“Suicide by Cop”: How Police Present Killings as Unavoidable
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.American police speak in a peculiar lexicon. When an officer guns somebody down, it is an “officer-involved shooting.” When a department spokesperson speaks of “the use of force,” police violence is reduced to basic physics. “Fatality” dulls a plainer…
Are Police Helicopter Fleets Worth the Money?
Beni Benitez stands outside of his home in South Los Angeles, a neighborhood a few miles south of the Los Angeles Police Department’s helicopter landing site.Isabel Avila Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.This piece was published originally by Capital & Main. Los Angeles’ police and sheriff’s departments…
Jan. 6 Rioter Who Dragged a Police Officer Into the Crowd Gets 7.5 Years in Prison
hoto By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.On Thursday, a US District Court judge sentenced a January 6 rioter to seven years and six months in prison for dragging DC police Officer Michael Fanone into the angry mob…
Pay Attention to These Insanely Important District Attorney Races
Mother Jones illustration; John Minchillo/AP; Mario Tama/Getty; Haven Daley/AP Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.If you care about police accountability, abortion rights, or racial justice, you should be paying attention to district attorney races this election season. As chief prosecutors in their counties, DAs…
If You Watch One Thing Today, Make It This Video Of a Police Award Recipient Calling Out the Cops
The St. Paul Police Department held an award ceremony this week to honor Alex Mingus, a Minnesota resident who performed “an act of gallantry and valor” in response to a shooting. But upon accepting the award, Mingus called out the lack of police action on the scene. On October 8, 2021, Mingus was on his…
The Police Are Defunding Minneapolis
Mother Jones illustration; Chris Tuite/ImageSPACE /MediaPunch /IPX/AP; Steijn Leijzer/Unsplash Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.In 2020, the allocation of money within city budgets—and specifically the distribution of Minneapolis’ budget—became a national concern. The slogan was Defund The Police. The idea was to take some…