KEN CEDENO/REUTERS
In the aftermath of the killing of Tyre Nichols, outrage against police brutality is once again at the center of American discourse. As yet another barrage of disturbing video becomes imbedded in our psyche, a majority of Americans would agree that there’s major problems with the things we’ve seen, but in what may be a shocking revelation to some, it can effectively be argued that policing in our nation’s capital is amongst the very worst.
In the summer of 2020, protesters in Washington, D.C. were joined by Democrat Party leadership and mainstream media sources as they voiced demands to defund the police for their “violence and hate”.
District of Columbia residents cried out for justice and told countless stories of evidence planting, beatings, emotional abuse, false arrest, excessive force, and even rape at the hands of the Metropolitan Police Department. Considering the loud, public outcry (supported by leadership on Capitol Hill), passive observers might be led to believe that that the situation has improved in the years that have followed.
Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Police Chief Contee, Fox News
On August 11, 2021, the Washington Informer reported that Metropolitan Police Chief David Contee was “embarrassed, discouraged, and ashamed” over an incident regarding the behavior of two MPD officers who physically restrained a man at the corner of 16th and U streets Southeast, while a third officer “repeatedly struck the man in the head with a closed fist”.
Even as recently as October 24, 2022, City Council members and local media have called out MPD for their aggressive and violent behavior, but in what seems a complete disregard for the safety of D.C. residents, the problems have only continued to fester.
A look at the Police Scorecard shows that out of the fifteen categories used to score agencies, MPD only showed improvement in two.
In what appears to be a complete lack of effort toward addressing the issues, MPD has cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees, settlements, and damages paid over the last decade — spending money at a rate higher than 94% of departments surveyed. Obviously, there’s a systemic problem with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. When we look at their track record of responses to 1st Amendment activities in the district, the wrongs only begin to multiply.
In 2017, protesters flocked to the Capital to speak out against the inauguration of Donald Trump. Things quickly got out of control and MPD responded as many may have expected.
According to a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union, “former Metropolitan Police Department Police Chief Peter Newsham and more than two dozen MPD officers engaged in or supervised constitutional violations including mass arrests of demonstrators without probable cause, unlawful conditions of confinement for detainees, and/or use of excessive force”.
Also included in the press release was the testimony of Gwen Frisbie-Fulton of North Carolina, who said: “Because of the wanton and brutal conduct of the D.C. police, we ended up fleeing through a cloud of pepper spray for doing nothing but chanting and holding signs.” Rather than fight what would likely have been a losing battle against the 1st Amendment, MPD chose to settle her case against the District for 1.6 million dollars.
NBC News, 2017 Trump Inauguration Protests
The abuses of protesters that day were widespread and egregious — including horrendous allegations of all manner of brutality, including rape.
Scott Michelman, ACLU Attorney
According to another lawsuit filed by the ACLU and reported on by Sputnik , “an MPD officer directed five of the detainees to remove their clothing and proceeded to grab their testicles and insert his finger into their anuses, much to the amusement of other officers who laughed at the invasive search.”
DC ACLU lawyer Scott Michelman went on to describe how although there were documented acts of violence and vandalism during the 2017 inauguration demonstrations, hundreds of those whose rights were violated by MPD were peacefully and lawfully assembled — indiscriminately targeted by law enforcement with “an array of weapons … including concussion grenades, flash bang grenades, pepper spray and even a Long Range Acoustic Device” — all because of their mere proximity to unlawful acts.
Indeed, Michelman went on to speculate that the arrests “might have been intended as a warning…mass protests are not welcome in the nation’s capital.”
Rather than making much-needed improvements, in the aftermath of their abuses of power during the 2017 inauguration, MPD’s response was to further militarize their forces; lending credence to the idea that previous violence was just a warning, and perhaps unsettlingly — a dark preview of what was to come.
According to The Intercept, D.C. Metropolitan Police Commander Morgan Kane traveled to Israel in September 2017 to take part in the Anti-Defamation League’s Counter-Terrorism Seminar — a week-long exposition of militarized policing tactics for riot suppression, counter[1]insurgency, and counterterrorism. D.C. Councilmember David Grosso publicly decried the Commander’s attendance, telling The Intercept, “I am concerned that we are not doing enough to prevent the militarization of law enforcement in the District of Columbia…Learning from military advisors is not what local law enforcement needs.”
Despite the well-founded admonitions of Councilmember Grusso, MPD continued unabated, and moved forward to implement their military tactics as they were called to crack down on Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020.
Police officers wearing riot gear push back demonstrators, shooting tear gas next to St. John’s Episcopal Church near the White House on Monday.
PHOTO: JOSE LUIS MAGANA/AFP VIA GETTY
Reuters reported on June 2, 2020 that “baton-swinging police fired smoke canisters, flashbang grenades and rubber bullets to drive protesters farther from the White House, enabling President Donald Trump to walk across Lafayette Park and hold up a Bible in front of St. John’s Church.”
In fact, the use of non-lethal devices was so widespread and haphazard that it would later be determined that MPD had expended nearly every single weapon in their arsenal; necessitating an emergency allocation of funds for a fresh shipment of riot gear.
As was reported by Investigative Reporting Workshop, in association with WUSA9, “After two nights of chaotic protests near the White House…D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department found its supply of rubber ball grenades, high-impact sponge rounds, long-range tear-gas projectiles, and pepper spray nearly depleted. Once again, Metropolitan Police used gratuitous and indiscriminate force to exert their will on peaceful protesters — further setting a precedent for continued brutality as a means of discouraging 1st Amendment activity.
The stage was set for what would come next, and on January 6, 2021, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department relied on its old bag of tricks — like a stray dog returning to eat its own vomit.
In complete disregard for this extensively documented reality, however, politicians —along with their partners in the corporate press — would have Americans believe that none of the aforementioned abuses are relevant to the events of January 6.
In willful ignorance of the hundreds of videos from that day that have been widely circulated — which show numerous instances of violence being perpetrated or instigated by a militarized and malicious MPD — the Department of Justice (along with political leadership and mainstream media) has continued to ignore the evidence.
Even right-wing media outlets, conservative pundits, and Republican politicians have failed to report on these issues for the last two years. Only recently was the beating of Rosanne Boyland’s lifeless body by MPD Officer Lila Morris acknowledged by the likes of Jack Posobiec and other large-platform conservatives, up to and including Donald Trump.
Bodycam footage pictured Roseanne Boyland’s unconscious body being beaten by Officer Morris after several minutes of the woman screaming for her life, had subsided.
In a stunning lack of concern with the truth, corporate media, congressional leaders, and those who are currently occupying the Oval Office continue to describe MPD as the heroes of the day — saviors of democracy — each and every one.
Instead of rendering aid, Officer Morris offered the switch.
Apparently, they would have the American people believe that during Christmas break of 2020, these officers, who could do nothing right in the eyes of D.C. residents and Americans from across the country, were issued shiny new ideology, morals, and training. In the face of “insurrection” they exercised these unpracticed skills on one of the largest crowds ever assembled in D.C., only to shelve those tools once MAGA had been stopped.
The mainstream media now provides impunity and absolution for the same badged group with a newfound lens — but only so long as it’s related to January 6th.
Even more egregious, is the Department of Justice and D.C. Judiciary’s consistent dedication to this demonstrably false narrative as they continue to attack the 1st Amendment, charge hundreds of peaceful protesters with a wide array of federal crimes, and deny any chance of bringing truth to official proceedings.
Countless lawsuits were born and the public was aghast at the treatment of demonstrators (including the misuse of teargas) during the BLM protests of summer 2020. Yet, these key elements of defense in criminal proceedings are barred from being allowed in the Proud Boys case related to Dominic Pezzola and the five other men on trial for their lives in D.C. District Court.
Pezzola, who picked up an abandoned riot shield to defend himself from rubber bullets, is now facing robbery for picking up an abandoned shield from the ground. Joshua Black, (pictured right) who can be seen standing directly in front of Pezzola, was shot in the cheek by one of these improperly deployed munitions from an inappropriate height. Use of force experts have explained this dangerous act is specifically forbidden because it creates lethal possibilities for munitions intended to be non-lethal. In spite of these glaring abuses, D.C. District Court and the Department of Justice continue to push forward as though nothing is wrong.
Joshua Black, the Protestor who was shot in the face by MPD on January 6th.
Nancy Pelosi thanks the national guard before impeachment hearings. | Politico
So what changed after decades of shameful allegations, charges, internal reprimands, criminal cases, convictions, and negative public opinion?
Strange how when the banner of the victim is flown by another political camp, there is such widespread support for police action — even when it almost certainly contributed to the deaths of multiple peaceful protesters.
The facts speak for themselves and the answer is quite simple: These prosecutions, along with the media manipulation and narrative control which facilitates them, are part of a coordinated and well-funded effort to demonize political opponents, criminalize peaceful assembly, and silence all dissent. All of this is disturbingly reminiscent of what happened in Germany in the 1930’s, and indeed, quite “Hitler-esque”.
If we the People allow these attacks on citizens to be lost to the hidden footnotes of history, while peaceful protesters are sent to a gulag for the rest of their lives, America can expect institutionalized police brutality and politically motivated prosecutions to become ever-more commonplace — normalized and routine — rewarded and praised.
George Orwell once wrote: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”
