dagblog - Comments for "Fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. prompts heated overnight protests in West Philly"

Cops Release Body Cam Footage

artappraiser — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 04:51:25 +0000

In reply to Fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. prompts heated overnight protests in West Philly

Cops Release Body Cam Footage Showing Police Shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. https://t.co/VALBkgMDtA pic.twitter.com/Ir6eqkNKRs
— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) November 5, 2020

Also the audios of the 911 calls, which are equally interesting.

People feel harassed by law

rmrd0000 — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 00:12:39 +0000

In reply to People who feel that way need

People feel harassed by law enforcement that is not BULLSHIT.

This includes the feelings of law abiding citizens.

The majority of people stopped by NYPD's Stop and Frisk were not criminals.

Police departments have to take responsibility for reform.

Police chiefs should put cameras and tasers into their budgets.

Edit to add:

Distrust of the police was there before COVID

Police abuse was there before COVID

Police leadership and unions blocking progress was there before COVID

People who feel that way need

artappraiser — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 20:50:12 +0000

In reply to Police work fo the community

People who feel that way need to run and vote for local officials who want to accomplish that. It has very little to do with national politicians. All this national protest glumping all these together as if it could be solved nationally is nonsense.

Right now with this Philadelphia instance you have plenty of evidence how local it is. All police there do not have tasers or taser training because allocated money was diverted. Now the City Council says they are happy to do it. Similar problems with getting correct training and help with mentally ill.

Each city is different with different police issues.

Many of the cities having the most trouble have black people running the P.D. and the city departments that handle how they work and who they work with.

It's becoming clearer all the time that tying this thing about unnecessary police violence into national systemic racism is basically delusional BULLSHIT. The problem is that local people have been elected who can't handle reforming the bad police departments they have, which usually include black police.

Racial profiling is one thing, violent treatment of possible perps is another completely. Two separate things.

There are a few issues that can be handled nationally, like police immunity. But not many. It's almost all local. Advocacy for change has to be local, if you're not happy with your police you have to educate the voters about who is in charge of them and how it can be changed.

And realize that even a much improved situation will not prevent all bad outcomes from police activity, that will happen as surely as auto accidents happen. The unfortunate victims will have to sue.

Where Fed politicians have to help now BECAUSE OF COVID is with funds to rescue state and local budgets as most are bankrupt from Covid. THEN If citizens want the priority of those funds to go to reforming police or having more or less police, over other things, they have to vote in local politicians that will do that

No reason to expect national level attention to help a fucking thing in Chicago,for example, hasn't to date for many years. Chicagoans and Philadelphians clearly need to change their local politicians!

Feds can't help beyond attorney general sending FBI or prosecuting after the fact. Too much national focus on problems that can't be solved nationally. Once again, police violence is not the same thing as racial profiling, no reason racial profiling has to end in violence, is apples and oranges problem.

AS OBAMA SAID OCT. 14 From police reform... the officials with the most power to change the issues we care about in our communities are often found at the state and local levels....

Police work fo the community

rmrd0000 — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 20:08:40 +0000

In reply to Fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. prompts heated overnight protests in West Philly

Police work for the community

Many Blacks in the community have been harassed by police

Amid nationwide protests against racial bias in law enforcement and beyond, a new KFF poll finds that the vast majority (71%) of Black Americans say they’ve experienced some form of racial discrimination or mistreatment during their lifetimes – including nearly half (48%) who say at one point that they felt their life was in danger because of their race.

When asked about interactions with law enforcement during their lifetimes, 4 in 10 (41%) Black Americans say they have been stopped or detained by police because of their race, and 1 in 5 Black adults (21%), including 3 in 10 Black men, say they have been a victim of police violence. A third as many Hispanics (8%) and relatively few Whites (3%) report such negative interactions with police over their lifetimes

https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/press-release/poll-7-in-10-black-americans-say-they-have-experienced-incidents-of-discrimination-or-police-mistreatment-in-lifetime-including-nearly-half-who-felt-lives-were-in-danger/

Police have to reform and step up their game.

One officer who was on the team that murdered Breonna Taylor is suing her boyfriend for mental distress.

Wallace’s family has

ocean-kat — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 18:50:47 +0000

In reply to City Council looks to boost

Wallace’s family has reportedly said he had a bipolar disorder and they called 911 that day for an ambulance — not a police response.

Just to point out the obvious, what did the family think paramedics in that ambulance were going to do with a man with a knife? Paramedics have limited medical training to stabilize a person in an emergency situation enough to rush him to the hospital for treatment by more well trained medical professionals, doctors and nurses. They can stop the bleeding, perform cpr, remove obstructions from the airway etc. When confronted by a man with a knife the first thing they're going to do is call the police. What ever the family wanted the person taking the 911 call would have been trained to send the police the moment some one mentioned the person had a knife.

Note there is a video of

artappraiser — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 17:19:21 +0000

In reply to two different cops opinions

Note there is a video of Officer Arkham speaking to Yahoo at the link, I can't find a code to embed it. He's tweeted a lot more on topic since the original tweet, here is his feed:

https://twitter.com/CopWithAttitude

He's proudly conservative and has strong opinions, but he is not as obstreperous as he makes himself sound-the self-description is rather facetious-he just talks straight; here are examples of three other related tweets:

Lesson learned this week:

Don’t try to use logic and reasoning against the BLM/DefundThePolice crowd.

They’ll purposely misinterpret what you say to them and then cry victimhood.

Oh, and black folk can be racist towards other black folk. Please don’t tell my family...
— Zeek Arkham (Trunalimunumaprzure) (@CopWithAttitude) October 30, 2020

What makes you think that cops only kill? Because that’s all the media chooses to show? I’ve de-escalated more situations than I can count. I’ve been able to talk down all sorts of potentially violent situations. That’s not newsworthy, though.

Expand your mind, dude... https://t.co/Adt0XoWIFX
— Zeek Arkham (Trunalimunumaprzure) (@CopWithAttitude) October 30, 2020

The problem with this way of thinking is that in 2020, “white supremacy” isn’t anywhere on the list of dangerous things that I have to look out for.

I live in a predominantly white neighborhood. I go back and forth to the store. I even jog at night when I can. https://t.co/kVg2ewLU4Q
— Zeek Arkham (Trunalimunumaprzure) (@CopWithAttitude) October 29, 2020

two different cops opinions

artappraiser — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 16:58:44 +0000

In reply to Fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. prompts heated overnight protests in West Philly

two different black cops' opinions on what happened and on "blue lives matter"

‘You change police culture, you change American culture’: Police officers choose sides on killing of Walter Wallace Jr.

By Marquise Francis National Reporter & Producer @ Sports.Yahoo.com, Oct. 31

[....] Inadequate mental health intervention has been shown to lead to fatal law enforcement encounters. Adults with severe mental illness account for one in four people killed in police encounters, according to a 2015 report from the Treatment Advocacy Center, a national nonprofit organization based in Arlington, Va. Individuals with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed in an encounter with law enforcement than other civilians. Meanwhile, individuals with serious mental illness account for only 3 percent to 5 percent of violent acts, according to the Health and Human Services Department. [....]

In reaction to the video and the fallout from the shooting, Zeek Arkham, a Black police officer in New York state, shared his views on the encounter in a tweet that has since gone viral.

“I’m Black. I’m a cop. I’ve also had hours of de-escalation training,” he tweeted on Tuesday. “With that said: No matter your color, mental status, prior condition, or mood, if you run at me with a knife, I will shoot you. Many times. The end. #Philadelphia #phillyriots #BlueLivesMatter.”

In a follow-up interview with Yahoo News, Arkham, 42, expanded on his point of view.

“When he's swinging the knife around, there's no way to de-escalate something like that,” he said. “If he's already decided he's going to be violent, he's already decided that something's going to happen. I don't know of any way you can talk someone down from that, aside from giving them multiple commands to drop their weapons. ... I believe the cops did everything they could.”

While many Twitter users agreed with Arkham, others criticized the idea that nothing else could have been done.

Another Black officer from a police department in Southern California, who agreed to speak to Yahoo News on condition of anonymity, said the video of the encounter showed that the officers put their profession ahead of their humanity, adding, “Too many cops get that mixed up.”

“When I saw the video and I heard about it, it was absolutely disturbing to me,” the veteran officer told Yahoo News. “As cops, we don’t like to Monday night quarterback other cops … [but] what I saw on video was a whole bunch of cops who didn’t know what they were doing and didn’t have a plan. They’re running around the car like it was a merry-go-round. In my 14 years, you don’t go into a situation like this without a plan.”

The officer added that a proper plan would have involved at least a taser, or another form of nonlethal weapon, which the officers in Philadelphia did not have. He also emphasized the need for more mental health services, which are severely underfunded nationwide.

“Monday through Friday, we are the mental health services, the homeless outreach services and more,” the officer said. “It’s a lot.”

Crystal Navarro, the clinical director at Rise Above the Disorder, a non-profit dedicated to making mental health care accessible to everyone, says that, “Fear can be a product of ignorance”.

“About 1 in 5 people in the U.S. struggle with mental illness,” Navarro, 25, told Yahoo News. “Our first responders, especially police officers, need to be trained by mental health professionals to understand those with mental illness, [including education] about different disorders, the symptoms, and how to best approach and treat people with each.”

“Let's say I'm having a panic attack,” Navarro continued. “I might be curled up and swaying, heart racing, my vision is magnified. I can't manage to think straight and I am completely vulnerable with fear and unable to use my words. ... I wouldn't be able to tell them to put the gun down. The next thing I could do is motion or try to stop them myself. Given my inability to speak or think straight, I might unintentionally rush at the person out of desperation. The person holding the gun may have never experienced a panic attack. They might not even know what that is. They just think I'm rushing over to take the gun and attack them and release fire.”

Arkham added that he understands the need to de-escalate tense situations and to increase resources available to the police, including mental health professionals. In his view, however, the central issue for a police officer is making it back home safely. In other words, it’s about “blue lives matter,” he said, in reference to the motto that police advocates have adapted from the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Blue lives matter isn't just about skin color,” said Arkham. “It's about what's in your heart. I've had partners of many different races, backgrounds, religions, creeds and orientations. We make an oath to each other that we're both going home. You watch your partner's back, and he watches yours.”

Arkham said he believes Black lives matter, but he argues that this needs to include all Black lives: Not only those killed by law enforcement, but also those who are living disadvantaged lives, many of whom he says he tries to help.

Burkhalter, the former NYPD detective, sees the “blue lives matter” moniker as a distraction.

“There would be no one saying blue lives matter or all lives matter had not there not been a Black Lives Matter movement,” he said. “So it's somewhat of an antagonistic phrase. Of course blue lives matter. I was a cop for 20 years. The lives of police officers matter. I don't believe that is at issue. And I don't believe that you have a large swath of the public who are going around thinking that the lives of police do not matter. The issue here is the proliferation of killings of Black persons at the hands of law enforcement.”

He added. “The slogan Black Lives Matter, the movement, was meant to bring attention to that particular aspect. There is no deficit of sympathy in this country for police officers who are being harmed — and rightly so.”

The officer from Southern California shared these sentiments.

“I don’t believe in blue lives matter,” the officer said. “Blue lives came after Black Lives Matter. It’s a story of inclusion not exclusion. … To other cops, we’re all just cops. But things are different for me outside of this uniform.”

The officer said that once he leaves work and changes out of his uniform, he’s subject to the same kind of profiling as any other Black man, if he’s stopped by another police officer.

“That’s my problem with blue lives matter,” he said. “When you are off, you don’t have the complexion to get a break. Ultimately, you change police culture, you change American culture.”

City Council looks to boost

artappraiser — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 03:32:30 +0000

In reply to Fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. prompts heated overnight protests in West Philly

City Council looks to boost police funding to purchase Tasers

By Michael D’Onofrio, Philly Tribune Staff Writer, Oct 28, 2020, with photo showing press conference

(I find it unfortunate to have to note this but necessary considering the circumstances: The City Council president and his colleagues presenting the conference in the photo are all black.)

Philadelphia legislators pledged to boost police department funding to ensure every officer is equipped with a Taser following the fatal police shooting of a Black man this week.

On Wednesday, Council President Darrell Clarke committed to immediately transferring as much as $9.5 million for the purchase of the non-lethal weapons, although the exact amount needed to outfit the entire force with Tasers remained unclear.

“If the police say we need some additional money to accelerate the purchase of Tasers, that’s a simple ask,” Clarke said while flanked by a handful of members of City Council outside City Hall.

Clarke said the Council would act if the Kenney administration proposed the funding request.

His comments came three days after the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. in the 6100 block of Locust Street in West Philadelphia. Two officers shot Wallace, who was wielding a knife, after a dispute. The shooting was captured on video and widely shared on social media.

Wallace’s family has reportedly said he had a bipolar disorder and they called 911 that day for an ambulance — not a police response.

The fatal police shooting ignited protests, as well as looting and rioting in the city. Philadelphia officials imposed a 9 p.m. curfew on Wednesday as the civil unrest was expected to continue.

Outlaw has said the officers involved in the shooting did not have Tasers, which deliver an electric shock that temporarily stuns the target.

Approximately a third of the police force of 2,301 officers have completed proper training to carry Tasers and are required to carry them on duty, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The city allotted $4.5 million for the police department this year to purchase Tasers, among other things. Police officials aim to have a Taser on every officer’s belt within five years, which is part of a $14 million proposed spending plan during that time for the non-lethal weapons and other things.

Clarke said the 17-member City Council would accelerate that five-year funding plan.

The city faced a $750 million budget deficit going into this fiscal year, which began July 1. Deep budget cuts hit nearly all departments.

Protests in Philadelphia for police reforms following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis pushed city leaders to reduce the police department’s budget, too. But while the police department saw its budget dip $14 million to $727 million, the cuts amounted to diverting the funding to other city departments.

Council members also urged voters to pass ballot questions on the Nov. 3 ballot that would put in place a series of police reforms, but did not introduce any new proposals following the most recent police killing of a Black man.

The ballot questions ask voters whether to:

Create an office of the victim advocate in the city.

Ban the unconstitutional use of stop-and-frisk by police.

Form a new citizen police oversight commission.

[....]

National Guard arrives as

artappraiser — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 03:24:25 +0000

In reply to Fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. prompts heated overnight protests in West Philly

National Guard arrives as city renews 9 p.m. curfew on Friday

By Michael D’Onofrio, Philly Tribune Staff Writer, 9 hrs ago, with photo

The National Guard was deployed in Philadelphia Friday. Gov. Tom Wolf authorized the deployment on Tuesday.

Since Monday, the city has arrested 212 individuals and issued 18 code violation notices, according to the Kenney administration. The city has reported 443 looting incidents, 22 ATM explosions during that time, and damage to 18 law enforcement vehicles.

Fifty-eight police officers have been injured, of which one remains hospitalized.

The Kenney administration put in place a citywide curfew on Wednesday but did not impose one on Thursday.

In a joint statement from Kenney, city District Attorney Larry Krasner, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw and the Wallace family:

This is a developing story. Check back with phillytrib.com for updates.

The looting affected over 200

artappraiser — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 03:21:21 +0000

In reply to Fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. prompts heated overnight protests in West Philly

The looting affected over 200 businesses, including ones owned by blacks:

Businesses left reeling after being targeted by looters

Ayana Jones Philly Tribune Staff Writer, 17 hrs ago, with photos

Jameelah Scurry is left feeling violated after looters stole all the merchandise from her clothing and accessories shop.

The owner of La’vanter Boutique at 1334 W. Venango St. watched in disbelief as security video footage showed looters ransacking her business on Tuesday.

Her boutique joins a score of small businesses and big-box stores that were looted throughout Philadelphia during the unrest sparked by the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. on Monday in West Philadelphia.

“When I got to the store it was completely empty,” said Scurry, who marked her second year in business. “I couldn’t believe it. I just bust out crying.”

This marked the second time her boutique was burglarized, with the earlier incident occurring in August. Like other entrepreneurs she was also dealing with the pandemic’s economic impact.

“We were just recovering from all of that, so this was devastating,” Scurry said.

Scurry quit her job to become a business owner. She and her brother sold the family house and invested their personal savings into launching the boutique two years ago.

“There just were a lot of sacrifices and people don’t understand that,” Scurry said. “We’re not successful yet. We’re still struggling entrepreneurs. We’re not a big corporation. We’re not millionaires. We can’t bounce back from certain things.”

People have stepped up to support Scurry’s GoFundMe campaign to assist in rebuilding the business.

“It’s a blessing,” she said of the donations and kind words from community members.

Meanwhile the owners of Hafiz Sisters Beauty Supply at 59 W. Chelten Ave. are trying to figure out their next move after their shop was looted early Wednesday morning.

The security gate at the storefront was dislodged and then looters smashed the front glass window. Petty cash and beauty supplies were taken from the store.

“We are blessed that they didn’t come with shopping bags, like they did other stores and take everything,” said Zainab Hafiz-Moore, a co-owner of beauty supply store.

“We can come back God willing,” she said.

Hafiz-Moore along with her sister, Atiyya Flournoy, and their husbands, Jerrell Flournoy and Troy Moore, opened the shop on Chelten Avenue last year, becoming one of Philadelphia’s few Black-owned beauty supply owners.

“We’re kind of in a stall pattern because we are trying to determine what our next move is and continue doing business under these circumstances,” said Troy Moore, a co-owner of Hafiz Sisters.

“The sad thing about this whole thing is that unfortunately everyone is pressured because of COVID, and they just took some opportunities to do some things maliciously. Unfortunately we have that 10% that always is looking for a reason to do some damage where they can get away with it and this may fall under that umbrella.”

Troy Moore said the looting and vandalism of local commercial corridors and shopping centers will have a ripple impact on the affected communities.

“It affects all of us, especially the seniors that look to have that comfort to walk to their neighborhood shopping centers, as opposed to having to drive (a) distance,” he said.

According to a Philadelphia Department of Commerce spokesperson, more than 200 businesses were burglarized Tuesday night [....]