An essay from the new book Writing on the Wall, “Gangsters in Blue”, July 20, 1994″.
A ruthless band of criminals strikes a series of homes, robbing inhabitants of money and other valuables, threatening certain violence to those who dare to tell. A greedy group of thugs forces young people to hit the streets, to sell drugs for them and will beat, and even shoot them, if they don’t produce profits fast enough. A brutal bunch of armed rapists attacks and sexually assaults a group of defenseless women. These and other events happened in New York and in Philadelphia recently, proof positive of an ugly crime wave in those in several other cities, perpetrated by ‘gangsters in blue,’ members of the Police Department.
The recently released Mullen commission report, which deals with several aspects of corruption, crime, and cop violence in the New York Police Department, tells of cops shaking down drug dealers, beating them, and shooting them. For instance, in one reference, the report noted that officer Alfonso Compres not only allegedly robbed a drug dealer, but shot him in the stomach to steal his drugs. Not, the author might add, as evidence, but for resale or even for his own use. Some cops, the report adds, are violent simply for the sake of violence.
As an example, the commission document cited a case from Brooklyn North Precinct in which cops threw a bucket of ammonia at a person being detained in a holding pen. Another cop known as ‘the mechanic,’ because he tuned people up, routinely beat folks up, visiting indiscriminate violence upon all, young or old, male or female. One cop testifying before the commission, when asked by the commissioner whether such violence prompted complaints from aggrieved citizens, replied, “Who are they going to complain to? The police? We are the police.” And the killing of those who claim to serve and protect goes on. The deadly toll; 412 people killed by cops in 1976, 333 in 1984, 385 in 1990. They obviously haven’t served or protected the thousands they’ve murdered over the years. So who do they serve and protect? They serve and protect the system, not the people.
To the people they are predators who take the health, the property, the freedom and the lives of the very people who, through their tax dollars, pay their bloated salaries. They are blue uniform vampires who live on the blood and misery of the many. They are the best criminals of all. An essay from the new book Writing on the Wall. This is its author. From imprisoned nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
