Thursday, March 09, 2023
PMT: Truth in Louisville
Pictured here is Vanita Gupta, who serves as the Associate Attorney General under Merrick Garland (we used to work on clemency issues together). Yesterday, she announced the DOJ's report on the Louisville police and their very serious issues. There were seven primary findings, but here are the ones that jumped out at me:
-- The Louisville police used unnecessary force as a matter of course, especially when they felt disrespected. That, of course, is a recipe for tragedy.
-- They also escalated routine encounters unnecessarily, meeting words with punches and punches with near-lethal force (or lethal force).
-- The Louisville police also concentrate their use of force on black residents, who disproportionately face this kind of unnecessary use of force.
-- Not surprisingly, the culture of the force encouraged these issues through lax supervision and even encouragement of these behaviors.
The DOJ is still working on a report addressing issues in the Minneapolis police department. That one should be a doozy!
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As a resident of Louisville, I was sadly not surprised by the DOJ report. Relations between cops and people of color have been bad for a long time. And the police union appears to be most interested in protecting its members no matter what than in finding solutions to bad policing. We have a new mayor and new police chief and there is hope things will improve but so far no evidence of change.
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