The report was released yesterday and while the news has been filled with details of the racist emails within the police department, the worst is how the citizenry were used as though the town government were Mafia bosses. Constantly getting shaken down for "revenue". Tony Soprano would be proud. And then jealous wondering how he could cut in on the government's action.
http://news.yahoo.com/fergusons-conspira...00799.html
Police state? More like a mafia state. I doubt this problem is localized to Ferguson. No wonder the cops want military surplus hardware to keep milking the sheep. They like them defenseless. Easier that way.
Government as an evil force, in action.
http://news.yahoo.com/fergusons-conspira...00799.html
Quote:Ferguson officials leeched off the black community as shamelessly as would mafia bosses.
Police officers were judged not only on the number of stops they made, but on the number of citations they issued. "Officers routinely conduct stops that have little relation to public safety and a questionable basis in law," the report states. "Issuing three or four charges in one stop is not uncommon. Officers sometimes write six, eight, or, in at least one instance, fourteen citations for a single encounter." Some officers compete to see who can issue the most citations in a single stop.
In one email, the police chief, who also oversees the municipal court, brags to the city manager about how much revenue it is generating. Ignoring that conflict of interest is a recipe for a justice system that bleeds the powerless of their meager resources.
Ferguson's municipal court judge, Ronald Brockmeyer, who is appointed by the city council, is well aware that his job performance is evaluated partly based on how much revenue he generates from the bench. One 2011 internal report in Ferguson notes that Judge Brockmeyer made a list of “what he has done to help in the areas of court efficiency and revenue.” The next year, a city council member suggested that he should not be reappointed, arguing that he "does not listen to the testimony, does not review the reports or the criminal history of defendants, and doesn’t let all the pertinent witnesses testify before rendering a verdict.”
Police state? More like a mafia state. I doubt this problem is localized to Ferguson. No wonder the cops want military surplus hardware to keep milking the sheep. They like them defenseless. Easier that way.
Government as an evil force, in action.
