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enbycrip · 1 year

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There’s some pretty fucking scary shit coming out from Netpol about how the various UK Police forces are using the particularly fascist police powers the Tories have given them.

So as usual I’m fucking bothering my MP because I’m too fucking ill and disabled to go out to protest most of the time but I can usually manage to write something faintly coherent.

Here’s my letter if you’d like a template to alter to write to yours:

Dear (my MP)

I am one of your constituents and, as I have written to you about previously, I am deeply and seriously concerned about the lack of transparency about the powers now possessed by UK police forces following the introduction of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

Last year the Joint Committee on Human Rights heard evidence about how often police powers were already used to limit or restrict protests under existing legislation and how there is no routine collection of data about when and how these powers are used. The JCHR recommended the creation of a publicly accessible central database, containing details about how, when and in what circumstances the police impose restrictions on rights to freedom of assembly.

This sensible and proportionate recommendation to safeguard the most basic human rights of the uk population has subsequently been ignored. Research by campaigners from Netpol shows continuing difficulties in obtaining even the most basic data from the police under freedom of information legislation. The Metropolitan Police uses these powers more than any other force. The recent and incredibly damning review by Baroness Casey on the culture and standards of behaviour within the Met raises numerous concerns about whether officers in London can be trusted to use these incredibly wide-ranging powers fairly and proportionately.

Despite the absolute essential nature of freedom of assembly and freedom to protest to the functioning of democracy, there is little or no openness or transparency on the way police are using their powers. There is a very serious need for the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) to immediately set up a publicly accessible central database, and, if the police are unwilling to do so, for a Bill to be introduced to compel them to do so.

Please

- read Netpol's briefing explaining why this is important, which you can find at https://netpol.org/police-powers-transparency

- Write to the NPCC to require them to set up a publicly accessible database.

- Introduce questions in Parliament at PM's Question Time regarding the police's lack of cooperation with human rights bodies requesting such vital information.

- Attend, if you are available, the forthcoming online briefing for parliamentarians on this issue on Thursday 27 April at 3.30pm.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many thanks,

(Me)

You can use https://www.writetothem.com to email your MP.

#uk police #uk politics #netpol #jchr #human rights abuses #fuck tories #hold them to account

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violentdevotion · 7 months

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if u see me watchmen oc posting no u didnt

my eyes are closed. so long as you can forgive me in 2 days when i stop posting about watchmen and start incessantly posting about something else

#ameeras.got.mail #martin tag #idk what the something else is yet it comes naturally #i need to finish the movie tonight so that gives me a few more days #if i watched the show it wouldve been a week of watchmen At Least but i watched the first episode and was uncomfortable with the politics #of it (new mutuals so to clarify not in a 'why is there so many black people' wasy as im certsin some freaks felt. i was mostly uncomfy #with how the role of the police regarding the conversation of antiblack racism in the us just was not looked at at all)#like i read somewhere that the head showwriter was a donator to kamila harris' campaign. he had never heard of the tusla massacre until a #few months before the show was created and overall from the first ep i just felt the politics were confused #like it wanted to say White Supremacy Bad but also look at these cops brutalise these people and these people are white supremacists so how #does that make u feel. do u feel sorry for the white supremacist???#also i think the masked cops thing makes no sense the more i think about the source material. watchmen 1985: we dont want vigilantes #because theres no one to hold them accountable. watchmen 2019: you cant see a cops face #ALSO the way the (albeit the first episode so granted i expect it to develop the politics further) locked guns thing was presented was weird #to me. like in conversations regarding police brutality to turn around and show a black man get shot through the chest because he didnt hav #access to his firearm and a white supremacist got him???? its just WEIRD #anyway sorry if you can forgive my changing interests and my dislike of the show (based off of one episode only) i can close me eyes to uroc #😑

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callese · 2 years

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#Jacksonville Mississippi #drinking water #defund the police fund our communities #hold politicians accountable #hold companies accountable for polluting the planet #man made global warming

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digital999placebo · 2 years

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your hetalia twt post where Spain just gets on twt and goes under peoples photos and is like “I’m so horny 😆😆😆😆” with an extreme amount of emojis. Like romano posts a picture after a modeling gig and he retweets it with a picture of his dick hard in his pants

hahsjdkdkd NO BECAUSE HE WOULD DO THAT. And he writes some dumb shit like “dm 4 more 😈” along with the pic n Lovino is like “I’d rather put my balls in a blender n drink it than dm you”

#you understand Spain better than I do #I can’t stop thinking about this #he does that cringe ass shit where he holds his half hard d through his pants too #tweeting from the country of Spain’s official Twitter account #he gets put on ‘horny police’ ‘struggle tweets’ n ‘criminal tweets’ simultaneously #asks #even worse it’s not even Lovino’s own pic #he just retweeted his apparence in vogue men from the vogue Twitter acc #n THATS THE ACC ANTONIO RESPONDS TO

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auressea · 2 years

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#ACAB #racism #bigotry and hate #RCMP crimes #murder #hold police accountable #de-fund the police #RCMP KKKanada #indigenous people #indigenous land #so called 'canada'#beneficiaries of a genocide

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ratscabies · 2 years

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ya girl got scammed by someone on the phone pretending to be her bank

#luckily i called the actual bank like immediately after #and they put holds on my account and told me to go file a police report

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safesthavenoutsideofexistence · 2 months

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I got chills they see signs ima kill them

#chills #this is valid #444 #so thats why police government taxes or whatever the fuck can't hold me accountable or bring inconvenice to me #how satisfying 😊#so thats why i can be as rich as i like to be

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pingnova · 6 months

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I remember visiting my grandparents immediately after leaving the floyd protests and them bursting out "so all white people should be in prison then?" in response to just like. police indiscriminately killing people and racism as a whole. and I was so baffled by that unexpected jump in logic it knocked me out of my trauma episode for a moment like WHAT? where in the world has anyone ever demanded that.

also my way of discovering most people had no idea what was going on despite it being major national news for weeks and everybody was projecting hard-core, especially the racists. it really was a ton of people protesting in the streets and anything else was one off except the police attacking, those were also frequent.

#the police shot me and they were worried that holding murderers accountable was the end of the white race #same story every time with colonialism dont buy the hysteria #personal

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ausetkmt · 8 months

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Communications Director, ACLU of Illinois

Emma Andersson, Deputy Director, Criminal Law Reform Project

March 23, 2021

As protesters filled the streets last summer to decry the tragic killings by police of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others, they brought signs and slogans with them. Poster board and cardboard pieces were lifted into the air with firm demands scrawled across them: “Justice for George,” “#SayHerName,” “I Can’t Breathe,” and “No Justice, No Peace” were familiar phrases bobbing amongst the sea of activists. As the weeks stretched on, the movement catalyzed by the hideous killing of Floyd caught on video continued to grow, with millions of people taking to the streets. Among the signs, a more specific demand began to appear: Abolish qualified immunity.

Once an obscure legal doctrine, qualified immunity is now in the spotlight — and in the crosshairs of many activists and advocates nationwide. For decades, the doctrine has shielded police officers and other government employees from being held responsible for all sorts of malfeasance. Qualified immunity makes it nearly impossible for individuals to sue public officials by requiring proof that they violated “clearly established law.”

In a rare show of solidarity with protesters in cities like Minneapolis, New York, and Portland, courts and state legislatures began to take notice, too — in June, Colorado lawmakers passed a bill that gutted the doctrine’s power in state courts. Multiple lower federal court decisions have also acknowledged how qualified immunity functions more as absolute immunity, and shields police officers from accountability, with even a conservative Supreme Court justice calling the doctrine into question.

The ACLU is a part of the movement to end qualified immunity once and for all, through our work advancing legislation in statehouses, combating the use of the doctrine in court, and advocating for an end to qualified immunity on the federal level.

In the Statehouse

The brunt of law enforcement’s racial terror campaigns is felt by the Black and Brown communities that are forced to deal with outsized police presence every day. The fight to combat that harm is led by a coalition of grasstop groups that organize and advocate in city halls and statehouses across the country. In several states, including Minnesota, the ACLU has fought alongside these groups to advance reform through legislation.

Minnesota: The ACLU of Minnesota is working with the Institute for Justice to develop legislation that would bypass the effect of qualified immunity by making it easier for people to sue government agencies — not just individual officers — in state courts when police violate their rights. Additionally, the ACLU of Minnesota is advocating to reform the laws that allow officers like Derek Chauvin, who killed George Floyd and who had a long history of civilian complaints on his record, to keep committing violence against the community. Currently under Minnesota state law, civilian oversight boards cannot make findings of fact relating to a complaint against a police officer, impose disciplinary sanctions, or make binding recommendations. H.F. 905 would repeal the law that prevents civilian oversight boards from having these powers, allowing local governments to create empowered boards that can take tangible action against officers accused of misconduct. Removing this barrier at the local level is a first step toward independent, community-informed oversight of policing and public safety.

Illinois: After decades of unacceptable police abuse and horrors, current Illinois law still protects out of control officers from being held accountable for violating people’s constitutional rights. These protections do not serve good police officers; they do not serve our communities; they only serve bad apples in Illinois’ police ranks. A recent poll shows that 91 percent of Illinois voters are strongly supportive of legislative efforts that hold police accountable for misconduct and 69 percent of voters agree that reform is necessary now because of racial bias in policing. Reflecting this overwhelming public support, the ACLU of Illinois supports H.B. 1727 — the Bad Apples in Law Enforcement Accountability Act — which removes the protections of qualified immunity in state court so that police officers can be held accountable when they violate someone’s constitutional rights.

New Mexico: New Mexico has one of the highest rates of fatal police shootings in the country. The New Mexico Civil Rights Act creates an avenue for New Mexicans to bring claims for damages in state court against police officers and other public officials who violate the rights guaranteed to them under the New Mexico Constitution. The bill specifically prohibits the use of qualified immunity.

In the Courts

Last term, multiple petitions before the Supreme Court called into question whether qualified immunity should be limited or abolished altogether.

The court grouped three petitions together, including ours inBaxter v. Bracey, and then repeatedly delayed acting on them. It seemed possible that maybe the court was finally going to meaningfully tackle qualified immunity. Then, on June 15, 2020, mere weeks after Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd and millions of people flooded the streets to protest police brutality, the Supreme Court denied the petitions. Justice Thomas was the only one to write anything on the occasion of the court declining all the petitions; he wrote to protest the denial of certiorari in our case, Baxter. For a brief moment it looked like the cross-ideological coalition we are part of might have convinced four justices to take a case. Then the bubble burst.

Five months later, a new glimmer of hope emerged. In November 2020, the court granted, reversed, and remanded a qualified immunity decision out of the Fifth Circuit inTaylor v. Riojas. Trent Taylor was incarcerated in Texas and he spent six days in heinous conditions: The first cell where he was detained was covered almost floor to ceiling in human feces, and he was forced to sleep naked in sewage in the freezing cold in his second cell. The officers responsible for this gross violation were granted qualified immunity by the court, which reasoned that “[t]he law wasn’t clearly established” that “prisoners couldn’t be housed in cells teeming with human waste … for only six days.”

The Supreme Court disagreed: “No reasonable correctional officer could have concluded that, under the extreme circumstances of this case, it was constitutionally permissible to house Taylor in such deplorably unsanitary conditions for such an extended period of time.” As law professor Joanna Schwartz explains, Hope v. Pelzer is the only other case in which “the Supreme Court ruled that qualified immunity could be denied in the absence of a prior court opinion on point … Since 2002, the court had only paid lip service to the notion that qualified immunity can be defeated without a prior case on point.”

Only a few months later, the court did it again inMcCoy v. Alamu. McCoy was incarcerated in Texas when an officer attacked him for no reason. The Fifth Circuit granted qualified immunity based on its understanding that the defense is especially difficult to overcome in excessive force cases. But the Supreme Court granted McCoy’s petition, vacated the Fifth Circuit’s opinion, and remanded the case to the lower court with instructions to reconsider the case in light of Taylor.

Taylor and McCoy have ignited a debate among qualified immunity nerds (that’s a compliment), as Adam Liptak has reported. Professor Schwartz argues that “the court is indicating a change” and “appears to be sending a message that lower courts can deny qualified immunity for clear misconduct, even without a case with identical facts.” Jay Schweikert at the CATO Institute, with whom we have worked closely on qualified immunity reform efforts, believes “the Supreme Court has decided to forgo reconsideration of the doctrine in favor of small doctrinal clarifications.” Anya Bidwell and Patrick Jaicomo at the Institute for Justice are the most optimistic, characterizing these as the “early days in the reconsideration — if not ultimate rejection — of the court-created doctrine of qualified immunity.”

We’re very glad to see that there are cracks developing in the shield of qualified immunity. But these cracks are not nearly enough. The ACLU will continue to fight in court to see the doctrine weakened and ultimately dismantled, as we did recently in yet another horrific Fifth Circuit case.

One ongoing case that highlights both the absurdity of qualified immunity and the extent to which officials may go under its protection is Black Lives Matter D.C. v. Trump, the ACLU-DC’s class action lawsuit challenging the vicious and unprovoked attack on civil rights demonstrators in Lafayette Square last June. The defendants in the case were sued under Section 1983 and Bivens, which is another type of case where officers can use qualified immunity. From the Park Police officer who beat a journalist as she was escaping the protest, all the way to former Attorney General Bill Barr, they have all invoked qualified immunity to avoid liability for their misconduct.

In moving to dismiss our case, defendants have argued that their conduct cannot be “clearly established” as unconstitutional — thus defendants are shielded by qualified immunity — unless plaintiffs can point to a specific case involving “a presidential appearance, an alleged dispersal order emanating from the Attorney General himself, a city-wide curfew and emergency order” and more. They are wrong, but under qualified immunity, we can’t be sure a federal court will see it our way and refuse to countenance brutality with impunity.

In Congress

Qualified immunity reform is needed to ensure that police can be held accountable after they violate the constitution. But we also need reform on the front end that prevents police brutality before it happens. An important first step is to set clear national standards that require all police departments to adhere to common-sense limitations on use of force and best practices.

President Biden has already committed to the creation of a national, model use-of-force standard as one of his racial equity priorities. The ACLU is currently lobbying Congress to pass legislation that ensures this model standard truly conforms to the best practices in the field by embracing the principles set forth in the PEACE Act, which would permit officers to use force only when necessary, proportional, and as a last resort, after less extreme alternatives are exhausted. That standard would not only apply to federal agents, it would provide incentives to state and local police departments to adopt the rule.

Ayanna Pressley’s End Qualified Immunity Act would end qualified immunity for state and local actors.

Qualified immunity fosters an environment where government agents, including police, may feel empowered to violate people’s rights with the knowledge they will face few consequences. This erodes relationships with the community and diminishes the system’s credibility. Under qualified immunity, lives can be taken with impunity. It’s past time to heed the protesters’ signs, and end this doctrine once and for all.

#Ending Qualified Immunity Once and For All is the Next Step in Holding Police Accountable #end qualified immunity

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silicacid · 4 months

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I see the post about my cousin’s death has a community note citing the Hamburg police’s tweet calling it fake news. I would like to provide more insight to address these claims.

Mohammad is dead and the police are holding his body. They recently informed his sister that Mohammad’s death at 21 years old was of ‘natural causes’, an unbelievably suspicious determination. A plethora of journalists are contacting his immediate family, but the family is fearful that upon speaking up about his death, the police won’t send back his body. They are grieving heavily and for now just want him back home for a proper burial.

On the details of his death: His friends from university are the ones who relayed to the family that he was murdered, with two bullets to the head. I have been trying to contact these friends to get their full accounts, and if anyone can help me find them please let me know. His immediate family are aware that he was posting pro-Palestine content on his facebook, which is private at the moment, and they believe it led to his murder.

About my account of his death: I received a text on Wednesday morning that my cousin Mohammad was shot and killed in Germany for posting about Gaza. I was later informed he died the night before on Tuesday. Although I was not particularly close to him, I would see him at family gatherings growing up. I am only speaking on what I have been told from family.

I understand why this story is controversial- because of the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, the greater problem of Islamophobia in the world, and now a magnifying glass on racism and potential corruption in Germany. Criticize the politics all you want, but to deny my cousin’s death is wrong.

As I said before, all I am seeking is a candid investigation. If it truly was a hate crime as my family suspects, I will fight to great lengths for justice. If an honest investigation reveals otherwise, I will be the first to tell that truth. To those who are showing support, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Please keep sharing and apply pressure to the Hamburg police to release his body to our family. — noor (@/hiimnoor) December 24, 2023

#mohammad barakat #palestine #jordan #germany #free palestine #from the river to the sea palestine will be free

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