“I will confront intolerance and report any such conduct without question or pause”.
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A police department-affiliated website http://notonmywatchsfpd.org/, has created a 10-minute video with the police chief, officers and civic leaders to help people understand how to report their complaints about police. “We seek answers, not just to the facts of Mr. Wood’s case, but also answers about how as a police department and a city we can build deeper, stronger trust between law enforcement and the communities they’re sworn to protect”, he said.
The US Department of Justice will undertake a “comprehensive review” of the San Francisco Police Department following a fatal police shooting in December of a young black man, the video footage of which contradicted the initial police account.
Chief Greg Suhr said the pledge and the “Not on My Watch” campaign had been in the works long before the Woods shooting, but the incident gave the project new urgency. Officers said they only resorted to their firearms when Woods moved towards an officer, yet the video also shows that Woods was struggling to walk, with his arms at his sides, as officers surrounded him. While the recognition may have helped acknowledge those who believe Woods was killed in cold blood, police union officials were obviously slighted by the supervisors before the vote was carried out.
San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee wrote to Ms Lynch asking her to launch an investigation in the interests of openness and maintaining good relations between police and the city’s population. Suhr plans to introduce stun guns and mandatory reporting each time a weapon is pointed at a suspect.
Federal investigators will take an in-depth look into the use-of-force policies deployed by San Francisco’s police officers, the Justice Department announced Monday.
The city of Ferguson last week reached a deal with the Justice Dept to reform its police force and courts.
Chief Greg Suhr says the department will fully cooperate.
Woods’ killing came amid heightened tensions over several high-profile killings of unarmed African Americans by white police officers in the last two years, which have triggered large-scale protests across the country.
Lee said that in the days after the shooting, he directed the police department to change how its officers use force.
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Although racist texts sent between San Francisco cops have emerged, Chief Suhr did not punish the officers in an expedient manner, according to a judge. Authorities contend that Woods fit the description of a suspect involved in a stabbing earlier that day and presented a threat to the officers’ safety by refusing to drop his knife.
