Yahoo – AFP,
4 Dec 2014
Washington (AFP) - A US federal probe has concluded that the police in Cleveland -- where a 12-year-old boy was recently shot and killed by police -- has engaged in a pattern of "using excessive force," Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday.
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| A man holds a sign in Cleveland, Ohio on November 25, 2014 referring to the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy, who was wielding a replica handgun (AFP Photo/Jordan Gonzalez) |
Washington (AFP) - A US federal probe has concluded that the police in Cleveland -- where a 12-year-old boy was recently shot and killed by police -- has engaged in a pattern of "using excessive force," Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday.
The
announcement came amid rising racial tensions over a series of police killings
of African Americans, most recently that of Tamir Rice, who was shot to death
last month in a Cleveland playground by police responding to reports of a boy
brandishing a gun. Rice was later found to have a toy gun.
"We
have determined that there is reasonable cause to believe that the Cleveland
Division of Police engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force –
in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, and as a result of
systemic deficiencies, including insufficient accountability, inadequate
training and equipment, ineffective policies, and inadequate engagement with
the community," Holder said.
The federal
investigation into police practices in Cleveland was begun 18 months ago and
not specifically about the Rice shooting.
But Holder
said the city had acknowledged the findings and agreed to take court-enforced
remedial actions, including the naming of an independent monitor to oversee
reforms.
The action
followed a night of protests in New York over a grand jury's decision not to
charge a police officer who choked to death an unarmed black man, Eric Garner.
A similar
decision on November 24 by a grand jury in Missouri in the case of a white
officer who killed an unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, sparked riots in the
St Louis suburbs and protests in cities across the countries.
The cases
have reignited a long-standing debate over police treatment with African
Americans, and what some see as overly aggressive policing tactics.
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