Deal hasn't cooled Denver police-reform effort

Activists welcome Childs settlement, but "changes are just beginning"
The  settlement of the Paul Childs case should help foster efforts to change the Denver Police Department's use-of-force policy and how shootings involving  officers are investigated, said several people  active inthere  form  process. Denver officials said Tuesday that the  city  will pay  more than $1.3 million to the family of the developmentally  disabled  teen killed by a cop last summer. [more]

In Austin Police shootings highlight city's racial divide

Early one  morning last June, a white police officer  fatally shot an  unarmed blackman as the officer tried to arrest him for driving astolen car.JessieLee Owens, 20, was the second of three young black  persons killed  in  Austin by white law enforcement officers  over a 13-month period in 2002  and 2003. Many community leaders say the shootings, and  the fact  that  the three officers kept their jobs,reflect a pattern of racism  withinthe police force and throughout the city. [more]

Judge refuses to move murder trial of police officer who shot black teenager

A  judge  on Tuesday refused to move the murder trial of a fired white  police officer charged with fatally shooting a black teenager in the back.McKenzie Mattingly's attorney argued that he could not receive  a  fair  trial inLouisville because of intense media coverage of the case. Prosecutors opposed the request to move the proceedings. [more]

CopWatch Explosion in the U.S.

It is now a phenomenon. CopWatch organizations are being set up all over America, by ordinary citizens, driven to police the police,in grass roots community efforts. Portland (portlandcopwatch.org,rosecitycopwatch.org),  Austin(http://geocities.com/austincopwatch ), NYC (http://mediafilter.org/MFF/CopWatch.html ). . . And CopWatch groups are networking and training each other. [more]

Republicans and Democrats Clash on New York Drug Laws

 93 percent of the inmates serving time on drug charges are Black or Hispanic
One of the enduring mysteries here in recent years is  why the state has been unable to overhaul the Rockefeller drug laws, which force judges to sentence drug offenders to lengthy prison terms that the three most powerful state officials, Gov.  George E. Pataki and the leaders of both houses of  the Legislature, agree are draconian. [more]

Questions Linger in Roy Veal Hanging Death

Authorities said toxicology reports from the body of a Washington state resident who was found hanging froma tree in Wilkinson County could be available by Monday evening. Officials have refrained from releasing a cause of death until the test results are studied.[more]

Jurors hear testimony on shooting by officer who Shot and Killed Phili Black Man

It took just three or four seconds, shortly before 5 a.m. Jan. 10, 2000, on City Avenue, and when it was over, one life had ended and another changed forever. Yesterday,a federal civil jury listened as witnesses heard the puzzling circumstances of the shooting of  Erin Forbes by Lower Merion Police Officer John Salkowski. Forbes' parents have sued Salkowski, contending there was no reason for Salkowski to shoot and kill Forbes,26, after he was stopped in a high-speed chase along City Avenue and surrounded by six patrol cars. [more]

19 Black Men have Died in Confrontations with the Police Since 1995

Cincinnati Officers Targeted in Shootings:
19 Black Men have Died in Confrontations with the Police Since 1995
Random shootings targeting police have been on the rise in Cincinnati, where tensions between officers and civilians have already been running high in recent years. [more]

More young black men have done prison time than military service or college

More young black men have done prison time than military service or earned college degree
Being jailed in federal or state prisons has become so common today that more young black men in the United States have done time than have served in the military or earned a college degree, according to new study. The paper, appearing this week in the American Sociological Review,estimates that 20 percent of all black men born from 1965 through 1969 had served time in prison by the time they reached their early 30s.  By comparison, less than 3 percent of white males born in thesame time period had been in prison.[more]

Redneck Cop will return to the Minneapolis police force on Monday.

Poised for Senate confirmation as the state's top cop, news resurfaced last month that he had admitted using racial epithets on the job in Minneapolis. Hestepped down, and when it was quickly realized he was headed back to the city's police force, community leaders raised their eyebrows. [more ]

Arrest of African-American fuels uneasy race relations in Waterloo

Mayor Tim Hurley and the city's police force are coming under heavy fire for officers' handling of a traffic accident last weekend. A group of African American residents,who spoke at the City Council meeting Monday, predicted an explosive summer if steps aren't taken to resolve what they believe to be on going racial prejudice by members of Waterloo's law enforcement community. [more]

Dallas Officers cleared in neck hold case

A  Dallas County grand jury Friday declined to indict a Dallas police  officer whose use of a controversial neck restraint to subdue a man contributed to the man's death. [more]

St. Petersburg remains calm following verdict in police shooting case

Peaceful protests were the response to a jury verdict that rejected a $1.6 million law suit brought by the family of a black motorist who was fatally shot by a white officer, touching off riots in 1996. [more]

Akron, Ohio: Tensions Growing Between Blacks and Police

Members of the Akron City Council have complained that there's a growing divide between the city's police department and the African-American community. Blacks feel that police stop them more often than their white counterparts, the council members say, and those same leaders have called for something to be done before the criticism escalates. [more]

SF: Police Shooting Victim Had Civil Rights Suit Pending

Family members of a man who was killed by San Francisco police last week and arrested a few days before that in Oakland said they filed claims against both cities today, charging racial bias and asking for $100  million.[more]

Trial may open old wounds

The wrongful-death lawsuit in a 1996 police shooting is likely to revive race relations questions.
It began with a traffic stop almost eight years ago. TyRon Lewis, 18, was shot dead after he refused to get out of a stolen Pontiac LeMans and bumped a police officer several times with it. The shooting sparked two nights of civil disturbances. [more]

DNA dragnet focuses anew attention to U.Va. race relations

Greg Thrasher was offended and upset last month when he read that Charlottesville police officers were collecting random DNA samples from black men in the search for a serial rapist. The Detroit think tank director has two children who were recently accepted to the University of Virginia. Suddenly, he wasn'tsure if he even wanted them to visit the school. [more]

SF: City Hall sit-down over killing by cop

Mayor tries to soothe black community leaders
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, facing one of the biggest  challenges in his 5-month-old administration, met behind closed doors at City Hall for two hours Friday with African American leaders, trying to soothe  their angry reaction to this week's fatal police shooting of a 29-year-old  black suspect. [more]

Conflicting accounts in killing by S.F. cops

 COMMUNITY REACTS. Some African Americans see payback:
"I'm not against the police, but ever since that other officer died, they've been jumping out on everybody. Disrespecting everybody. Jumping everybody.The police are supposed to protect. But what they did here, that's off the hook." [more]

SAN FRANCISCO Police shoot, kill a disabled Black man. Repeatedly Opened Fire

HERE WE GO AGAIN:
San Francisco police shot and killed a 29-year-old disabled man who they say repeatedly fired on officers in a gun battle that witnesses said ended violently as the man attempted to surrender.  The man  -- identified by family members as Cammerin Boyd, 29, of Oakland --  was shot in a Western Addition parking lot at Eddy and Buchanan streets,where a crowd of angry people began shouting at police. While witnesses claimed police fired for no reason,authorities said the man had repeatedly opened fire on officers during a car chase just before the shooting. Police said they found a weapon near Boyd. [more]