Perhaps some explanation is due to those who do not follow news in the Washington Metro area, or are on overload from reading the latest in a string of police brutality incidents in that region. To set the stage: As reported by the Washington Post,
After a series of shootings early in the decade drew the attention of federal investigators, the county agreed to make the improvements under the watch of an independent monitor in 2004 to avoid legal action. At the time, FBI agents were also investigating four incidents in which suspects died after being injured in struggles with county police.However, on February 10, the police department reported that it had improved to the point that it no longer requires federal oversight, and announced "...the end of nearly a decade of scrutiny by the Justice Department over allegations of excessive force." Prince Georges County Executive Jack B. Johnson was quoted as saying that the police department is "now ... considered a model for law enforcement."
Don't speak too soon, Jack. Barely three weeks later, Police Chief Roberto L. Hylton announced the suspension of two officers, John Wynkoop and Scott Wilson, who are seen on a police videotape beating and pepper-spraying a Latino motorist, Rafael Rodriguez, during a traffic stop in October 2008.
Wynkoop had charged Rodriguez with two counts of assault, consisting of Rodriguez punching him in the stomach, and then assaulting the two police officers even after Wilson pepper-sprayed him.
Thank goodness for police videotape. The videotape, subpoenaed by the defense attorney, shows Rodriguez questioning the citation. The tape shows Wynkoop ordering Rodriguez to turn off the car's engine and get out. Rodriguez does not immediately do so, and Wynkoop opens the door and pulls him out. Rodriguez does not punch or attempt to strike either officer on the tape.
The officers proceed to slam Rodriguez against the car, pepper-spray him, and beat him with a police baton. At some point, one of the officers manages to catch his breath enough to mock Rodriguez's accent.
It will be interesting, to say the least, to see what happens in this case. The evidence certainly does not look good for Messrs. Wynkoop and Wilson. If they are found guilty, justice had better be meted out swiftly and severely.
The extreme abuse of p0wer -- of which police brutality is at the apex -- is infuriating because the victims are, correlatively, powerless. Powerless, I might add, due to dictates of the State, which is quick to disarm "ordinary" citizens, but loathe to do so to itself.
And the public's mistrust of State functionaries policing themselves is justified. As only one example of many, a 2007 study of the Chicago Police Department found that, out of over 10,000 complaints of alleged police abuse, only 19 resulted in "meaningful discipline."
Looks like Jack Johnson has found his model for law enforcement.
Posts
This is to say nothing of police incompetence. Two examples. a billboard was erected when the sniper shooting and killing people was caught in Maryland and DC thanking Chief Moose and I forget now which department he headed but it was where most of the killings occured a few years ago. Chief Moose could not find his way to the bathroom. The killers were found sleeping in their car, an old Chevy Impala by an alert truck driver at a rest stop who called it in to the state police. He got a blip from the media while Moose was praised continually. The chief of police in DC just announced the killer of Chandra Levy was cuaght and the media lauded the police department for not giving up, big press conferences the whole nine yards, only problem is the guy was caught confessing to a cell mate in a California jail and got ratted out, no one in the DC police department should get any credit for solving this crime. They are best at hiding behind trees with radar guns and issuing tickets in the name of public safety while actually trying to reduce budget deficits in their states and towns.
ReplyDelete