Section 2: The Facts — Report Section IV
Information on the facts discovered by the Commission through research, studies and hearing testimony.
The Commission report clearly details each fact discovered during the research and hearings. Below are the statements of fact as well as the subtext of each item. Each statement of fact is noted with the page for that specific item for readers who wish to refer back to the report for the actual details. For each, the report provides detailed support from studies, sources or statements made during the hearings. An asterisk notes any notable statistic, fact or statement associated with that particular item.
Pretextual traffic stops are a common precursor to police killings and uses of excessive force against people of African descent. (Page 55)
Use of force against unarmed Black people during traffic and investigatory stops is driven by racial stereotypes and racial biases.
U.S. law enforcement agencies routinely target people of African descent based on racist association between blackness and criminality.
“Broken windows” or “order maintenance” policing triggers deadly police violence against people of African descent. (Page 60)
Race-based street stops and “stop-and-frisk” policies drive racially disparate rates of arrest and trigger deadly police violence people of African descent.
*From Item #180 (Page 61): “From about 2008 to 2012, there were four million documented stops and frisks on the streets of New York, 90% of which were directed at people of color, and 90% of which led to no further investigative activity.”
Police killings of people of African descent systematically follow violations of their fourth amendment rights. (Page 62)
Police agencies’ recklessness in securing warrants or dispatching officers encourages violence against Black people.
Risky “no-knock warrants” proliferate in cases of police violence against people of African descent.
There is a pattern of police killings following home invasions without a warrant or exigency.
Police routinely use excessive and lethal restraints against people of African descent. (Page 64)
Tasers are used disproportionately by police against Black people and constitute a form of deadly force.
*32% of the 1,081 people who have died as a result of tasers were Black, even though Black people only make up 14% of the population. (Page 65)Pattern of unlawful and excessive force against people of African descent from chokeholds and compression asphyxiation.
There is a pattern and practice of “rough rides” by the Baltimore Police Department against Black people.
There is an emerging pattern and practice of police use of vehicles as deadly weapons against people of African descent: Washington, DC Metropolitan Police, and others.
Lethal police violence against people of African descent is exacerbated by medical apartheid and failure to provide medical attention. (Page 68)
Lethal police violence against people of African descent while experiencing a mental health crisis is systemic.(Page 69)
*There is a critical note in this section regarding the disparity in receipt of mental health services, as well as the poorer quality of care and lack of access to critical care.Police violence against people of African descent experiencing mental health crises is routine and systemic.
*Interesting point in item #227 regarding a police contrived diagnosis called, “excited delirium”, which is used to legitimize police brutality and to explain deaths which occur in police custody.” (Page 71)
Police systematically use excessive force against CIS and Transgender women, girls and femmes. (Page 71)
*Black women accounted for “approximately 48 of the 250 women killed by police between 2015 and 2020.” (Page 72)Police abuse of CIS and transgender Blach women is driven by gender and racial stereotypes.
Police violence against people of African descent is encouraged by “War on Drugs” policies.
Mental health and wellness crises precipitate police violence against Black women and girls.
Police violence against Black women is compounded by rampant misgendering of Black trans people.
Police engage in sexual and physical violence against Black CIS and transgender women.
Systemic racist police violence kills and traumatizes Black children and youth. (Page 75)
Racist police violence traumatizes and devastates families and communities. (Page 76)
Black families suffer severe trauma as a result of witnessing racist police violence.
Racist police violence creates a generational trauma for people of African descent.
Black immigrants are particularly vulnerable to systemic racist police violence and killings. (Page 79)
Racism in the criminal legal system unjustly targets Black immigrants.
Draconian immigration laws compound the harms to Black immigrant victims of racist police violence.
Legal actors are complicit in police violence and killings of Black people through qualified immunity and other forms of systemic impunity. (Page 80)
Prosecutorial misconduct and grand jury abuse.
The impunity afforded to offending police officers leads to continuing police brutalization of Black people.
Prosecutors’ conflict of interest further encourages police impunity for the killing and maiming of Black people.
Collusion between legal actors is used to cover up torture and other forms of racist police violence.
Grand Juries are systematically misused to provide police officers with further impunity.
Destruction of evidence.
There is an alarming pattern of manipulation of evidence, cover-ups, obstruction of justice, and collusion between various arms of law enforcement.
Cover-ups, obstruction of justice, and manipulation and destruction of evidence provide impunity for police killings against people of African descent.
There is a pattern of unsupportable exculpatory medical findings in cases of unlawful restraint.
Police departments concost false narratives regarding incidents of police violence against people of African descent.
Police departments employ stock justification narratives such as “reaching for waistband”.
Police departments engage in defamatory false claims about victims and their family members.
Systemic impunity: lack of oversight of police.
Internal police department practices aid and abet the systemic impunity of law enforcement officers.
Police departments dispatch and hire officers with a history of excessive force.
The “Blue Wall of Silence” prevents accountability for offending officers.
Police unions facilitate impunity of officers.
*The Commission found evidence of an officer who was involved in three officer-involved shootings of unarmed individuals (two were Black). After the third, he was named as a union rep who “advised individuals after officer-involved death.” (Page 89, Item #312)The police cannot be trusted to police themselves through Internal Affairs investigations.
*Baltimore PD received over 13,000 complaints of misconduct between 2105 and 2019, Black people represented 73% of these, but only 7% were sustained.
Qualified Immunity: Victims’ families face extraordinary obstacles to holding officers accountable for the killing of their family members.
*Item #332 (Page 93) states: “Thus, the Commissioners find that qualified immunity amounts to condonation of brutal police violence against persons of African descent, and creates a culture of impunity whereby offenders are not held accountable, and families are left without redress. They further find the Monell doctrine of municipal liability and indemnification of officers pose additional obstacles to accountability.”
Below are links to the other summaries of the report. It is my deepest hope that others will join my effort to bring light to this report, as well as the many recommendations found in Section 5. We must force action on behalf of the people of African descent who will continue to suffer these atrocities without change. This report must be reviewed and acknowledged by as many people as possible.
Section 1: The Introduction — Report Sections I, II and II
Information on the International Human Rights Laws; the formation and purpose of the Commission; and the history of racism within law enforcement and policy in the U.S.
Section 3: The Findings — Report Sections V and VI
Information on the ultimate findings of the Commission including specific violations and the non-compliance of U.S. law and policy.
Section 4: The Crimes — Report Section VII
Information on the specific crimes committed, including remedies and prosecution options for accused crimes.
Section 5: The Recommendations — Report Section VIII
Information on the specific recommendations made by the Commission for a varied list of responsible parties within the U.S. and interested parties abroad.
For those, who want to read the entirety of the Commission report for themselves. Please click here to access a complete copy of The Report of the International Commission Inquiry on Systemic Racist Police Violence Against People of African Descent in the United States.