Officers in pepper spray incident put on leave (UC Davis)

Source: CBS News

(CBS/AP) SAN FRANCISCO - Two University of California, Davis police officers involved in pepper-spraying seated protesters are being placed on administrative leave as the chancellor of the school accelerates the investigation into the incident.
UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi on Sunday said she has been inundated with reaction over the incident, in which an officer dispassionately fires pepper spray on a line of sitting demonstrators.

Video of the incident was circulated widely on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter on Saturday, in which protesters flinch and cover their faces but remain passive with their arms interlocked, as onlookers shriek and scream out for the officer to stop.

The university's faculty association called on Katehi to resign, saying in a letter there had been a "gross failure of leadership."

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57328362/officers-in-pepper-spray-incident-put-on-leave/

---

It bothers me that the purpose of many police activities are not to stop something but simply to inflict pain.

<snip>
Charles J. Kelly, a former Baltimore Police Department lieutenant who wrote the department's use of force guidelines, said pepper spray is a "compliance tool" that can be used on subjects who do not resist, and is preferable to simply lifting protesters.

"When you start picking up human bodies, you risk hurting them," Kelly said. "Bodies don't have handles on them."

After reviewing the video, Kelly said he observed at least two cases of "active resistance" from protesters. In one instance, a woman pulls her arm back from an officer. In the second instance, a protester curls into a ball. Each of those actions could have warranted more force, including baton strikes and pressure-point techniques.

"What I'm looking at is fairly standard police procedure," Kelly said.
<snip>


The fact that this is "fairly standard police procedure", is not a legitimate defense of this action. It is a huge problem that cops think this shit is OK.

just picking up a limp protestor.

particularly harmful because of its orange color.

Is that what I am to understand from that statement?

We have to stop what's happening in this country. If police are being trained to beat children who curl into balls, then we need to change the training policies.

People who have authoritarian personalities are drawn to the profession and their behavior is encouraged by their profession.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=zsk10r1LtqM#t=233s">Portland police talk to OccupyMaine protesters

"compliance tool" to move non-cooperating demonstrators is an obscene act of violence. The truth is it is cheaper than using 2-3 officers to lift and physically move a person, and I will also speculate that some officers really resent that kind of task being imposed on them by protesters, and are happy to use any 'tool' their superiors approve of. Years ago people were shocked at law enforcement smearing substances in the eyes of protesters who had chained themselves inside an office. The years pass and the line is pushed further and further. But the every day violence by law enforcement repeats, and what was once shocking becomes shockingly routine. Whether it is police beating suspects in the streets, or shooting a young man in custody in the back while he is lying face down on cement, harassing African American elders returning late at night to their homes, blowing away grandmothers in mistaken address raids, shooting a man 40+ times in his doorway as he tries to pull out his wallet and id himself; afraid for his life and rightly so, these acts that are committed again and again without consequence for the law enforcement "culture" framed by Charles J. Kelly and his ilk, are now the norm. The circle of victims expand, the online videos bring the acts to public view, and people are truly shocked again at what many of their 'friendly neighborhood law enforcement officers' really think about the people the who they are sworn to serve. It is time that those who think like Kelly heard directly from the people as to what we think about thier 'standards', and are not allowed to hide behind their institutional walls as merely 'doing their job'.

Thanks for the excellent post. This kind of behavior must never be accepted as "normal" and routine, without any real punishment for the bullies in blue.

I would very much like to spread his name far and wide. I want him to never, ever be able to work in law enforcement again.

just the type of individual that is desired for this work.

"The fish stinks from the head down" --


NYC, I trust, will rid itself now of Bloomberg and Kelly -- if there is any

justice left in the world, at all!!

This is the very slippery slope of rationalization ....

And is that poor baby, Waaaaaah....getting paid while on "leave"? If so, then it's just an extra vacation for him. It just pisses me off that these cops are never accountable for the pain they inflict. He should be tried, and if convicted, serve a nice long prison sentence.

Are lucky that this guy is "former."

we live in a very fucked up nation.

is standard operating procedure now -- !!

We might expect a billionaire like Bloomberg to be anti-Constitution --

but how long has Kelly been working for elites while pretending to be a public

servant?

with someone doing life based on the false testimony of a cop.

the cop in question lives to brutalize in which case it might be hard to be taken away from your true calling.

of attracting sadists. Not all, not even most, cops and soldiers are sadists, but it seems like a lot of sadists find these two professions appealing. Unfortunately.

That's why I think agressive civilian oversight of both cops and the military is essential if one wants to live in a remotely civilized world.

We were both raised to respect police officers. However, through the years we have witnessed these abuses personally and through the media and we have both become very cynical about the 'to protect and serve'. I really hate that we have become this way, especially as these incidents have unfortunately colored the way we look at all police in general.

We all would like to have police to protect us and help us in case of trouble, I think, but it's bad having to fear them when we see them, not knowing which ones might be nuts.

I do not think most 'rank and file' cops are dangerous in this way. Unfortunately, though, the 'good' cops don't seem to be good enough to call out the freaks and criminals in their ranks.

Everyone always wants to hold to the "one bad apple" theory. What leads you to believe that rank and file cops are not dangerous. They are virtually all Authoritarians or Authoritarian followers.

I think that it is a very rare cop who, under it all, doesn't want to hurt someone.

dangerous (not "not dangerous", but, on the average, less dangerous) is personal observation and experience.

stand-in for Benito Mussolini.

they did it with all their strength, all their disdain -- and all their ignorance!!

That probably means with pay as well. These officers should be outright canned.

They should definitely restrain the cop who did this and then pepper spray him, very calmly, three or four times.

Calmly displaying much skill and bravery. His biggest feat was passing the psyche exam to become a cop.
But alas, his career is over at that organization at least. That is of course if the authorities do the right thing. This is far from over folks. Anyone who thinks the "powers that be" will roll over so we can tickle their tummies is sorely wrong. It is only the beginning.

that these ass hole thug cops and the chancellor are all PUBLIC employees, pulling in incredibly generous salaries and pensions. I'm sure the chancellor is making easily over a 100K/year and the thug cops are pulling in something close when taking into account benefits and pensions. Not bad for some fucking two bit thugs.

It's time for CA to get serious and fire these fuckers. It'll help the state's massive deficit (however minutely), largely caused by state workers' pensions in the first place.

But what is that faculty association mad about? She HAS shown leadership!

:woohoo:
rocktivity

Why the focus on an educator?

It is the pig that did this.

Him in cuffs for assault.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Period.

...not include any law enforcement officials, and needs to have people from the community as well. And it needs to have some hard, pipe-hitting liberals too.

this doesn't end until that bitch resigns.

Come the fuck on. I don't get it.

. . . she (Davis police Chief) said Saturday. "They needed to exit. They were looking to leave but were unable to get out."


BULL SHIT!! How god damn dumb and blind do these BASTARDS think we are?

and pepper spray can't find an exit strategy through a bunch of brave kids and unable to get out. What a bunch of unmitigated bullshit! How much crap are the lamb citizens of this country going to take before everyone starts waking up and kicking officers like this out of any role in police activities.

but using pepper spray is really revealing of the mentality of these cops. I don't want to pay their salary (I was tempted to say welfare) anymore after I heard what they did.

that his can wasn't filled with Zyclon-B.

Source: Yahoo News

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California university placed two of its police officers on administrative leave Sunday because of their involvement in the pepper spraying of passively sitting protesters, while the school's chancellor accelerated a task force's investigation into the incident amid calls for her resignation.

The president of the 10-campus University of California system also weighed in on the growing fallout from Friday's incident at UC Davis, saying that he is "appalled" at images of students being doused with pepper spray and plans a far-reaching, urgent assessment of law enforcement procedures on all campuses.

"I implore students who wish to demonstrate to do so in a peaceful and lawful fashion. I expect campus authorities to honor that right," UC President Mark G. Yudof said. All 10 chancellors would convene soon for a discussion "about how to ensure proportional law enforcement response to non-violent protest," he said.

Officials at UC Davis refused to identify the two officers who were place on administrative leave but one was a veteran of many years on the force and other "fairly new" to the department, the school's Police Chief Annette Spicuzza told The Associated Press. She would not elaborate further because of the pending probe.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/officers-pepper-spray-incident-placed-leave-182151195.html

Mark G. Yudof was named the 19th president of the University of California on March 27, 2008, and took office June 16, 2008. He leads a university system with 10 campuses, five medical centers, three affiliated national laboratories, and a statewide agriculture and natural resources program. The UC system has 220,000 students, 180,000 faculty and staff, more than 1.6 million alumni, and an $18 billion annual operating budget.

Yudof served as chancellor of the University of Texas System from August 2002 to May 2008 and as president of the four-campus University of Minnesota from 1997 to 2002. Before that, he was a faculty member and administrator at the University of Texas at Austin for 26 years, serving as dean of the law school from 1984 to 1994 and as the university's executive vice president and provost from 1994 to 1997. His career at UT Austin began in 1971, when he was appointed an assistant professor of law.

While on the UT law faculty, he also was a visiting professor at the law schools at the University of Michigan and UC Berkeley, and conducted research as a visiting fellow at the University of Warwick in England.

Yudof is a distinguished authority on constitutional law, freedom of expression and education law who has written and edited numerous publications on free speech and gender discrimination, including "Educational Policy and the Law." He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Law Institute. He served a two-year term on the U.S. Department of Education's Advisory Board of the National Institute for Literacy and has served on the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.

A Philadelphia native, he earned an LL.B. degree (cum laude) in 1968 from the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he also earned a B.A. degree (cum laude with honors in political science) in 1965. He was awarded the Alumni Award of Merit (2001) and the prestigious James Wilson Award (2004) by the University of Pennsylvania Law School for his many years of service and contributions to the legal community.

His wife, Judy, is the immediate past international president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. She also serves on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council and the international board of Hillel. In 1993, Mark and Judy Yudof were co-recipients of the Jewish National Fund Tree of Life Award. The Yudofs have two grown children - a son, Seth, and a daughter, Samara.

UC Office of the President | 1111 Franklin St. 12th floor Oakland, CA 94607-5200 | © 2008

Seems to be the modern trend to bulk up and shave the head. They all look alike.

They don't all start out looking like fire plugs, but steroid use causes many of them to end up looking that way.

Even in the small city where I live they all almost all like bald gorillas now, and act far more aggressively than they used to(while crime has been dropping for several decades).

Steroid use also makes men very aggressive, the shaved head and sunglasses/gas masks/face shields are all about making them more homogeneous and more like a single military style unit.

Along with all the other side effects, the stuff makes
your noodle go limp.

But you're absolutely right:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3745740&page=1

http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=1512&issue_id=62008

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/05/1003317/-Why-Police-Brutality-One-reason:-Steroid-Abuse

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/26/illegal-steroid-use-among-police-officers-a-big-problem/

One of the 'experts' quoted in the 3rd link guessed that 'one in four police' are using the stuff.

Just imagine how angry they are when a woman admiring their big muscles finds that tiny little shrivelled "noodle".

Dickless wonder indeed, beating a few heads makes them feel better for a while.

It is really messed up. Ironically, it doesn't appear to be that widespread in the military, the guys who really do fight and risk theirs lives.

I was just curious, so I wanted to read more.

.......................But another post that someone put up tonight
sticks it into context. For those kinds of folks, it's the authority/
power/control. (Or the fear of losing it. Which makes a limp noodle
seem like a small thing. No pun or humor intended. That level of anger
and fear isn't at all humorous.)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2351763

You don't have to wade through the whole of the pdf that's linked in that thread. Step
back and think about it, I'll bet you already know it intuitively.

and just defending themselves, and had a bad day, and didn't get their coffee, and the donut shop closed down, and they were ordered to do it and....

In situations where it is glaringly obvious that the conduct is unprofessional and counter productive. Not here, not in Portland, not in NYC and not in Oakland. Police misconduct will not stop until someone steps forward and stops it and another police officer would be the ideal candidate. So, where are you offiers. When will you step up to the plate and clean up your own mess. We know you are not all like this but we need a show from a principled officer. The thin blue line should not cover up such gross misconduct. I'm waiting.

What is this recurring meme that most cops are "good" and only a few are "bad".

The evidence would suggest that virtually all cops are just waiting for chance to bust heads and hurt people. They are virtually all Authoritarians or Authoritarian followers and all they need is the fig leaf of official cover to commit violence.

See Bob Altemeyer's - The Authoritarians a free ebook at University of Sask.

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

When cops let another cop slide on a minor crime, I think they call it "courtesy".

Explain yourself. This officer and another were put on administrative leave almost immediately. Today the police Chief was also put on administrative leave, apparently for insensitive comments following this police attack. This is a very big deal.

Administrative leave? Is this with pay, or without pay? Anyway, you or I would be arrested immediately if we pepper-sprayed a group of people sitting peacefully.

And if punishment lands on them, it will be because of video from non-cops. Video that went viral and caused the chief administration people to act fast to protect their own asses. It won't be because of cops protecting and defending the citizenry.

Minor. Compared to cracking someone's skull with a rubber bullet or a baton, pepper spray and tear gas are minor.

..and see how their tune changes.....

And it's much, much more than these dirtbags deserve.

From the article. Two were hospitalized and several others required medical treatment at the site. Will waterboarding be next Kelly? America the brutal. This totally disgusts me.

"Charles J. Kelly, a former Baltimore Police Department lieutenant who wrote the department's use of force guidelines, said pepper spray is a "compliance tool" that can be used on subjects who do not resist, and is preferable to simply lifting protesters.


"When you start picking up human bodies, you risk hurting them," Kelly said. "Bodies don't have handles on them."


After reviewing the video, Kelly said he observed at least two cases of "active resistance" from protesters. In one instance, a woman pulls her arm back from an officer. In the second instance, a protester curls into a ball. Each of those actions could have warranted more force, including baton strikes and pressure-point techniques.


"What I'm looking at is fairly standard police procedure," Kelly said."

I'm guessing more like 20 or 30, from what I saw on the video. Two used pepper spray while the rest of the pigs watched, and none of them did a damn thing to discourage it. Every single one of those pigs is guilty of pepper spraying those passive civilians.

but it needs to be seen by as many eyes as possible.

Have we identified the piggy yet? (yeah, he's not a cop, he's a pig. Not human, not worthy of respect).

Lieutenant John Pike. 530-752-3989 japikeiii@ucdavis.edu

(info from YouTube and numerous DU posts)

If you or I had been caught on tape spraying a chemical weapon into a crowd, what would happen to us?

This Kampus Kop belongs in jail - NOW. I have seen the videotaped evidence of a crime that would land any unprivileged citizen in jail for life.

Captain:

and not stopping him

the people are going to be fed up with this

Everytime the police use violence against students, the manure hits the fan. I bet some of the professors remember how the police used to smack them around in the old days. The police never learn...

only on suspects who were dangerously out of control? When did they become the lazy thug's choice for subduing EVERYBODY?

That's what the Nazis said too.

Don't the police understand how acts like this make it difficult to trust the police?

Don't the police understand the importance of that trust when they need to convince a jury?

Don't the police understand how acts like this make voting money for more police difficult?

Unfortunately, police everywhere are tarnished by these acts, not just the perpetrators.

If I were a sadistic cop, I would go out of my way to brutalize protesters. Not only do you get to inflict pain on helpless people, you get a vacation to boot. Officer pepper spray is probably torturing small animals in his country house. Sweet deal.

If the use of pepper spray is to be condoned as an acceptable "compliance device", then why is the uniformed terrorist on the left of the picture so intent on blocking the filming of this heinous act?

... then they will be back.

Likely on "administrative leave," so won't - unlike the poor cop in NYC - even lose any vacation days.

...while, all along the top of the picture, there are dozens of people with cameras taking pictures of what his colleagues are doing, and probably hundreds of those images were somewhere on the web before the arrest was over.

This is what the people who are giving these orders have failed to grasp: you can no longer hide your approach to 'crowd control,' because everyone in that crowd will have a camera and many of those cameras have the capability to immediately disseminate the images. Used to be you could grab the cameras and pull the film out. In today's modern world, by the time you've grabbed the cameras, the images are out there on the Web already.

Guns, night sticks, pepper spray, mace, and so on are pretty fearsome when you confront them in the actual situation. As far as what happens around about and *after* the actual situation, the cameras matter a lot more. Along with all the other things this picture represents, it is a picture of a whole lot of FAIL.

The Plaid Adder

when it gets into the hands of the People. Go to it, fellow engineers and activists!

I now see the Police Chief has also been relieved..­..using pepper spray on vocal and non-violen­t protestors is pretty stupid unless of course one want to incite a situation.

Austin Texas Police prohibits the use as well as many other depts. If the media really wanted to do their jobs they would asks the police whats is in their general orders....­my guess is you'd find the same.

C. .Officers will not use chemical agents on subjects exhibiting only verbal and/or passive resistance to arrest or authority

http://www­.ci.austin­.tx.us/pol­ice/gen_or­ders_b.htm

In contrast to the Boston Police Department­’s policy, the NYPD Patrol Guide emphasizes that pepper spray should not be used on subjects who passively resist (i.e., offer no physical resistance­. Sitting in the street or walking in the street instead of a sidewalk is not resistance­..

Of course if you incite people then you could try to make the claim...It appears the white shirts don't know their own policies or procedures­. The caging incidents showed the police hyper-exci­ted the crowd and in some case totaly blocked people for leaving an area.

http://www­.slideshar­e.net/Mewt­hom/less-l­ethal-repo­rt

K&r


:kick:

They have a contract and they have certain rights because of that contract.

They can be arrested for assault.

***** The Last Pepper Spray = Official DU Art History Contest *****
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2355953

Mind Justice .org
http://www.mindjustice.org

RECALL WALKER/KLEEFISCH!!!

:grr:

Lieutenant John Pike
Records Unit Manager
Phone: 530-752-3989
Cell: 530-979-0184
japikeiii@ucdavis.edu
Address: 4005 Cowell Blvd, Apt 616. Davis, CA 95618-6017

:donut:

of torturing unarmed, nonviolent people. I can't believe no one intervened on their behalf. It's reminiscent of the Penn State abuse, where someone saw what was happening and chose to do nothing. I don't care if the creep had a badge, wrong is wrong, and it should be stopped.

A leave its not enough Arrested for Assault