by Kevin Bliss
The 2020 elections saw California police unions losing a lot of ground in their battle to hold power over a more liberal state perspective to criminal justice reform.
Historically, law enforcement unions have been a powerful lobbying force for certain political candidates and criminal justice bill proposals ...
by Kevin Bliss
The New York Police Department’s (“NYPD”) Enterprise Operations Unit, also known as “the hip-hop police,” is accused of racially targeting rap bands. They surveil certain rappers, halt their video shoots, and stop their shows in an attempt to prevent violence. Instead of being called “crime stoppers,” they’re ...
by Kevin Bliss
The New York Police Department (“NYPD”) has consistently hindered police misconduct allegation investigations, withholding documentation and body-camera footage, as well as advising its police not to cooperate with interviews.
That’s according to an August 2020 article in ProPublica, a nonprofit news organization investigating abuses of power. ...
by Kevin Bliss
Lexipol, a privately owned company that drafts policies for over 8,100 police departments, fire, EMS, correctional services, and other public safety agencies nationwide is being criticized by reform activists as doing the bare minimum required by law to keep from being sued. They argue that the company ...
by Kevin Bliss
Eddie Lee Howard, Jr. was the thirty-fourth prisoner whose case has been overturned because of the debunked pseudo-science of bite mark forensics. After 30 years in prison, the district attorney now has the choice whether to retry Howard or drop the charges.
Howard, a Black man, was ...
by Kevin Bliss
The Narcotics Bureau (“NB”) of the Springfield Police Department (“SPD”) regularly used excessive force in the commission of its duties, covering its violations through deficiencies in its use of force reporting system.
That’s according to a report by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of ...
by Kevin Bliss
Government watchdog organizations are reporting that multiple government agencies employed high-tech surveillance aircraft over cities with demonstrations over the police killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd.
On June 2, thousands of protestors took to the streets in major cities across the U.S. to call for an end ...
by Kevin Bliss
Recent incidents of police shootings of unarmed civilians such as Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio; and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, have sparked an interest into the psychology of the police and the effects of stereotyping. Studies have shown the relationship between ...
by Kevin Bliss
Critics contend that the new bail reform risk assessment (“RA”) tools are corrupted in use and perpetuate the same racial and monetary biases that brought the practice of bail assignment into question to begin with.
Most states view Kentucky as the best example of utilization of RA ...
by Kevin Bliss
George Floyd’s death has led to intense scrutiny of the Minneapolis Police Department, including a State Department of Human Rights investigation launched June 2 to determine if the police have engaged in discriminatory practices. Statistics show their use of force against Blacks (about 20 percent of the ...
