I have said it before: in our urban black communities, they dislike the police more than they dislike the criminals in their midst. They are like the Palestinians in Gaza, tolerating, feeding, supporting, hiding, and providing sex for Hamas, no matter how much damage Hamas cause in Gaza, because they hate the Israelis more.
And so the black community in Lexington have made it their mission to hobble, if they cannot eliminate, the city’s Police Department. On Friday, June 25th, they got a little bit of that done, getting the city government to ban no-knock warrants.
The Rev Clark Williams, a member of a group of Black faith leaders in the city who have been pushing for a ban on those warrants for more than a year, let us know that his group was not done with trying to hamstring law enforcement:
That was merely just a step. That was not the journey. That was not the battle. That was merely a round in the fight for racial justice and equity.
Of course, the rank-and-file among the Lexington Police are not happy. From WLEX-TV:
FOP President on Lexington police shortage: “It will get worse with continued lack of support from the city”
By: Leigh Searcy |Posted at 8:12 PM, June 25, 2021 and last updated 8:15 PM, June 25, 2021
LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — As we’ve reported, the number of Lexington police officers leaving the force is at an alarming rate. It’s the highest in ten years according to Public Safety Commission Ken Armstrong.
Sgt. Jeremy Russell, President of the Fraternal Order of Police Bluegrass Lodge 4, predicts that even more officers will leave now that the Lexington council voted 10-5 to ban no-knock warrants. It became law today.
Russell says officers don’t feel like city leaders have their back.
“The continued lack of support from the city will have a detrimental effect on the public,” said Russell.
In an interview with LEX 18 a month ago, Russell said the officer shortage will get worse.
“I personally predict we’ll be 100 below by July 1,” Russell said on May 27.
LEX 18 checked back with Russell today, June 25. He said by July 5, the department will be down 98 officers, if not more. That’s 15% shy of full capacity.
There’s more at the original.
Now, the Fraternal Order of Police are suing the city:
Lexington police union suing the city in attempt to stop the ban on no-knock warrants
By Jeremy Chisenhall | July 1, 2021 | 7:32 AM
The Lexington police union is suing the Lexington-Fayette County government after the city passed a ban on no-knock warrants, claiming that the ban violates the city’s collective bargaining agreement with the union and is unsafe for officers.
The Fraternal Order of Police Bluegrass Lodge No. 4 acknowledged it was filing the lawsuit on its Facebook page.
“The FOP is committed to protecting the safety and well being of our members, even if city officials are not,” the union said in a Facebook post.
Oddly enough, Jeremy Chisenhall, the reporter, did not include the link to that Facebook post; I had to find it myself. Mr Chisenhall is usually more diligent about things like that; perhaps he’ll include it in an update.[1]An update at 9:03 AM added a significant amount to the story, but did not include the link.
A spokesperson for the city confirmed Lexington officials were aware of the lawsuit. Lexington doesn’t comment on open lawsuits, they said.
The union alleges that police have the right to bargain any changes to the department, according to WKYT, the Herald-Leader’s reporting partner. The union also alleges that the ban on entering a location without knocking affects officer safety and that the new state law on no-knock warrants supersedes the city’s ordinance.
Also see: Coulter: Democrats Move On To Trying To Break Police Officers, on The Pirate’s Cove.
The Lexington 2021 Homicide Investigation page lists 20 murders in the city so far this year. However, it omits the murder of Demonte Washington, 28, reported on May 22th in the Herald-Leader. I keep getting transferred to people who are “currently unavailable to take (my) call” at the Lexington Police Department to find out why Mr Washington is not listed as a homicide.
The city’s shootings investigation page lists 61 additional cases (all of the listed cases on the homicides investigation page list shootings as the cause of death) as of June 27th. The city is on track for at least 40 murders in 2021, or 42 if Mr Washington is included in the list,[2]Justifiable homicides are not listed., and 123 non-fatal shootings, yet the city government is doing all it can to undermine the police.
Out of 61 listed shootings, the police have a suspect listed in a whopping nine cases.
The WLEX story reported that Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers said about the no-knock warrants ban, “The morale issue is just something we’ll have to deal with.”[3]Reporter Leigh Searcy spelled it ‘moral’, not ‘morale,’ but moral is a completely different word, and makes no sense in the context of the sentence. Could it be that the police officers’ morale has something to do with so few cases being solved?[4]It could also be that the city simply hasn’t kept that part of the page up to date. Or could it be that the unwillingness of witnesses to talk — just like Palestinians in Gaza protecting Hamas — has not only thwarted investigations, but instilled a ‘what’s the use, why bother trying’ attitude in the officers?
While the homicides investigation page does not note the race of the victims, the shootings investigations page does, and of 61 non-fatal shootings, 11 of the victims are white, and 5 are Hispanic; 45 of the victims, 73.77%, are black, in a city that’s only 14.6% black. In only six of the shootings of black victims has there been an arrest, just 13.33% of the cases.
Only five of the twenty listed homicides shows a suspect listed.[5]This list may not be well maintained. While it notes that, in four of the cases with suspects named, that the cases have been CBA, cleared by arrest, the murder of Bryan Green shows Juanyah Clay as … Continue reading
It would be a bit more impressive if the Rev Williams and his “group of Black faith leaders” would work with members of their community to get shooters and murderers arrested, get them off the streets. The minister said, “No one in Lexington wants the city to be any safer than we do, and so we all have a vested interest in that.” Really? Then work to get the bad guys off the streets!
References
| ↑1 | An update at 9:03 AM added a significant amount to the story, but did not include the link. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Justifiable homicides are not listed. |
| ↑3 | Reporter Leigh Searcy spelled it ‘moral’, not ‘morale,’ but moral is a completely different word, and makes no sense in the context of the sentence. |
| ↑4 | It could also be that the city simply hasn’t kept that part of the page up to date. |
| ↑5 | This list may not be well maintained. While it notes that, in four of the cases with suspects named, that the cases have been CBA, cleared by arrest, the murder of Bryan Green shows Juanyah Clay as the suspect, and he has been arrested, but the case is still listed as ‘open.’ |
Of course, what my best friend called the Lexington Herald-Liberal certainly supported shackling the police:
As far as I could see in the Opinion search on the Herald-Leader’s website, there were zero editorials, columns or OpEd pieces in favor of keeping no knock warrants.
Any sensible person can agree that this “no more no knock” shit is going to trash the economy. Damn, when are these states ever gonna get a good government. And as a former resident of Knoxville, I can easily say, Knoxville’s mayor sucks, but not as much as the whole Kentucky government does.