Probe Sought of Austin, Texas, Police

[True_Blue]

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A month after police officers and dispatchers traded e-mails joking about a $1.1 million fire at a nightclub popular among black residents, officials asked the Justice Department to investigate the police department.

A letter from the city manager and police chief to U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton cited the ``unprofessional messages'' sent over the department's mobile data computer system during the Feb. 18 fire.

The letter also cited articles last year in the Austin American-Statesman showing officers used force against minorities at higher rates than against whites.

During the fire at the Midtown Live nightclub, 10 police officers and dispatchers traded e-mails that said, among other things, ``burn baby, burn'' and ``I got some extra gasoline if they need it.''

more....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4885820,00.html

[imenja]

1. I wish I could say I was shocked

Austin is a very segregated city.

[Boomer]

6. Tell me about it

I grew up in "white" Austin, and remember quite clearly how segregated it was at the time (1950s-1970s). East Austin was black and Hispanic, running the gamut from poor to middle-class. There was no mixing in residential areas, just in the work place (if there).

After college, I ended up in New York City and was thrilled with the vibrant diversity of population. Just as segregated in its own neighborhoods, but more of a patchwork all across the city, more overt interaction in the public arenas.

My first trip back to Austin was a real shock. The "whiteness" of downtown Austin shocked me -- I experienced an epiphany concerning the world in which I had been raised. What had seemed natural, because it was all I ever knew, was suddenly revealed as a dark stain on our city character.

[imenja]

9. it's still a great city

I lived there about 10 years and miss it badly.
Thank goodness for the Travis county DA going after DeLay!

[NVMojo]

2. this is disgusting!! Racism on the taxpayer's dime!!!

[jojo54]

3. Frigging pigs, literally! n/t

[sonias]

4. Austin is a liberal city but our cops are not

We've had way too many racially insensitive and excessive use of force complaints against APD. Cops are cops everywhere. What you see happening across the country happens here too.

Here's the link to our local alternative paper story
Police Officers Burned by Comments
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2005-03-11/pols_feature5.html
(snip)
Six Austin Police officers and four police dispatchers have been disciplined in connection with a spate of inappropriate comments – beginning with the now infamous "burn baby, burn" – which were delivered via patrol car mobile data terminals during a fire at the Midtown Live nightclub on Feb. 18. According to Chief Stan Knee, the 10 employees received punishments ranging from a written reprimand to a 15-day unpaid suspension plus a year of probation, for a handful of policy violations – including "failure to maintain an impartial attitude," acts bringing discredit to the department, and inappropriate use of department computer equipment. In addition to the suspensions, the 10 employees will be required to complete additional "cultural sensitivity training," Knee said at a March 4 press conference.
(/snip)

Sonia

[queeg]

5. Austin Very red-blue Segrigated

Austin voted 70 percent Democratic, but the cops are all the 30. There is a real threatening current in this town of Police and steroid-induced police thugism. We always seem to be in a place where the police are called on to account for "overreacting" to situations.

2 months ago the news was about 2 police officers who were killed on a motorcycle "husband and wife" both with a blood alcohol of over 4 times the legal limit. The speedometer was frozen at over 90 MPH after the accident. They had spent the day on a "bar poker tour" and at one point the husband had been yelled at by a bar owner for bringing his motorcycle into a bar and smoking the back tire. The rest of the people on the bar tour were all off duty cops also, but the silence was deafening... instead it is the bar owner who is being investigated for "overserving" and will probable loose his business.

[oscarmitre]

7. So people are being punished

for having a misappropriate sense of humour now? This is a massive overreaction.

[GOPisEvil]

8. What does our police chief have to do to get fired?

We've have multiple acts of "shoot first, ask question later"; two rookies in a patrol car together, ending up with the stupid one killing the unlucky one; the "Ozomatli incident"; selective enforcement as it relates to protestors...what does it take to get Stan Knee fired? Does he have compromising pictures of our mayor or city manager?