Police Force, 'Broken Windows' And A Death In Missouri

The death of an unarmed 18 year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, has sparked a national conversation about police and deadly force. We’ll investigate.

More shooting last night outside St. Louis, where for three days and nights now citizens have protested – some have looted – after the police killing of 18-year-old and unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.  He was headed off to college.  He was walking down the street.  He was killed.  In Ferguson and beyond, the issue of police use of deadly force is hot.  In New York, where a police chokehold killing was caught on video.  In Albuquerque, where police violence has come quick and deadly.  This hour On Point:  the Ferguson fury, and police use of deadly force in America.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Rachel Lippman, crime and justice reporter for St. Louis Public Radio. (@rlippmann)

Daniel Isom, retired St. Louis chief of police. Professor of policing and the community in the University of Missouri, St. Louis' department of criminology and criminal justice.

Steve Zeidman, director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at the CUNY School of Law. Former Legal Aid Society supervisor.

Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center. Author of "The Insanity Defense" and "Out of the Shadows: Confronting America's Mental Illness Crisis."

St. Louis Public Radio: After A Weekend Of Violence, A Community Begins To Repair Itself --"St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said that his detectives needed to talk to “scores” of witnesses at the apartment complex that may have witnessed the shooting. This came as Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced he had asked the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a separate investigation."

New York Daily News: Is ‘broken windows’ broken? Yes — "While Eric Garner's tragic death in police custody, ruled a homicide Friday by the city's medical examiner, has prompted inquiries into police use of force and chokeholds, his passing should also compel a larger investigation into why the police felt compelled to arrest Garner, who they've said was selling loose cigarettes, in the first place."

CNN: Albuquerque, Justice Department reach deal over police brutality — "The Justice Department concluded in a report released in April that Albuquerque Police had a history of brutality and unnecessary deadly force. 'The pattern and practice is the result of serious systemic deficiencies in policy, training, supervision and accountability. The police department's failure to ensure that officers respect the Constitution undermines public trust,' the DOJ said in the report."