 murder after an unarmed man was shot dead on the San Francisco subway. Johannes Mehserle, a former Bay Area Rapid Transit agency police officer, was arrested this week at a home near Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He is being held over the New Year's Day shooting death of Oscar Grant, who was lying on the ground after being pulled off a San Francisco area train by police investigating reports of fighting.
Mr Mehserle resigned from the rapid transit unit on January 7, hours before a protest in Oakland turned violent and resulted in more than 100 arrests. Mr Mehserle is white and Mr Grant was black. The shooting was recorded by passengers using mobile phones and the video has been widely circulated on the internet and TV.
Alameda County district attorney Tom Orloff said Mr Mehserle was charged with murder because evidence showed Mr Grant was the victim of an intentional killing. Mr Grant's family is suing the rapid transit unit for $US25 million ($38 million). A lawyer representing the family praised authorities for arresting Mr Mehserle and called it "a very first step" of what was expected to be a long process.
A white man on death row in Texas for nearly 30 years could be freed because an appeals court has ruled prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from his jury in the belief that blacks empathise with defendants. Jonathan Bruce Reed was convicted and condemned for the November 1978 rape-slaying of Wanda Jean Wadle at her Dallas apartment.
But now the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled Dallas County prosecutors improperly excluded black prospective jurors from Reed's trial and ordered him released unless prosecutors choose to retry him. "Although we do not relish adding a new chapter to this unfortunate story more than 30 years after the crime took place, we conclude that the Constitution affords Reed a right to relief," a three-member panel of the New Orleans-based court wrote in the ruling posted late Monday. Jamille Bradfield, a spokeswoman for Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, had no immediate comment on the court decision.
The 5th Circuit said Reed's case mirrored the capital murder case of Thomas Miller-El, on Texas death row for nearly 20 years until the Supreme Court overturned his verdict, citing racial discrimination during jury selection. Miller-El last year took a life prison sentence as part of a plea deal. The Supreme Court cited a manual, written by a prosecutor in 1969 and used for years later, that advised Dallas prosecutors to exclude minorities from juries. Documents in Miller-El's case described how the memo advised prosecutors to avoid selecting minorities because "they almost always empathise with the accused".
"Reed presents this same historical evidence of racial bias in the Dallas County District Attorney's Office," the 5th Circuit panel said. Reed, now 57, was identified as the man who attacked Wadle and her roommate, Kimberly Pursley, on November 1, 1978. He had apparently entered their apartment by posing as a maintenance man. Pursley survived an attempted strangulation by feigning unconsciousness. Two other residents identified Reed as the man they saw in the apartment complex just before the time of the attack.
You've heard all about it by now. Early in the morning on New Year's Day, police in Oakland, California, had a man down on his belly on a BART platform -- a suspect in a fight with other passengers. Suddenly, in full view of other holiday revelers traveling home, Officer Johannes Mehserle draws his pistol and shoots 22-year-old Oscar Grant III in the back. Camera-equipped cell phones on the scene captured the incident as it happened, putting the telling of the tale on YouTube and beyond the power of official spin.
Oakland broke out in rioting as a result, and we have yet to see the last of the fallout. That's happened in the past in the aftermath of apparent police misconduct, whether negligent or malicious (we don't yet know in this case). But rarely, if ever, before has the public been so motivated by a story driven less by professional media reports than by raw footage taken and distributed by citizens bypassing formal channels.
Fast as the media was to respond, it relied on the amateur video captured at the scene --and even professional reports were then edited and repurposed by citizen journalists dedicated to telling their own version of the tale. When speaking to the jaded pros, police spokespeople have found themselves chasing a story driven by grassroots outrage -- one that couldn't be put to rest by stroking a few familiar faces.
Citizen journalism is coming into its own. Video cameras, cell-phone camers, PDAs and the Internet are handing tools to regular people that allow them to communicate and distribute information as never before. The stories they tell are often unpolished, but they're real, they can tell unpleasant truths, and they can reach vast audiences in unfiltered form.
Authorities are starting to clue in -- and to respond in ham-handed form. After Grant was shot, police tried to confiscate cell phones on the scene that had recorded the incident. But almost everybody has a cell phone these days. They're small, and easy to conceal. The revolution in journalism can't bring back the dead. But it can help to ensure that the guilty are held accountable and that the truth is widely known.
UP to 100 Victoria Police officers and employees have been taken into criminal custody or punished for serious disciplinary breaches in only 12 months. Thirty-two sworn officers have been detained, suspected of offences including rape, child pornography, drug-related offences and perverting the course of justice. Another 50 officers were punished for breaking internal police rules. Twenty-two civilian police employees were investigated for crimes and internal breaches.
The figures were obtained by the Sunday Herald Sun under Freedom of Information. Ethical Standards Department head Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said: "We believe there is a need for a faster system that allows dismissal of members who are corrupt, involved in criminal offences or have lost the community's confidence." But the Police Association claims any reforms would give too much power to the Chief Commissioner.
Most of those taken into custody were locked up or questioned as suspects in thefts, assaults, drug crimes, deception offences and misconduct in public office. Some officers were released, while others were charged and jailed.
The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal Victoria Police internally disciplined 50 officers with ranks as high as inspector for breaking rules in a recent 12-month period. The 50 officers received penalties for "disgraceful" and "improper" conduct, illegal moonlighting, criminal acts and disobeying orders from Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon, according to Victoria Police data.
TWO inspectors, one demoted, the other put on a good behaviour bond, for disgraceful conduct.
TWO Sen-Sergeants, believed to have been training police officers in Iraq, fined and given good behaviour bonds for non-approved moonlighting.
DISGRACEFUL conduct by a Sen-Sgt and six Sen-Constables leading to a dismissal, demotion, promotion freeze and transfer freeze.
A SERGEANT and 16 Sen-Constables who refused to follow an order of the Chief Commissioner, leading to a promotion freeze, a demotion, four reprimands, four fines and seven bonds.
SIX officers proven guilty of a criminal offence, leading to a dismissal, reprimand, promotion freeze and three bonds.
A SEN-CONSTABLE and constable put on bonds after committing an offence punishable by jail.
FOUR constables found negligent in discharge of duty, but given no penalty.
AND improper conduct by a Sen-Sgt, five Sen-Constables, a leading Sen-Constable and two constables leading to four bonds, two fines, a dismissal, a reprimand and a transfer.
Another four unsworn force employees were also given good behaviour bonds after being found guilty of serious misconduct. Victoria Police refused to identify the alleged culprits or reveal details of their alleged offences.
The Metropolitan Police was accused last night of shielding officers against accusations of rape after it emerged that dozens of complaints had not resulted in a single conviction over the past five years. The figures, obtained by The Times, also show that since 2000 only 1 per cent of all public complaints of rape and sexual assault against Met staff were upheld by an internal police investigation. Even then, a quarter of those who faced a disciplinary board were allowed to resign before any hearing and with police pension intact.
When the victims of a rape or sexual assault are members of the public, the figures show that their complaint is highly unlikely to be upheld by the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, the internal investigation unit known as “The Untouchables”. Only four of the 311 public complaints in the last nine years were substantiated following an internal investigation. Nineteen of these were complaints of rape by a Met employee on a member of the public — but none was upheld.
The disclosures are embarrassing for the Government, which is struggling to improve public confidence in how police deal with rape victims. They are also a personal failing for Sir Ian Blair, the departing Commissioner, who came to the force as an expert on improving police performance on rape. The figures were released under the Freedom of Information Act, but only after a five-month delay.
Last week it emerged that two women police constables, Julie Facey and Paula Church, were suing the Met for 1 million each over sexual assault and harassment allegations involving three male officers over two years.
Over the past nine years there have been 62 allegations of rape against Met officers and civilian staff by members of the public and their own colleagues, so-called blue-on-blue rape. Only four of these cases resulted in a successful prosecution. A fifth accused was not prosecuted, though an internal investigation found that there was a case to answer. Instead, he was allowed to resign before his misconduct hearing. In