In this Op Ed I Fat Bastardo am not going to speculate on whether police officer Darren Wilson gunned down Michael Brown in cold blood or if the shooting and killing of Michael Brown was justified. Unlike most political pundits I am going to wait for the fact to come out and when the facts come out only then will I Fat Bastardo opine.
It's no secret Sheriff, Police and state law enforcement police for profit and in many cases what they do is downright theft. Police in NYC for example admit and even complain about quotas designed to increase revenue. I many cases the cop with the most arrests gets bonus and promotions.
The following article by Ryan Gorman shows indisputable evidence that the Ferguson police force is policing for profit.
By RYAN GORMAN
Outstanding warrants outnumber residents in Ferguson, Missouri nearly two-to-one, a new report has revealed.
The St. Louis suburb, where unarmed black teen Michael Brown was shot dead August 9 by white police officer Darren Wilson, has just over 21,000 residents and more than 40,000 arrest warrants, according to ArchCity Defenders, a local advocacy group.
The town's aggressive policing strategies and difficult to navigate court system generated $2,635,400 in fine revenue for the small town. Court fines are Ferguson's second-largest source of revenue, according to the Daily Beast.
"The City of Ferguson has more warrants than residents," reads a letter from ArchCity Defenders to Ferguson mayor James Knowles. "Most of these warrants are from unpaid fines for nonviolent offenses.
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Outstanding warrants nearly outnumber Ferguson residents by a ratio of two-to-one.
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"For many young people, these warrants act as a barrier to employment and housing. Just as importantly, the psychological trauma of spending each day subject to arrest and incarceration is debilitating."
The large number of warrants is unusual for a town of its size, but not in that area.
The neighboring town of Pine Lawn, which is 96 percent black, has a population of 3,275 and a staggering 23,000 outstanding warrants, according to the Riverfront Times.
ArchCity Defenders believes this method of policing is predatory and leading to a rift between citizens and authorities. The group wants Ferguson to forgive most fines and warrants, it wrote in the letter.
Ferguson residents are not alone in feeling police forces discriminate against minorities, according to a recentPew Research Institute Poll.
Only 37 percent of whites in the U.S. feel police treat minorities fairly, Pew found, and a meager 10 percent of blacks agree.
Traffic stop statistics in Ferguson – blacks comprise 71 percent of the population, but 87.3 percent of stops, according to ArchCity Defenders – bare these numbers out.
About 41 percent of whites feel police use the right amount of force for each situation, according to the poll. Only six percent of blacks feel similarly.
Despite this difference of opinion of police shared by the two groups, 69 percent of the public feel blacks and whites get along "very well" or "pretty well," according to the poll.
ArchCity Defenders plans to make their case during an upcoming Ferguson city council meeting, where five of the six council members are white.
Fat Bastardo's Op Ed:
It is quite telling that only 41% of Whites believe cops don't use excessive force. Even Whites who used to be treated respectfully by the police now see that the police are out of control. It is also telling that only 37% if Whites feel that police treat minorities fairly.
The fact that most Americans of all racial and ethnic back grounds feel that Blacks and White get along very well or pretty well spells even more trouble for the police because Whites are finding out what Blacks already knew, AMERICAN POLICE ARE OUT OF CONTROL!
What's the answer to our Gestapo style police force? Some people would like to give cops a taste of their own medicine and while I can understand that sentiment I think that is it the wrong approach or perhaps a premature approach. The fact is we need a police force but we don't need the police force that we currently have. We need professional police officers run by a moral command and control structure. As bad as the cops in blue appear the really bad cops are their bosses. Good cops rarely move up the ranks in many departments.
I say, make nice with the cops on the street. You know the old saying, keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer. Maybe by turning the other cheek, at least for a while, we can get the working cops back on the side of the citizens and turn them against their bosses.
Will this strategy work with all departments like LAPD, NYPD or the notorious Chicago PD? Probably not but it would be worth a try. Not all cops are bad and the number of rotten apples probably varies from department to department and some departments probably cannot be rehabilitated but perhaps many can. Perhaps not.
