http://www.usatoday.com/…

Federal prosecutors are targeting a rising number of law enforcement officers for alleged brutality, Justice Department statistics show. The heightened prosecutions come as the nation’s largest police union fears that agencies are dropping standards to fill thousands of vacancies and “scrimping” on training.

Cases in which police, prison guards and other law enforcement authorities have used excessive force or other tactics to violate victims’ civil rights have increased 25% (281 vs. 224) from fiscal years 2001 to 2007 over the previous seven years, the department says.

During the same period, the department says it won 53% more convictions (391 vs. 256). Some cases result in multiple convictions.

Federal records show the vast majority of police brutality cases referred by investigators are not prosecuted.

I’m glad this information is coming out in a paper like USA Today. Those of us who pay attention to police brutality have seen the stories increase. We’ve known that the number of cops have increased as federal funds have poured into local governments since 9/11. Now we have government statistics proving what we all felt was obviously true. Besides the expectation that an increase in personnel and events will result in an increase in faults we have admission that because their is a shortage of supply they are having to lower the requirements and/or the training. Just as our military has been doing. With less qualified and trained individuals you would also expect a greater incident rate. Anthony Gregory last year wrote a great summary of why our socialist law-enforcement system fails. As these statistics and more stories of police corruption and brutality come about I hope that people will come to realize the danger in giving the state a monopoly on justice and legal violence.

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