Standing Up To Police Abuse…

 
Few social tragedies are as heart wrenching as the loss of an innocent loved one who perishes at the hands of overzealous law enforcement. We are now witnessing virtually more blood left in the streets by way of the police than at the hands of bank robbers and burglars. Why is this happening, especially behind their slogans of ‘Protect and Serve’? Equally important is, how much more of this insanity will continue before ‘We The People’ do something about it? But, what can we do?

I am moved, as many of us are, by the seemingly needless loss of young ‘Big Mike’ Brown outside of St. Louis earlier this week. How sad…how unnecessary! When will it stop?

‘Lawmakers’ in most societies serve their constituents. The first question; who are their constituents? They are not the millions behind bars or the millions of other assuming folks who find themselves caught up in the ‘criminal system’ in some way. Nor, are they the naive voting populist who believe that this constant historical narrative of ‘let’s get tough on crime’ is always the best tactic to keep law abiding citizens safe on their land or in their homes. No … none of these are the constituents of ‘lawmakers’! Instead, they are those who make money from defining crime and reaping its ‘carrots’ through punishment.

More than 14 million people are arrested every year in the United States! There are more than 70 million people in this country who have been convicted of some kind of crime. Thanks to nearly half a million criminal laws on the books it is as easy as eating a piece of cake to break a law (of some kind). Just think of the billions and billions that is usurped from us America’s citizens every year!!! Indeed, America leads every nation in the world in convictions and incarcerations! No, not one of these people do our so-called law makers care about. They are just ‘the bad people’ and economic units in a much larger scheme.

And who might these so-called ‘get-toughers’ be? Millions of police, local, state and federal and the thousands of organizations and special interests who represent them. They are the prosecutors and judges whose careers and livelihoods rest with the quantity of convictions and the length of the sentences they richly dish out. And, let’s not ignore those who make a living in niches of probation and parole and the jokes of rehabilitation and prevention.

It is estimated, it takes 1.9 people employed for every one person ‘on the count’. Some estimates have more than 4.5 million people in the U.S. under the intimidating badge of law enforcement and the punishment side of crime…multiplied by 1.9, totals nearly nine million people in the U.S. plus the thousands of organizations who represent ‘these harden constituents’. In other words ‘getting tough on crime’ is good for business…common sense and reverence for all life, regardless of race, is not! This ‘elephant in the room’ is very possibly America’s single largest industry!

Sadly, the parents and family members of the ‘Big Mikes’ of this world and thousands of other innocents are NOT the lawmaker’s constituents! In addition, when the assuming electorate go to their ballot boxes the subject of police abuse or overreach is never on the ballot! Instead, these assuming voters constitute great juries for police agencies under fire, who believe, regardless, ‘our’ police can do no wrong.

These disfavored’s stories make good headlines. But, their suffering is always used to this industry’s advantage. Banging on lawmakers doors more is not going to to wake them to caring a damn more about our suffering! Do we really think they are going to get tough with the very people who keep them employed? They are, in fact like the majority of us; a reflection of ourselves! We have no backbone…and neither do they. The police damn well know this! The abuse will continue to escalate absent real courage to do otherwise!

Unfortunately, aside from civil unrest, which seldom results in anything constructive, there are not many solutions left for us. We are witnessing the results of the implementation of an outright police state in many areas where they have all the cards and the immunity and we have few if any. Unchecked now, things will continue to escalate toward outright revolution as we see unfolding in numerous countries around the world. ‘The system’ knows this and with the help of NSA and law enforcement at large are preparing themselves for an outright showdown of ‘them’ vs. the rest of us in the not too distant future.

For those who, in spite of the current environment described, believe there is still something that can be done, I will share the following information with you with love from knowing:

‘Title 42′ refers to United States Code as set forth in 1985-86. This valuable section of law was drafted AND enacted by those citizens of the time who feared the very abuses we are now witnessing on a daily basis…overreach and abuse by law enforcement! It is actually the one section of American Law, still standing, that can bring accountability, by way of violation of Civil Rights, to law enforcement which has run astray.

The not good news is that few attorneys practice it in this venue, today. Even fewer prevail in the lengthy and costly litigation which invariably lies in the path of anyone using this section of law to achieve justice. I personally was the recipient of conspiracy and police abuse in 1995-96. I was falsely arrested and charged with assault on a police officer and possession of a deadly weapon. I was facing between 4-6 years in prison. Fortunately for me, unlike the ‘Big Mikes’ of the world I did not leave any blood or guts on the pavement.

During this same period, a young father responded to banging at his front door early one morning. When he opened the door, he got a police bullet between his eyes and dropped dead with his girlfriend and young child looking on. The police simply responded by saying “oops…sorry we got the wrong house”. In another unrelated incident, an unarmed young African American man, on his way home from work late at night, was pulled over for a minor traffic infraction. Minutes later, He had 42 rounds in him. He managed to live a day or two after the needless assault. Like the other family mentioned above, they too did not have knowledge and eventually lost their complaint against those officers and the agencies that defended their immunity…over zealous law enforcement who rushed to judgment instead of applying common sense and respect for human life. Two of the officers who were responsible for these senseless crimes were also involved in my horrific story.

After their state charges were dropped against me a year later and I had exhausted other state remedies I filed suit in Federal Court under the provision of Title 42 USC 1985 against the city and their police department. After many depositions and nearly two additional years of tough litigation and the city spending thousands to fight and malign me, the city cried ‘uncle’. I received a sizable undisclosed settlement. The chief of Police resigned. Two police officers took early retirement and another was discharged from the force. Two city councilmen resigned and later the City Manager was fired. The firearm which was planted on the young African American man mentioned earlier turned out to belong to the Chief of Police…a part of his ‘personal’ collection. Regardless, all culpable did not spend a day in jail.

Following my humble victory, the city was sued by an activist group alleging using public money to settle my lawsuit without disclosing its use to the taxpayers was a violation of the California Brown Act. They also prevailed in their litigation bringing further embarrassment upon city fathers. Finally, the city was awarded the ‘Black Hole Award’ by the California Newspaper Association for being the most corrupt city in California in 1998-99.

Today, I am respected wherever I walk when in the city. The city’s colleges lecture about me as the man who helped clean up their little town! It was not easy! However, I was too stubborn to throw in the towel! This is what I did! What are you willing to do to stand up to police abuse?

Eli Mellor lectures educating the public on how to protect themselves and their property from overzealous law enforcement.

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• mortimerzilch

  yeah, that’s good. I am so glad that blacks are standing up to the militarized police. This country has turned into a Nazi death camp if you ask me. However, blacks must get rid of their slavery-era induced lawless attitudes. The LAW is not WHITE LAW. It’s having an ordered society that strives to achieve success. Blacks too often seem to work against the law and against society…when the law says they are equal. But blacks retain old ideas that society and law is white and racist, and therefore they try to subvert it. Obama being the prime example. But it’s definitely good to resist over militarized police state…that is happening more because of foreign policy failures than domestic policy.

  Dec 18, 2014, 6:01 pm 0 Reply