ACLU: Ferguson police report on Michael Brown's death violates law

[Punkingal]

This is no surprise....but it is outrageous.

snip......

A police report on the death of Michael Brown is missing key information and violates Missouri open records laws, an ACLU attorney told Yahoo News on Friday.

The two-page document, which the Ferguson Police Department released only after pressure from journalists and civil liberties advocates, is largely redacted or left blank. The most egregious omissions are the victim’s name and a description of the offense – the fatal shooting of Brown.

“They are breaking the law,” said Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Missouri.

The report, obtained by Yahoo News through the Missouri Sunshine Law, lists only the date, time and location. Fields for the type of incident, name of the complainant, and a summary of the circumstances are redacted.



http://news.yahoo.com/ferguson-releases-incomplete-police-report-on-death-of-michael-brown-221844542.html

[grasswire]

1. today is a good day to join the ACLU

www.aclu.org

[HooptieWagon]

2. drip, drip, drip...

...the conspiracy gets exposed. Whos heading it up? Police Chief? DA? City Attorney? Eventually they will be discovered.

[gvstn]

5. I'm hoping the Justice Department goes after FPD.

They will have a hard time going after the shooting officer himself on civil rights charges but the FPD has shown itself to be worthy of a full Justice Department investigation. I really hope Holder goes after them full throttle and actually prosecutes and dissolves them.

[freshwest]

7. DOJ is there now and gathering up enough violations to take over their PD. Meanwhile, they are

registering the people of Ferguson to vote these crooks out of office. Keep on tossing them until they get it right. Antonio French would be a good mayor to replace the one there now and get rid of that KKK wannabe or not, police chief. Vote them all out of office.

[FormerOstrich]

3. What is the protocol?

I have a checklist for deploying products and/or upgrades. It seems to me police would have a similar policy for police related shootings.

I would think they would have standard steps consistently applied. Just a few that come to mind: a) Immediately contact designated entity to investigate b) Have officer checked by EMT c) Keep officer isolated from the scene d) Seal Police vehicle e) Take officers clothes into evidence f) Drug test officer

If the officer didn't want to comply then the are terminated instead of paid leave.

Ideally, what is released to the public and when would be built into the process. Therefore, each case is transparent and consistent.

Do the journalists ask for the policy and then evaluate how closely it was followed?

[uponit7771]

4. +1

[Flatulo]

6. I heard today that the protocol for a police shooting is for the officer to SHUT UP and not file

a report.

Heaven forbid his or her report is in contradiction with the known facts.

[Punkingal]

8. You're being sarcastic, right?

nt

[Flatulo]

9. No, I'm not. I think I heard it on CNN. They don't want the officer to implicate himself or herself

in any way, so they just clam up.