Bad cops I have known

The worst? I just saw the tip of the iceberg.

Hobbs, NM police chief Tony Knott, a native son, was fired as chief just five years after getting the job. It was presumably over using city records against a court special master after the city was already facing legal troubles for alleged racial harassment after trouble at a Hobbs football game in 1996.

But, there's this.

And this.

And this, indirectly.

I had become editor of a weekly paper there shortly after Knott was named chief.

About three months later, at a civic event, he said "You checked out OK" or something similar.

Turns out he'd called the police chief in the town of my previous paper and done a chief-to-chief background check. Bad enough 20-plus years ago; disgusting and appalling in light of cops shooting at media today.

He had other bad cops on the force besides the ones mentioned a couple of times.

No. 2 would be a now-former Falls County, Texas, constable, Richard Aleman. He hired as a deputy constable a cop who not once, but twice, in neighboring counties shot people while on the job. No-billed in both cases due to DAs who cite qualified immunity to get a grand jury to no-bill, rather than indict, a ham sandwich.

And, he was Hispanic, which on paper should have made him more sensitive to such issues, but didn't. I don't know if this was why he was voted out of office, wholly or in part, but he needed to be gone.

I also knew many other bad cops in Falls County, Texas.

Current Lott chief Hamilton, who five years ago had the brilliant idea of getting a drug dog in a town of less than 1,000 (but with a 3-cop force) and doing rent-a-dog to other jurisdictions making drug-related traffic stops or holds. Less than a month later, SCOTUS said you can't be detained indefinitely on a traffic stop without probable cause. I have little doubt Chief Hamilton was hoping for a cut of asset seizure forfeiture money because of his dog doing the work.

Former Rosebud chief Quincy Lee, arrested for indecency with a child.

Late Marlin police chief Darrell Allen, killed while doing off-duty security work, also allegedly was "off duty" when on duty; I was told (albeit by the Hispanic constable above) that he had a key to a room at one of Marlin's hotels, kept reserved for him for any daytime "assignations." That said, other people besides said constable had heard of this claim.

A successor of his, Nathan Sodek, who committed suicide when faced with a sexual assault investigation. I knew him as a Rosebud cop.

A then-captain on Marlin PD, Hector Gonzalez, arrested for sexual assault for, like Sodek, extorting an arrestee.

Sodek was white. Gonzalez Hispanic. The other three were/are black.

Notice the abuse of power with all of them, outside of racial issues. Notice that, except Hamilton with his drug dog, it was sex-related abuse of power in all cases.

A lot of troubled small towns take who they can as a chief. Even if the chief isn't crap, he (or occasionally she, mayhaps) scrambles for who they can find on officers. (I haven't listed all the bad cops in Marlin, or from what I can remember, bad cop instances in Hobbs.)

Small counties can have politicized sheriff's elections. I had forgotten all about bad cop by election, Falls County Sheriff Ricky Scaman — who was a bad cop before that as a TABC agent. I was refreshed on remembering that by doing a blog search for old posts that included the odious Ty Clevenger.

Update, Sept. 27: Scaman was arrested last week on an UNshocking sexual assault charge. He's also been sued twice over sexual harassment. Showing the incestuousness of Falls County politics, both DA Jody Gilliam, loathsome in other ways herself, and 82nd District Court Judge Rusty Russ, recused themselves from the criminal case on conflicts of interest. Yeah, something like this is often a pro forma. But, sometimes, it's more than that.

I haven't even toughed school district police departments and chiefs, either. Many of them are a license for grifting by the chief, who may do other work while being a school district chief cop.

Texas Progressives and the usual stuff

The political hot stove league is heating up for the duopoly and third parties as well, just in time for summer weather.

The Texas Progressives have got you covered on all of it, so dig in.

Texas politics

Off the Kuff analyzes the latest polls of Texas.

Texas Democrats resoundingly lost their lawsuit trying to restore straight ticket voting. Kuff admits he expected the loss in question, but still appears to favor straight ticket voting in his last line.

The Supremes rejected Texas Dems' request to force vote-by-mail-for-all (NOT related to Medicare for All) for the July 14 primary runoffs. The big picture, for the general election, remains open.

Dikeman vs Hughs, the suit over whether third-party nominees should have to pay duopoly party filing fees in Texas, related to HB 2504, went before a Texas appeals court. Here's video of the hearing. Here's the big ticket background.

G. Elliott Morris throws a little bit of cold water on the positive polls for Joe Biden in Texas.

Noah Horwitz shares a term paper he once wrote about Greg Abbott.

Houston

In Houston, DosCentavos is not a fan of the latest attempt at police reform by committee.

Transform Houston outlines their objections to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner's task force on police reform.

San Antonio

Mario Bravo calls on elected officials to lead on police reform.

Texana

Doug Swanson's "Cult of Glory," in part because D Magazine ran an excerpt, got the statue of Texas Ranger Jay Banks removed from in front of Love Field. Here's my reviews (five-star!) on Goodreads and Amazon.

In the wake of Tiger King, the Observer looks at the burgeoning world of exotic animal parks in Texas.

National

SocraticGadfly looks at Howie Hawkins clinching the Green Party nomination and the various haters who still don't like it or him.

Election law guru Rick Hasen wants a 28th Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote. As one wag on Ballot Access News asked rhetorically, "Doesn't the 15th Amendment do that?" As I told him on Twitter, ignoring duopoly-party efforts to suppress third-party ballot access makes his column unacceptable.

Shit. Hickenlooper vs Gardiner. The Colorado Green Party has to be bigger than the Texas one, and you all can't get anybody to run for the Senate? (Pictured at left: The North LoDo-distanced "protest area" at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, when John Hickenlooper was mayor. Part of his hatred of the freedom of assembly clause of the First Amendment, matched only by his love of fracking when Colorado gov. I was there on my last day of a vacation the Sunday before the start of DNC week.)

Egberto Willies thinks pergressuves should line up to vote for Status Quo Joe Biden, then demand single-payer. And, people like him as pundits are why Dems laugh out the Overton Window. It's also why he's back off my blogroll.

Goodbye and farewell to Zionist Eliot Engel.

G. Elliott Morris throws a little bit of cold water on the positive polls for Joe Biden in Texas. I threw more cold water on that nationally last week.

 Josh Berthume worries that the seven hours following the end of voting on the East Coast will be the biggest danger to democracy America has seen.

Paradise in Hell has had it with Mike Pence.

Meet the Black officer who was part of the George Floyd arrest (and is charged) and the adoptive White mom of him and two other Black children.

In what sounds like a sick joke, the Navajo Nation is reportedly buying Remington.

The rich get richer, indeed, in part because the IRS audits them less and less.

Global

Meet DDoS, the group replacing Wikileaks, and between reporting leaks from Russia, refusing to fuel the Seth Rich conspiracy theory, and deliberately avoiding the Cult of Julian, seeming to do a better job than Assange.

Feel different? NAFTA was replaced by NAFTA 2.0, called YMCA or the USMCA or something by Trump, yesterday. DeSmog Blog reports on the oil and gas angle. Remember how Andrés Manuel López Obrador, aka AMLO, was going to be a breath of fresh air as Mexico's new leftist-leaning president? Per DSB, he ain't.

TX Progressives look at police politicization, school finance, nature, more

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes everyone enjoyed the three day weekend provided by the labor movement, and fights for its future, as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff reported on a busy week at the State Supreme Court, which heard the school finance appeal as well as a case involving the city's of Houston's anti-pollution ordinances.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos and contributing to Daily Kos is disgusted by the right wing's politicization of a horrible tragedy in Houston. Harris Co. (Houston) TX Needs a New Sheriff.

SocraticGadfly, having edited photos from last month, shares National Parks' geographic beauty, wildlife, history and astrophotography, in photos, narrative and photo album links from his most recent vacation.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme thinks Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau should be ashamed of herself for inviting death threats and hate on the TV station that broadcast video of her deputies shooting a man.  Now we're supposed to trust her investigation of the incident?

PDiddie at Brains and Eggs finished posting about Houston's citywide races on the November ballot with At Large 4, At Large 5, and the controller's contest.

Looking for a balance in a complicated world, Neil at All People Have Value visited the place were Deputy Darren Goforth was killed in Harris County and the location in Prairie View of the incident that led to the police death of Sandra Bland. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Scott Braddock explains how Texas Republicans are sending mixed signals to business interests.

Better Texas Blog is ready for a school finance solution.

TransGriot gives you some reasons to fight for the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.

The Texas Election Law Blog fears that with redistricting still unsettled, the 2016 primaries could be a mess.

Newsdesk looks back at the Austin smoking ban, ten years after its implementation.

Grits for Breakfast, in an apparent exclusive, takes an in-depth look at some new issues in forensic DNA evaluation.

Fascist Dyke Motors starts a rumor she's having an affair with Huma Abedin. Katy, did you get any secret emails out of it?

#TwinPeaksShooting — not a set-up

Waco Tribune staff photo— Rod Aydelotte

A McLennan County sheriff’s deputy stands guard near a group
of bikers in the parking lot of Twin Peaks Restaurant just after
a deadly shootout between rival biker gangs Sunday.
Authorities arrested about 170 suspects on a charge
of engaging in organized criminal activity.

In my initial post about the fatal shooting of nine bikers at Waco's Twin Peaks Restaurant on May 17, part of my focus was on racist or racist-leaning whites who have, in previous weeks and months, called black protesters in Baltimore and Ferguson "thugs" and worse.

Well, it's become apparent that would-be racists aren't the only people drawing the wrong lessons from Twin Peaks.

One is people who are bikers themselves, whether full-blown gang bikers or not.

The second is people who are some type of hardcore libertarians, to the point of being anti-police, or anti-authoritarian in general. A common thread for many of them is that this was a set-up by police, a deliberate "turkey shoot."

Wrong. It was between two outlaw biker gangs, one of which, the Bandidos, is notorious enough to have its own Wiki page. Police had been checking on the biker recruitment situation at the restaurant for months.

UPDATE: It WAS apparently a setup after all. Details here.

Here's the reality, per Waco Tribune reports, which are mirrored by local TV, etc.

The Bandidos, a self-avowedly outlaw and even 1-percenter biker gang serious enough to have its own Wiki page, and the Cossacks, had both been recruiting for members during get-togethers at Twin Peaks for months. Waco PD says that management of the Twin Peaks remained uncooperative in addressing this.

Plus, they weren't just armed with clubs and brass knuckles.

They weren't armed with just that plus "a few guns."

The police haul of weaponry, so far, includes an AK-47, body armor and more. The total includes more than 500 weapons.

Here's a good profile of the Bandidos in the Washington Post, which links to an even better, longer Texas Monthly piece by Skip Hollandsworth eight years ago.

Second, the cops botched nothing. The gang members had started the fight inside, then taken it outside, and refused to lay down arms. Less than 20 cops versus the 170 arrested plus the 9 dead? When bikers refused to stop, and the fight, with guns, was outside, police did what they needed to do.

Indeed, Texas DPS had warned on May 1 about possible Bandido-Cossack violence. The FBI reportedly also had information about a possible "war" between the two gangs. (All 9 dead were from the two.)

The bulletin said the FBI had received information that Bandidos had discussed "going to war with Cossacks." It also outlined several recent incidents between the two groups, including one instance in March when about 10 Cossacks forced a Bandido to pull over along Interstate 35 near Waco and attacked him with "chains, batons and metal pipes before stealing his motorcycle," WFAA reported. 

 That same day, a group of Bandidos confronted a Cossack member fueling up at a truck stop in Palo Pinto County, west of Fort Worth, the bulletin said. When the Cossack member refused to remove the Texas patch from his vest, the Bandidos hit him in the head with a hammer and stole it. 

 There are other documented instances of violence between the groups. 

 Last March, two members of the Bandidos were indicted in connection with the stabbing of two Cossacks at an Abilene steakhouse in March 2014. 

 And in December, three Bandidos were arrested for a shooting at a Fort Worth motorcycle bar that left one dead and two others wounded. Fort Worth police said the victims were known members of a criminal motorcycle gang. 

Add in that the Cossacks reportedly have some type of affiliation with Hell's Angels, and you have a recipe for ongoing trouble.

The Cossacks are not members of a confederation of biker gangs and groups that had a scheduled meeting at Twin Peaks on Sunday. The Cossacks apparently tried to crash the meeting, and somebody ran over somebody else's foot in the parking lot.

The officers believed to have actually fired at the bikers are being investigated, as is normal. Because of the biker worries, in what's not normal, but understandable, they're staying on duty during the investigation.

Understandable that they fired, as police report bikers had 30 or so guns. And, the nine killed, by whoever's guns, have now been identified.

If this had really been a "turkey shoot," don't you think Waco PD would have had 40-50 officers, not 15 or so? And some of them with much heavier firepower than they actually had?

As for alleged "transparancy" problems??

As soon as verifiable information has come in, like how many officers fired their guns, Waco PD has reported it.

Speaking of, here's the Waco Trib's latest update.

#Ferguson note to #SJW folks W: Was Michael Brown maybe not so "innocent"?

Michael Brown / Photo via St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The latest on Michael Brown indicates he may NOT have been in a "surrender position." We'll see if the third autopsy, when released, has anything to say about this. That said, while not excusing past racial problems in Ferguson, it's a reminder not to let facts be overrun by a "narrative."

Yes, there are "bad cops." I've written about a lesser-level bad cop at one of my newspapers. And, I've blogged about grand juries being too credulous about cops, and being coached on that by prosecutors.

There are also criminals. And, there are people who, even though not pre-meditated criminals, who are "intoxicated" or "under the influence," whether alcohol, cocaine, or even ... yes, even marijuana, who attack cops. I've written about them, too.

Part 1: He was shot at least once at close range, it seems:

The St. Louis medical examiner, Dr. Michael Graham, who is not part of the official investigation, reviewed the autopsy report for the newspaper. He said Tuesday that it “does support that there was a significant altercation at the car.” 

Graham said the examination indicated a shot traveled from the tip of Brown’s right thumb toward his wrist. The official report notes an absence of stippling, powder burns around a wound that indicate a shot fired at relatively short range. 

But Graham said, “Sometimes when it’s really close, such as within an inch or so, there is no stipple, just smoke.” 

The report on a supplemental microscopic exam of tissue from the thumb wound showed foreign matter “consistent with products that are discharged from the barrel of a firearm.”

Note that this is for St. Louis metro in its entirety. This is not a city of Ferguson medical examiner. It's the same type of ME as in other large metropolitan areas.

Second, note that his review is being further reviewed from outside, and one part of the "narrative," as I called it above, may be wrong.

Dr. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist in San Francisco, said the autopsy “supports the fact that this guy is reaching for the gun, if he has gunpowder particulate material in the wound.” She added, “If he has his hand near the gun when it goes off, he’s going for the officer’s gun.” 

Sources told the Post-Dispatch that Brown’s blood had been found on Wilson’s gun.
Melinek also said the autopsy did not support witnesses who have claimed Brown was shot while running away from Wilson, or with his hands up. 

She said Brown was facing Wilson when Brown took a shot to the forehead, two shots to the chest and a shot to the upper right arm. The wound to the top of Brown’s head would indicate he was falling forward or in a lunging position toward the shooter; the shot was instantly fatal. 

A sixth shot that hit the forearm traveled from the back of the arm to the inner arm, which means Brown’s palms could not have been facing Wilson, as some witnesses have said, Melinek said. That trajectory shows Brown probably was not taking a standard surrender position with arms above the shoulders and palms out when he was hit, she said.

Unfortunately, the narrative has long been crafted. And, it's not easy to "uncraft" even for people who are partially open-minded.

I've blogged before about how neither "side" is totally right and how there's more than two "sides" here anyway.

For the two most prominent sides, though?

For people who want to believe in narratives rather than facts, like "Social Justice Warriors" of the second hashtag on one side, this news will be filed under "the authorities said" or similar and ignored.

For those people, I'd suggest looking at Dr. Melinik's CV. She's consulted for both plaintiffs and defense in both criminal and civil cases. And, she started her training in NYC at the time of 9/11. She's unbiased and expert.

Unfortunately, judging by Facebook reaction to just the top, Post-Dispatch link, the SJW side of the "narrative" isn't changing. I've had a friend of a friend flip me off, and an actual friend, not just a "Facebook friend," bring out "Reefer Madness" stereotypes as a reason to claim marijuana doesn't matter.

On the other hand, there are people from full-out racists to "no cop is a bad cop" types who will now use these findings to support their narratives, which are also wrong.

For those people, I'd suggest ...

A mirror. The city of Ferguson's racism-tinted history is well documented.

And, whichever side ultimately comes closer to the truth with their narrative, I'd suggest ...

You stop gloating. You only become more a part of the problem.

Behind all of this is a good argument for police to wear body-mounted video cameras. When they are being good cops, it protects them, too.

Where's President Obama on #Ferguson?

On the racial tensions in Ferguson, Missouri, since the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, while I agree in part with friend Perry that we need national-level white liberals, or "liberals," like Hillary Clinton, to speak up, we need more than that.

Having Anonymous in Ferguson is bad
enough; we sure don't need Adbusters
or other Black Bloc types

We need the leadership from "Dear Leader," too. (That said, I know Perry was speaking rhetorically, having long-ago gotten past the "Politics of Hope," in ignoring Obama.)

He could say "eff it" on angry black worries or whatever, and say:

"Dear Americans: While large parts of our population are largely past racial issues, I have been wrong in talking about a post-racial America."

On the other hand, issues of race overlap with, but only partially, with issues of socioeconomic class. And, Ferguson, Missouri, isn't his upper-income South Side Chicago enclave next to the University of Chicago.

So, yes, Obama could say that. Will he?

Like about all post-WWII presidents, not just the first black one, I am sure he likes playing in the sandbox of foreign policy more than addressing grubby domestic affairs.

So, he could say what I pointed out. But, he almost certainly won't. Instead, he'll stay confined to comments like "heartbreaking," or now, from blissful Martha's Vineyard, asking for "reflection."

Tying issues together, here we have him speaking about both Iraq and Ferguson:



Well, at least we know where he's at geographically.

At the same time, should he decide to speak further than this, I hope he waits until investigations are done. Probably neither the police nor people from the neighborhood are telling the complete, correct story. And, he noted that police brutality should not be an excuse for indiscriminate looting.

Nor should "Anonymous" use occasions like this for disseminating publicly available police scanner transcripts while claiming that it's hacked Ferguson and/or St. Louis County Police Department websites. We also don't need Anonymous claiming it's identified the police officer who is the alleged shooter when, at least for public consumption, those entities say said officer doesn't even work there.

We do not need such grandstanding. We do need Ferguson to make its best effort to honor state of Missouri sunshine laws, though. Or to face legal action if it does not. Recalcitrance merely fans flames.

Fortunately, along that line, President Obama "called out" Ferguson as a city that arrests media members in an attempt at "prior restraint" (pun intended) and intimidation. That said, Dear Leader is being a hypocrite on his stance on reporters, as CJR reminds us.

That said, between blogging about grand juries giving too much credence to police testimony, and recently writing about racial and socioeconomic bias by a policeman in my day job, I have a bit of familiarity with these issues.

On Ferguson? It's had a reputation, deserved, for problems like this, since I lived in St. Louis 20-30 years ago. The current events, with a white power structure pretending to be "open" but really not, is nothing new. Therefore, even if neither the police/city officials "side" nor the black residents' "side" has the full and complete story, the city of Ferguson is probably telling a lot less of the truth.

That said, if the city of Ferguson doesn't have single-member council districts, having a white council majority is in part the fault of black residents of the city, if they've not filed a Voting Rights Act suit.

That said, the council does have individual wards; I don't know if the wards are voted on by the full city or not, but it does have individual, geographically-based wards. And, in a suburb that's less than 25,000 and two-thirds black, it would be awfully hard to gerrymander three wards.

A Kossack has noted that municipal elections are in April. And?

Yes, minorities tend to turn out in lesser numbers for elections that aren't on the primary or general election cycle. They tend to turn out less on non-Presidential years, for that matter. Texas Hispanics are Example No. 1.

That said, there's nothing "racist" about holding municipal and school board elections on special dates. And, ultimately, it's the responsibility of minority activists, or whatever, to boost minority turnout. Yes, Missouri does not have regular early voting; however, either from the legislature or state initiative, voters may get to change that this fall, whether for a narrow six-day period or a longer six-week one.

Yes, per Slate, in places like Ferguson, black turnout may be lower because there, blacks are younger and more transient than whites. BUT, nationally, in presidential elections, black turnout has caught up to white.

So, while an entrenched white power structure is the primary problem, minority apathy is an issue too. And, even if the entrenched power structure has caused feelings of disempowerment that lead to more apathy, there's only one way to fight that. And that's by fighting that.

Also contra the Kossack, the demographic change rate is slower today than it was pre-2000. Of course, that gets back to what I said about 20-30 years ago.

As for Brown's shooting? One thing that cuts down on such incidents in general is cop-car video cameras. Police who are halfway rogue think twice about their actions if they know they're on Candid Camera.

Not directly related, but ... "race" is somewhat a fluid concept, at least for people talking to the Census Bureau.

As for Ferguson being armed with grenade launchers and other military hardware? I knew the answer before stories like this. It's ones of thousands of cities that attempts to justify the need for such paraphernalia based on the "War on Drugs." How do those cities pay for it? Asset seizures from people arrested, but not yet convicted, in the "War on Drugs," at least in the past, though now, Dear Leader's Department of Justice is giving them grant money.  And with the neoliberalization of our military, we're selling surplus shite like it's going out of style. Maybe we need a Brady Bill for police departments.

As part of that military fire sale plus Justice Department grants? No training from the feds on how to use this stuff, unless it's training from the Obama Administration for domestic police to act like the US military abroad toward the media:

Journalists have also been caught up by the police use of weapons. On Monday night, the police aimed directly at a group of photographers and a reporter as they covered the growing protest. One photographer was hit with a rubber bullet. A police officer on Wednesday tossed a tear-gas canister directly at a television crew for Al Jazeera.

Beyond the hardware, there's the issue of who's training U.S. police departments to use this stuff. Namely, the trainers are the same Israeli security forces kneecapping people in Gaza. The same Israeli security forces with whom Clinton and Obama, no less than Bush fils, has been in bed with.

BMW cop cars?

Well, at least a BMW engine and drive train, the same engine that's in the diesel version of the X5 SUV. Specs? 0-60 in 6.5 secs, top end of 150 mph and more. BMW isn't building the chassis; that's a custom company.

If you're a gearhead, especially if you're a gearhead worried about police pursuit or wondering if you can someday order a civilian version, read the details.

Rogue cops not limited to US – look at UK

Supposedly, British cops have been arresting people just to add their DNA to national database. Orwell is turning over in his grave.

Ted Rall – Draft, not hire, cops

Ted Rall, in his post-Henry Louis Gates column, argues for draftee cops, not hired ones, using the same arguments many of us do for a draftee military.

And, they’re some damned good arguments in both cases. We might weed out the type of people who glorify in brutality. Or the appearance of that. You know, the type of local police who are “jackbooted,” whether active in thuggery or not.

The real Skip Gates lesson

Reason magazine has it right; let’s stop giving police officers blank checks in the name of “trust” to be authoritarians.

Cops and courts + prostitutes + johns = stereotypical results

From the D.C. Madam to the revelations of a New York City call girl plying her trade to bankers (probably the same ones now plying THEIR trade to TARP), it never fails.

The women get arrested, and the men – especially if they’ve got big dinero/fame/recognition – walk away.

Your local police are unscientific

At least when it comes to forensics. That’s the conclusion of an strongly worded report by no less than the National Academy of Science — a report which the Department of Justice had tried to kill or delay, “rightfully” worried about the findings.

It’s not the first time the National Academy has fou8nd fault with police “science” at either the local, state or federal level. A 2004 report repudiated the F.B.I. technique of matching the chemical signatures of lead in bullets at a crime scene to similar bullets possessed by a suspect.

The nonbinding report says Congress should create a federal agency to guarantee the independence of the field.

That said, although the report is nonbinding, it’s a huge tool for criminal defense attorneys; Congress is going to have to adopt the basic findings of the report.