PoliceOne.com
Retired police officer and former SWAT team member at the La Crosse, Wisconsin Police Department, where he served for more than three decades; author of several books, including SWAT: Blue Knights in Black Armor and Destiny of Heroes,” he writes for PoliceOne.com
Backlash in Blue Eric Garner in New York, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Tamir Rice in Cleveland are just a few of the African Americans whose deaths at the hands of police last year sparked a nationwide protest movement. The unrest and anger over police brutality and racial profiling has recently spilled over into threats and violent attacks by individuals against police on the beat -- including the shooting deaths of two Brooklyn officers three weeks ago. Once on the defensive, now police across the country are aggressively speaking out, in pro-police rallies, a drastic slowdown in New York in arrests, and a social media campaign, Blue Lives Matter , in support of law enforcement. What will this new phase in the national debate over race and policing bring?
Police and Race in America Last Friday in Beverly Hills, California, TV producer Charles Belk—a 51-year old black man—was on his way to a pre-Emmy awards party. When he left a restaurant, he was stopped by police, handcuffed and taken to jail with bail sent at $100,000. After 6 hours, police reviewed videotape that proved Belk had not robbed a bank and released him 10 minutes later. Belk says it was all because he was “tall, bald, male and black.” Will policing ever be colorblind?
Cop or Soldier? Hard to Tell "War Comes Home": That’s what the ACLU called its report this week about the increasing militarization of police forces in the United States. According to the ACLU, SWAT-style raids are on the rise, even though they’re often unnecessary, and sometimes turn peaceful situations into violent ones. And these ultra-armed teams are often subsidized with grants from the Department of Homeland Security.
President Trump: US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord Trump says he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris.
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
