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sheshe2

(83,751 posts) Fri Jun 13, 2014, 08:46 PM Jun 2014

MIAMI GARDENS POLICE RECORDS REVEAL BROAD POLICY OF STOPPING AND QUESTIONING CITIZENS

Earl Sampson, 28, says he’s been stopped more than 200 times by the Miami Gardens Police Department.

8,489 KIDS, AND 1,775 SENIOR CITIZENS CAUGHT UP IN CITY’S VERSION OF "STOP & FRISK”

According to a review of 99,980 "field contact” reports, they were stopped, written up and often identified as "suspicious” -- but just like the 11-year-old boy -- the encounter was recorded in a public database, and they were let go.

Thousands more were arrested after being stopped by the police, raising the total number of people ensnared by the policy to 65,328 during the five-year period.

"I have never seen a police department that has taken the approach that every citizen in that city is a suspect. I’ve described it as New York City stop-and-frisk on steroids.” said Miami-Dade County Public Defender Carlos Martinez.

Fusion’s analysis of more than 30,000 pages of field contact reports, shows how aggressive and far-reaching the police actions were. Some residents were stopped, questioned and written up multiple times within minutes of each other, by different officers. Children were stopped by police in playgrounds. Senior citizens were stopped and questioned near their retirement home, including a 99-year-old man deemed to be "suspicious.” Officers even wrote a report identifying a five-year-old child as a "suspicious person.”

Much More at the Link.

http://fusion.net/justice/story/miami-gardens-stop-frisk-nabs-thousands-kids-finds-667430

10 replies

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MIAMI GARDENS POLICE RECORDS REVEAL BROAD POLICY OF STOPPING AND QUESTIONING CITIZENS (Original Post) sheshe2 Jun 2014 OP

sounds like there is not enough real crime to justify their jobs eh? nt msongs Jun 2014 #1

I know the area well. Spent years in Miami. William769 Jun 2014 #2

The numbers are staggering, William. sheshe2 Jun 2014 #3

I lived in Miami Gardens for a while. RebelOne Jun 2014 #5

Kicked and recommended. Uncle Joe Jun 2014 #4

Damn that's a lot of stopping and frisking for a group of people, she! Cha Jun 2014 #6

... sheshe2 Jun 2014 #7

I'd violate Godwin's law if I said what I thought of Miami Gardens police nt steve2470 Jun 2014 #8

That's the place the convenience store clerk kept getting arrested Nevernose Jun 2014 #9

Earl Sampson sheshe2 Jun 2014 #10

msongs

(67,405 posts)

1. sounds like there is not enough real crime to justify their jobs eh? nt

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Fri Jun 13, 2014, 08:50 PM

Jun 2014

William769

(55,146 posts)

2. I know the area well. Spent years in Miami.

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Fri Jun 13, 2014, 08:51 PM

Jun 2014

They are wrong for doing it for the reasons they do it.

sheshe2

(83,751 posts)

3. The numbers are staggering, William.

Reply to William769 (Reply #2)

Fri Jun 13, 2014, 09:00 PM

Jun 2014

Racial profiling at it's worst.

RebelOne

(30,947 posts)

5. I lived in Miami Gardens for a while.

Reply to William769 (Reply #2)

Fri Jun 13, 2014, 09:44 PM

Jun 2014

I never had any problems with the police. But that was many years ago, plus I was not a senior citizen, a child, nor black. I guess a lot has changed since then.

Uncle Joe

(58,355 posts)

4. Kicked and recommended.

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Fri Jun 13, 2014, 09:07 PM

Jun 2014

Thanks for the thread, sheshe.

Cha

(297,196 posts)

6. Damn that's a lot of stopping and frisking for a group of people, she!

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Fri Jun 13, 2014, 10:14 PM

Jun 2014

Thank you for your OP exposing this. It looks like the Police in that area need to stop being So paranoid and get some common sense.

sheshe2

(83,751 posts)

7. ...

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Sat Jun 14, 2014, 12:20 AM

Jun 2014

steve2470

(37,457 posts)

8. I'd violate Godwin's law if I said what I thought of Miami Gardens police nt

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Sat Jun 14, 2014, 12:46 AM

Jun 2014

Nevernose

(13,081 posts)

9. That's the place the convenience store clerk kept getting arrested

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Sat Jun 14, 2014, 12:51 AM

Jun 2014

Once it was for taking out the store's trash. Cops claimed it was suspicious.

sheshe2

(83,751 posts)

10. Earl Sampson

Reply to Nevernose (Reply #9)

Sat Jun 14, 2014, 12:59 AM

Jun 2014

"I see how officers walk in and take everybody,” Alex told Fusion. "I see there was abuse.”

Alex says he was so appalled that he installed video surveillance cameras in his store -- not to record crime but to record police misconduct.

In January 2012, Alex says he gave his employee, Earl Sampson, a place to live inside the store to protect him from the police. But even that was no deterrent. In this security video, police are seen storming into Earl’s bedroom in the back of the store. Then Alex Saleh is seen stepping in, demanding police leave Earl alone. Moments later, the police can be seen turning around and leaving the store.

http://fusion.net/justice/story/miami-gardens-stop-frisk-nabs-thousands-kids-finds-667430

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