Darren Wilson first PD so bad it had to disband. Lost his job, headed to Ferguson

[bigtree]

Carol Leonnig ‏@CarolLeonnig 20m
Our @washingtonpost team's latest.Darren Wilson first PD so bad it had to disband. Lost his job, headed to Ferguson http://buff.ly/1mBNP5q

____ After going through the police academy, Wilson landed a job in 2009 as a rookie officer in Jennings, a small, struggling city of 14,000 where 89 percent of the residents were African American and poverty rates were high. At the time, the 45-employee police unit had one or two black members on the force, said Allan Stichnote, a white Jennings City Council member.

Racial tension was endemic in Jennings, said Rodney Epps, an African American city council member.

“You’re dealing with white cops, and they don’t know how to address black people,” Epps said. “The straw that broke the camel’s back, an officer shot at a female. She was stopped for a traffic violation. She had a child in the back of the car and was probably worried about getting locked up. And this officer chased her down Highway 70, past city limits, and took a shot at her. Just ridiculous.”

Police faced a series of lawsuits for using unnecessary force, Stichnote said. One black resident, Cassandra Fuller, sued the department claiming a white Jennings police officer beat her in June 2009 on her own porch after she made a joke . . .

The Jennings department also had a corruption problem. A joint federal and local investigation discovered that a lieutenant had been accepting federal funds for drunken-driving checks that never happened.

All the problems became too much for the city council to bear, and in March 2011 the council voted 6-to-1 to shut down the department and hire St. Louis County to run its police services, putting Lt. Jeff Fuesting in charge as commander . . .


read more: http://t.co/NpSC6aZGho

[FreakinDJ]

1. What needs to happen in Ferguson - The Police Dept needs a "Do over"

Fire them all and start fresh

[pipoman]

5. There aren't exactly vast waiting lists to get on police departments

Policing is a way of life few want to endure. Thankless, hated by the public, second guessed for years on decisions necessarily made in seconds...you know, the kinds of things most people couldn't be paid to do...

[FreakinDJ]

24. There is No Shortage of Trigger Happy Biggots - think Bundy Ranch

what there is a definite shortage of in Ferguson is Non-Prejudice Dedicated Public Servants who would to treat Black Folks EQUALLY

[pipoman]

25. Based on what specific cases, complaints?

The bundy bunch aren't qualified to be police. The rhetoric may get hard to defend without some actual examples/proof. I am open to anything, just not nothing...

[FreakinDJ]

27. I've lived in several towns with NO police dept.

A lot less crime then most cities with police depts.

There was a lot of community policing such as the time an escaped murderer was hiding out in a shack in the woods. A few of the Good Ol Boy crew from the breakfast house surrounded him in their 4 WD and Deer Rifles

No shots were fired and he was returned to jail to await trial for murder

[pipoman]

28. So anarchy and vigilantes? That is the liberal way?

[FreakinDJ]

30. Police create criminals - not deter them

anarchy and vigilantes might be what you have with your "Big city police depts."

I never experienced or seen that in the small towns with no police dept I've lived in

[pipoman]

33. You do realize that St Louis is a major us city no?

What city of 22,000 city or country doesn't have a police department?

[JimDandy]

14. Absolutely. Hopefully the feds or the city council will shut down the FPD.

Recall petitions are being considered also, I hear.

[VanGoghRocks]

2. Thanks for posting. I've cross-referenced your post to update a thread I started on

the shooter Darren Wilson back on August 15.

Although my thread has dropped into probably well-deserved obscurity since, please feel free to comment there if so moved:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025390934

[starroute]

12. There was a thread discussing some of this on Tuesday

I see you cross-referenced yours in that one two -- but it seems worth having both links to keep all this material together.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025411848

[VanillaRhapsody]

3. You don't have to fire them.....just pass an ordinance that they have to live in Ferguson

to be a Police Officer there....they can choose to move in next to those they spent so much time harassing...OR they could chose to work elsewhere...

easy peasy!

[Booster]

4. Best idea yet. Also all the people that run Ferguson should be required to live there. Common sense.

[pipoman]

8. That would be ideal...

Apparently the city feels it needs 55 police officers. What if there aren't 55 people living in the city who want to be cops?

[JimDandy]

16. Um, you get hired and THEN move into town. See? Simple. n/t

[pipoman]

20. So if only 30 people can be found who wish to live in the town

Slow response times and such will just be an acceptable price to pay? What about St.Louis county police? Are they allowed in?

[JimDandy]

15. No, this crop all need to be fired. The next batch need to live in Ferguson. n/t

[pipoman]

21. ridiculous

[sunnystarr]

35. Not really ...

There are cities that have that requirement. I remember Syracuse did when I lived there. Also Philadelphia:

Residency

Each non-resident of the City of Philadelphia, hired for the position of Police Officer is required to establish residency within the City of Philadelphia no later than six (6) months after promotion to Police Officer I. Those appointed to the position of Police Officer shall establish his or her bona fide residence in the City within one year of his or her appointment.
http://www.phillypolice.com/careers/requirements/

Would check for more but it's late.

[pipoman]

37. I've heard of the residency requirement before

Firing an entire police department based on nothing is what I find antidemocratic and wrong.

That said, resident officers would be ideal, just not realistic. Syracuse and Philadelphia are big cities with diverse living options. St . Louis has many living options and is a big city. Ferguson not so much.

[pipoman]

6. Are there any specific claims or cases against Wilson?

Sounds like he has spent 5 years working primarily black neighborhoods. That is over 10,000 hours, seems if he is a racist we would know by now. ..

[leftieNanner]

11. If there are any claims,

they wouldn't be in his file. The Ferguson PD files any specific officer complaints in the case file with no copies in the individual officer's file. Neat, huh?

[pipoman]

13. The city is teaming with

Media from all corners of the globe all looking for a scoop surprisingly nobody has come out. His file may come out, it won't until there is a public trial if then.

[jillan]

22. If there were any claims, you could be certain they've been scrubbed by now.

[pipoman]

23. There is a hungry reporter on every corner, it wouldn't be hard to be heard in Ferguson right now.

[BuelahWitch]

31. This young woman got maced and Wilson & Ferguson PD

refused to let her wash her eyes out or try to get any relief. Yes, only a case of him behaving like a dick, but you'd think they'd at least have some compassion for the pain she was in.

http://gawker.com/woman-claims-darren-wilson-told-her-to-shut-the-fuck-u-1622383830

[jwirr]

7. Interesting - I wonder if this is a MO thing or just a St. Loius thing?

[pipoman]

9. St. Louis has had systemic urban poverty for as long as I can remember. ..

MO has had a racist history since siding with the south over the civil war. Even to this day...a couple years ago MO passed a bill disallowing a MO license plate for University of Kansas alumni (lots in KC and western MO) because of the Jayhawk legacy and Kansas' refusal to join them during the Civil War.

[jwirr]

10. Because of genealogy I was aware of the civil war history - just not that is was still on going.

[pipoman]

19. This is unbelievable imo

A bipartisan team of Missouri lawmakers proposed amendments to three separate bills to prohibit the University of Kansas' Jayhawk logo from being displayed on Missouri plates, a request made by KU's alumni association. The effort is the latest in a war between the two states which began over slavery issues in 1850 and continues today over college athletics, jobs and almost anything else.

"Like generations of Missourians before us, we face an incursion from the west," Missouri Rep. Stephen Webber (D-Columbia) said on the House floor Tuesday. "It will be repulsed. This is the effort to affix the dreaded, disgusting Jayhawks symbol to our Missouri license plates."



http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1522554

[pstokely]

32. would you expect them to issue a Mizzou license plate in Kansas?

?

[pipoman]

34. They do.

I also expect them to join us in the 21st century and leave their 19th century racism and bigotry in the 20th century.

In contrast Kansas has a long history of acceptance with the Jayhawks, Buffalo Soldiers, John Brown, Nicodemus, Brown vs. BoE...

[BuelahWitch]

17. It said the one person who spoke out did so only if they could be anonymous

because they were afraid of threats. Wilson has a wall of silence around him.

[nomorenomore08]

18. Bad shit just seems to follow this guy. I would imagine it has something to do with him. n/t

[The Magistrate]

26. As They Say, Sir: 'Wherever You Go, There You Are...."

[ReRe]

29. Thanks for linking this great...

... write-up on Super Cop Wilson. This is one I CAN believe.

[octoberlib]

36. I keep comparing these cities in MO. with Charlotte, NC , where I live.

The African American population in Charlotte is 35%.


37% of the CharMeck Police Dept. is minority.

We have a Black Police Chief.

5 of the 11 members of the Charlotte City Council are Black,

Our last 2 Mayors were Black.




Black people in Missouri have no representation. It's seriously fucked up.

[KittyWampus]

38. Great post. It says a lot in few words.

[bigtree]

39. kick