[News] St. Louis County police chief went to Israel in 2011 to study Israeli security forces

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/st-louis-county-chief-will-travel-to-israel/article_9b614430-5679-11e0-999b-0017a4a78c22.html*

March 24, 2011


  St. Louis County chief will travel to Israel

St. Louis County police chief Tim Fitch will be traveling to Israel next 
month to learn how Israeli police, intelligence and security forces work 
to prevent terrorist attacks.

Fitch will visit for a week with other law enforcement officials from 
across the United States, including representatives of the FBI and 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The trip is part of the 
Anti-Defamation League's National Counter-Terrorism seminar.

Fitch and the others will visit Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Tiberias, among 
other cities. The Israel National Police and senior officials from 
Israel's defense forces, intelligence and security organizations will 
meet with the Americans.

St. Louis County police houses the region's anti-terrorism center.

**********************************************


    St. Louis County police previously investigated for racial bias


    August 14, 2014


    http://america.aljazeera.com/blogs/scrutineer/2014/8/14/st-louis-county-policepreviouslyscrutinizedforracialbias.html


The St. Louis County police have been under investigation for using 
racial profiling and targeting non-whites in traffic stops and other 
police sweeps.

The department has been the focus of nationwide attention this week as 
its aggressive response to demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo., has drawn 
criticism from President Barack Obama 
<http://america.aljazeera.com/blogs/scrutineer/2014/8/14/st-louis-county-policetakenoutoffergusonsituationsaysmogov.html>, 
civil rights advocates and community leaders. The St. Louis suburb has 
seen nightly demonstrations since Saturday, when unarmed, 18-year-old 
Michael Brown was shot and killed by Ferguson police 
<http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/8/14/ferguson-nixon-police.html>. 


Researchers from the Center for Policing Equity at the University of 
California-Los Angeles visited the St. Louis County police in May 
<http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/racial-profiling-study-begins-at-st-louis-county-police-department/article_99c3e1cf-ea3a-58d2-a5b2-0677ff683e88.html>. 
The CPE is an academic consortium that lists its mission as promoting 
"police transparency and accountability" <http://cpe.psych.ucla.edu> 
with a particular expertise in examining racial profiling and police use 
of force.

The UCLA team was invited by St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch 
after a whistleblower accused Lt. Patrick "Rick" Hayes of ordering his 
officers to target African Americans or people with black or "tan" skin 
in area shopping centers in 2013.

In an investigation, nine officers corroborated the accusations. Hayes 
was fired in May 2013.

In January, the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP filed a federal 
civil rights complaint alleging racial profiling by the county police 
<http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/naacp-files-civil-rights-complaint-against-st-louis-county-police/article_5e3ddfee-b883-55a1-bf08-948f74c96e47.html>. 
The NAACP said a disproportionate number of St. Louis County police 
arrests were of African Americans, and that black officers on the force 
were more severely disciplined for misconduct than their white 
counterparts.

Accusations by the whistleblower originally known as "Lonewolf" were 
extensively detailed last year by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 
<http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/whistleblower-in-st-louis-county-police-racial-profiling-probe-alleges/article_3f52ec44-f9ab-5b06-b1f9-868cd63fc9ba.html>. 
Sgt. Daniel O'Neil revealed his identity in July 2013 while taking steps 
to file a discrimination lawsuit against the St. Louis County police. 
O'Neil said he was targeted for retaliation by the department after it 
became known he was the whistleblower.

-- 
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