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From the unexplained to the mundane, come join us on a journey to the fringe.

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Hello and welcome to Journey to the Fringe, where Chelsea, I think it's a fairly reasonable

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thing to say that we've both had issues with authority, both in the past, not run-ins with

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them, just problems with authority.

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It's a personality trait that I think we both have.

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But with you not being able to take tests well because somebody's judging you, and I

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just having been sold that the police are out to get me since I was like three years

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old, just not trusting anything with an authority figure.

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I thought you were talking about all the arrests.

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Yeah, I know, I have to specify that.

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Anyhow, we are your podcast host, Taylor and Chelsea, here today, kind of giving you an

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idea, a sense of mass wrongdoings that the police have done in the past.

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And I, police might be the wrong word for it, because we're going to talk about sheriff's

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departments as well.

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But this is kind of a response.

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If somebody says, which I hate this response, when you're talking about them with specific

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cases of malpractice by police officers, and they say, well, that's just one bad apple.

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Which if you look at that entire phrase, one bad apple ruins the batch.

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In fact, means that is an entirely terrible thing to have the one bad apple there.

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But hey, these are going to be examples of, no, there's entirely huge problems with the

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police that need to be addressed.

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So we're only talking about specific cities issues.

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This is a systemic issue all throughout the first world, I guess will be a proper way

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to say it, or at least North America that needs to be addressed.

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You wouldn't think it would just be exclusive to certain cities.

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So Chelsea, strap yourself in.

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We've got three cases here to look at just to give you a warning.

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They're going to get worse as we go.

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Okay, so you went least worst to worst.

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Yeah, at least worst to worst.

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Yeah.

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They're not choice to make the worst one, but they're all pretty bad in their own right.

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So Chelsea, I hope you're ready for this.

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Did you know that if you're rich enough, you can just hire an entire police precinct?

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Do what?

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What would I be searching for in the court?

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Party double.

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We're not just talking about like if you're pulled over by the cops slipping them a 20

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and going on your way.

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No, we're talking an entire state's police being paid off to do particular things for

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a group.

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So like what would I want them to do that for?

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Oh, if you didn't want them to know what's happening?

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No, not necessarily that, but you're kind of on the right track to.

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Now this story, Vice News did a great job on this happening.

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This happened in 2021 from Motherboard, which is a subsidiary of Vice and it's specifically

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about a pipeline that was being built from Canada to the US.

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A Canadian oil company gave Minnesota law enforcement $2 million to fund the policing

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of protests against construction of this pipeline.

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Calgary based oil giant Enbridge set up a fund called the Public Safety Escrow Trust

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and May of 2020 as part of its permitting process for the line three pipeline route,

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which carries oil from Edmonton, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin, which is not superior

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to Edmonton.

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I don't think it's just the name of the city that is going to.

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Nice tactic.

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Yeah.

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The funds in this account have been used to reimburse costs associated with maintaining

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the peace around the pipeline, including for officers, wages, lodging and boom trucks,

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according to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and line three permits.

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On July 29th, 2021, a group of unarmed environmental activists protesting the pipeline in Thief

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River Falls, Minnesota, were tear gas, shot with rubber bullets and arrested.

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Quote, it was a really brutal scene.

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The level of force being used partnered with the very close range that law enforcement was

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facing us led to some pretty serious injuries.

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It was really an extreme level of force partnered with a really punitive and oppressive style

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of jailing, said Tara Houska, an Ojibwe lawyer and activist who was arrested at the protests.

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The nearby Marshall County Sheriff's Department filed a reimbursement request for expenses

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associated with that day's patrol.

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A spokesperson for the Minnesota PUC, which we talked about earlier, confirmed to motherboard.

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According to the utility regulator between June 8th and July 31st, that Sheriff's Department

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was reimbursed $20,057.90 by Enbridge for personnel expenses associated with line three

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at assists.

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In the Marshall County Sheriff's Department did not respond to a request for comment.

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Enbridge justifies the pipeline expansion as necessary to uphold high safety standards,

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but community members living near it say the project exchanges environmental destruction

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and sacrifices land for a polluting energy source.

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The pipeline has also been tied to several instances of sex trafficking, harassment and

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assault.

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There's a whole other article that we're not going to get into because this is going

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to be a long episode in itself of local community members.

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Environmental activists many from indigenous territories through which the pipeline would

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run have opposed the project for the last seven years.

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Activists efforts ramped up in November 2020 when Minnesota's Pollution Control Agency

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MPCA issued Enbridge water crossing permits.

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Grassroots collectives like Honor the Earth, Minnesota 350 and Stop Line 3 have garnered

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international support, including from the likes of Jane Fonda for direct actions held

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to obstruct the HULT pipeline construction in the months since.

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Many of these direct actions have been met with violence by local police.

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Though the July 29th incident was not the first time activists have been met by resistance

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from law enforcement, it was the first time police had used less than lethal weapons.

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The Guinea Collective and Environmental Activist group led by indigenous women and two spirits

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people organizing against the pipeline wrote in a Facebook post on August 1st of 2021.

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Many activists were arrested and taken to Pennington County Jail, where several were

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denied food and medical care for their injuries and health in solitary confinement.

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Among them was Genu Collective founder Huska, who stated after being attacked and zip-tied

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she was kept in solitary confinement for days, denied food that aligned with her dietary

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needs and ultimately hospitalized.

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Pennington County Jail Administrator Dave Casanova, the existence of the Public Safety

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Escrow fund has been known for some time thanks to activists and media reports. An April report

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from the Minnesota Reformer based on documents obtained through public record requests showed

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that Enbridge established a financial relationship with Minnesota law enforcement in May of 2020

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as part of the permits that PUC issued, creating quote, a public safety end quote reimbursement

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fund for any pipeline related police action and emergency responders.

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In its permitting documentation, the PUC cited increased law enforcement expenses around

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pipelines in other parts of the country as reasoning for establishing the fund. The funds

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live in an escrow account managed by a state appointed official to whom agencies send requests

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for reimbursement of costs related to quote, coordination of public safety and emergency

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responders public safety related costs for maintaining the peace in and around the construction

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site or view an oversight of any private security services, end quote, and other similar costs.

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It's not public safety if the oil company is paying the Jesus Christ.

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The financial arrangement allows the state's police departments to get reimbursed by the

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fossil fuel corporations for quote, maintaining the peace in and around the pipeline construction

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site and coordinating services at kin reported that included those undertaken by a task force

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of 18 sheriff's departments, the Northern Lights Task Force, which was created to deter

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pipeline protests in April of 2021. Enbridge had paid law enforcement over $500,000 out

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of this fund. We've also learned that figures have ballooned far from their per spokesperson

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of the MPUC. The well giant has paid $1,957,011.37 in law enforcement expenses to date. That

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is a really hard number. That's too many numbers. Just round it, please. How many cents? Why

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are they paying cents? Round up, please. For the sake of those saying the number at least.

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That's a compassion. These expenses likely helped cover what Husqa

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says has been relentless surveillance by Minnesota police along the pipeline's route for the

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last year. Quote, there's a law enforcement officer parked right across the dirt road

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that we live on right now. Like that's the daily occurrence there 24 hours a day. End

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quote says Husqa. Husqa says the financial relationship to an Enbridge and the state

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regulator is an indication of its undue influence. She recalled receiving flippant comments from

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arresting officers as she and fellow protesters were detained, alluding to the partnership.

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Quote, the police who are standing around as we're wearing zip ties are talking about

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how much fun they had and they hoped we came back real soon and that they're going to

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get time and a half. We're sitting there hurt and unable to open our eyes because we've

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had so much mace in them and they're just laughing at us. End quote Husqa says since

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the creation in 2020, $327,000 of the Enbridge fund has gone to the Cass County Sheriff's

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office located 180 miles north of Minneapolis for security patrols of pipeline property

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through a former noted. This amounted to around 7% of the department's salary and overtime

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budget for that year between November 28th, 2020 and February 19th, 2021 over 40 employees

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dedicated more than 7,000 hours to safety patrol. And another $171,000 went to Beltrami

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County Sheriff's Department for officers training as early as 2017 preparation for

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the pipeline and mileage for response to line three protests. All of this was paid for by

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Enbridge. Enbridge spokesperson Julie Kellner said that the company recognizes the protesters

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rights to quote express their views about the energy we all use, but it does not tolerate

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illegal and unsafe acts. That's the end of the quote. That's the end of the article.

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That's how easy it is to just buy a police department. I feel like Enbridge doesn't

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make the law to say what they can support and not and the police don't need to be paid

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to uphold peace. Especially when that's what we're doing. We're supposed to be doing that.

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That's the whole point of taxes. Yeah, we already pay you to not get paid by somebody

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else so that you could protect them. The billionaire. So I mean, I laugh, but it's

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disgusting. That's the first one. You can just buy a police department if you really

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need to. You got enough money. Well, now that I know that maybe when I need them, I'll buy

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a police department. Okay. And if you guys want to give us enough money to actually buy

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a police department, please do so. So far you have given us zero monies to buy a police

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department. So any extra help. They haven't paid us money to do shit with. I'm sorry.

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It's true. No judgment here. Don't worry, guys. Next up, did you know that departments

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can be full of gangs? What kind of departments in this case, it's a sheriff's department,

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but I'm going to boldly go out there and say it's probably not the only one it likely

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could also extend out to police departments. Okay, law enforcement. What's the difference

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between a sheriff and a law enforcement? You keep sticking them. I was really trying to

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figure this out. Basically, sheriffs are generally in elected position. I don't know the case

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here. We're talking about the LA Sheriff's Department, which is the largest sheriff's

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department in the US. Generally, sheriffs will be elected, but I don't know the case

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specifically with the LA Sheriff Department. And there is also the LAPD and I don't know

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the specific separation here. Generally, sheriffs will also provide, I shouldn't say policing,

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but policing to courthouses and prisons, as well as they'll take care of the more state

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oriented laws. Okay, that's good enough for me. That's simple enough to explain it. There's

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way more to it than that. But I think that's enough to at least get us going from here.

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And you said they're run by gangs? No, they're full of gangs. You're a part of the gangs.

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Just read the story and you're going to learn as we go because this is this was absolutely

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ridiculous when I learned this and it's a fairly recent revelation. So LA SD, Los Angeles

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Sheriff's Department has over 18,000 employees and that makes the LA County Sheriff's Department

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the largest in the US. But it is plagued by dozens of often violent gangs and cliques

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organized by sheriff's deputies. This has been going on since at least 1973.

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What? Like are we talking about like Crips and Blitz? No, that's the only gangs I know

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in the area. It's entirely unique to the sheriff's department and you're going to learn about

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it here. It's just ridiculous. We're going to be pulling from two sources. One is the

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Civilian Oversight Commission on Sheriff's Department in LA. This is a document that

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was drafted and came out as February 2023, as well as there is a pretty good NPR article

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on this. So we're going to be pulling from both of these. To start off from the COC,

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the Civilian Oversight Commission. We're going to start with this. Deputy gangs and deputy

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cliques have existed in the LA County Sheriff's Department since at least 1973. That year,

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an internal department memo dated December 5th documented the existence of a group known

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as Little Devils and identified 38 members who bore sequential numbered tattoos of a

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devil. What? In the Sheriff's Department? In the Sheriff's Department, yes. In 1992,

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the Colts Commission report confirmed the existence of deputy gangs and deputy cliques,

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including deputy gangs called the Vikings in the department. After holding evidentiary

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hearings in Los Angeles in 1993 and 96, the United States Commission on Civil Rights in

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1999 issued a report focusing on the violence and trauma the deputy gangs had inflicted

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on communities of color and people struggling with mental illness and urged the LASD to

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take decisive action to eradicate the deputy gangs from its ranks. In 2012, the Citizens

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Commission on Jail Violence, CCJV, found that the deputy cliques existed in patrol and on

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certain floors of men's central jails, MCJs, if that comes up again, and that they contributed

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to the use of excessive force in the jails. The CCJV's report contains five pages of

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recommendations to address the problem. The Loyola Law School Report documented the department's

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long history of eight deputy gangs and deputy cliques in 2021, and the Rang Corporation

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also confirmed the existence in its report titled Understanding Subgroups within the

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LA County Sheriff's Department in 2021. All the deputy cliques share harmful characteristics,

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while not all deputy cliques engage in identical, unprofessional conduct. Most share at least

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some of the following characteristics, and they have done and continue to do certain acts

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of unprofessional and dangerous policing. Deputy cliques run the stations or units

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where they exist, as opposed to the sergeants, lieutenants, and the captains who are charged

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with the duty to run the station. Exercise influence over and often decide assignments

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and shifts, training and overtime. Exclude deputies from the deputy cliques, often based

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on race, ethnicity, and gender. Intimidate deputies that are not part of the deputy cliques.

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Give orders not to provide backup to disfavored deputies who are not members of the deputy

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cliques. Order work slowdowns if management of a station attempts to rein them in. Encourage

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a we-they attitude as in a separate, we are the gang and there's everybody else who's

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against us, and not just between them and the public, but with other deputies within

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the station. Operate in secrecy, lie in reports to protect each other, and threaten the public

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with use of excessive force without justification and be little deputies unwilling to engage

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in such acts. Most troubling, they create rituals that valorize violence, such as recording

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all deputy-involved shootings in official books, celebrating with shooting parties, and

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authorizing deputies who have shot a community member to add embellishments to their common

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gang tattoos. This is literally from a civilian oversight commission. Like this is documents

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that they collected on it, and we're gonna talk about people actually talk to them about

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this as we get going. Typically to be invited to become a member of a deputy gang or deputy

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clique, a deputy must demonstrate, quote, offness, and quote, that is frequently associated

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with the use of excessive force or other forms of unconstitutional policing. Often the euphemistic

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term peer leader is used to describe the members. Deputy gangs and deputy cliques also have

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used and continue to use assault of behavior against fellow deputies who do not belong

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to their group as a show of power and influence. Certain of these altercations have led to

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public exposure in the media. The COC investigation uncovered these other incidents, including

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threatened use of weapons by deputies upon other deputies. The pernicious effects of

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these groups go well beyond assaulting other deputies. Recent publicly released body cam

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footage of a deputy threatening to shoot a man in a parked car without any evidence of

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wrongdoing illustrated in real time gang behavior characteristics of deputy gangs and deputy

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cliques interacting with the public served. Not all members of deputy cliques engage

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in acts of misconduct. Even those members who do not engage in misconduct, however,

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contribute to the unprofessional influence of deputy cliques and their negative impact

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on the department and on other deputies. Deputy cliques have and continue to do great

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damage to the reputation of the department and the public hearings demonstrate that they

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have unquestionably destroyed trust between the department and the public.

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This is just one group of members of the jump out boys shared a common number tattoo that

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depicts a red eyed skull wearing a bandana with the letter OSS and holding a revolver

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next to an ace of spades and an aid of spades the so-called dead man's hand in poker. Their

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creed recited that members understand quote when the line need to be crossed and crossed

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back and quote that they quote sometimes need to do things that they do not want to in order

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to get where they want to be and quote it also directed members to keep a quote black

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book and quote that records the dates of every deputy involved shooting that records the

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date of every deputy involved shooting that authorize each shooter to embellish his common

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tattoo with smoke coming out of the gun. Seven jump out boys members were fired but because

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there was no clear policy against joining a deputy gang at the time, the civil service

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commission reinstated four of them. That was one of the recommendations I believe that

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wasn't really what I was looking at at this point and like there's so much we have to

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go into still with even this that it's hard to catch it all and there's another story

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after this one which I think is worse. It is indisputable that for nearly 50 years deputy

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gangs and deputy cliques have existed within the department and their existence and negative

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impacts were known to the leadership of the department yet there was no sustained effort

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during this period to eradicate deputy gangs and deputy cliques from the department. All

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prior efforts were inadequate, lost continuity and failed to eliminate deputy gangs and deputy

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cliques. Owing to this failure, deputy gangs and deputy cliques are embedded in the culture

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of the department either tolerated or ignored. Indeed during the tenure of Sheriff Baca,

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the under sheriff, Paul Tanaka was a tattooed member of the Vikings. According to the numerous

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witness interviews, former sheriff Villanueva's under sheriff Tim Miracami has a caveman tattoo,

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another gang. This is from the commission, I have another thing that will change this

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number but there's at least a half dozen impossibly more deputy gangs and deputy cliques currently

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in the department primarily at patrol stations and they include the executioners, the banditos,

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the regulators, the Spartans, the gladiators, the cowboys and the reapers. And now we're

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going to move to a bit from the NPR article on this. Two recent under sheriffs, the second

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in command posts for the department were identified by the commission as having gang tattoos. Paul

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Tanaka, the under sheriff from 2011-2013 and Tim Miracami, the under sheriff reporting to

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Alex Villanueva until 2022 who we're just talking about. An extensive investigation by

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nonprofit newsroom Nock LA, which if you're looking for good information on this, go read

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Nock LA. That is the best location for this. Alleged dozens of gangs were associated with the

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sheriff's office but also noted the county's district attorney routinely denies to charge

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members. The newsroom also reported the department tends to settle excessive force cases and other

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lawsuits involving alleged members before they go to trial, costing taxpayers millions. In the

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years since the oversight commission conducted an exhaustive review of its own, culminating the

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report published in March, the new report found evidence of gang control of at least six sheriff's

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department stations. Compton station, East LA, station Lennox, Sentry station, Lancaster and

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Palmdale station, as well as within Aero Buero, the department's helicopter division. The gangs

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are well documented for using excessive force on civilians, harassing other deputies and using

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violence on inmates inside jails. The deputy gangs have historically proved a threat to the chain of

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command according to multiple reports. According to the 1992 report, deputies at the then notorious

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Linwood station, quote, harass and intimidated any sergeant or lieutenant who stood in their way,

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end quote. The report went on to say deputies would quote command field sergeants to leave the

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scene of arrest, to slash the tires of supervisors they did not like, to disregard orders not to

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roam freely outside their patrol areas in the city of LA and to smear, excrement and other noxious

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substances over the engines of their supervisors cars. The intimidation tactics have continued to

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this day. In 2018, alleged members of the Bandito's deputy gang brutally attacked

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non-gang deputies in the East LA station. The beating hospitalized two LASD deputies who are

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now involved in years long litigation against the department for harassment and discrimination.

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And Chelsea, just to give you an idea, this comes right from knock LA. There are at least 24 gangs

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within the LA County Sheriff's Department officials at various government agencies,

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including the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles County District Attorney,

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the California Senate Subcommittee on Police Officers Conduct and the United States Commission

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on Civil Rights have heard testimonies on the violence inflicted on communities at the hands of

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deputy gangs for decades. Deputy gangs have killed at least 40 people, all of whom were men of

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color. At least 10 of them had mental illnesses. LA County keeps a list of lawsuits related to

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the deputy gangs. Litigation related to these cases has cost the county at least $100 million

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over 30 years. How come we don't really hear anything about this for like running rampant?

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Well, part of it is it's really hard to report on police department's ends Sheriff's departments

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because they have good protection within and they don't really have any oversight. And one thing

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that comes with this is they are absolutely ruthless with targeting people who try to kind of

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bring them out. Anybody who talked to the commission I was talking about the COC,

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there was one woman I didn't write her name down. She was in the Sheriff's Department. As soon as

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she started talking to him, she was demoted immediately demoted and put on graveyard gifts.

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Okay. She also said that people were tailing her 24 seven. Oh my god. Other people who were

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talked to the commission said that they had warrants for the search of their properties

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issued multiple times throughout the investigation that they were involved in. I guess they are a gang.

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Yeah. Okay. Wow. Disturbing. That is absolutely fucked up. Just something you would not expect

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to hear. Even then, like when you hear that, you don't quite understand what it means because

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you're like, yeah, the bloods are the crypts. No, their own unique gangs within the department.

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In addition to the bloods in the crypts operating not in the police department,

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they didn't have the proper law structure like the police department has with the gang. But

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that is messed up. I can't believe this. For the last one here, apparently police departments can

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sometimes have black sites where they torture people. This comes from the Chicago police department.

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And we're just going to read this story. There's many different stories on it. There's a Wikipedia

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article I decided to go with the Guardian article on it. It seems like it was fairly well covered in

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it. We're just going to go through this and this is rough. Okay, shit. The Chicago police department

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operates an off the books interrogation compound rendering Americans unable to be found by family

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or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.

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Oh, God. The facility, a nondescript warehouse in Chicago's west side known as Homan Square,

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has long been the scene of a secretive work by special units. Alleged police practices at Homan

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Square, according to those familiar with the facility who spoke out to the Guardian after

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its investigation into Chicago police abuse include this is what happens here, keeping arrest out of

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official booking databases, beatings by police resulting in head wounds, shackling for prolonged

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periods, denying attorneys access to the secure facility, holding people without legal counsel

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for between 12 and 24 hours, including people as young as 15. At least one man was found unresponsive

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in Homan Square's interview room and later pronounced a dad. Brian Jacob Church, a protester

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known as one of the NATO three. And this is actually where it comes from, Chelsea, where we actually

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learned about Homan Square being a thing. There was a NATO summit in 2012 in Chicago.

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Chicago police said that they didn't arrest anybody, but there were three people missing.

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And that's basically where journalists are to dig. And they discovered this. This is where it came

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out. It had been going on a lot longer than 2012 and only 2012. Officers are showing church for the

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better part of a day denying him access to an attorney before sending him to a nearby police

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station to be booked and charged. Homan Square is definitely an unusual place. It brings to mind

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the interrogation facilities they use in the Middle East. The CIA calls them black sites. It's a

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domestic black site. When you go in, no one knows what happened to you. And quote church told the

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Guardian, the secretive warehouse is the latest example of Chicago police practices that echo the

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much criticized detention abuses of the US war on terror. While those abuses impacted people

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overseas, Homan Square said to house military style vehicles, interrogation cells, and even a cage.

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Trains that focus on Americans most often poor black and brown. Unlike a precinct,

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no one taken to Homan Square is said to be booked. Witnesses, suspects, or other Chicagoans who end

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up inside do not appear to have a public searchable record entered into a database indicating where

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they are. As happens when somebody is booked at a precinct, lawyers and relatives insist there's

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no way of finding their whereabouts. Those lawyers who have attempted to gain access to Homan Square

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are often turned away, even as their clients remain in custody inside. Quote, it's sort of an open

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secret among attorneys that regularly make police station visits this place. If you can't find a

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client in the system, odds are they're here. End quote said Chicago lawyer Julia Bartmas. Chicago

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civil rights attorney Flint Taylor said Homan Square represented a routinization of a notorious

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practice in local police work that violates the fifth and sixth amendment of the Constitution.

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Quote, this Homan Square revelation seems to me to be an institutionalization of the practices that

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date back more than 40 years of violating a suspect's or witnesses' rights to a lawyer and

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not to be physically or otherwise clueless into giving a statement. End quote said Taylor.

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Much remained hidden about Homan Square. The Chicago police department did not respond to

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the Guardian's questions about the facility, but after the Guardian published the story,

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the department provided a statement insisting without specifics that there's nothing untoward

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taking place at what is called the quote sensitive end quote location home to undercover units.

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This is their statement quote CPD abides by all laws, rules and guidelines pertaining to any

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interviews of suspects or witnesses at Homan Square or any other CPD facility. If lawyers have a

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client detained at Homan Square just like any other facility, they're allowed to speak to

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and visit them. It also has the CPD's evidence recovered property section where the public

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is able to claim inventory property. End quote the statement said something numerous attorneys

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and one Homan Square arrestee have denied and a little bit more from it quote there are always

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records of anyone who was arrested by CPD and this is not any different at Homan Square. End quote

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it continued. The Chicago police department statement did not address how long into an

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arrest or detentment those records are generated or their availability to the public. A department

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spokesperson did not respond to a detailed request for clarification. When a guardian reporter arrived

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at the warehouse on a Friday, a man at the gatehouse outside refused any entrance and would not

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give any answers to questions. Well, this is a secure facility. You're not even supposed to be

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standing there. He said a former Chicago police superintendent and a more recently retired detective

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both of whom have been inside Homan Square in the last three years and a post police capacity said

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the police department did not operate out of the warehouse until the 1990s. But in detailing episodes

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involving their clients over the past several years, lawyers described mad scrambles that led

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to the closed door of Homan Square, a place most had never heard of previously. The facility was

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even unknown to Rob Warden, the founder of Northwestern University Law School Center on

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Wrongful Convictions until the guardian informed him of the allegations of clients who vanished

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into inherently coercive police custody quote they just disappear until they show up at a

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district for charging or are just released back onto the street end quote said Anthony Hill,

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a criminal defense attorney. This just keeps getting worse. Jacob Church learned about Homan

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Square the hard way on May 16, 2012. He and 11 others were taken there after police infiltrated

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their protests against the NATO summit. Church says the officers cuffed him to a bench for an

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estimated 17 hours intermittently interrogating him without reading him his Miranda rights to

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remain silent. It would take another three hours and an unusual lawyer visit through a wire cage

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before he was finally charged with terrorism related offenses at the nearby 11th district

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station where he was made to sign papers fingerprinted and photographed in preparation for the NATO

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protest church who is from Florida have written a phone number for the National Lawyers Guild on

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his arm as a precautionary measure once taken to Homan Square church asked explicitly to call

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his lawyer and said he was denied quote essentially I wasn't allowed to make any contact with anybody

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and quote church told the Guardian in contradiction of a police guidance on permitting phone calls

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and legal counsel to arrest ease purchase left wrist was cuffed to a bar behind a bench in

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a windowless center block cell with his ankles cuffed together he remained in those restraints

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for over 17 hours quote I had essentially figured all right well they disappeared us and were probably

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never going to see the light of day and close in church though the raid attracted major media

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attention a team of attorneys could not find church through 12 hours of active searching

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Sarah Gelsamino church as lawyer recalled no booking record existed only after she and others

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made a major stink with contacts in the offices of the corporation council and the and Mayor

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Rob Emanuel did they even learn about Homan Square they sent another attorney to the facility where

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he ultimately gained entry and talked to church through a floor to ceiling chain link metal cage

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finally hours later police took church and his two co-defendants to a nearby police station for

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booking after serving two and a half years in prison church is currently on parole after he

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and his co-defendants were found not guilty in 2014 of terrorism related offenses but guilty of

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lesser charges of possessing an incendiary device and the misdead of quote mob action and quote the

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access that nato three attorneys received to Homan Square was an exception to the rule even if Jacob

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church's experience there was not three attorneys interviewed by the guardian report being personally

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turned away from Homan Square between 2009 and 2013 without being allowed access to their clients

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two more lawyers who hadn't been physically denied described it as a place where police

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withheld information about their clients whereabouts church was the only person who had been detained

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at the facility who agreed to talk with the guardian their lawyers say others fear police

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retaliation one man in january of 2013 had his name changed in the chicago central booking database

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and then taken to Homan Square without a record of his transfer being kept according to Eliza

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Soloway edge so Soloway edge sorry that's a hard name of chicago's first defense legal aid she found

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out where he was after he was taken to the hospital with a head injury quote he said that the officer

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caused his head injuries in an interrogation room at Homan Square I had been looking for him for six

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to eight hours and every department member I talked to said that they'd never heard of him he sent

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me a phone pick of his head injuries because I had seen him in a police station right before he's

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transferred to Homan Square without any end quote said Soloway edge Bartmess another Chicago attorney

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said that in September of 2013 she got a call from a mother worried that her 15 year old son had been

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picked up by police before dawn a sympathetic sergeant followed up with the mother to say her

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son was being questioned at Homan Square in connection to a shooting and would be released

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soon when hours passed Bartmess traveled to Homan Square only to be refused entry for nearly an

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hour an officer told her quote well you can't just stand here taking notes this is a secure facility

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there are undercover officers and you're making people very nervous end quote Bartmess recalled

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he'll believe she said she would return an hour if the boy was not released he was home and not

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charged after quote 12 maybe 13 hours in custody end quote on February 2nd 2013 John Hubbard was

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taken to Homan Square Hubbard never walked out the Chicago Tribune reported that the 44 year old

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was found unresponsive inside an interview room oh my god and pronounced dead after publication

415
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Cook County medical examiner told the Guardian that the cause of death was determined to be a heroin

416
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:50,200
intoxication Homan Square is hardly concerned exclusively with terrorism several special units

417
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:56,520
operating outside of it including the anti-gynatic drug forces if police quote want money guns drugs

418
00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:00,600
end quote or information on the flow of any of them into Chicago streets quote they bring them

419
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:05,880
there and use it as a place of interrogation off the books end quote Hill said a former Chicago

420
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:11,880
detective and current in private investigator Bill Dorr said he had not heard of the police abuses

421
00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:17,720
described by church and lawyers for other suspects who had been taken to Homan Square he had been

422
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:23,000
permitted access to the facility to visit one of its main features and evidence locker for the

423
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:27,560
department transferring detainees through police custody deny them access to legal counsel would

424
00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:32,200
be a career and or said dorsch quote to move just for the purpose of hiding them I can't see that

425
00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:37,320
happening end quote he told the Guardian you know what that's probably enough for that part we can

426
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:42,840
skip a little bit ahead here because look at the end of the day the Chicago Police Department has

427
00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:48,440
acknowledged this in response to the Guardian's article which I was reading to you the Chicago

428
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:54,200
Police Department first denied any wrongdoing but in 2015 as Chicago was experiencing activist

429
00:33:54,200 --> 00:34:00,840
pressures resulting from outrage over the Homan Square reporting and the murder of Laquan McDonald

430
00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:07,560
separate thing but anyways the city under Mayor Rom Emanuel announced a reparation deal for the

431
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:14,600
1970 survivors of torture and detention under former Chicago police commander John Burge the deal

432
00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:20,360
included 5.5 million dollar fund for torture survivors free college tuition for survivors in

433
00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:25,240
their families a memorial and inclusion of the torture cases in eighth and tenth grade history

434
00:34:25,240 --> 00:34:31,000
courses in Chicago school districts a coalition of Chicago activists including project and IA and we

435
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:37,720
charged genocide were major backers of this deal so they did make some changes from what I've read

436
00:34:37,720 --> 00:34:41,320
people are not happy with the amount of changes that have taken place and they are not sufficient

437
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:47,400
enough to clearly show the cpd as learned from their lessons and in fact the guy John Burge he

438
00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:52,360
did serve some time in jail he kept his pension until he died so it wasn't bad enough that he had

439
00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:57,880
money taken away from him this is insane I don't even want to know what to make of this one and

440
00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:02,760
whether or not this is the only one or if it's just the one that can't be it seems like it's the one

441
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:07,800
that got found and really it's just the accidentally arrested somebody who had some money and a lawyer

442
00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:12,120
as opposed to the poor black and brown people as they talked about yeah at the end of the day we're

443
00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:16,760
never gonna know how many people were coerced into confessing to something they didn't do because

444
00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:21,560
they were beaten so harshly at home in square or how many people died there we're just never gonna

445
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:26,600
know because it's a black site that has no records maintained for everybody listening we're adding this

446
00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:32,200
in post-humously I guess I think the episode's dead once we've kind of recorded it right like

447
00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:37,880
that's how it works yeah I don't actually know yeah yeah I don't know it's an article I forgot to

448
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:44,920
add in here this in fact has been condemned by the UN this surprise the hell out of me it's on the

449
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:50,200
UN's website it's United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner posted on June 3rd

450
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:56,680
2024 United States UN experts urge action to address lives stolen by systemic racist police

451
00:35:56,680 --> 00:36:02,520
violence in Chicago UN experts today called for further action to remedy racialized police violence

452
00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:07,000
and misconduct within Chicago's law enforcement and criminal justice system against people of

453
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:11,560
african and latino descent in the united states quote chicago has a long history of law enforcement

454
00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:18,120
officials reportedly using torture to extract confessions to serious crimes these heinous alleged

455
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:23,000
human rights violations appear to a significant extent to be rooted in systemic racism and have

456
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:30,200
disproportionately affected people of the african and latin american descent says the UN expert the

457
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:34,840
expert stressed the devastating impact of these practices on individuals and communities quote

458
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:39,560
many people of african and latin american descent some of whom were children at the time were reportedly

459
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:45,240
arrested without reasonable cause and tortured to sign confessions to very serious crimes including

460
00:36:45,240 --> 00:36:50,440
homicide these confessions as well as broader systemic racism and police misconduct in Chicago's

461
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:54,840
criminal justice system have reportedly resulted in many wrongful convictions and wrongful

462
00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:59,960
incarcerations of individuals often for extremely long periods of time without adequate access to

463
00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:05,000
health care including for older persons and survivors of torture lives have been stolen

464
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:09,880
with a significant ripple effect within the community and quote they said chicago was taken

465
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:13,720
steps to address the reported human rights violations including a public apology in the

466
00:37:13,720 --> 00:37:17,800
establishment of the torture inquiry and relief commission to acknowledge and remedy and prevent

467
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:22,760
police torture and misconduct while welcoming these important initiatives the experts expressed

468
00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:28,280
concern the efforts to address abuse have been key snail and far too slow in implementation

469
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:32,920
they expressed their concern that individuals affected remain incarcerated or unable to rebuild

470
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:37,800
their lives due to systemic barriers to prevent their access to procedures to be established with

471
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:43,560
innocence and access full redress and remedies the experts also expressed concerns that reports

472
00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:49,320
indicate that such alleged human rights violations have taken place largely with impunity quote the

473
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:53,480
individuals implicated in these human rights violations have not been held accountable

474
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:59,160
of just society must address these past wrongs and put in place all measures to prevent recurrence

475
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:03,720
and quote the experts said the experts urge relevant federal state and local officials to

476
00:38:03,720 --> 00:38:09,000
take immediate and comprehensive action to fully address and remedy the situation in Chicago new

477
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:13,720
and experts have been in contact with the government of the United States to address these allegations

478
00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:18,840
and clarify its obligations under an international law at the end of the article i found it's so

479
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:25,400
crazy that usually when you see condemnation from the united nations it's not against a first world

480
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:30,280
country excluding the whole debacle of israel we're just going to leave them out of this with that i

481
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:36,840
don't know that i get my news from the united nations website but not only are these people

482
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:42,600
well this seems like it's not a related thought but it is not only are these people being not held

483
00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:49,640
accountable but i mean this isn't just news that it's widely known it is on the united nations

484
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:57,080
website but i didn't know about it it was the news i've never even heard of it until this journey

485
00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:03,640
to the fringe episode this could have been a fringy mini this week like later it happened in

486
00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:09,160
june this article on the u.n website yeah i would have taken it from a few years ago too yeah i'm

487
00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:15,240
no standards it's but i just wanted to add that because it's so mind-boggling like you don't think

488
00:39:15,240 --> 00:39:21,000
about the u.n condemning things in north america and yet here they are like this is terrible and

489
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:28,440
needs to be addressed i do i also wonder what else are they condemning but i don't know because i'll

490
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:33,400
never visit their website i don't even know what would bring me there in the first place to be on

491
00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:40,440
me sending you a website that's interesting yes anyhow back to the original episode i'm speechless

492
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:45,800
all of this and you're right it did just progressively get worse not that the first one

493
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:52,440
was good it didn't go good to worst it just went worse to worst but yeah these are systemic issues

494
00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:58,200
within law enforcement departments that show that there is something rotten with the entire situation

495
00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:04,520
that we have i think it's not just one-off individuals that have problems it is systemic yeah any one

496
00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:08,520
of these you can point to and say that there are major issues i know people are gonna point at the

497
00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:12,440
particular cities they take place in i'm going to tell you right now it's not just these ones you

498
00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:17,960
will find them anywhere and hell like i remember with the new york pd they threatened the previous

499
00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:24,600
mayor but with a doxing on his daughter just openly that's how it worked there's issues all over i

500
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:29,480
mean these are just three things i'm sure there's a whole lot that we could be pulling up i was not

501
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:36,120
expecting there to be gangs operating within i don't know what the technical term for it is the

502
00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:41,000
police generally well yeah and you got to assume that's not the only place where something like

503
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:46,600
that's taking place even if it's not particularly named gangs that process that they talk about of

504
00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:52,040
covering up for each other and having this rate of passage which is violently attacking people

505
00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:57,720
no the whole thing has been a crazy ride as always i appreciate you enlightening me to this

506
00:40:57,720 --> 00:41:02,840
even if you don't want it it's just how kind of it works and i never want it yeah i have been

507
00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:06,200
taylor here with chelsea we are journey to the fringe thank you all for listening and we'll see

508
00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:14,440
you next week okay thank you for listening to journey to the fringe if you have liked what you

509
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:21,800
have listened to please like share subscribe or follow depending on what venue you are listening to

510
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:28,600
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511
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512
00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:39,640
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513
00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:45,240
tell us that we're wrong and terrible either way please send us an email at journey to the fringe

514
00:41:45,240 --> 00:42:10,840
at gmail.com for now i'll see you in the next episode