Fascism 101: The Police and Media Control

[WilliamPitt]

Chief Sam Dotson of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police tells reporters
to leave the area as clashes between police and protesters happen
nearby in Ferguson, Missouri, the night of August 18, 2014.
(Photo: Whitney Curtis / The New York Times)

Fascism 101: The Police and Media Control
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed

Monday 22 September 2014

If you are a cadet in training with the St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy, good news! Beginning at 8:00 AM on October 24, you are welcome to attend a seminar titled "OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING - YOU CAN WIN WITH THE MEDIA."

No, really. This is an actual thing:



"The shooting death of a black teenager by a white police officer on August 9th in Ferguson, Missouri and the events that followed were tragic," reads the flyer announcing the seminar. "In addition to the Ferguson case study, this fast-paced class is jam-packed with the essential strategies and tactics, skills and techniques that will help you WIN WITH THE MEDIA!"

Those block-letters, by the way, are recreated here as they actually appear on the flyer.

So. Students of the profession of policing in St. Louis are invited to a seminar, the advertisement for which devotes one (1) sentence to the tragedy that was the multi-round shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown at the hands of a white Ferguson police officer, but only after announcing in block letters that the key aspect of the seminar won't be, "Don't shoot unarmed black kids," but will be how to "WIN WITH THE MEDIA!"

It goes on:

"It is practical training," continues the flyer, "not theoretical: Take what you learn and put it to work for you on the street right away! The training is also highly entertaining: numerous video clips illustrate key points, and there is NO Power Point!"

Highly entertaining! No Power Point! Never mind all that guff about not shooting black kids! WIN WITH THE MEDIA WITHOUT POWER POINT AND BE HIGHLY ENTERTAINED!

"You will learn a lot," continues the announcement, "and you'll have fun doing it! In addition to the detailed case study of Ferguson..."

More high entertainment, which apparently includes "The" case study of Ferguson. Not "A" case study, but "The" case study. "The" case study delivered by whom, exactly? Has a full police report of the incident actually been filed? And by "full," I mean, "A document that has more information than 'Someone got shot by someone somehow and somewhere, we think, maybe, now go away.'"

The rest: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/26345-fascism-101-the-police-and-media-control

[The Blue Flower]

1. I see they tout the experience of the presenter

He has so obviously failed in the past, I wonder that they're still using him.

[phantom power]

2. Well. As long as they're all having fun.

[hootinholler]

3. Continuing Education

Generally means not Cadets but Officers.

[yesiwasacop]

15. It specifically targets upper echelon leaders

PIOs, not cadets. Read the flyer.

I get the reason to focus on how to deal with the media when it comes to any event, but their presentation here is just plain stupid.

Talking to the media requires you to make sure you don't compromise the case either in respect to the police or the civilians involved. Also, if you say anything the officer did was wrong without it first being proven to be the case in a court of law or from an internal investigation then you get the union swooping down on you. Cops have unions too and they are not afraid to exercise their rights.

Cant win here so they are smart to not talk to the media at all. It would also be beneficial to have someone with half a brain to generate their training flyers.

[hootinholler]

23. Agreed, I was reacting to the sentence beginning "If you're a cadet..." n/t

[questionseverything]

4. it is illegal for the ferguson pd to not produce an incident report

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10782


In a long, detailed and meticulously-documented post at PhotographyIsNotACrime.com (PINAC) on Monday, Charlie Grapski outlines a string of public records requests he filed with Ferguson and St. Louis County police in an attempt to get at the Incident Report (and other documents) related to Brown's shooting.

The upshot: there were no contemporaneous reports of the incident at best, or, more nefariously, there was an Incident Report, but the local police have since destroyed it, or are otherwise covering the entire affair up by not releasing it to the public and lying about it...


As Grapski recounts, the police attempted to claim to the ACLU and others who had also filed public records requests to obtain the documents under Missouri's Sunshine Law, that the Incident Report in this case was exempt from such requests, because the matter of the shooting is currently under investigation. When it was explained that Incident Reports are not exempt from such requests, they stalled, but eventually produced one, with little more than the time and address of the incident.

Grapski, who is heading up PINAC's Open Records Project, explains that under 610.100 of the Revised Missouri Statutes, an Incident Report is defined as [emphasis added] "a record of a law enforcement agency consisting of the date, time, specific location, name of the victim and immediate facts and circumstances surrounding the initial report of a crime or incident, including any logs of reported crimes, accidents and complaints maintained by that agency."

While the investigative report of the incident, theoretically being compiled now by the St. Louis County Prosecutor, might be exempt from such requests, the Incident Report of the actual police stop and fatal shooting is not exempt, and it must contain, as described by state statutes, the "immediate facts and circumstances surrounding the initial report of a crime or incident". The documents released by the Ferguson and St. Louis County police departments contain no such information.

That lack of information is in violation of the Ferguson Police's own written procedures, also obtained by Grapski, which specifically detail when "officers are required to complete written police reports", such as following incidents that involve "violations of law or ordinance"; "arrests for any charge"; "use of force"; and "any situation which may result in civil action or complaint against the department".

[yesiwasacop]

17. I dont know about Missouri

but in my state, so long as some agency (our LE depts have statewide jurisdiction) is investigating it, then they are the ones who are obligated to generate a report. When we have an officer involved shooting, the officer is considered a suspect of homicide or aggravated assault (depends on whether the shot person is dead/alive). That being the case, they have a right to remain silent just as you and I do. Witness officers are different. At my agency witness officers are compelled to write a statement or interview with detectives. Failure to do so may result in termination. We have fired a few for that.

My agency (the one I worked for) is big enough we generally investigate our own shootings, but at times an outside agency will do it. Someone much higher ranking than I was made those calls.

Generally, the agency will make a "skeleton" report available to the public which has the date, time, location and type of incident provided and that is about it.

Full reports are heavily redacted as required by a court. This prevents people from harassing witnesses and protect innocent third parties. The problem releasing everything you have as soon as you get it is that it is incomplete. It is routine for witnesses to not come forward for several days. Not because they are scared of the cops, but because they dont think it is their business and frankly dont care. In major cases we canvass the neighborhood several times looking for witnesses and document who says what. Occasionally we will have someone swear up and down they never saw anything, were asleep or whatever and next thing you know, they show up in court with this huge story two years later.

As we have seen with the actor in LA sex case, the person with the photos didnt share them with the cops and waited to sell them or whatever they did to get them public.

hope that helps

[ColesCountyDem]

18. The law in IL is essentially the same.

A 'bare bones' incident report must be produced, when requested under a FOIA request. But in cases actively being investigated, our state Supreme Court has issued strict guidelines about what can and cannot be said or revealed, so as to not prejudice anyone's right to substantive due process.

[MindPilot]

5. Maybe they should hire a proofreader too.

"Please classroom materials (pen/pencil and paper)."

[TorchTheWitch]

6. I'm supposed to believe this flier is real?

Pffftttt.

[WilliamPitt]

7. ThinkProgress thinks it's real

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/20/3570116/st-louis-police-academy-promotes-highly-entertaining-course-on-ferguson-and-police-shootings/

[WilliamPitt]

8. ...and here's the flyer from the police academy website

http://www.stlouisco.com/Portals/8/docs/Document%20Library/police%20academy/2014/Mediashoot.pdf

[TorchTheWitch]

10. thank you

Looked too stupid to be real. Who wrote this? The dumbass instructor? I don't have any objection to the course - those officers that speak to the media should know how to do it - but the wording is stupid and condescending as if it's written for 10 year olds.

[WilliamPitt]

14. "Too stupid to be real"

is a vanishing phenomenon in this brave new century.

[reorg]

24. It's gone, apparently

"The specified URL cannot be found."

Still in the site search results, though:

http://www.stlouisco.com/GoogleSearchResults?q=mediashoot

Continuing Education
https://www.stlouisco.com/portals/8/docs/.../2014/mediashoot.pdf
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
Aug 9, 2014 ... Continuing Education. St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy. < Program Announcement ➢. OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING -- YOU ...

[WilliamPitt]

25. Odd

It was there at 2:43pm. The articles on the topic must be having an effect.

[Cooley Hurd]

13. It's been reported elsewhere...

Google is your friend...

[MADem]

29. It is a flyer from a course that has been taught for ten years.

Some idiot modified it slightly to reflect recent events. That modification, in the context of the flyer, made the flyer offensive.

It was withdrawn yesterday.

Here are the facts in this news article, HTH:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/flier-for-media-training-at-st-louis-county-police-academy/article_2d1f3148-9677-50e9-b157-46d1c30eccf8.html

[WilliamPitt]

38. Whoever wrote that article

used sources who took Mr. Rosenthal's seminar.

[Man from Pickens]

9. There's another creepy police operation going on right now in Pennsylvania

They're looking for the guy who shot two officers outside their police station - they locked down, as in full-blown martial law, a 75-mile radius, not even letting people go back home - just lifted yesterday. This is regarding a manhunt where the PD said the perp poses no threat to the public. Where's the law that allows them to keep people from their homes and families? Could you ever imagine that happening in the case of a murder victim who wasn't a police officer?

[TorchTheWitch]

11. whose idea was it to impose a shelter in place?

Seems to me that's what the local governments decide.

[Man from Pickens]

20. local PD

It's totally unconstitutional, and completely unnecessary as well - one of theirs got killed, and they decided they were going to collectively punish the entire population when they knew that the population was not at risk.

[TorchTheWitch]

27. it isn't unconstitutional

And sometimes it IS necessary to impose a shelter in place restriction. It was the State Police that apparently issued the order since they're the ones that lifted it. It isn't a punishment, it's a safety precaution for the citizens. The police don't know if this guy is dangerous to the population or not, and since he knows he's being hunted down then there's the risk of his taking hostages or just going nuts and shooting a bunch of people before offing himself. These things DO happen with crazy gunmen that are trying not to be caught. Also, with all the police in the area they don't want to accidentally shoot hikers in the woods or have innocent people not sheltering in place caught in any crossfire.

According to the locals they don't have a problem with the shelter in place, and now that it's being lifted many are leaving the area. They're terrified of this nut.

Believing that it was ordered because they're somehow pissed off at the general population because one lone nut killed a trooper is flat out loony.

[Man from Pickens]

32. sure it is

If one of those residents attempted to simply go home during the lockdown period, they are under explicit threat of being murdered by police.

Since when is being murdered for going home compatible with the Constitution? Military law is not permissible except in case of actual attack or invasion by a foreign power.

[TorchTheWitch]

33. no one is somehow legally "murdered" for going home

Some people DID get escorted home by police due to medical necessities and other emergencies that required their having gotten to their homes.

Shelter in place orders aren't military law for heaven's sake.

>>>CLICK<<<

[Man from Pickens]

34. So if you went home without the cops' permission...

what do you expect they would do in that situation?

[Rex]

12. It's called mediashoot?

Wow. I am so glad I don't live in that area...sounds like the cops are in total control of everything. I guess they can be taught not to slam reporters heads against the wall and 'detain' them without reason.

I can't believe they want to shoot the media, their hatred for humanity is on par with Darth Vader.

http://www.stlouisco.com/GoogleSearchResults?q=mediashoot

[WillyT]

16. K & R !!!

[aggiesal]

19. Let's not train them to be better police officers ...

but, let's train them to be really bad police officers by shooting and killing an unarmed citizen that's giving up,
and then teach them how to handle the media.
That way we can continue to be bad police officers and keep killing unarmed citizens.

Badges? Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!

[CaptainTruth]

21. Note that "Tell the truth" is NOT mentioned anywhere in the flyer.

Seems like they missed a few bullet points ...

It's Story Time! Lying to cover your ass.
He went for my gun!
Victim character assassination (if you have to, use video of 1 yr old victim destroying birthday cake to show propensity for violent attacks).
When the media just won't go away - Teargas is your friend!
Addressing charges of racism. Pro-tip: Leave white hood in the cruiser.

[CaptainTruth]

22. I just realized I missed the most important topic of all ...

How to Create a Police Department That Doesn't Need This Seminar.

[JEB]

26. The cops in this country are getting too much money.

Cut their tax take in half and give that much to our Public Schools if you want to see less crime.

[mountain grammy]

37. AMEN!

[WilliamPitt]

28. Up

[woo me with science]

30. K&R

[Enthusiast]

31. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch!

Thank you, WilliamPitt.

[Crewleader]

35. up!

k&r

[Zorra]

36. Thanks fir the info. This is deranged. nt

[Glassunion]

39. No PowerPoint!

Count me in. I fucking hate PowerPoint.