Disturbing police testimony demands action

Jim Heaney of Investigative Post reports on toxic culture permeating the Buffalo Police Department described, under oath, by police themselves in NCLEJ litigation depositions. Read full article.

Racist talk. A lack of training, supervision and accountability. Byron Brown and the Common Council need to take their heads out of the sand and get serious about reform.

The toxic culture that permeates the Buffalo Police Department is now in the open.

The use of the N word by cops. A lack of training to stop police from doing the wrong thing, and lack of accountability when they do.

The allegations aren’t being leveled by department critics. Rather, they’ve been described, under oath, by police themselves, including those in supervisory positions.

Shocking? Yes.

Surprising? No.

Investigative Post has been reporting on problems within the department since 2016. A lack of proper training. A failure to investigative citizen complaints against officers. The unconstitutional practices of special street crime units. The targeting of Black motorists in order to raise revenue for the city. A contract with the police union that limits management’s ability to manage the troops or discipline them when they step out of line. And, the deaths of four men of color since 2017 as the result of altercations with police. (One could argue we’ve had our own Ferguson, several times over.)