Free Republic

Views of the police reaction to protests in Ferguson, Mo. have become more favorable since last week, but views on the subject have become even more racially polarized Rallies and vigils are planned around the country for this weekend and Monday to mark the funeral of Michael Brown, the Missouri teenager who was shot to death on August 10 by a police officer. His death sparked weeks of unrest in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, centering on accusations of racial discrimination by the almost totally white police force against a majority black population. The police department’s reaction to the...

Minnesota law enforcement agencies have nearly $10 million worth of military surplus equipment, an amount that has worried some people who say police have strayed from their civilian roots. Through a program to transfer surplus military gear to local law enforcement agencies, Minnesota departments have received about 3,300 weapons, 40 tactical vehicles and 40 pairs of night-vision goggles. The U.S. Defense Department's 1033 program has been around for decades, though it's been in the spotlight after racially charged unrest in Ferguson, Mo., after a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager. The initial police reaction to the protests...

I am still not very confident about what really happened regarding the shooting of Mr. Brown on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. For all I know, the events went down somewhat along the lines as the police say. But Ferguson’s police department has been so incompetent about investigating, collating and releasing information that might make their public stance easier, one has to wonder about everything they say. How the police handled the protests and journalists — and looters — was even worse. Indeed, cracking down on peaceful protests, harassing and locking up journalists, while letting looters run wild, shows a...

“Cartwright began yelling as loud as he could, and almost immediately a large crowd began forming around us […] Within minutes a crowd of at least 50 bystanders surrounded us and Det. Wormington called for additional Officers while I held down Cartwright.”Police officers were arresting bad boy Ricky Cartwright who had ridden his bicycle through a stop sign while texting, allegedly with a beer in his hand. They tased him in the back. He was now screaming in pain in the middle of the road, attracting an angry crowd which, according to Detective Siracuse’s police report, kept “drawing closer and...

A police chief in a small Texas town was shot multiple times during a traffic stop Saturday afternoon and later died, authorities said. Michael Pimentel served in Elmendorf, a suburb southeast of San Antonio with about 1,500 residents. According to Rosanne Hughes, spokeswoman of the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, Pimentel pulled over a vehicle in a residential area. There was a struggle and Pimentel was shot, Hughes said. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office took 24-year-old Joshua Manuel Lopez into custody and he will face charges of capital murder of a police officer, said Hughes.

BREAKING NEWS: President Obama orders a review of federal programs and funding that allow state and local law-enforcement agencies to buy military equipment, a senior administration official confirms to Fox News. The review will include whether the programs are appropriate; whether such police agencies are getting the necessary training and guidance to use the equipment and whether the federal government is sufficiently auditing the use of the equipment obtained through federal programs and funding.

Suspect Jaime Lewis When you are an elderly woman, you are likely to have more leeway in how you interact with criminals.  It is partly a matter of being more vulnerable; and partly a matter of the statistics reinforcing the stereotype that women are less aggressive than men.  In Georgia, a 73-Year-Old woman shot an intruder through her bedroom door, after he had broken into the house.  The woman heard the doorbell ring a little before 10 pm, but did not answer.  She saw a truck parked in the middle of an intersection, and called 911.   From ajc.com:...

Yesterday’s “Nationwide Day of Rage for Ferguson,” demonstrations that were planned to protest police violence against blacks for the 51 cities across the U.S., was a bust. Is it possible that most blacks believe that violent crime, not the threat of police, is the real danger that threatens black Americans, particularly young black males? The high point of protests was a mere 40 people showing up outside the White House. Some 20 to 30 people showed up in cities such as Boston, Denver, and Des Moines. In places such as St. Louis and Oakland, virtually no one seemed to turn...

As if the happenings in Ferguson, Missouri aren’t bad enough, now we have the situation in Salt Lake City, Utah with which to contend. As the whole country knows, for the last week or so, large groups of blacks have taken to the streets of Ferguson in order to express their outrage over the shooting death of a young black man, 18 year-old Michael Brown, by a white 28 year-old police officer, Darren Wilson. Mayhem and violence have been the order of the day. President Obama has weighed in on the issue, describing it as “heartbreaking.” Attorney General Eric Holder...

Among the demands of the "protesters" in Ferguson is that the investigation and prosecution of police officer Darren Wilson be taken away from St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch. McCulloch is biased, it is said. How so? In 1964, his father, a St. Louis police officer, was shot to death by an African-American. Moreover, McCulloch comes from a family of cops. He wanted to be a police officer himself, but when cancer cost him a leg as a kid, he became a prosecutor. Yet, in 23 years, McCulloch has convicted many cops of many crimes, and has said that if...

The violence that turns a small-town protest into a fiery national spectacle like the one that has played out this month in Missouri is often unwittingly provoked by police, according to researchers at UC Berkeley. The research team, which studied clashes between police and activists during the Occupy movement three years ago, found that protests tend to turn violent when officers use aggressive tactics, such as approaching demonstrators in riot gear or lining up in military-like formations.

Continued violence in Ferguson, Missouri, brings back memories of the urban riots of the 1960s. As it happens, I had a front-row seat back then, as an intern in the office of Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh during the six-day riot in July 1967. At one point I was alone in the so-called command center with Cavanagh and Michigan Gov. George Romney. Forty-three people died in that riot. Many were bystanders who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. One was a deaf man who did not heed a policeman's command, which he couldn't hear. Sadly, nearly...

There is a lot of anger in Ferguson, Missouri, and much of it understandable. But there is also a lot of spectacle and drama. "Ferguson" has become a rallying cry for hucksters, a ratings point for the media, and a point of argument for friends on social media. What Ferguson really is, is a deeply wounded city in Missouri. Its citizens are divided; its trust in authority is collapsed; it has one less 18-year-old and an injured policeman. There are no winners in Ferguson, just a lot of tears and heartache. Most Americans tend to trust and support their police....

A lot of racism exists in the United States, but not what you think: it's anti-white racism among a great number of blacks, and among Leftist media and politicians of every colour. What on 9 August happened in Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis, Missouri, where black delinquent Michael Brown was shot dead by police officer Darren Wilson, is like a rerun of the Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman case of 2012. What the Left, the media and the race industry - the people that author Tammy Bruce calls "Misery Merchants", as they have made a career out of...

Any more good ideas? No, I can't travel out there myself. But if I could... 1)THUG TRIES TO KILL COP 2)THUG IS SHOT DEADWHICH PART OF "DUH!!" DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?   "GENTLE GIANTS" DON'T SMASH PEOPLE'S FACES BACK INTO THEIR SKULLS How many mulligans did the villagers allow the "Boy Who Cried Wolf"? 3? How many have Jesse and Al been allowed already? How many MORE mulligans does America owe to Race Pimps before we're allowed to ignore them?   PROBLEM: White Cop Shoots Violent Thug in Self-Defense SOLUTION: Nonstop Pillaging & Burning Until Cop is Lynched Why Do You...

~ snip ~ Despite the move, however, Kirby insisted the Defense Department was not "militarizing" police departments and that the program as a whole was "useful" and "served a purpose." "Let’s be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater here," Kirby said.

Police in St. Louis have released a graphic video showing officers shooting a knife-wielding man Tuesday after he reportedly ignored orders to drop the weapon. The video, taken from a cell phone of a witness, shows officers firing several shots at 25-year-old Kajieme Powell, killing him instantly. Police fired a dozen shots overall, according to NYMag.com. Snip KMOX AM/1120 in St. Louis said police released more details about the shooting on Wednesday. According to KMOX, Police Chief Sam Dotson said officers were called on Tuesday after Powell walked into a convenience store, took two energy drinks, exited the store without...

A police officer who pointed an assault rifle at people in Ferguson on Tuesday night and threatened to kill them has been relieved of duty and suspended indefinitely, authorities said. A video documenting the encounter (warning: graphic language) that made the rounds Wednesday showed the officer — who was pointing his rifle in the direction of the camera — telling protesters, “I will [expletive] kill you.” When asked for his name, the officer responded with, “Go [expletive] yourself.”

In a single column, a veteran police officer has catapulted himself into the national debate over the death of unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. “I’m a cop. If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t challenge me,” the Washington Post headline blares. The piece was written by Sunil Dutta, a 17-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department. “Even though it might sound harsh and impolitic, here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you,” he wrote. Dutta...

With all the world's eyes firmly focused on Ferguson, Missouri; we thought the following clip from a Swiss soccer match would provide some context for what is possible... As Martin Armstrong explains, When a fan ran out onto a soccer field, several policeman tackle him and start beating him with clubs. This conduct outraged the fans so much, people from the stands stormed onto the field and chased down the police for their inappropriate actions.