Archive for Military and Police
G20-related police complaints on the rise
Posted by: | CommentsComplaints filed against police for their actions during the G20 summit are mounting — but the number is still not as high as expected after a weekend in which more than 1,000 people were arrested.
Between June 27 and July 3, the provincial Office of the Independent Police Review Director received 164 complaints, compared with an average 80 per week, said spokeswoman Rosemary Parker.
The arm’s-length agency created last year to deal with complaints against police doesn’t have “enough resources” to determine what portion of those are related to the G20, Parker said.
However, some people who may be intimidated by the process of lodging a complaint with the provincial office are turning to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. It has received more than 75 complaints from people caught up in mass arrests.
“We are finding that people may be intimidated by the process, by the amount of information they need to provide to make a complaint, and some are worried that if they file a complaint the police will get mad at them,” said Des Rosiers. The group helps individuals file a complaint or get legal advice, she said.
Most complaints lodged with CCLA came after a meeting last Tuesday at Christie Pits Park, where people were urged to take action through legal avenues.
Natalie Logan, 21, was among those attending. She said she was arrested while taking photos at The Esplanade on Saturday evening and detained for 14 hours.
Logan plans to send her complaint to both the complaints office and the civil liberties group. She delayed doing so, she said, because she wanted to ensure her account was as neutral and accurate as possible. “I want to keep this issue upfront and not let it fizzle away with time.”
In the mean time, she urges people to speak out: “It’s important for people to stand up and denounce police misconduct, and filing a complaint is the best way to do so. It’s a service to your community to do so.”
Fort Hood Crisis: mental health and how to help
Posted by: | CommentsThe Fort Hood shooting is one of the largest shooting incidents to take place on a U.S. military installation. As of press time, 13 are dead and dozens are wounded after an Army psychiatrist opened fire on fellow soldiers.
When tragedies like this happen, the mental state of those involved is always of concern. Mental problems can occur for days, months or even years after such an event. Here are some key points to consider if you were or know someone related to the Fort Hood tragedy
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. PTSD can happen if you are in a dire situation of helplessness or inability to help where severe trauma or imminent death can take place. This shooting took place in a processing center where soldiers prepare for deployment. A vast majority was not armed, and many had probably been on combat tours before. To witness a massacre at home and feel helpless despite all the training and combat experience can be traumatic. Many who died were also fellow soldiers and comrades of the witnesses. These experiences and feelings can lead to PTSD symptoms such as restlessness, recurring nightmares, hypervigilance and even substance abuse as a form of self-medication.
Anxiety. The surrounding community members to include military family and civilians working on base might feel a smaller sense of security on base. The reality is that this attack was a very isolated incident and that military installations are generally safe and secure. However, the Fort Hood community could still experience anxiety and fear. This leads to hyper-vigilance and anxiety over anticipating the next attack. These feelings are normal after a tragedy and are warranted. If anxiety symptoms such as extreme worry or panic attacks persist for several weeks after, counseling may be needed to help alleviate symptoms.
How To Help. If you know someone who was related to the Fort Hood tragedy, offer support where possible to help restore a sense of normalcy. However, do not try to force them to talk about what happened; if they are suffering from PTSD, recalling the moment could seem very real in their minds. Encourage them to seek counseling and offer to be an ear for them to express their feelings. Sometimes listening is the best support you can give. If they had children, offer child care to help them get some time alone and away from “crisis mode”. Prepare dinner meals to give them more time to reconnect with their remaining family members. You may noThe new survey on Afghanistan found instances of depression, anxiety and other psychological problems are about the same as they were in 2007. But it also said there is a shortage of mental health workers to help soldiers who need it, partly because of the buildup Obama already started this year with the dispatch of more than 20,000 extra troops.
Efforts already under way to get more health workers to the Afghan war could be hampered somewhat by last week’s shooting. The psychiatrist charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder was slated to go to Afghanistan. Some of the dead and wounded also were to deploy there to bolster psychological services for soldiers.
The new Afghanistan survey found that individual soldier morale was about the same as previous studies, but that “unit morale rates … were significantly lower than in 2005 or 2007,” said an executive summary of the report that was to be explained in a news conference Friday. The units referred to were mostly platoons of roughly a couple dozen people each.
t have been part of the tragedy, but you can help those who were recover from it.
DLNR officer resumes patrol duties after multiple allegations cleared
Posted by: | CommentsA state Department of Land and Natural Resources enforcement officer has been cleared of allegations — from forcing people to strip to pointing a firearm at a child — and is resuming his field patrol duties.
The officer was exoner-ated in investigations by the attorney general’s office and the land department, which issued a news release Friday.
Department Director Laura Thielen said it appeared the complaints were generated by people caught violating the law or who disagreed with state laws.
The investigations found the complaints unsubstantiated or that the accusations were contradicted by records or people at the scene.
According to the Department of Land and Natural Resources, nine complaints about the officer were received in November. The department opened an investigation and asked the attorney general to open a separate criminal investigation. During the investigations, the officer was placed on administrative leave.
In another complaint a mother accused the officer of pointing his gun at her child, who was hunting. Investigators found the officer took out his weapon after he was confronted by a pack of hunting dogs and holstered his weapon after the hunting dogs were secured.
Complaints on UTD police are referred to Collin DA
Posted by: | CommentsThe University of Texas at Dallas has referred complaints about its police department to the Collin County district attorney for possible criminal prosecution, according to UT System officials.
The exact nature of the complaints is unclear. But UT-Dallas, along with the UT System, has been investigating possible misuse of state resources at its police department. So far, two employees – including the former police chief – have resigned, and two others, including the assistant police chief, have been fired. A fifth employee remains on administrative leave, according to UT-Dallas officials.
“The investigation is ongoing in cooperation with all the relevant authorities,” campus spokeswoman Susan Rogers said Monday. She declined to elaborate.The letter also indicates that various complaints about the police department concern “ethical questions, standards of conduct, financial reporting and/or the internal accounting practices used.” It is not clear which concerns were forwarded to the district attorney.
Colleen Ridge, the longtime chief of the UT-Dallas police department, was placed on leave in April, and she resigned in May.
In June, four more employees were put on leave: Assistant Police Chief Debra Marable; Officer Ryan Ballard; Tammy Grigg, a noncommissioned guard; and administrative assistant Mary Spradlin.
This month, Marable and Ballard were fired, and Grigg resigned, UT-Dallas officials said. Spradlin remains on leave.
Complaints about ‘rude’ CISF guards
Posted by: | CommentsMumbai On February 5, Mumbai airport sources alleged that one of the CISF personnel had slapped an airport terminal manager. The CISF did not confirm the incident.
The same day, an airport doctor on duty was stopped at a gate as the CISF guard on duty said he was allowed to enter the airport only through the staff gate. “Should I resort to third-degree methods,” the guard asked the doctor when he said there was an emergency onboard and that was the shortest route. However, the doctor was later allowed to use the gate.
If you are a regular at the airport, these incidents may not surprise you as you may have your own little story of an altercation with the CISF personnel at the airport.
According to airport officials, the facilities department — where all the complaints and passenger feedback are addressed to — receives an average of 10 to 15 complaints on misbehaviour of CISF personnel every month. “Most of these complaints are against rude behaviour,” an official said.
“At times, they behave arrogantly and there is no courtesy shown whatsoever,” said Jeetendra Sharma, 28, a businessman from Pune. Some fliers said they faced such issues in other airports as well.
The Mumbai airport is the busiest in the country and long queues outside the terminal building are a common sight during peak hours. “The passengers do face a lot of trouble owing to enhanced security pressure upon us,” said a CISF personnel who monitors the gate to international terminal.
CISF spokesperson Rohi Katyar said while there could be complaints, the force has been appreciated for its alertness. “While I cannot totally deny isolated cases (of CISF misbehaviour), I can surely say that we do receive a lot of appreciation for our work.”
But there are sections of passengers and even airport staff who swear by the agency’s arrogant behaviour. “They do not listen to anything and do whatever they want to,” said an airport official on condition of anonymity.
How do I complain about a police officer?
Posted by: | Commentswhen making a complaint you should provide as much detail as possible to assist us to respond appropriately to your complaint. The information you should try to include is:
your name and contact details;
a detailed description of the matter being reported;
date, time and location of the incident;
the names of people involved, or who could otherwise assist us to resolve your complaint;
the names (if known) of the police officers involved;
details of any documents, records, witnesses etc, that may assist in the resolution of your complaint;
what you expect the Police Force to do about your concern; and
any other information you consider relevant.
How will we respond to your complaint?
Complaints will usually be managed at your local police station.
Chicago’s top cop defies judges in abuse suit
Posted by: | CommentsChicago’s top police official is defying orders from two federal judges to turn over lists of officers who have repeated complaints filed against them by the public, saying it would unfairly inflict harm on some members of the force.
Turning over the lists would brand officers as “repeaters,” even though complaints against them may not have been resolved, Superintendent Jody Weis told the court in a lawsuit filed by a Chicago woman.
It also “will reduce morale and cause officers to hesitate to act in life and death emergencies, when action is necessary and appropriate to protect the officer, his or her partner and citizens,” Weis said.
Weis sent his statement to U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman and Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez on Friday — one day after the deadline for producing the lists.
The judges ordered him to produce the names in a lawsuit filed by Donna Moore, a Chicago mother who claims an officer abused her 11-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter when arresting them in a playground incident.
Weis “did not make this decision lightly, but he felt very strongly that providing the plaintiff with the lists she requested would severely harm the Chicago police department,” city law department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle said in an e-mail.
“In the short term, we expect that the plaintiff will seek relief in court, most likely by seeking a contempt of court finding,” she said.
The city offered to produce redacted lists or perform any statistical analysis without disclosing names but those suggestions were rejected, Hoyle said.
The city maintains an open complaint system in which all complaints are registered regardless of their validity and the requested lists would contain the names of officers who had been exonerated, Hoyle said.
Moore attorney G. Flint Taylor said he is preparing to ask the court to take action, possibly a fine or other sanctions, to force Weis to turn over the lists.
“I’ve seen the city cover up evidence, I’ve seen the city delay and obstruct but I’ve never in 40 years seen the city willfully defy a court order,” Taylor said.
Valdez ordered the city to produce the lists on Dec. 5. The city objected and took its objection to Gettleman. But he overruled the objection on Jan. 8.
One of the lists would contain the name and star number of each officer with five or more citizen complaints. The other would contain the same information but focus specifically on excessive force complaints. Under the court orders the lists would go back five years.
TORTURE AND THE POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
Posted by: | CommentsTORTURE AND THE POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
My blog today contains content that could be upsetting to you. Before I get to that, let me start out with an order that prohibits taking pictures of coffins of fallen war heroes when they arrive at Dover. You may disagree with me on that, but I think the victims of Bushes fraudulent war deserve better than being returned undercover, so as to disguise that the war, started to remove Hussein because he was a bad man, had REAL LIFE consequences.
Or shall I say REAL deadly consequences. As I showed among others in my blog BUSH WAR GAMES: THE GEORGE Wii MODULE according to witnesses the war was planned nine month before 9/11. Washington Post reports that the Pentagon is rethinking its policy of denying our war the attention they deserve instead of hiding them behind a curtain of silence. Oh, and while we are at it, how about we get the hell out of Iraq. It may be news to the Pentagon but if I recall properly we export billions of our capital into Iraq and that money has no positive impact on our economy whatsoever.. —
Next, you may have read my report on the torture of a Pakistani published on January 28, 2009 entitled CHERTOFF, THE ICEMAN AND THE TORTURE SQUAD The victim was tortured in the ICE office by tasering him until he was unconscious, by dousing him with ice water, and by beating him for days. When he did not admit anything, he was given a blank piece of paper to sign and deported to Pakistan despite the fact that he lived in the States since 1980, and was married to an American citizen and had 2 American citizen children. His wife traveled to Pakistan and now is not allowed to return to the United States even though she was born in the U.S. and is a citizen that is unless she divorces the Pakistani. By now you understand already that this country has been run by criminals for the last 8 years.
I informed Whitehouse counsel Gregg Craig by Certified Letter of the case in order to avoid that my complaint would be intercepted by Bushies still working at the Department of Justice. Needless to say, nothing happened. Apparently Whitehouse legal counsel Craig is not interested in the torture tourism. — But this is not the only case. The British Newspaper Daily Mail reported that the same thing happened to a British student who was brought to Guantanamo by extraordinary rendition, tortured there until he confessed, then found innocent, but was not allowed to return to England despite the fact that his family and his only relatives live in London. British Home Secretary Charles Clarke was informed but refused to intervene — in other words Britain is an accomplice in the American torture schemes. UC Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas published an analysis of publicly available government documents, which concluded that the U.S. Department of State underreported to the United Nations by 50 percent the number of juveniles seized and sent to Guantanamo.
Why children? You will see, they used torture on children to get their fathers to confess. But before I get there, here is one specific problem that may come back to haunt us: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. You may remember that of the 800 or so Gitmo detainees we released about 500, despite torture unable to prove any terrorist activities. According to the Bushies 62 of the released were so pissed off that they joined Al-Qaeda.
You may have heard that the Bush clan used two attorneys to get a home free opinion that torture was legal. One of these guys was already the subject of a demand for investigation by the National Lawyers Guild: John Yoo. Here is an excerpt of an interview that you can find at YouTube and that explains why we brought children to Gitmo. Interviewer: If the president deems that he’s got to torture somebody, including by crushing
the testicles of the person’s child, there is no law that can stop him? Yoos Answer: No treaty. Interviewer: Also no law by Congress — that is what you wrote in your August 2002 memo… Yoos Answer: I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that.
Get this: John Yoo teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.
Author: bvongrabe
Keywords: TORTURE GUANTANAMO GITMO JOHN YOO HASAN ARSANI UCDAVIS UC BERKELEY
Added: February 18, 2009