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vanexelent
Retired Number
Joined: 17 May 2005
Posts: 30081
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 Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 2:51 pm Post subject: New Wisconsin Law to Investigate Police Shootings |
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http://www.npr.org/2014/12/13/370592433/in-wisconsin-a-decade-old-police-shooting-leads-to-new-law
Maybe this should be adopted in all 50 states.
| Quote: | In Wisconsin, A Decade-Old Police Shooting Leads To New Law
Race is at the forefront of the current debate over the police use of deadly force. But one shooting in Wisconsin highlights another factor at play when police shoot civilians — the lack of outside investigation. And the decade-old death has led to real reform in the state.
Ten years ago, 21-year-old Michael Bell Jr. pulled up to the house where he lived with his mom and sister in Kenosha, Wis., about an hour south of Milwaukee. A police officer who, according to a police report chose to follow Bell after observing his driving, arrived shortly after. A subsequent toxicology report showed that Bell had been drinking that night.
Dash cam footage from inside the squad car shows Bell exiting the vehicle he was driving, where he was confronted by the officer. The two walked off-camera, where police tried to arrest him. A struggle ensued, and while his mom and sister watched from the house, Bell was shot, point-blank, in the head....
The Kenosha Police Department's detective division and internal affairs division immediately conducted an investigation. Barton says it didn't take long. Within 48 hours, the department had determined that the shooting was justified, that the use of force was proper and that none of the officers had done anything wrong....
The Bell family ended up filing a civil suit for wrongful death. Six years later, they received a $1.75 million settlement. But there was no admission of wrongdoing, and the police maintained that Michael Bell Jr. caused his own death.
The family used the settlement money to fund a grassroots campaign. They took out ads in the New York Times, in USA Today and on radio and created TV commercials.
The campaigning went on for years, but Barton says the message really gained momentum after another police incident in 2011, where a 22-year-old man died in the backseat of a police car. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.
Bell bought every available billboard in Milwaukee with slogans like: "When Police Kill, Should They Judge Themselves?"
"After we created enough ruckus, the unions ended up sitting down with us and talking with us," Bell says. They told him that if he wanted to take the billboards down, they would work with him in crafting some the legislation he sought.
"I had formulated in my mind what really needed to occur here to make this process better," he says.
The law they put forth would make Wisconsin the first state in the nation to mandate, on the legislative level, that if an officer was involved with a loss of life, that outside investigators must come in and collect the data and investigate that shooting.
“ If you know this officer, if you've worked with him before, can you really be objective in terms of evaluating that shooting? And is it really proper for the police to be policing themselves?
This past April, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker passed the bill into law.
Gina Barton says Bell was able to work with politicians on both sides of the aisle, and sold the bill as benefiting both the family members of whoever died as well as the officers involved.
"Because if you actually did do everything right, why wouldn't you want a transparent investigation that clears you and that shows everybody why you did the right thing?" she says.
Bell recognizes that their accomplishment with the bill happened with the help of the police. Five police units were even present when Gov. Walker signed the bill.
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ContagiousInspiration
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Joined: 07 May 2014
Posts: 13823
Location: Boulder ;)
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| Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Nice precedent and a giant step for humanity |
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In_your_Eye
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Joined: 21 Aug 2009
Posts: 1047
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| Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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| A glimmer of hope. |
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jodeke
Retired Number
Joined: 17 Nov 2007
Posts: 67621
Location: In a world where admitting to not knowing something is considered a great way to learn.
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| Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 11:14 am Post subject: |
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Those protesting group leaders in Ferguson should go to Wisconsin, meet with the Bell family and get the "how to" from them. They have the advantage of 1.75 million to spend.
I believe the Brown's and Martin's could raise that sum with the correct methods and accounting management. The Bells could be very instrumental in counseling on accounting management. IMM that's tantamount to success.
If they were to succeed it could be the start of a nationwide change in policy.
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Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. |
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