This is not going to go well. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is going to look into the Seattle PD’s “use of force practices, including treatment of minorities”.
Don’t misunderstand me; if a police department has a history of excessive force, especially against minorities, then investigations need to happen. But having the politically charged DOJ look into issues involving minorities is not going to go well. The racially charged issues at the DOJ are well documented here and here.
According to the article in the Seattle Times, the Seattle PD just might have some problems that need looking into. Here is some recent history:
The confrontations include an officer kicking and threatening the beat the “Mexican piss” out of a prone Latino man in April; the repeated kicking of an African-American teen during an arrest inside a convenience store in October; and the pummeling of an African-American man in a police lobby in June 2009 in which officers were cleared of wrongdoing.
Also cited is an officer’s fatal shooting in August of (John) Williams, a Fist Nations woodcarver, which led to the resignation of the officer, Ian Birk, who shot Williams. (Source: Seattle Times)
This does seem to be a case of a police department out of control. My concern is will the DOJ come into the investigation with the mindset that the Seatte PD has to prove there are no issues. In other words; a preconceived of guilty before proven innocent.
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