Rand Paul: We Must Demilitarize the Police

Anyone who thinks race does not skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention, Sen. Rand Paul writes for TIME, amid violence in Ferguson, Mo. over the police shooting death of Michael Brown 

By Senator Rand Paul

(Time) The shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown is an awful tragedy that continues to send shockwaves through the community of Ferguson, Missouri and across the nation.

If I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn’t have expected to be shot.

The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—though there is never an excuse for rioting or looting. There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response.

The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action.

Glenn Reynolds, in Popular Mechanics, recognized the increasing militarization of the police five years ago. In 2009 he wrote:

Soldiers and police are supposed to be different. … Police look inward. They’re supposed to protect their fellow citizens from criminals, and to maintain order with a minimum of force.

It’s the difference between Audie Murphy and Andy Griffith. But nowadays, police are looking, and acting, more like soldiers than cops, with bad consequences. And those who suffer the consequences are usually innocent civilians.

The Cato Institute’s Walter Olson observed this week how the rising militarization of law enforcement is currently playing out in Ferguson:

Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such as bans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone”?

Olson added, “the dominant visual aspect of the story, however, has been the sight of overpowering police forces confronting unarmed protesters who are seen waving signs or just their hands.”

How did this happen?

Most police officers are good cops and good people. It is an unquestionably difficult job, especially in the current circumstances.

There is a systemic problem with today’s law enforcement.

Not surprisingly, big government has been at the heart of the problem. Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies—where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement.

This is usually done in the name of fighting the war on drugs or terrorism. The Heritage Foundation’s Evan Bernick wrote in 2013 that, “the Department of Homeland Security has handed out anti-terrorism grants to cities and towns across the country, enabling them to buy armored vehicles, guns, armor, aircraft, and other equipment.”

Bernick continued, “federal agencies of all stripes, as well as local police departments in towns with populations less than 14,000, come equipped with SWAT teams and heavy artillery.”

Bernick noted the cartoonish imbalance between the equipment some police departments possess and the constituents they serve, “today, Bossier Parish, Louisiana, has a .50 caliber gun mounted on an armored vehicle. The Pentagon gives away millions of pieces of military equipment to police departments across the country—tanks included.”

When you couple this militarization of law enforcement with an erosion of civil liberties and due process that allows the police to become judge and jury—national security letters, no-knock searches, broad general warrants, pre-conviction forfeiture—we begin to have a very serious problem on our hands.

Given these developments, it is almost impossible for many Americans not to feel like their government is targeting them. Given the racial disparities in our criminal justice system, it is impossible for African-Americans not to feel like their government is particularly targeting them.

This is part of the anguish we are seeing in the tragic events outside of St. Louis, Missouri. It is what the citizens of Ferguson feel when there is an unfortunate and heartbreaking shooting like the incident with Michael Brown.

Anyone who thinks that race does not still, even if inadvertently, skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention. Our prisons are full of black and brown men and women who are serving inappropriately long and harsh sentences for non-violent mistakes in their youth.

The militarization of our law enforcement is due to an unprecedented expansion of government power in this realm. It is one thing for federal officials to work in conjunction with local authorities to reduce or solve crime. It is quite another for them to subsidize it.

Americans must never sacrifice their liberty for an illusive and dangerous, or false, security. This has been a cause I have championed for years, and one that is at a near-crisis point in our country.

Let us continue to pray for Michael Brown’s family, the people of Ferguson, police, and citizens alike.

Paul is the junior U.S. Senator for Kentucky.

Link:

• Rand Paul: We Must Demilitarize the Police

Pope Francis to Venture Into Mafia Stronghold

The funeral for a 3-year-old allegedly killed by the Mafia in January. European Pressphoto Agency

Pope to Visit Southern Italian Region of Calabria 

By Manuela Mesco and Giada Zampano

(The Wall Street Journal) When Pope Francis visits the southern region of Calabria on Saturday, he will venture into the stronghold of one of the world's biggest criminal organizations—one whose tentacles allegedly extend into local churches there, according to Italian prosecutors.

The pope will visit the small town of Cassano Jonico, where a 3-year-old child, Nicola "Coco" Campolongo, was killed along with his grandfather in January, allegedly by Calabria's Mafia, known as the 'Ndrangheta.

Born in one of Europe's poorest regions, the 'Ndrangheta has proved far harder for prosecutors to crack than the better-known Sicilian Mafia.

Tight family ties and a low profile have helped it proliferate in Italy and abroad, resulting in an estimated annual turnover of €53 billion ($72 billion), or about 3.5% of the Italian economy, according to the research firm Demoskopika.

Pope Francis has followed his predecessors in denouncing the Mafia. But his visit also throws a light on the relationship between the Catholic Church in Italy and the country's deeply rooted organized crime.

Pope Francis in Rome on Thursday. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Traditionally 'Ndrangheta bosses proudly professed their Catholic faith, looking to "exploit the bond between the church and large swaths of populations in southern Italy," says Giuseppe Pignatone, a prosecutor who investigated Mafia cases in the region.

Mob bosses often requested that parish processions stop in front their homes as a way to thank them for paying for the celebrations, according to evidence gathered by magistrates for trials of alleged 'Ndrangheta members.

"For too long the church has pretended not to see, allowing Mafia affiliates to raise money, build churches, organize the processions," said Mafia expert Antonio Nicaso. "If this pope wants to turn the page he has to make a firm decision and draw a straight line. Only in this way he will keep Mafia members out of the church and will mark a real change from the past."

Calabrian bishops issued a document in April in which they condemned Mafia as a "cancer...that tramples on the highest values and the most sacred aspects of life." They also renewed the church's appeal for Mafia members to repent.

In a statement Thursday, Bishop Giuseppe Fiorini Morosini said the church should work harder to overcome the divide between faith and day-to-day behavior. "However all italian institutions should examine their consciences," he said, and not just priests who have made mistakes.

Investigations by Italian prosecutors have found that the 'Ndrangheta has over the decades infiltrated the local church and other institutions.

According to evidence presented during mob trials, 'Ndrangheta bosses gathered every Sept. 3 in a Catholic church high in the mountains, Santa Maria di Polsi, to "baptize" new members, discuss strategies and pray until at least 2009.

Nicola Gratteri, chief prosecutor in the Calabrian capital of Reggio Calabria, says he believes the meetings started during the 1890s and still occur. Images of the Madonna in the church have been found on many people arrested for 'Ndrangheta association.

Pino Strangio, who has headed the sanctuary for 15 years, says he has never seen mob bosses meeting there.

"We as the church strongly condemn the 'Ndrangheta and any other organized crime," he said. He says he was never involved in any investigation or called to testify.

Some priests have been investigated for 'Ndrangheta association. In one ongoing trial, a local prelate and police chaplain, Nuccio Cannizzaro, stands accused of making false statements and helping Mafia bosses.

Prosecutors say they have recordings of him, obtained through wiretaps, offering to use his Mafia ties to do favors for locals, such as skipping hospital waiting lists. "Nothing happened without [Father] Cannizzaro knowing," said Stefano Musolino, the prosecutor on the case.

Father Cannizzaro denies the allegations, his lawyer said, and says that they are based on a misunderstanding. When the priest was indicted, local residents staged angry protests. A verdict could arrive next month.

Another priest, Salvatore Santaguida, is under investigation in a separate case for allegedly providing 'Ndrangheta bosses with police information. The priest, who has been suspended as pastor of the local church, says he is innocent, his lawyer said.

Pope John Paul II took a strong public stance against organized crime. "Repent!" he said in Sicily in 1993. "God's judgment will come." Pope Benedict XVI called on young people not to give in to the Mafia's promises.

Pope Francis has also called on Mafiosi to "change your life, convert, stop doing harm," and voiced support for priests who refuse funeral rites for Mafia associates.

He became emotional when denouncing the killing of the Calabrian toddler Coco, who was caught up in an alleged mob hit. The car with the two bodies was then burned.

In March the pope prayed with the families of nearly 1,000 people allegedly killed by Italian organized crime. The Italian Catholic Church recently decreed that seminarians in Calabria must study the 'Ndrangheta, so that they can fight it more effectively.

Giacomo Panizza, a priest who has lived in Calabria for 40 years, says he was threatened and shot at when he used a home confiscated from the 'Ndrangheta as a center to help disabled.

For years, Father Panizza felt alone in fighting the Mafia in Calabria, he says, with local priests dismissing his concerns in the 1990s. "They used to say that I couldn't understand because I was not born there," recalls Father Panizza, who is originally from a northern Italian town.

"I feel safer today," he says. "It's harder to shoot a priest if the whole church is behind him."

Link:

• Pope Francis to Venture Into Mafia Stronghold

Italian Priest Uncovers 100 Pedophile Networks

Meter Association Gathered Evidence for US and Italy

ROME, SEPT. 4, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A hundred online pedophile communities will be disconnected and prosecuted by U.S. and Italian authorities thanks to the work of the Meter Association, founded by Italian Father Fortunato Di Noto.

ZENIT learned from the association that the networks consisted of some 18,181 people who used online community Web sites to host and exchange "thousands of images and video footage -- 27,894 pedophiliac photos and 1,617 videos -- as well as information regarding the trade of minors."

The news was further publicized by Rome's Italian police force, in cooperation with other security forces.

"Thousands of children were involved," the association added.

Father Di Noto, a native of Sicily, explained that with the aid of a team of volunteers, Meter discovered "a universe that is not virtual, but real, in which people can register and exchange pornographic material of minors -- photos, videos, even dates with minors -- through one of the most well known social networks in the United States."

The association stated that "investigators both in Italy and in the United States termed the uncovered material an 'authentic horror,' with newborns and children of a very young age as the objects of violence and sexual abuse."

Meter, which is a pioneering association in the struggle against pedophilia, worked for six months in order to deliver the current evidence to the Italian police department that deals with Internet crimes. The charges were subsequently communicated to the North American authorities.

Response

Father Di Noto, a pastor in the town of Avola, stated: "It is impossible to describe the horrors we have seen, uncovered and denounced in six months. Constant vigilance has brought unexpected results, and today we have more hope than ever that online pederasty and pedophilia, crimes against children and against humanity, can and shall be defeated."

The priest added: "There is not a nation which has not been involved. Tens of thousands of people produce, exchange and possess material, and violate children."

"This is not 'virtual' material," he asserted, "but real, so real that when you hear in the videos the children's screams of pain, when you see in the photos the faces of the newborns, you can hear the drama, the pain, the suffering."

The association stated that online social networking sites have provoked a change in the pedophiles' strategies.

Father Di Noto explained, "The social network is a double-edged sword in matters of pedophilia: On the one hand, it permits communication between pedophiles and in a certain sense, increases their possibilities; on the other hand, it is the most efficient instrument for security forces to find and disconnect their Web sites."

The priest reported that over the past five years, his association has secured 1,064 charges and reported almost 6,000 sites to the authorities.

For this reason, the founder of Meter launched an appeal, to journalists in particular, to keep public awareness us and to "not to let down the guard against this crime."

In reporting about this type of thing, he said the authorities as well as the legislators will be motivated to give an adequate response to the terrible suffering of these children.

--- --- ---

On the Net:

Meter Association: http://www.associazionemeter.org/

• Link