Category: GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

Does the Austin Police Department Use Quotas? If So, That’s Worrying
While working in a coffee shop recently, I overheard two men from the Austin Police Department in a job evaluation talk. Inappropriate to conduct those in public, but worse was that they were discussing productivity numbers. It seems the Austin police uses quotas. If so, that's bad news ... Read More

Shaun King: Real Justice PAC Supports Honest DAs, Fights Police Brutality
Police shootings and other deadly police brutality occur too often, and often the District Attorney lets it slide. These are the DAs many police groups back in elections. The Real Justice PAC supports their opponents. Shaun King shows what we're up against ... Read More

An FBI Investigation of Sexual Assault Accusations Against Brett Kavanaugh?
When the judge is the accused, suddenly an FBI investigation is useless for finding facts related to accusations of sexual assault ... Read More

Black Incarceration: War on Crime, RDL, Racial Profiling, Stop and Frisk
Mass black incarceration is in large part due to racial profiling--starting with President Johnson's War on Crime, then the RDL and stop and frisk policies in NYC. ... Read More

Segregation Policies, Redlining and the Present Racial Housing Disparity
Segregation policies, racial covenants and racially biased redlining led to the current racially divided housing situation, the racial housing disparity and the racial asset disparity ... Read More

ICE and the Justice Department: Covert Government Centralization?
American fascism is likely to come via gradual government centralization. ICE wants to join the intelligence community, so it can get more info to use against immigrants ... Read More

Angola: From Slave Trader Isaac Franklin to Prison Plantation
The 13th Amendment Loophole Kept Slavery Alive. The 1800s interstate slave trade between the slave-breeding states and the Deep South was lucrative. Isaac Franklin became one of the South's richest landowners. One plantation in Louisiana was Angola ... Read More

Government Violence, Militias and Intimidation in American History
Trump's calls for aggression seen in America's long history of government violence, government-sanctioned violence and intimidation by militias, KKK and other hate groups ... Read More

Authoritarianism: Respect for Authority — the President, Teachers, Police
The president's almost a god, you hand your kids' lives over to the schools, and you live in a police state. As a country, America has a serious case of authoritarianism. ... Read More

Dutch Police Training: From Authoritarianism to Deescalation Strategies
In World War Two, the Netherlands felt what authoritarianism does. Respect for authority declined after the war. Dutch police training adapted, and focused on social skills like deescalation techniques ... Read More

Patriotism: NFL Players Kneeling for National Anthem Have American Values
What Is Patriotism? Do the NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem have American Values? Or are they disrespecting the troops? Are they patriots or traitors? ... Read More

Fans of SRO Ben Fields vs. Lawsuits for Excessive Force and Racial Profiling
SRO Ben Fields had lawsuits filed against him, for excessive force and for racial profiling. Yet the police and the school were okay with letting him loose on kids, and so are many others ... Read More

Spring Valley High School Student Violently Arrested by SRO Ben Fields
An SRO -- School Resources Officer -- at Spring Valley High School (S.C.) violently slammed a black female student to the floor and then threw her several feet toward the door. She was arrested for using her cell phone in class. ... Read More

Better Firearms Training, Less Lethal Force, Fewer Lethal Police Shootings
During police firearms training, why not teach officers to aim for the shoulder or leg? There would be decidedly fewer lethal police shootings if cops didn't have the license to use lethal force every time they felt threatened ... Read More

How to Get Independent Quality Police Training and Police Accountability
For police accountability and guaranteed quality, police training must take place on a state level, independent of the culture within individual police forces ... Read More

1984: Dutch Police Training Adjusts to Society’s Anti-Authoritarianism
Dutch police training was revised when the police realized the need to adapt to post-war society's anti-authoritarianism. They shifted from rigidly applying the law to focusing on social skills such as deescalation strategies. ... Read More

Police Shootings, Militarization and the Absence of the NRA in Ferguson MO
Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Demonstrations against police violence have been going on since, which the police have met with tanks and army gear ... Read More

Authoritarianism: Response to Police Misconduct? A Slap on the Wrist
Authoritarianism: when police misconduct is accepted. A cop trips up students on a soccer field for kicks; a woman is thrown to the ground, handcuffed and crammed into a police car by four officers, for jaywalking. In what other profession could anyone behave that way? ... Read More

Are You a U.S. Citizen?: Crossing Internal Checkpoints While Alien
How to deal with American authoritarianism when crossing internal checkpoints. What do you answer when asked, "Are you a U.S. Citizen?" What do you answer when you're a resident alien? ... Read More

Reese Witherspoon v. Police: America Is a Police State and Nobody Minds
Last week Reese Witherspoon's husband was arrested for driving drunk. But Reese was arrested, too. Why? She got out of the car! Reese v. the police -- guess who won? America is a police state and nobody seems to notice, or mind ... Read More