Police misconduct
[9] In an effort to control police misconduct, there is an accelerating trend for civilian agencies to engage directly in investigations and to have greater inputs into disciplinary decisions.
With the proliferation of smart devices capable of high-quality video recording, instances of police misconduct and abuse are gaining attention on social media platforms and video-hosting sites such as YouTube.
Although body worn cameras (BWCs) can record several situations involving law enforcement misbehavior, the key question is whether they're able to also prevent it.
[23] Early research claimed that using BWCs lowered both outcomes significantly, but several subsequent investigations have failed to find similar results.
[25] The study concludes that BWCs can help prevent the occurrence of both moderate and severe violence against police in a variety of circumstances and among a wide spectrum of law enforcement organizations.
[38] Perhaps the most costly individual settlement ever due to police misconduct occurred in Chicago when Christina Eilman suffered from a bipolar episode at Midway Airport and was arrested.
[48] The biggest settlement was for $2 million when a taxi driver, Ali Adaba Ghomi, was hit by a car fleeing from police and was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
In September 2007, Jan Egil Presthus, Director of SUPA, stated to the Oslo newspaper Dagsavisen that investigations of police conduct involving death are going to be posted on the Internet.
[citation needed] A media discourse focusing on deaths incurred during police arrests and transports continued in Norway throughout 2007, and Presthus counts this as one factor triggering the initiative to publish ongoing investigations on the Internet.
[citation needed] The cases will be presented on the web pages of SUPA, in a way that preserves the anonymity of officers and other parties involved where deemed necessary.
Early warning systems were recommended by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 1981, and by 1999 an estimated 27% of police agencies serving populations of over 50,000 people had implemented these programs.
[76] In 2001, New South Wales Police were given the power to deploy drug detection dogs at certain public locations across the state – namely at major events, train stations and licensed venues.
[80] In 2022, a class action pertaining to strip searches conducted at music festivals from July 2016 onward was filed in the state’s Supreme Court.
The problem of urban violence focuses on the perpetual struggle between police and residents of high crime favelas such as the areas portrayed in the film City of God and mainly Elite Squad.
Statistics released by the Rio de Janeiro State Secretariat for Public Security showed 911 persons killed as a result of police confrontations from January through September, a 12 percent decrease over the same period in 2007.
There were also no developments regarding the 2007 Chamber of Deputies' Human Rights Committee request that the government seize documents to determine the circumstances of military regime political prisoner deaths and the locations of their remains.
[90] One regulation made the security zone public works and police interpreted this to permit them to arrest anyone not providing identification within five-metres of the temporary fence.
[91] There were 1,118 arrests with 800 released without charge,[92][93] Police Chief Blair conceded later no five-metre rule existed in law[94] and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was criticized for allowing this misinterpretation.
[105][106] Recent social movements ("Gilets jaunes", 2019-2020 strikes against the pension system reform[107]) brought to light a certain culture of violence ingrained within French police, particularly the CRS.
[129] One officer employed in Oslo Police District was sentenced in 2006 to two years in prison for human trafficking, embezzlement of money and weapons, as well as theft of emergency passports.
[137] The recording of the initial incident resulted in extensive investigations by multiple authorities in Norway, including Police internal affairs and the Norwegian Anti Discrimination Ombud.
These tactics are believed to have been used against billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky to "weaken an outspoken political opponent, to intimidate other wealthy individuals and to regain control of strategic economic assets".
[145] It is widely believed the Federal Security Service (successor to the KGB) remain in control using the police as foot soldiers, and are unaccountable with connections to organized crime and the Russian leadership.
[143] At least 25 people were killed after South African police opened fire on a crowd of about 3,000 striking miners, in Rustenburg, 100 km northwest of Johannesburg, on 16 August 2012.
This was later overruled in the case of Robinson v Chief constable of West Yorkshire in which the courts held the police could be liable for harm caused to a claimant as a result of their direct actions.
It was still acknowledged that similar to the general public, they do not have a duty of care to warn, protect or rescue an individual from harm caused by a third party of external factor.
[152] Years later, the Chicago Police Department would deal with even more scandal involving the now infamous crooked cop Lt. Jon Burge and the torture cases that came out of his district.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in the late 1990s had a large incident of misconduct with the Rampart scandal implicating 70 officers of an anti-gang unit called C.R.A.S.H.
This resulted in a US$70 million in lawsuit settlement payouts, dissolving of the unit and the LAPD entering into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice on comprehensive reforms.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina there was a spike in allegations of misconduct and in March 2011 the Justice Department published a 158-page report that found "systemic violations of civil rights" by a NOPD that routinely failed to discipline officers involved.
