Story behind viral photo of rosaries taken from migrants at US border – INSIDER

sigh…

US BP = Nazi techniques

President Trump announces delay of mass immigration raids that were to start Sunday

Pssssst, Homeland Security….

Trump bragging on Twitter does not, in any way, qualify as a leak. Dipshits.

The most recent officer involved shooting — which has South Bend on edge — underscores persistent tension between the city’s African American community and its police department, which has grown less diverse during Buttigieg’s tenure. Accusations of poor leadership have hampered both of the mayor’s two hand-picked police chiefs  [emphasis: peanut gallery] and admissions of violence by officers have cost the city thousands in settlements.

…Concerns from African American activists grew louder this week when it was revealed the officer involved in the shooting was Sergeant Ryan O’Neill, a veteran of the South Bend Police Department who has been accused by both officers and residents he arrested of racist behavior. 

…One issue that bewildered many former South Bend Police Department officers that CNN spoke to is how certain officers were reprimanded for infractions, while more violent officers were allowed to stay on the force.

…The mayor[‘s staff] noted “a firing-level personnel decision is made by the Board of Public Safety” but that he accepted “responsibility for appointments to the Board of Public Safety and (police) chief.”

…Buttigieg’s first major decision as mayor came shortly after he took office in 2012 when he ousted the city’s first black police chief. That decision was met with outrage from activists in the community and was compounded when Buttigieg subsequently named two white officers to lead the department.

…[Chief] Teachman, according to Patrick Cottrell, the then-President of the South Bend Board of Public Safety, was at the recreation center with Lieutenant David Newton when a fight broke out outside the center. Newton responded to the fight, Cottrell said, but when he requested back up from Teachman, the police chief chose to remain inside the center and not respond to Newton’s call for help.

The Indiana State Police investigated the incident. The agency handed the results of the investigation to Buttigieg, but they were not made public, which left many in South Bend dissatisfied.

…”Just wanted to send a word of encouragement,” Buttigieg wrote in an email to Teachman, according to local reports. “I know that you will not let the nonsense aired in Council distract you from your great work.”

“This was so over the top egregious because policemen and firemen that were regular guys, were suspended and fired for doing less than Teachman,” said Cottrell, who resigned over Buttigieg’s handling of the incident, according to his resignation letter obtained by CNN. “How can you discipline subordinates and not discipline the person who is supposed to be the leader? The mayor proved he wasn’t a leader when he couldn’t even do that.”

…”I’ve gone through four or five mayors, but this has taken a certain turn. Qualified minority officers leave, because there is no avenue of advancement or promotion.”

…Under Buttigieg, the South Bend Police department has slowly — but consistently – grown less diverse.

The department had 26 African American officers in 2014, according to news reports at the time, meaning a little more than 10% of the 253-officer department was black. There are now 13 black officers in the South Bend Police force, according to numbers released by the department, leaving the force 88% white and just over 5% black.

That steady decline in African American officers is opposite to the demographic makeup of South Bend. According to the 2010 census, the city is 26% African American.

Buttigieg was aware of the lack of diversity in the police force for years.

…”If you can’t get along with minority people in your own town,” said Dieter. “What makes you think you’re going to get along with minorities in the rest of the country.”

Pete Buttigieg: Racial tension has plagued South Bend’s police under mayor – CNNPolitics

Psssst, Pete…

If your idea of solutions are a pamphlet with no regulations to back it up, leaving body camera’s as optional for officers [until a PR nightmare belatedly makes you do an about face,] allowing violent racists to continue to work in the police force, and appointing poor leaders… Well, you might want to consider sitting down and shutting the fuck up because if that’s the best you’ve got, you’re exactly the upper-middle white guy this country DOES NOT need right now.

“I’m so happy to see so many people here today who are willing to stand up and use their voice and fight for what we need in this community,” the voice said. “But it is not a black issue; it is not a black versus white issue. It’s not even a blue versus black issue. This is our problem, and if we share in the problem, we have a much better chance of sharing in the solution. But it’s going to take time. It’s gonna take effort, and it’s a Herculean task, to be honest.

“But I would love to see South Bend be that city that everybody in the country can point to and say this is how people live in a community and this is what community is all about. …We can be that city, but we’ve got to come together and we have to start listening to each other.”

Buttigieg, the young presidential hopeful, did not speak those words. He wasn’t there. 

….It was, of all people, Notre Dame basketball coach Ann “Muffet” McGraw. The city was honoring the women’s runner-up NCAA finish, and the coach used her time at the microphone to express her solidarity with the crowd, most of whom were not there to hear her speak, or to honor her team.

Nonetheless, she received a loud, throaty and lengthy standing ovation. Her players, towering before the crowd of more than 150, beamed.

…More than a dozen African-American city officials, community leaders, pastors and voters who spoke to IndyStar echoed a troubling sentiment: Buttigieg hasn’t spent enough time talking directly to people of color or trying to solve systemic socioeconomic problems within those neighborhoods since taking office.

…The Rev. Graylin Watson of Jesus is Emmanuel Church said the mayor needs to reform the police department. He referenced several incidents in which he believes South Bend officers acted improperly, perhaps most notably a 2012 incident in which three police officers went to the wrong home searching for a suspect and punched, stunned and handcuffed a black man they found sleeping there.

…Davis said Buttigieg has failed to reform the police department. He shared with IndyStar an open letter he wrote to Buttigieg in 2016 that called for police to be required to use body cameras, for a citizen board to review police misconduct and for more diversity within the police department. He said none of those things have happened, until Buttigieg required body cameras to be used after this latest shooting. 

…It doesn’t feel like Buttigieg understands what he’s hearing from people of color and he needs to come back to South Bend to listen.

…“There are subcultures within our city that don’t feel safe,” she said. “We don’t feel safe. We don’t trust the process; we don’t trust the people. We don’t feel safe.”

…Station host and owner Sylvester Williams later told IndyStar there’s little evidence Buttigieg is reaching out to more than a handful of people. 

…”I think that he is struggling to find solutions, because it appeared that he has not really felt the pain of the people,” Williams said. “He has somewhat been more analytical, political and somewhat separated from this area of pain with the people.” 

…Logan’s family members don’t think the police’s version of his death adds up, and it’s become clear many others in the community also have questions. 

…Logan’s brother, Tyree Bonds, told IndyStar that Logan has no history of theft and wouldn’t attack an armed officer with a knife. 

…Bonds questioned whether his brother was rooting through cars at all, and thinks he was walking by the apartment complex to visit his mother when police arrived. The racial remarks O’Neill allegedly made also concern Bonds.

…Police say the officer had not activated his body camera. 

…Logan later died at an area hospital after being transported in a squad car instead of an ambulance, a decision repeatedly questioned by Logan’s family and others. They wonder whether that contributed to his death.

“The ambulance department is two blocks away from the scene, so it’s not like the ambulance had to come from 5 miles away,” said Vernado Malone Sr., a friend of Logan’s who works as a paramedic.

…”When you have a few officers [acting badly,] it tarnishes the whole police department,” Jones said. “Because of the fact they seem like they are protected and things are covered up. That is what this community is feeling. You have these bad officers on your staff, and you don’t dismiss them, and you keep giving excuses for their behavior, and these things keep matriculating, and so that creates a friction between the police department and the community.”

……”His campaign team lacks diversity,” Davis said. “Why would you want to run for president and have a non diverse team? …Most of the people on his team are under the age of 40. You have to have a combination of people [from different backgrounds] who are strong to have a strong team.”

Democratic debate draws Pete Buttigieg away from a hurting South Bend

Yup

Buttigieg must “manage the concerns of the residents in his city” who have “real questions” about Buttigieg’s handling of police accountability in the past, said Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist who has worked on several presidential campaigns.

…Buttigieg has already faced criticism for his outreach and record with black voters, including his decision to remove the city’s first black police chief in 2011 and the impact his signature housing initiative had on minority neighborhoods. The police shooting of Logan has put new focus on a series of troubling racial incidents involving South Bend officers in recent years, as well as a difficult history of race relations in the city that some residents say Buttigieg has not done enough to address.

…The moment also demands Buttigieg, a solutions-oriented former McKinsey consultant, showcase a different side of the whiz-kid persona he brandished this spring while rising up in the Democratic presidential polls.

…Rev. Joe Darby, a prominent South Carolina pastor,  …noted that Buttigieg could “do a better job of empathizing” with the African American community in South Bend. “He needs to be proactive about handling this thing,” he said.

‘If you don’t get this right, nothing else may matter’ – POLITICO

mmmhmmm

The white officer who shot Logan said Logan had come at him with a knife, though the officer hadn’t turned on his body camera. Critics say Logan didn’t match the suspect’s description and questioned why police would shoot to kill someone with a knife.

…Logan’s death has spotlighted another area of Buttigieg’s record: his troubled relationships with the South Bend police and his city’s large minority population.

While South Bend residents and community leaders have sought to show respect for Logan’s family in the wake of the shooting, they also point out that their burning outrage runs deeper than one tragic incident. They say it’s rooted in eight years of Buttigieg’s economic policies that have often left people of color behind. Meanwhile, alleged instances of police brutality and subsequent coverups or inaction has sowed deep distrust.

…Tensions peaked on Sunday when a town hall meeting devolved into near chaos as those in the audience shouted down Buttigieg.

…Events also suggest that South Bend may not be quite the picture of success and prosperity that Buttigieg paints when it comes to its minority residents. Instead, there’s a sense that his policies are failing lower-income and minority residents, and South Bend is a reflection of the nation’s larger problems.

…Among the most pressing issues are those involving the police, which Casey labeled “corrupt” and charged have unfairly targeted black activists during Buttigieg’s tenure.

The department’s composition is one of the main points of contention. In a city that’s 27% black and 15% Latino, 90% of South Bend’s police officers are white. Last week, six new officers were sworn in and all were white.

Major incidents involving race and the police are nearly an annual occurrence in the city of about 100,000. Soon after he was elected in 2011, Buttigieg faced strong criticism for demoting the city’s first black police chief, Darryl Boykins, after learning of a federal investigation into the department allegedly illegally recording officers’ phone calls. The calls revealed white officers using racial slurs, some of which were directed at Boykins.

… Questions remained about why the officer killed Logan, but he was not confident that Buttigieg’s administration would provide the public with clear answers. Like black activists, Davis charged that the administration was often secretive about controversial issues.

…The department could not legally immediately fire and charge officers, which is what many want.

He offered some advice to Buttigieg: “Do what you got to do to make it right, but you got to go through the fire, because you set the fire ablaze.”

Pete Buttigieg: police killing exposes mayor’s troubled history with minorities | US news | The Guardian

Keeping officer disciplinary records private is not an HR consideration, it is a public safety risk. If departments cannot fire errant officers than the mayor needs to step up.

Especially if he is trying to show himself as qualified to lead a nation whose law enforcement are embroiled in their very own, very violent, and very facist, race-war.