EAST
HAVEN, Conn. — The FBI agent whose investigations revealed unchecked
racial discrimination within the police department here described the
worst officers as "bullies with badges." They parked their squad cars
near the banks of the Quinnipiac River along a handful of roads
connecting New Haven and East Haven and pulled over drivers for the
color of their skin. They stalked Latino businesses, harassing,
arresting and assaulting customers and business owners, then lied about
their actions in police reports.
A
White, Catholic priest, swamped in complaints from his parishioners
about the department, stood up to the police. His arrest in 2009 for
obstruction set in motion a rare rebuke for a small town force: a
court-ordered agreement known as a consent decree between the Justice
Department and local authorities to clean up police practices in their
community.
“They
were keeping communities of color afraid, in check,” said the Rev.
James Manship, the arrested priest, “and the contact with the officers
was becoming more and more violent. And I really felt that we were
headed to a fatality.”
The Justice Department under President Barack Obama described the discriminatory pattern
of traffic stops and a host of other practices by the East Haven Police
Department as unconstitutional policing. Court-negotiated changes came
alongside charges for four officers, each of whom did prison time.
The
five-year path to completion had the effect of reversing a long legacy
of discrimination and vaulting the department into the ranks of the most
progressive in Connecticut, local activists, advocates, officers and
early opponents of the department said.
In
January, the department is expected to resume policing the police as
President-elect Joe Biden has said he intends to make civil rights a
major focus of his administration. It comes at a moment when scrutiny of
American policing has never been higher.
Some
experts hope the Biden administration will focus on collaboration as an
alternative to legal action against departments, while reserving that
option when egregious behavior is discovered, as happened in East Haven.
“The
Department of Justice must have subpoena power for pattern or practice
investigations into systemic misconduct by police departments and force
these departments to reform,” Biden wrote in a USA Today guest column in June.
He
also said he would revive the Justice Department’s Office of Community
Oriented Policing Services, which in the Obama administration examined
police practices through a program known as “collaborative reform” but
stopped doing so under Trump.
A priest's arrest
East
Haven has been hailed as an example of what is possible with buy-in
from departments. Loretta E. Lynch, Obama’s attorney general, visited
the Connecticut shoretown in 2015, two years before it completed its
decree, and praised the amount of progress.
“This
could have been a situation where the police just sort of checked a box
and did what they did to show the Department of Justice they were
complying,” Lynch said. “But if the people who really felt victimized
don’t see a difference, then we would not view it as a success.”
Police
Chief Ed Lennon and members of his staff said the department undertook a
series of systematic changes, and they continue to monitor progress.
The command staff, for instance, closely monitors traffic stop data to
ensure drivers are treated consistently no matter their race. The
department actively recruited Spanish-speaking officers. And it was
among the first in Connecticut to wear body cameras, beginning in 2014.
“We
kind of smirk when we see some agencies that don’t have body cameras
yet, show resistance, and then they ask us our take on it,” said East
Haven Capt. Joseph Murgo. “We wouldn’t do this job without them. We have
an actual unbiased representation of the interaction that’s in place
and it’s transparent.”
Most
of the officers from the late aughts are gone, and the ones who stayed
wanted change, said Lennon, the 41-year-old department chief.
“We
do the best job we possibly can and treat people with respect. And I
think that’s the best way to gauge the success of the police
department,” Lennon said. “The big calls, the major assaults, the armed
robberies — you’re having a big impact on somebody’s life and they’re
going to remember that. But that person picks up on the way you treat
them on those little calls: the damage to motor vehicles. If you treat
them just as good for those, it’s just as important because those are
more reflective of real life, because those happen every single day.”
The
impetus for the federal government involvement in East Haven can be
traced back to Feb. 19, 2009, when officers confiscated decorative
license plates from the wall of an Ecuadoran market under the pretense
that it was illegal to hold onto old license plates. During the
incident, they arrested a man in a black coat, black hat and scarf
covering his clerical collar. Manship, then the pastor at New Haven’s
St. Rose of Lima Church, entered the store to film the interaction and
left in handcuffs, charged with interfering with a police officer and
creating a public disturbance.
Manship at the time described the arrest as the “tip of a toxic iceberg” of racial profiling targeting Latinos in the city.
He
reached out to then-Mayor April Capone and then-Police Chief Leonard
Gallo, who rebuffed him and denied there was any racial profiling in
East Haven. Contacts with state officials went unanswered. So Manship
contacted the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
After
the Justice Department concluded its investigation and put the
department under decree, Lennon became the compliance coordinator in
charge of spearheading the department’s response. Meanwhile, the new
police chief sparred with Manship and other advocates over the depth of
dysfunction in East Haven. Police Chief Brent Larrabee, hired in 2013,
insisted to Manship that a functioning internal investigations unit
would have corrected the issues.
“And
I said, if there’s any organization in the world that knows that it
cannot investigate itself,” Manship said, “it’s the Roman Catholic
Church. Cops cannot investigate cops.”
Meanwhile,
Larrabee and Lennon went about rebuilding the department, which saw a
slew of retirements following the decree. To boost diversity in
recruiting, they awarded points in the application process for a new set
of skills, including college degrees and language proficiency; the more
than 50-strong department now has officers who speak Greek, Italian,
Vietnamese, Arabic, Mandarin and Cantonese as well as Spanish.
The
department trained officers on de-escalation techniques, amping up
recruits for a high-stress simulation, then putting them in a less
urgent scenario, requiring officers to quickly pivot to a new response. A
recruit, for instance, might be told he’s about to encounter a hostage
situation with actors playing the roles of hostage takers and hostages,
and then walk into a simple case of shoplifting.
Lennon
and a handful of officers rewrote an antiquated policy manual, and
enacted a use-of-force rule, requiring investigations into each incident
and sign-off from the chief or deputy chief on the outcome.
“Once
we got out of the consent decree, we didn’t pull back all those changes
and just say, hey, you know what, we don’t really need to do that
anymore,” said Capt. David Emerman, the department’s highest-ranking
Spanish speaker. “We maintain those things for two reasons. Obviously we
want to be the best we can be. Also, those are the best practices now. I
mean, we probably leapfrogged about 30 or 40 years.”
Paul
Matute, the 29-year-old son of the owners of My Country Store, the
Ecuadoran American market where Manship was arrested in 2009, says the
consent decree created a new environment, one in which the family
business could flourish.
“I
think people felt uncomfortable going out. They were scared to get
harassed,” Matute said. “People were afraid to come to the store because
they thought they’d get pulled over for being Hispanic. Now people are
comfortable. That would never happen again in this town.”
The
2012 arrests of four officers, advocates said, had a significant effect
on discrimination in the city. Officers Jason Zullo, David Cari, Dennis
Spaulding and Sgt. John Miller were charged with obstruction of justice
(writing a false police report) and conspiracy against civil rights,
false arrest and excessive force. John Jairo Lugo of Unidad Latina en
Acción (Latinos United in Action), a New Haven-based group, said that
while effective change came to East Haven, the region remains a hostile
place for Latinos.
“Seeing
police officers go to jail was a big deal,” Lugo said. “You see
officers kill unarmed people and not even go to jail. That gave a lot of
people in the community the power to speak up. On some level, the
police are more careful, but that doesn’t mean the culture changed.
Maybe they don’t have those problems anymore in East Haven, but we still
have those problems in New Haven. That’s a constant fight.”
A collaborative model
Lennon’s
been asked to spread the word about East Haven’s successes across the
country. He talks about effective tweaks to the hiring process, modern
training techniques in de-escalation and how to delegate oversight to
supervising officers — but mostly at places like the Harvard Kennedy
School and the FBI Academy.
He’s yet to be invited to speak at police chiefs association meetings for Connecticut or south central Connecticut.
“Locally,
there hasn’t been that much interest,” Lennon said. “I think it’s just
their perspective on it. We could be two miles down the road from each
other and we each have different problems.”
Said
Manship: “It says a lot. A lot of these [Connecticut] cities want to
pretend they don’t have the same problems, but they do. This genteel
racism is systemic in our state.”
Lennon
says many regional departments at the time of the decree felt their
problems were different from East Haven’s and saw little value in
learning about East Haven’s experience. His predecessor, Larrabee, left
the regional chiefs associations after feeling his colleagues had
distanced themselves from East Haven.
Lennon,
who has rejoined the associations, wonders if a Justice Department
emphasis on another Obama-era program, collaborative reform — basically
consent decrees without the court mandate — would be a more successful
approach for more police departments. “But with that,” he said, “you
really have to have buy-in at every level, locally, from the department
to the local government.”
Kathleen
O’Toole, the former Seattle police chief who consults with the Justice
Department on the issue and was the monitor who worked directly with
East Haven, said police chiefs across the country often see consent
decrees as long, drawn-out, expensive processes they can’t afford. The
Oakland Police Department in California has been under consent decree
since 2003, and taxpayers have shelled out more than $16 million to an
independent monitoring team assigned by the federal government.
“Most
chiefs I speak to are eager to rebuild trust in policing and are
looking for models for reform and innovation,” she said. “Chiefs are
much more likely to embrace the model if it’s a collaborative one.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
It’ll be nice to have discussions/disagreements about policy.
I’m still in shock that Joe Biden will be president. Such an awful choice...and still somehow so much better than the alternative.
Who would have been your choice?
(Not that you asked me...)
I'd probably have had Biden about 5th for a few reasons. Age (i.e., he definitely just "seems" old), energy level, some questionable history with crime legislation, etc. My first choice was Warren because among those in the field, I felt she was simply the most qualified and despite being 69 (a little young relative to this year's candidates) I think she'd have approached the job with the required fervor and dedication. Others I'd have preferred include Klobuchar, Mayor Pete, Bernie, and Booker.
That all said, the gap between my favorite Dem and Biden is about 1/1,000,000 the size of the gap between Biden and Trump. I'm already feeling this sense of relief to have an actual human being coming to the White House; someone who cares about people that don't share his last name. And an administration that is built on something other than nepotism. And a fucking adult. I do believe Biden is an empathetic/caring guy (and I also believe that matters in positions of leadership) and losing the specter of this self-absorbed, divisive, always-the-victim, crybaby buffoon just feels so good. The bar was low, but Joe's getting over it by more than the minimum.
1995 Milwaukee 1998 Alpine, Alpine 2003 Albany, Boston, Boston, Boston 2004 Boston, Boston 2006 Hartford, St. Paul (Petty), St. Paul (Petty) 2011 Alpine, Alpine 2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
It’ll be nice to have discussions/disagreements about policy.
I’m still in shock that Joe Biden will be president. Such an awful choice...and still somehow so much better than the alternative.
Who would have been your choice?
(Not that you asked me...)
I'd probably have had Biden about 5th for a few reasons. Age (i.e., he definitely just "seems" old), energy level, some questionable history with crime legislation, etc. My first choice was Warren because among those in the field, I felt she was simply the most qualified and despite being 69 (a little young relative to this year's candidates) I think she'd have approached the job with the required fervor and dedication. Others I'd have preferred include Klobuchar, Mayor Pete, Bernie, and Booker.
That all said, the gap between my favorite Dem and Biden is about 1/1,000,000 the size of the gap between Biden and Trump. I'm already feeling this sense of relief to have an actual human being coming to the White House; someone who cares about people that don't share his last name. And an administration that is built on something other than nepotism. And a fucking adult. I do believe Biden is an empathetic/caring guy (and I also believe that matters in positions of leadership) and losing the specter of this self-absorbed, divisive, always-the-victim, crybaby buffoon just feels so good. The bar was low, but Joe's getting over it by more than the minimum.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
It’ll be nice to have discussions/disagreements about policy.
I’m still in shock that Joe Biden will be president. Such an awful choice...and still somehow so much better than the alternative.
Who would have been your choice?
(Not that you asked me...)
I'd probably have had Biden about 5th for a few reasons. Age (i.e., he definitely just "seems" old), energy level, some questionable history with crime legislation, etc. My first choice was Warren because among those in the field, I felt she was simply the most qualified and despite being 69 (a little young relative to this year's candidates) I think she'd have approached the job with the required fervor and dedication. Others I'd have preferred include Klobuchar, Mayor Pete, Bernie, and Booker.
That all said, the gap between my favorite Dem and Biden is about 1/1,000,000 the size of the gap between Biden and Trump. I'm already feeling this sense of relief to have an actual human being coming to the White House; someone who cares about people that don't share his last name. And an administration that is built on something other than nepotism. And a fucking adult. I do believe Biden is an empathetic/caring guy (and I also believe that matters in positions of leadership) and losing the specter of this self-absorbed, divisive, always-the-victim, crybaby buffoon just feels so good. The bar was low, but Joe's getting over it by more than the minimum.
It’ll be nice to have discussions/disagreements about policy.
I’m still in shock that Joe Biden will be president. Such an awful choice...and still somehow so much better than the alternative.
Who would have been your choice?
(Not that you asked me...)
I'd probably have had Biden about 5th for a few reasons. Age (i.e., he definitely just "seems" old), energy level, some questionable history with crime legislation, etc. My first choice was Warren because among those in the field, I felt she was simply the most qualified and despite being 69 (a little young relative to this year's candidates) I think she'd have approached the job with the required fervor and dedication. Others I'd have preferred include Klobuchar, Mayor Pete, Bernie, and Booker.
That all said, the gap between my favorite Dem and Biden is about 1/1,000,000 the size of the gap between Biden and Trump. I'm already feeling this sense of relief to have an actual human being coming to the White House; someone who cares about people that don't share his last name. And an administration that is built on something other than nepotism. And a fucking adult. I do believe Biden is an empathetic/caring guy (and I also believe that matters in positions of leadership) and losing the specter of this self-absorbed, divisive, always-the-victim, crybaby buffoon just feels so good. The bar was low, but Joe's getting over it by more than the minimum.
my choice as a canadian: warren.
I would have said Warren too except for one major problem: She is a woman.
Now wait! Whooooooooooa there! I am totally fine with having a woman for president! But the thing is, Trump has successfully divided the country, so you know Republicans would not have voted for a woman. Add to that the religious folks in America who think the POTUS is a man's job, and what we would be left with would be to close a call for comfort. I think Trump would have beaten Warren. I think Biden won, in part at least, because he is man.
I hope someday a woman has as much chance of winning as a man. But right now, Trump has been a catalyst for all kinds of misogynistic, racist, hateful, nature hating, fake religious creeps to flourish, and the last thing they want is a woman as president. I think it will be GREAT when that happens (unless it turns out to be one of those right wing blonde bimbos that we see in the far-right media all the time. You know the type).
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
How about we just have a capable, ethical, lucid, informed, non-pansyass president?
I get the historic aspect but party, gender, and all other distractions mean shit to me.
Absolutely. Woman, man, Dem. Rep. Indep. Green, black white yellow brown green purple, as long as capable, ethical, lucid, informed, non-pansyass president, I'm good with that!
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
everyone wants someone who is competent. that's the unfortunate low bar we're at. previously that shouldn't have even needed to be stated.
there are numerous studies out there that conclude that women make better leaders. of course, that's up for debate, but the research is out there if you wish to look.
i know this has been talked about before. no, that doesn't mean 100% of women are better than 100% of men. just, on average, women tend to have more of the total package. of course, world leader is a bit of wild card.
anecdotally, i've had shitty bosses of both genders. however, the males tend to fall into two shitty categories: assholes and incompetent. the bad women bosses i've had have only been assholes (it should be noted, though, that out of the asshole bosses i've had of both genders, the females have tended to be assholier than the males). i have yet to experience an incompetent female boss.
and brian, yes, i was talking about my choice in a vacuum, not who had a better chance of winning. honestly, it was a toss up between her and yang for me.
everyone wants someone who is competent. that's the unfortunate low bar we're at. previously that shouldn't have even needed to be stated.
there are numerous studies out there that conclude that women make better leaders. of course, that's up for debate, but the research is out there if you wish to look.
i know this has been talked about before. no, that doesn't mean 100% of women are better than 100% of men. just, on average, women tend to have more of the total package. of course, world leader is a bit of wild card.
anecdotally, i've had shitty bosses of both genders. however, the males tend to fall into two shitty categories: assholes and incompetent. the bad women bosses i've had have only been assholes (it should be noted, though, that out of the asshole bosses i've had of both genders, the females have tended to be assholier than the males). i have yet to experience an incompetent female boss.
and brian, yes, i was talking about my choice in a vacuum, not who had a better chance of winning. honestly, it was a toss up between her and yang for me.
Wouldn't it be great to have leaders who we could honestly say are beyond competent to the point on motivating and inspiring?! I'm not sure Biden will be that guy, but if he can pull it off, that would be great. And even if he does, we have to look to the future and start getting some young blood moving in that direction.
Yes, to Yang! He has great energy and some very forward thinking ideas. I'm hoping for more from him in the coming years.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
everyone wants someone who is competent. that's the unfortunate low bar we're at. previously that shouldn't have even needed to be stated.
there are numerous studies out there that conclude that women make better leaders. of course, that's up for debate, but the research is out there if you wish to look.
i know this has been talked about before. no, that doesn't mean 100% of women are better than 100% of men. just, on average, women tend to have more of the total package. of course, world leader is a bit of wild card.
anecdotally, i've had shitty bosses of both genders. however, the males tend to fall into two shitty categories: assholes and incompetent. the bad women bosses i've had have only been assholes (it should be noted, though, that out of the asshole bosses i've had of both genders, the females have tended to be assholier than the males). i have yet to experience an incompetent female boss.
and brian, yes, i was talking about my choice in a vacuum, not who had a better chance of winning. honestly, it was a toss up between her and yang for me.
Honestly, just think not enough women have gotten the chance to be the shitty leaders they would be. Women have had to be amazing to get a step below where they should be.
everyone wants someone who is competent. that's the unfortunate low bar we're at. previously that shouldn't have even needed to be stated.
there are numerous studies out there that conclude that women make better leaders. of course, that's up for debate, but the research is out there if you wish to look.
i know this has been talked about before. no, that doesn't mean 100% of women are better than 100% of men. just, on average, women tend to have more of the total package. of course, world leader is a bit of wild card.
anecdotally, i've had shitty bosses of both genders. however, the males tend to fall into two shitty categories: assholes and incompetent. the bad women bosses i've had have only been assholes (it should be noted, though, that out of the asshole bosses i've had of both genders, the females have tended to be assholier than the males). i have yet to experience an incompetent female boss.
and brian, yes, i was talking about my choice in a vacuum, not who had a better chance of winning. honestly, it was a toss up between her and yang for me.
Honestly, just think not enough women have gotten the chance to be the shitty leaders they would be. Women have had to be amazing to get a step below where they should be.
as world leaders, yes, but in my company, the only position a woman hasn't held is president. several VP's. and from my colleagues who work directly for them as managers and directors, I never hear a bad word about the females. only the males.
but it is an interesting point you bring up. maybe you're right. maybe if it had been 50/50 all along we'd have had a Georgia W Bush or a Stephanie Harper.
everyone wants someone who is competent. that's the unfortunate low bar we're at. previously that shouldn't have even needed to be stated.
there are numerous studies out there that conclude that women make better leaders. of course, that's up for debate, but the research is out there if you wish to look.
i know this has been talked about before. no, that doesn't mean 100% of women are better than 100% of men. just, on average, women tend to have more of the total package. of course, world leader is a bit of wild card.
anecdotally, i've had shitty bosses of both genders. however, the males tend to fall into two shitty categories: assholes and incompetent. the bad women bosses i've had have only been assholes (it should be noted, though, that out of the asshole bosses i've had of both genders, the females have tended to be assholier than the males). i have yet to experience an incompetent female boss.
and brian, yes, i was talking about my choice in a vacuum, not who had a better chance of winning. honestly, it was a toss up between her and yang for me.
Honestly, just think not enough women have gotten the chance to be the shitty leaders they would be. Women have had to be amazing to get a step below where they should be.
as world leaders, yes, but in my company, the only position a woman hasn't held is president. several VP's. and from my colleagues who work directly for them as managers and directors, I never hear a bad word about the females. only the males.
but it is an interesting point you bring up. maybe you're right. maybe if it had been 50/50 all along we'd have had a Georgia W Bush or a Stephanie Harper.
I could be totally wrong. But in my company we have women at all levels. We have amazing leaders and really shitty ones too...both men and women. I have been lucky enough to work for 6 plant managers. 3 men and 3 women. I would rate them this way:
1) Man 2) Woman 3) Man 4) Woman 5) Woman 6) Man
Not to mention all the other different levels/functions I have worked with. I've found one thing to be true...it didn;t matter if it was a man or a woman, they could be awesome or suck bad.
Biden to name Merrick Garland as AG....holy fucking shit
I don't love it. He's a moderate, appointed to SCOTUS by Obama hoping he'd actually get someone in. This feels like a move to appease the other side. I don't see him holding traitorous feet to the fire.
1995 Milwaukee 1998 Alpine, Alpine 2003 Albany, Boston, Boston, Boston 2004 Boston, Boston 2006 Hartford, St. Paul (Petty), St. Paul (Petty) 2011 Alpine, Alpine 2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
Biden to name Merrick Garland as AG....holy fucking shit
I don't love it. He's a moderate, appointed to SCOTUS by Obama hoping he'd actually get someone in. This feels like a move to appease the other side. I don't see him holding traitorous feet to the fire.
Biden to name Merrick Garland as AG....holy fucking shit
I don't love it. He's a moderate, appointed to SCOTUS by Obama hoping he'd actually get someone in. This feels like a move to appease the other side. I don't see him holding traitorous feet to the fire.
but it's a big FU to mcconnel and his group.
Absolutely. Sleepy Woke Joe Basement Biden is feeling froggy. Prior to Obama nominating him, he was well respected by both sides. Then, well, Obama and ‘Murica.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Live updates: Pence declares Biden winner of the presidential election after Congress counts electoral votes By John Wagner, Felicia Sonmez, Mike DeBonis, Karoun Demirjian, Amy B Wang, Colby Itkowitz and Paulina Firozi
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Biden plans prime-time television program on night of inauguration Biden’s inauguration team is planning a prime-time television broadcast to air on the night of his inauguration, aiming to showcase national unity amid one of the most disruptive transfers of power in presidential history. The 90-minute program, called “Celebrating America," is slated to air at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time and will take the place of traditional inauguration balls. It will be hosted by Tom Hanks and will include remarks from Biden and Harris, as well as a number of musical performances from artists that include Ant Clemons, Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Lovato, and Justin Timberlake. The televised event, news of which was first reported by Politico, is another way in which Biden’s inauguration has been affected by the coronavirus. Planners are urging people to stay at home for the event, and a whole host of traditional events are being reshaped as a result of health concerns. It also comes shortly after a Trump-inspired mob attacked the U.S. Capitol, which has raised new security concerns for the inauguration. The prime-time program is meant to showcase the strength of American democracy — which could come on a day amid new protests from Trump supporters — and shine a light on front-line workers who have been helping Americans combat the coronavirus pandemic. It is expected to be carried live by ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and MSNBC, according to Biden’s inauguration committee, as well as streamed live on a range of social media platforms. “This inauguration presents a unique opportunity to spotlight the resilience and spirit of an America United," Tony Allen, the chief executive of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, said in a statement. "Our first priority is safety — so while many of us will be watching safely from our homes, we are creating real moments of connection that highlight a new inclusive American era of leadership that works for and represents all Americans,” he added.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
So Lady GaGa and Jennifer Lopez are the chosen performers for Biden’s inauguration? I didn’t dislike GaGa’s Super Bowl singing of the National Anthem, but a Lopez performance for a POTUS inauguration just strikes me as a bit of an odd selection. Nothing against the woman, just a weird choice in my opinion.
So Lady GaGa and Jennifer Lopez are the chosen performers for Biden’s inauguration? I didn’t dislike GaGa’s Super Bowl singing of the National Anthem, but a Lopez performance for a POTUS inauguration just strikes me as a bit of an odd selection. Nothing against the woman, just a weird choice in my opinion.
You can't picture Joe unwinding by the phonograph to these two?
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Under Biden, the Justice Department will again police the police
EAST HAVEN, Conn. — The FBI agent whose investigations revealed unchecked racial discrimination within the police department here described the worst officers as "bullies with badges." They parked their squad cars near the banks of the Quinnipiac River along a handful of roads connecting New Haven and East Haven and pulled over drivers for the color of their skin. They stalked Latino businesses, harassing, arresting and assaulting customers and business owners, then lied about their actions in police reports.
A White, Catholic priest, swamped in complaints from his parishioners about the department, stood up to the police. His arrest in 2009 for obstruction set in motion a rare rebuke for a small town force: a court-ordered agreement known as a consent decree between the Justice Department and local authorities to clean up police practices in their community.
“They were keeping communities of color afraid, in check,” said the Rev. James Manship, the arrested priest, “and the contact with the officers was becoming more and more violent. And I really felt that we were headed to a fatality.”
The Justice Department under President Barack Obama described the discriminatory pattern of traffic stops and a host of other practices by the East Haven Police Department as unconstitutional policing. Court-negotiated changes came alongside charges for four officers, each of whom did prison time.
Forced changes at police departments bring mixed results
The five-year path to completion had the effect of reversing a long legacy of discrimination and vaulting the department into the ranks of the most progressive in Connecticut, local activists, advocates, officers and early opponents of the department said.
But using consent decrees as an instrument to restructure police departments was largely abandoned by the Trump administration, which broadly rolled back civil rights efforts by the Justice Department. The Obama administration opened 25 “pattern or practice” investigations of police departments compared to one under Trump.
In January, the department is expected to resume policing the police as President-elect Joe Biden has said he intends to make civil rights a major focus of his administration. It comes at a moment when scrutiny of American policing has never been higher.
A 2015 Washington Post examination of police-department changes compelled by the Justice Department found that the departments modernized some aspects of policing, but had a limited impact on the use of force.
Some experts hope the Biden administration will focus on collaboration as an alternative to legal action against departments, while reserving that option when egregious behavior is discovered, as happened in East Haven.
“The Department of Justice must have subpoena power for pattern or practice investigations into systemic misconduct by police departments and force these departments to reform,” Biden wrote in a USA Today guest column in June.
He also said he would revive the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, which in the Obama administration examined police practices through a program known as “collaborative reform” but stopped doing so under Trump.
A priest's arrest
East Haven has been hailed as an example of what is possible with buy-in from departments. Loretta E. Lynch, Obama’s attorney general, visited the Connecticut shoretown in 2015, two years before it completed its decree, and praised the amount of progress.
“This could have been a situation where the police just sort of checked a box and did what they did to show the Department of Justice they were complying,” Lynch said. “But if the people who really felt victimized don’t see a difference, then we would not view it as a success.”
Police Chief Ed Lennon and members of his staff said the department undertook a series of systematic changes, and they continue to monitor progress. The command staff, for instance, closely monitors traffic stop data to ensure drivers are treated consistently no matter their race. The department actively recruited Spanish-speaking officers. And it was among the first in Connecticut to wear body cameras, beginning in 2014.
“We kind of smirk when we see some agencies that don’t have body cameras yet, show resistance, and then they ask us our take on it,” said East Haven Capt. Joseph Murgo. “We wouldn’t do this job without them. We have an actual unbiased representation of the interaction that’s in place and it’s transparent.”
Most of the officers from the late aughts are gone, and the ones who stayed wanted change, said Lennon, the 41-year-old department chief.
“We do the best job we possibly can and treat people with respect. And I think that’s the best way to gauge the success of the police department,” Lennon said. “The big calls, the major assaults, the armed robberies — you’re having a big impact on somebody’s life and they’re going to remember that. But that person picks up on the way you treat them on those little calls: the damage to motor vehicles. If you treat them just as good for those, it’s just as important because those are more reflective of real life, because those happen every single day.”
One city’s struggle to police the police
The impetus for the federal government involvement in East Haven can be traced back to Feb. 19, 2009, when officers confiscated decorative license plates from the wall of an Ecuadoran market under the pretense that it was illegal to hold onto old license plates. During the incident, they arrested a man in a black coat, black hat and scarf covering his clerical collar. Manship, then the pastor at New Haven’s St. Rose of Lima Church, entered the store to film the interaction and left in handcuffs, charged with interfering with a police officer and creating a public disturbance.
Manship at the time described the arrest as the “tip of a toxic iceberg” of racial profiling targeting Latinos in the city.
He reached out to then-Mayor April Capone and then-Police Chief Leonard Gallo, who rebuffed him and denied there was any racial profiling in East Haven. Contacts with state officials went unanswered. So Manship contacted the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
After the Justice Department concluded its investigation and put the department under decree, Lennon became the compliance coordinator in charge of spearheading the department’s response. Meanwhile, the new police chief sparred with Manship and other advocates over the depth of dysfunction in East Haven. Police Chief Brent Larrabee, hired in 2013, insisted to Manship that a functioning internal investigations unit would have corrected the issues.
“And I said, if there’s any organization in the world that knows that it cannot investigate itself,” Manship said, “it’s the Roman Catholic Church. Cops cannot investigate cops.”
Meanwhile, Larrabee and Lennon went about rebuilding the department, which saw a slew of retirements following the decree. To boost diversity in recruiting, they awarded points in the application process for a new set of skills, including college degrees and language proficiency; the more than 50-strong department now has officers who speak Greek, Italian, Vietnamese, Arabic, Mandarin and Cantonese as well as Spanish.
The department trained officers on de-escalation techniques, amping up recruits for a high-stress simulation, then putting them in a less urgent scenario, requiring officers to quickly pivot to a new response. A recruit, for instance, might be told he’s about to encounter a hostage situation with actors playing the roles of hostage takers and hostages, and then walk into a simple case of shoplifting.
Police de-escalation training gaining renewed clout as law enforcement seeks to reduce killings
Lennon and a handful of officers rewrote an antiquated policy manual, and enacted a use-of-force rule, requiring investigations into each incident and sign-off from the chief or deputy chief on the outcome.
“Once we got out of the consent decree, we didn’t pull back all those changes and just say, hey, you know what, we don’t really need to do that anymore,” said Capt. David Emerman, the department’s highest-ranking Spanish speaker. “We maintain those things for two reasons. Obviously we want to be the best we can be. Also, those are the best practices now. I mean, we probably leapfrogged about 30 or 40 years.”
Paul Matute, the 29-year-old son of the owners of My Country Store, the Ecuadoran American market where Manship was arrested in 2009, says the consent decree created a new environment, one in which the family business could flourish.
“I think people felt uncomfortable going out. They were scared to get harassed,” Matute said. “People were afraid to come to the store because they thought they’d get pulled over for being Hispanic. Now people are comfortable. That would never happen again in this town.”
The 2012 arrests of four officers, advocates said, had a significant effect on discrimination in the city. Officers Jason Zullo, David Cari, Dennis Spaulding and Sgt. John Miller were charged with obstruction of justice (writing a false police report) and conspiracy against civil rights, false arrest and excessive force. John Jairo Lugo of Unidad Latina en Acción (Latinos United in Action), a New Haven-based group, said that while effective change came to East Haven, the region remains a hostile place for Latinos.
“Seeing police officers go to jail was a big deal,” Lugo said. “You see officers kill unarmed people and not even go to jail. That gave a lot of people in the community the power to speak up. On some level, the police are more careful, but that doesn’t mean the culture changed. Maybe they don’t have those problems anymore in East Haven, but we still have those problems in New Haven. That’s a constant fight.”
A collaborative model
Lennon’s been asked to spread the word about East Haven’s successes across the country. He talks about effective tweaks to the hiring process, modern training techniques in de-escalation and how to delegate oversight to supervising officers — but mostly at places like the Harvard Kennedy School and the FBI Academy.
He’s yet to be invited to speak at police chiefs association meetings for Connecticut or south central Connecticut.
“Locally, there hasn’t been that much interest,” Lennon said. “I think it’s just their perspective on it. We could be two miles down the road from each other and we each have different problems.”
Said Manship: “It says a lot. A lot of these [Connecticut] cities want to pretend they don’t have the same problems, but they do. This genteel racism is systemic in our state.”
Lennon says many regional departments at the time of the decree felt their problems were different from East Haven’s and saw little value in learning about East Haven’s experience. His predecessor, Larrabee, left the regional chiefs associations after feeling his colleagues had distanced themselves from East Haven.
Lennon, who has rejoined the associations, wonders if a Justice Department emphasis on another Obama-era program, collaborative reform — basically consent decrees without the court mandate — would be a more successful approach for more police departments. “But with that,” he said, “you really have to have buy-in at every level, locally, from the department to the local government.”
Kathleen O’Toole, the former Seattle police chief who consults with the Justice Department on the issue and was the monitor who worked directly with East Haven, said police chiefs across the country often see consent decrees as long, drawn-out, expensive processes they can’t afford. The Oakland Police Department in California has been under consent decree since 2003, and taxpayers have shelled out more than $16 million to an independent monitoring team assigned by the federal government.
“Most chiefs I speak to are eager to rebuild trust in policing and are looking for models for reform and innovation,” she said. “Chiefs are much more likely to embrace the model if it’s a collaborative one.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I’m still in shock that Joe Biden will be president. Such an awful choice...and still somehow so much better than the alternative.
www.headstonesband.com
And since it’s seems the GOP is not the POT.... I actually need people like Joe Biden.
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
www.headstonesband.com
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I get the historic aspect but party, gender, and all other distractions mean shit to me.
there are numerous studies out there that conclude that women make better leaders. of course, that's up for debate, but the research is out there if you wish to look.
i know this has been talked about before. no, that doesn't mean 100% of women are better than 100% of men. just, on average, women tend to have more of the total package. of course, world leader is a bit of wild card.
anecdotally, i've had shitty bosses of both genders. however, the males tend to fall into two shitty categories: assholes and incompetent. the bad women bosses i've had have only been assholes (it should be noted, though, that out of the asshole bosses i've had of both genders, the females have tended to be assholier than the males). i have yet to experience an incompetent female boss.
and brian, yes, i was talking about my choice in a vacuum, not who had a better chance of winning. honestly, it was a toss up between her and yang for me.
www.headstonesband.com
be.
but it is an interesting point you bring up. maybe you're right. maybe if it had been 50/50 all along we'd have had a Georgia W Bush or a Stephanie Harper.
www.headstonesband.com
1) Man
2) Woman
3) Man
4) Woman
5) Woman
6) Man
Not to mention all the other different levels/functions I have worked with. I've found one thing to be true...it didn;t matter if it was a man or a woman, they could be awesome or suck bad.
www.headstonesband.com
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
yes Jennifer Psaki...she'll be great
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
I don't love it. He's a moderate, appointed to SCOTUS by Obama hoping he'd actually get someone in. This feels like a move to appease the other side. I don't see him holding traitorous feet to the fire.
2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
www.headstonesband.com
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
already has been great as PS for Dept of State
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
By John Wagner, Felicia Sonmez, Mike DeBonis, Karoun Demirjian, Amy B Wang, Colby Itkowitz and Paulina Firozi
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/06/congress-electoral-college-vote-live-updates/
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Biden’s inauguration team is planning a prime-time television broadcast to air on the night of his inauguration, aiming to showcase national unity amid one of the most disruptive transfers of power in presidential history.
The 90-minute program, called “Celebrating America," is slated to air at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time and will take the place of traditional inauguration balls. It will be hosted by Tom Hanks and will include remarks from Biden and Harris, as well as a number of musical performances from artists that include Ant Clemons, Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Lovato, and Justin Timberlake.
The televised event, news of which was first reported by Politico, is another way in which Biden’s inauguration has been affected by the coronavirus. Planners are urging people to stay at home for the event, and a whole host of traditional events are being reshaped as a result of health concerns. It also comes shortly after a Trump-inspired mob attacked the U.S. Capitol, which has raised new security concerns for the inauguration.
The prime-time program is meant to showcase the strength of American democracy — which could come on a day amid new protests from Trump supporters — and shine a light on front-line workers who have been helping Americans combat the coronavirus pandemic.
It is expected to be carried live by ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and MSNBC, according to Biden’s inauguration committee, as well as streamed live on a range of social media platforms.
“This inauguration presents a unique opportunity to spotlight the resilience and spirit of an America United," Tony Allen, the chief executive of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, said in a statement.
"Our first priority is safety — so while many of us will be watching safely from our homes, we are creating real moments of connection that highlight a new inclusive American era of leadership that works for and represents all Americans,” he added.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14