Sky-High Murder Rate in Puerto Rico Puts Police Under Scrutiny
Today's New York Times reports the sky-high murder rate in Puerto Rico has put the territory's police department — the second largest in the nation behind New York — under pressure to ramp up training and instruction, as well as coordination with federal authorities.
But it appears the pressure to crack down on crime may have come at the expense of civil liberties. The article mentions the ACLU's pressure on the Justice Department to complete its investigation into allegations of police brutality and suppression of First Amendment-protected protest.
"While it is nothing new that police have had carte blanche in their dealings with the low-income and immigrant community, it's the first time it has broken through to dissidents, students and the middle class," said Anthony D. Romero, the A.C.L.U.'s executive director.
Mr. Romero said he applauded the police department's recent efforts to address these longstanding problems. "But until the reforms are implemented, it's hard to know how serious the reforms are," he said.
From research and interviews the ACLU conducted this year, the murder problem extends inside the police force as well. Last September, a police officer was charged with second-degree murder after he shot a bystander while responding to a report of robbery at a Burger King. The same month, an elderly man was shot by police while his son was being served with an arrest warrant. And these were not isolated incidents: this page lists the people who have been killed by police since 1994.
More incidents of police brutality can be found in this video. The ACLU released a preliminary report on these problems last week to coincide with President Obama's visit to Puerto Rico; the full report will be released in the fall.
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May 2nd, 2012 at 4:37am
Jersey: Allowing LGBT marriages will caerte the same dividing lines between the married and the unmarried in the LGBT community that now exist in the rest of society. If you think that there are no significant differences in the rights of the married and the unmarried, I can understand why you'd think my arguments are inane. But marriage comes with 1,100 rights privileges not available to the unmarried, that includes the right to see a sick loved one in the hospital or to inherit a house without being hit by a huge tax burden after your spouse died. By focusing exclusively on the right to get married, the LGBT movement stopped fighting for the right of every loved one to visit someone sick in the hospital, for example. Instead of looking at the actual problem such as the right to visit someone you love in the hospital marriage has been viewed as a panacea. Well, it might be for those people who get married but the people who don't want to will be left out. The LGBT movement used to fight for the rights of every family within their community. They took pride in being a more inclusive community that cherished family diversity. Their focus has now narrowed to those who want to get married. It's like your bird watcher club deciding that only certain types of birds deserve to live in the bird reserve and the others just need to continue fending for themselves. If you look at the history of the LGBT movement, there was a clear right-shift from supporting all family forms to focusing on marriage. That shift was influenced by a right-wing backlash the marriage movement and it leaves out tons of families. Additionally, the right-wing backlash against gay marriage has affected unmarried couples in many states since the marriage protection amendments often reach beyond marriage and also affect domestic partnerships (see for more examples of how rights hard won by a coalition that went beyond marriage are now being rolled back). The recent amendment in is one such restrictive amendment. Fighting for those people within the LGBT community who want to get married leaves no time, money, and energy to address the underlying issues. It also caertes the illusion that once LGBT people can get married, equality for all is achieved. No, just the line dividing the married and the unmarried has been moved. Single parents, cohabitating couples, friends sharing living arrangements, siblings living together, and the many other diverse forms of families are still not equal; they still don't have the rights that married folks have.
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