City Government

OP-ED: When Police Plant Evidence, They also Plant Seeds of Distrust

Published

10 years ago

April 7, 2015

By Publisher, Post News Group

The recent allegations involving Michigan Police officers who are being accused of planting evidence on a retired Black gentleman, along with dozens of other equally odious police confrontations around the nation, require that we seek some solutions and strategies to change the ways Oakland polices.

Oakland is still responding to the criminal-like behavior revealed in the “Riders” case where our own police officers were also found guilty of planting evidence, along with the use of unnecessary and excessive force and many other criminal acts involving drugs and mistreatment of citizens, especially to Black men.

Too few of the victims received settlements, and to many, the police are still too unsettling. Too much money has been spent for too many years trying to oversee and change our police community relations.

And after more than a dozen years of federal oversight, we no – instead – need local oversight by and for Oakland citizens.

Because of the steadfast, courageous demonstrations and spontaneous resistance movements of groups such as Black Lives Matter, State of Black Oakland (SOBO) and faith and community based leaders, people are moving, monitoring and motivating our official leaders to explain themselves and commit to change.

We also need the voices of elected officials and regular citizens to speak up and offer ideas and solutions about our public safety needs.

We all generally agree that police officers are needed to help keep the peace and keep our neighborhoods safe.

The Post is offering space to anyone who cares or dares enough to propose some answers that we can all debate, discuss and implement.

In the last election, we provided a prodigious amount of space to issues such as development, public safety, jobs and community development. We have another election scheduled for next year and these issues, especially public safety, can’t wait until a few weeks prior to voting to voice our opinions and influence the decision makers and/or their challengers.

In our upcoming issues, we will seek answers and responses from the District Attorney, City Attorney and elected officials.

The Post wants to know what plans or ideas you have. What would you do if you were mayor, city administrator, city attorney, auditor, chief of police or a member of the Oakland City Council?

We would like to see someone step forward to analyze and recommend helpful changes. All lives matter. Our police officers matter. The DA and city attorney must ensure fairness. The mayor and council must insist on equitable fair treatment to Black citizens because their lives matter too.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

6 days ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.