law enforcement
Chauvin trial begins with opening statements focused on cause of death, police training
By Max Nesterak, States Newsroom Attorneys in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin laid out their case on Monday before 14 jurors who will decide if Chauvin is guilty of murder or manslaughter in the death of George Floyd on May 25. The opening statements from the prosecution and defense indicate […]
Protect and serve and live next door
It was a tiny detail in another devastating story of police use of force. Seeking comment from the Columbus police officer involved in the most recent killing of a civilian, the Columbus Dispatch described the “No Trespassing” sign tacked to the front door of the officer’s house in Union County. There is a crisis in […]
Social media misconduct flares up among police in Ohio, nationwide
George Floyd had only been dead for a few days, and Mount Eaton police officer Jeff Lewis predicted the opinion he was about to share about Floyd would not be popular. “Here’s where I lose more ‘friends,’” Lewis posted to his Facebook page, alongside a photo of Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin with his knee on […]
Reimagining a broken system of policing
America’s criminal legal system is broken. Policing is part of that system and is no exception. In fact it’s where it all begins. It’s hard to imagine that any system with roots in slave patrols, groups of armed white men who enforced slave laws, can be just. So it’s no surprise that we have seen […]
2020 uprisings, unprecedented in scope, join a long river of struggle in America
The river was the metaphor that best captured “the long, continuous movement” of the black freedom struggle for theologian, historian and civil rights activist Vincent Harding. Harding, who had served as a speechwriter for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., wrote in his groundbreaking 1981 study of African-American history, “There is a River: The Black Struggle […]
Police officers accused of brutal violence often have a history of complaints by citizens
As protests against police violence and racism continue in cities throughout the U.S., the public is learning that several of the officers involved in the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville share a history of complaints by citizens of brutality or misconduct. Decades of research on police shootings and brutality […]
Militarization has fostered a policing culture that sets up protesters as ‘the enemy’
The unrest sparked by the death of George Floyd after being pinned to the ground by the knee of a Minneapolis police officer has left parts of U.S. cities looking like a battle zone. Night after night, angry protesters have taken to the street. So too have police officers dressed in full riot gear and […]
Front license plates still needed in Ohio, police tell lawmakers
Sgt. Richard Forney has a clear reason why he believes Ohio should require two license plates on vehicles: the presence of the front plate helped his department solve the 2017 murder of Reagan Tokes. The Grove City Police Department sergeant was involved in the Tokes murder investigation. Shortly after Tokes’ body was found dead in […]