Connecticut signs sweeping reform bills
Posted by Thomas Bush / August 4, 2020Connecticut has become the most recent political entity to enact police reform. The new law, signed by Gov. Ned Lamont late last week, bans chokeholds, limits police departments’ ability to withhold disciplinary records, and sets up an independent police watchdog.
Seattle has also joined the growing movement to defund the police. City leaders have supported a plan to defund the police by 50%. Seattle’s largest labor coalition has booted the Seattle police union from its ranks, citing the force’s unwillingness to confront internal racism.
After more than a month of protests, cities around the nation are starting to make changes to their police forces. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio just announced that he would cut a billion dollars from the police budget.
There’s growing backlash over the brutal treatment protestors are experiencing at the hands of the police. The LAPD is being sued for shooting a homeless, wheelchair-bound man in the face with rubber bullets (warning: the image is quite shocking). Denver Police, meanwhile, are coming under fire for shooting pepper balls (whatever that is) at a car (driven by a black man), despite his yelled warnings that his wife, inside the car, was pregnant.
The 75-year-old Buffalo man knocked down by police has a fractured skull and cannot walk. Police knocked him to the ground during a Black Lives Matter protest, leading to a head injury.
Police, unprovoked, savagely beat unarmed protestors in Philadelphia. Both Swiss and Australian journalists have been attacked by police, and the police union refuses to identify the cops in the Australian case.
Critics of police brutality are increasingly placing the blame with police unions, who go through tremendous lengths to protect any and all police officers, no matter the circumstances. While unions are often good for protecting the workforce from exploitation, they’re not as beneficial when the protect murderers.
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