Theodosy-Nash, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and faking college credits in order to receive pay bumps.

The second indictment alleges that APD officers Daniel Harris and Devon Wenger illegally obtained and distributed anabolic steroids, and for attempting to destroy evidence that they had tried to do so.

Timothy Manly Williams of the APD was indicted on obstruction of evidence and for destroying and falsifying records to obstruct a federal investigation using a wiretap.

The fourth and final indictment announced Thursday alleges that Morteza Amiri, Eric Rombough and Devon Wenger, all with the APD, carried out what Ramsey called a “disturbing litany” of civil rights violations. The violations include inappropriately deploying a canine and other weapons in order to deliberately harm individuals in Antioch.

Ramsey said that officers shared photos of their victims’ injuries and collected mementos from attacks, such as ammunition used against people of Antioch. “Defendants boasted about their illegal uses of force,” the federal attorney said.

The investigation is still ongoing.

The indictments and subsequent arrests mark a turning point for many members of the community who have been reeling from the recent police scandals.

The investigation kicked off in 2022 after concerns were raised about police officers who lied about their college degrees. But the FBI and Contra Costa County district attorney’s investigation into the local police department would reveal far more crimes and civil rights violations from Antioch and Pittsburg officers.

Among discoveries was a culture of explicitly racist and homophobic messages sent between numerous Antioch police officers. The investigation revealed officers not only using racial epithets including the N-word and describing Black people as “gorillas,” but it also showed officers had falsified confessions to build cases and physically assault suspects.

In several messages, the officers bragged about racial profiling and beating suspects.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta launched a separate civil rights investigation into the APD in May, after it was revealed that officers had exchanged racist and homophobic text messages about community members and people in custody.

“It is our job to protect and serve all of our communities,” Bonta said in a press release announcing his investigation. “Police departments are on the front lines of that fight every day as they work to safeguard the people of our state. However, where there are allegations of potentially pervasive bias or discrimination, it can undermine the trust that is critical for public safety and our justice system. It is our responsibility to ensure that we establish a culture of accountability, professionalism, and zero tolerance for hateful or racist behavior, on or off duty.”

Former Antioch Police Chief Steven Ford announced his retirement last month and officially stepped down on Aug. 11 amid the scandal.

The spiraling revelations have impacted nearly half of the department’s sworn officers, and texts were exchanged between nearly 45 Antioch officers. As of July, 40 out of 90 officers were no longer working, the East Bay Times reports.

Dozens of cases that officers in the probe were involved in have since been dropped or derailed.

Robert Collins, whose step-son Angelo Quinto was killed by Antioch police in December 2020, told KQED that the arrests were an important step in rebuilding trust that has been lost between the community and its law enforcement officials.

“It’s amazing and shocking and sad that the lack of transparency and accountability has led to a police department that is so culturally deficient and problems that are so ingrained, so pervasive. But it’s good that there is some accountability and transparency coming out of the results of this federal indictment,” Collins told KQED. “It’s painful, but it’s a first step in improving the situation.”

Bella Quinto Collins, Quinto’s younger sister, was cautiously optimistic.

“This arrest is really good news,” she told KQED, “But at the same time, I don’t see this as necessarily the end of anything. It’s pretty clear that there’s still an ongoing issue within the culture of APD and there’s so much more work to be done to look into other officers that seem to be involved in various other issues and who are implicated in those text messages.”

Gigi Crowder, executive director of National Alliance on Mental Illness in Contra Costa, called the arrests “one step in a long road,” and that a lot of young people and families she works with have grown fearful of their own law enforcement agency.

“This might send a message to officers who hold those beliefs but hadn’t been involved … that you can’t get away with being asked to protect and serve and carry these racial belief systems about a community.”

She added: “We get complaints from across the county. If they do deeper probing, they will find it’s not isolated to Pittsburg and Antioch.”

Mayor Thorpe has previously faced criticism for seeking accountability for officer misconduct. In his written statement on Thursday, the mayor wrote: “Today’s arrests are demonstrative of the issues that have plagued the Antioch Police Department for decades. Seeking to reform the Antioch Police Department is not anti-police, it is pro our residents, and pro officers that have served and continue to serve with honor.”

#FBI Arrests Antioch #california #bad police #bad policing #antioch california #pittsburg california #cops arrested by fbi #FBI arrested nine East Bay police officers on Thursday for alleged civil rights violations #fraud #interfering with investigations #conspiracy to commit wire fraud #faking college credits in order to receive pay bump #destroying and falsifying records to obstruct a federal investigation using a wiretap #falsifying evidence

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muffinlevelchicanery · 1 year

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Reform is not the answer

#relevant #racism #blacklivesmatter #blm #black lives matter #fascisim #police brutality #reform #abolition #total abolition #tyre nichols #I don’t want to say another name #how many bad apples are there

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cock-holliday · 2 months

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It’s not at all surprising that cisfeminists try to push people out of conversations about reproductive care but it’s bizarre as fuck for trans people to do it. Like, I do not know how to express to you that this topic affects like 99% of trans (and adjacent) people.

Obviously (apparently not obvious to many of you) trans and not-cis or not-dyadic people who have or had (at least some of) the organs that allow you to carry a pregnancy are affected by it. It’s YOUR parts. Everyone who can get pregnant is affected. Everyone who could have an abortion is affected. Everyone who has to worry about birth control for THEIR specific own protection is affected. Everyone who has to get a pap smear is affected. It’s regulation about THAT healthcare, about THOSE parts, about accessing care for YOUR body.

Likewise, the ability and responsibility to bear children is placed on ALL women. Every woman who cannot, will not, or won’t become pregnant has their womanhood challenged. It doesn’t matter if it’s a physical impossibility (infertility AND choice to remove ability AND never having the ability to begin with) or a personal choice despite the ability—if you identify with womanhood, a large piece of the narrative is equating that role with baby-carrier. Which exists both in larger misogynistic society and as a point of pride among cisfeminists.

It’s a feminist issue for how we need to destroy the way society forces a role, it’s a feminist issue on the grounds of bodily autonomy. So just about everyone, regardless of AGAB, is affected in some way.

It does no good to forget (accidentally or intentionally) the trans people whose bodies are being policed in medicine, nor pretend those whose bodies are being policed by societal role are “being brought up for no reason.”

Of all the genders; trans man, trans woman, cis woman, and identities adjacent and between—none escape this scrutiny and it is a topic that affects all of us.

The only role that it affects less is ‘cis man,’ and even then only so far. Either cis man is an identity that one may not hold permanently in which case the previously cis man is brought into the above categories, OR it’s a role that should be brought into the conversation more because of personal responsibility to the above groups. If we are to actually shift sole responsibility for pregnancy from the one who can get pregnant to also encompass those who can get people pregnant (expanding birth control responsibility, financial and parental responsibility, etc) we have to recognize that no body or identity is absent from this conversation, even if one identity is a silent presence over it all.

#LJsm #while I think cis man is a category most unlike the rest #I still don’t even think THAT identity should be in a total us vs them #both because of how cis men are not solely responsible for this bullshit #but also because of the potential essentialism #by isolating the identity away from the rest of us #it makes it hard for previously cis men to come over to our side as an ‘ex-enemy’#but also reinforces either that cis men are biologically bad or socialized bad #and both create thought patterns that are used to police trans people within community #aka ‘cis men are the enemy’ isn’t less of a foundation of radfem bullshit than ‘men are the enemy’

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