Just watched the killing of George Floyd

[Thumpalumpacus]

I'm shocked.

But not surprised...

Leopards, spots, etc, etc.

[Minimalist]

You know the mantra of Fuckface's DOJ:

Black protesters = bad

White protesters = tourists

[Dānu]

Minnesota State Patrol officers conducted a mass purge of e-mails and text messages immediately after their response to riots last summer, leaving holes in their paper trail as the courts and other investigators attempt to reconstruct whether law enforcement used improper force in the chaos following George Floyd's murder.

In a recent court hearing in a lawsuit alleging the State Patrol targeted journalists during the unrest, State Patrol Maj. Joseph Dwyer said he and a "vast majority of the agency" deleted the communiqués after the riots, according to a transcript published to the federal court docket Friday night.

This file destruction "makes it nearly impossible to track the State Patrol's behavior, apparently by design," said attorneys for Minnesota's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is suing the State Patrol and Minneapolis police on behalf of journalists who say they were assaulted by law enforcement while covering the protests and riots.

"The purge was neither accidental, automated, nor routine," said ACLU attorneys, in a court motion that asks a judge to order the State Patrol to cease attacks on journalists who are covering protests. "The purge did not happen because of a file destruction or retention policy. No one reviewed the purged communications before they were deleted to determine whether the materials were relevant to this litigation."

State Patrol spokesman Bruce Gordon said officers follow all state and agency data retention requirements. "We are unable to comment further due to the ongoing litigation," Gordon said.

(Minneapolis Star Tribune)

[Minimalist]

Bullshitters in blue.

[Dānu]

Minn. Supreme Court: Mpls policing measure stays on ballot

Minneapolis residents will decide the future of policing for the first time since George Floyd's death after the Minnesota Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for their votes to be counted.

The decision — hours before the start of early voting — appeared to bring an end to a legal saga that dogged the city for more than a month and cleared the stage for campaigns to refocus their efforts on persuading residents to vote in a race that is drawing national attention.

"We're incredibly thrilled that the people of Minneapolis have their democracy honored," said JaNaé Bates, a spokeswoman for Yes 4 Minneapolis, which wrote the proposal. "The Supreme Court recognized that we were on the right side of the law, we were on the right side of democracy, and we're going to be [on] the right side of history as we move forward."

The city is on track to have a historic election as impassioned residents debate whether they want to replace the Police Department with a new public safety agency. Spending is surpassing anything in recent memory as the policing question dominates debate not only into the races for mayor and City Council, but begins to reverberate into next year's state and federal elections as well. Just moments after the court's ruling came down, opponents released their first ad.

---

The proposal has its roots in the "defund the police" movement, which gained steam after Floyd's death last summer sparked protests, civil unrest and a national reckoning on racial justice. The amendment does not use the term "defund." But it would remove the city charter's requirement that Minneapolis have a police department with a minimum staffing level. Many details of how the new agency would work would be left up to the the City Council and mayor to decide later.

Opponents of the amendment, including former council member Don Samuels and his wife, Sondra, said the ballot language leaves too many important questions unexplained for voters about how the new department would be implemented, led, staffed and funded.

Yes 4 Minneapolis argued in its filing with the Supreme Court that the Minneapolis Police Department would not automatically disappear if the amendment passed. The group said the department would continue to exist under current city ordinances until the City Council passed new laws to establish the new agency, and that the council could keep the force in place as long as necessary for an orderly transition.

(NPR)

[SYZ]

Minneapolis residents will decide the future of policing for the first time since George Floyd's death after the Minnesota Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for their votes to be counted...

Exactly how does letting the mayor and councillors appoint a "new agency" solve any
issues of violence and corruption that've occurred within the existing police force?

Aren't mayors and councillors often corrupt themselves, and pushed and pulled by
commercial interests and/or focussed political pressure?  And where are more reputable
members—other than existing policemen—going to be drawn from for this new agency?

—I'm assuming this is being decided by a plebiscite of Minneapolis ratepayers.