American Civil Liberties Union

Abuse by police continues to be a major civil liberties problem in the U.S., particularly for the poor and for people of color.  Everyone needs and deserves effective and humane law enforcement in communities and courtrooms.


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Police Practices : Press Releases

ACLU of Georgia Challenges Mass Searches at School of Americas Protest (11/13/2002)
COLUMBUS, GA-The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia today filed a lawsuit challenging last minute plans by law enforcement officials here to search more than 10,000 marchers at the upcoming School of Americas (SOA) demonstration on Sunday, November 17.

ACLU Charges Racial Discrimination in Second Texas Drug Bust Scandal (11/01/2002)
AUSTIN, TX--The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a class action lawsuit charging racial discrimination in an undercover drug bust that led to the arrest of 15 percent of African-American men between the ages of 18 and 34 in Hearne, a rural community of 5,000 in eastern Texas.

Seattle Police Improve Document Disclosure Policies in Settlement of ACLU Lawsuit (10/29/2002)
SEATTLE--In settlement of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, the Seattle Police Department has agreed to improve its policies for handling requests for documents by the public.

Court Finds RI Police in Contempt for Failing to Comply With State's "Driving While Black" Law (10/24/2002)
PROVIDENCE, RI -The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today hailed a decision by Superior Court Judge Stephen Fortunato, Jr. to hold the police department in contempt of court for failing to comply with the state's "Driving While Black" law.

¿Como se dice Rodney King en Espanol? Posters Promote Reform, Commemorate Texas Victim of Police Brutality (10/15/2002)
HOUSTON-Saying that major reforms are needed to curb the increased incidences of police misconduct and brutality, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and other advocacy organizations today unveiled a new poster advertisement meant to commemorate the life of Louis Torres, a Mexican national whose death at the hands of police in the city of Baytown was caught on a police camera.

Following New Evidence of Coerced Confessions, NYCLU Calls on Police to Videotape Interrogations (09/17/2002)
NEW YORK -- In light of recent evidence that police detectives coerced two teenage boys into submitting false confessions in the 1989 attack of a Central Park jogger, the New York Civil Liberties Union today called upon the police department to start videotaping interrogations of serious crime suspects in their custody.

ACLU and Community Groups Ask Court to Reject Proposed Justice Department Changes to Police Abuse Monitoring (09/12/2002)
PITTSBURGH - In preparation for a hearing tomorrow to determine whether Justice Department oversight should be lifted from the troubled Pittsburgh police department, 18 civil rights, community, religious and minority-police-officer organizations have filed a friend-of-the-court brief opposing the proposed changes and asking the court to order increased federal oversight to address serious problems with internal affairs investigations into misconduct allegations.

ACLU Distressed That Justice Department Considering Release of Pittsburgh Police From Consent Decree in Light of Today's Highly Critical Auditor's Report: Statement by Witold Walczak, Executive Director of the ACLU of Pittsburgh (08/29/2002)
PITTSBURGH - One day after Pittsburgh officials announced that the Department of Justice will be releasing the police department from a historic 1997 consent decree that imposed federal oversight on the police bureau, the independent auditor evaluating the City's performance filed a damning report today, saying that City's non-compliance has increased substantially in the past quarter.

Court Auditor Slams Pittsburgh Police for Whitewashing Misconduct Complaints (08/01/2002)
PITTSBURGH- The court-appointed auditor overseeing the police bureau's progress under the first-in-the-nation consent decree with the Department of Justice filed a highly critical report yesterday, suggesting that the City may have deliberately delayed investigating some very serious misconduct complaints, including the strip-search of an infant. 

ACLU Urges Congress to Ensure Full Enforcement of Civil Rights Laws (05/21/2002)
WASHINGTON - Concerned with reports that the Department of Justice may be failing to fully enforce U.S. civil rights laws, the American Civil Liberties Union today urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to use its oversight function to ensure that the Department fully comply with its responsibility to protect Americans from discrimination. 

ACLU Letter to Denver Mayor Wellington Webb: Denver Police Files (03/11/2002)
Wellington E. Webb, MayorCity and County of Denver1437 Bannock Street, Suite 350Denver, Colorado 80202

ACLU Criticizes Government's New "Dragnet" Plan to Interview Recent Foreign Visitors to U.S. (03/04/2002)

ACLU of Northern CA Urges Oakland Mayor To Fill Empty Seats on Citizens' Police Review Board (02/28/2002)
OAKLAND, CA--The ACLU of Northern California and other concerned individuals and organizations today sent an open letter to Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown urging him to fill the empty seats on the city's Citizens' Police Review Board.

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