Two 'deadliest' police departments in US to be investigated in California
Source: The Guardian
The two largest law enforcement agencies in Kern County, California, labelled the deadliest police departments in America following a Guardian investigation, will be investigated by state authorities, California attorney general Kamala Harris announced on Thursday.
The Bakersfield police department and the Kern County sheriffs office killed people at a higher rate than departments in any other county in America during 2015 and have been criticised for a culture of violence, corruption and impunity unearthed by the Guardian.
Harris, the US senator-elect for California who will step down as attorney general at the end of the year, said the decision to open the investigations was driven by media reports and community complaints alleging use of excessive force and other serious misconduct, which her department had been examining for over a year.
A source familiar with the investigations said the Guardian reports were reviewed before the decision to commence with proceedings was made.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/22/california-police-kern-county-investigation-kamala-harris
Oliver Laughland and Jon Swaine
Thursday 22 December 2016 22.45 GMT
pfitz59
(10,196 posts)is one of the worst scumbags around....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McCarthy_(California_politician)
Feeling the Bern
(3,839 posts)WTF is wrong with the San Joaquin and High Desert Counties.
I know San Diego and Orange Counties are just suburban hellholes, as is Simi Valley. WTF is wrong with these poorer places?
The poorest state in the country (Mississippi) is normally completely Republican. Makes no sense.
Feeling the Bern
(3,839 posts)that an "investigation" will occur. Instead of nipping it in the ass as fast as possible before the problem becomes a mountain.
But don't worry, that investigation will only lead to "suggested" changes and the suspension of a few people, not the overhaul.
The symptom will be solved. The problem will be ignored. IT's the cold medicine cure of police misconduct.
And brain dead, idiot Americans fall for it every time. . .except the ones who believe the cops can do no wrong.
ripcord
(5,081 posts)For Friday night entertainment the young people in those areas sit on hilltops and watch meth labs explode.
Calista241
(5,584 posts)At least judging from some of the posts around here lately.
SunSeeker
(51,367 posts)Last edited Fri Dec 23, 2016, 05:20 PM - Edit history (1)
But compared to most states, California is doing pretty well. Its inland counties tend to be redder than Alabama, but coastal areas, where the vast majority of Californians live, are quite progressive. And our state leadership promises to be a resistance front to Trump. When Becerra takes over as AG, I am sure he will complete the investigation Harris started and pursue appropriate remedies.
hunter
(38,263 posts)...and later, white people who couldn't tolerate the diversification of Los Angeles, people who didn't want their kids going to school with black or Hispanic kids; white people who couldn't afford places like the new Simi Valley suburbs. (Simi is where many Los Angeles cops moved to. Remember the Rodney King trial? Simi is still very, very white.)
Oil and Agriculture had the big money in the Bakersfield area and they'd deliberately set white labor against mostly Mexican labor to depress wages and keep workers disorganized and compliant, even in the face of dangerous and abusive working conditions.
The legacy continues. I've met older people who still harbor resentments against growers who didn't dismiss their Mexican-American labor force when white refugee Dust Bowl families showed up in California. (It's not because the growers weren't racist, it's that growing fruits and vegetables with irrigation requires experienced labor, skills the Dust Bowl immigrants didn't have.) California was very hostile toward the "Okies."
My white California ancestors were overtly racist. I live in a coastal agricultural community and the surnames of my great grandparent's cousins adorn the roads around here. To my San Francisco ancestors anyone who lived out "in the Tules" (the tule wetlands of California's Central Valley) was a lesser Californian, of even lower social status than Old Californian "Spanish" (nice word for Mexican) families. I first heard the phrase "white trash" from my dear San Francisco born grandma, and she was talking about Bakersfield.
My grandparents all considered themselves progressives, and my grandma and her sister were literally Hollywood Liberals who had a rainbow of friends and acquaintances, but they could say the damnedest things.
Bayard
(21,801 posts)Your post makes a lot of sense to me now. This Kentucky girl bought a beautiful little farm right down the road from King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, above the San Joaquin Valley, because I'd always wanted to live out West in the mountains. Of the 12 years I was there, I spent 8 years of that in a bitter court battle with my just plain evil neighbors over land boundaries. They were originally from Oklahoma, and as you say, blew west with the dustbowl. The original fight began because I refused to let them overrun my property with their cattle. They said, then we'll just take your land. They destroyed my property, killed several of my animals, and physically assaulted me. The verbal assault, stalking, and harassment was constant. Because this was still Fresno County, that's where it was litigated. We had a number of judges thru the years, but they consistently sided with the neighbors because they didn't want to contradict each other. The Fresno court system is crooked beyond belief. I was pretty sure, as was our attorneys and surveyor, that the old opposing attorney was paying people off or calling in favors. He was representing them "pro bono", while we were paying multiple attorneys, surveyor, and expert witnesses. Classic case of, you're entitled to your own opinion, and your own facts if you are a Fresno judge. Or the Fresno County Sheriff's Dept.
That attitude continued thru my foreclosure, bankruptcy, and even my divorce. I was known as that bitch that wouldn't keep her mouth shut and cave in. This was all because I "didn't belong there", and fought for what was right. I am happily back in Kentucky, and even though I am still surrounded by red-necks (its a state of mind, not related to locale), at least they are courteous for the most part, and respect your turf and your rights.
I'm sure Trump was wildly popular in that area. Thank god for the coast!
Duppers
(28,094 posts)What you've been thru!