Police

The Associated Press reports: Minneapolis’ first openly gay police chief responded sharply Thursday to a decision by organizers of the Twin Cities Pride Parade to ask her department to minimize its participation in Sunday’s annual event due to tensions over the police shooting of Philando Castile. They said in a statement that they’re trying to respect the pain that many …

The New York Daily News reports: Republican lawmakers who survived the rampage at an early morning baseball practice say it would have been a massacre if not for a pair of Capitol Hill police officers. Special Agents Crystal Griner and David Bailey, at the practice because they’re on House Majority Whip Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) security detail, returned fire when a …

The Washington Post reports: A jury awarded $6.7 million to a former female inmate at the Milwaukee County jail who said she was raped at least five times by a correctional officer there. The woman, who was pregnant at the time, also said she was shackled to her bed while giving birth in violation of her constitutional rights. While the …

The New York Daily News reports: A group of New Jersey cops was caught on cell phone video kicking and beating an innocent bystander who had been burnt by a car that crashed while trying to flee police. The video shows the 28-year-old man rolling out of a car engulfed in flames. Several officers, some drawing their weapons, surround the …

The Associated Press reports: The Alabama Senate has voted to allow a church to form its own police force. Lawmakers on Tuesday voted 24-4 to allow Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham to establish a law enforcement department. The church says it needs its own police officers to keep its school as well as its more than 4,000 person congregation safe. …

CNBC reports: Taser International revealed on Wednesday that not only will it change its name and ticker, but that it is launching a program to equip every U.S. police officer with a body camera, free of charge. The law enforcement technology giant, now known as Axon, said in a press release that the program will also provide police departments with …

The Associated Press reports: Connecticut lawmakers are considering whether the state should become the first in the country to allow police to use drones outfitted with deadly weapons. The proposal was immediately met with concern by civil rights and liberties advocates. The state legislature’s Judiciary Committee approved the bill Wednesday and sent it to the House of Representatives. It would …

Oklahoma City’s ABC affiliate reports: An Edmond police officer has been charged with a misdemeanor and placed on paid administrative leave after being accused of being drunk and nude while at Arcadia Lake in July. Police were called to investigate after receiving reports that a man, identified as Colter Morey, got drunk July 23 while on a boat with friends, …

Horrible. The New York Daily News reports: NYPD Officer Michael Hance, who raised eyebrows and made headlines in 2015 for twerking with a reveler at the city’s Gay Pride parade, has died of 9/11-related cancer. He was 44. The 17-year veteran of the NYPD, who worked the bucket brigade in the aftermath of the terror attack on the World Trade …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump on Saturday doubled down on his claim that Obamacare is “imploding,” tweeting after days of notable restraint on social media. “We are making great progress with healthcare. ObamaCare is imploding and will only get worse. Republicans coming together to get job done,” the president wrote. On Friday, Trump said during a meeting on health care …

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports: A 22-year St. Louis County police veteran who was once picked to become the department’s liaison to the gay community is now suing the department for discrimination. In a lawsuit filed Jan. 10, Sgt. Keith Wildhaber claims a former St. Louis County Police Board member told him to “tone down your gayness” if he ever …

Via the right wing site Hot Air: If the pace of confirmations from the Senate remains historically glacial, the pace of executive orders still seems rather brisk into Donald Trump’s third week as president. The two streams crossed in the Oval Office this morning, as Jeff Sessions took the oath of office as Attorney General administered by Vice President Mike …

A chilling report from The Intercept: White supremacists and other extremists maintain an active presence in U.S. police departments and other law enforcement agencies. A striking reference to that conclusion, notable for its confidence and the policy prescriptions that accompany it, appears in a classified FBI Counterterrorism Policy Guide from April 2015, obtained by The Intercept. The guide, which details …

The Guardian reports: The Chicago police department regularly uses force that is “unjustified, disproportionate and otherwise excessive”, federal investigators have concluded. In a scathing review, Department of Justice (DoJ) investigators found that police violated both the fourth amendment of the constitution and department policy in the use of deadly force. Investigators faulted poor training and accountability systems for contributing to …

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: A man who unsuccessfully sued San Diego police over his public nudity arrest at a gay pride festival was found dead Wednesday night at his Hillcrest apartment in an apparent suicide, authorities said. The death of Will X. Walters comes about two weeks after a federal jury delivered the verdict in favor of police. Walters’ …

The Guardian reports: Rex Tillerson, the businessman nominated by Donald Trump to be the next US secretary of state, is the long-time director of a US-Russian oil firm based in the tax haven of the Bahamas, leaked documents show. Tillerson – the chief executive of ExxonMobil – has been a director of the oil company’s Russian subsidiary, Exxon Neftegas, since …

Via Mediaite: Incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus seemingly suggested during an interview with Hugh Hewitt that president elect Donald Trump might do away with or radically change the White House press briefing and other traditional aspects of the press corps. Priebus seemed receptive to a suggestion from Hewitt that Trump should get rid of the “boring” Saturday …

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: A federal jury on Tuesday rejected a claim that five San Diego police officers discriminated against a scantily clad man in a gladiator costume at a gay pride festival in Balboa Park. The verdict from eight jurors in the civil-rights lawsuit filed by Will X. Walters came after two hours of deliberation. Walters, who was …

USA Today reports: Flagstaff police officer has been placed on administrative leave after a video showing him punching a woman in the face surfaced Wednesday on Facebook, according to a police spokesman. The Flagstaff Police Department “became aware” of the video, which shows Officer Jeff Bonar striking the woman during a Wednesday afternoon arrest, about 7:30 p.m. MT, police Sgt. …

The San Antonio News-Express reports: More than a dozen San Antonio Police Department officers appeared to violate city policy on Tuesday when they appeared in a short video tweeted by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump wearing his trademark red hats that read “Make America Great Again.” Mayor Ivy Taylor said she was deeply disappointed, and Police Chief William McManus said …