People Want The Police To Answer For Killings

Vallejo Police Department sign
William Anderson
July 15, 2020

It doesn’t matter where you go around the country. Police are a problem in every state, but some cities and towns have problems that are truly outrageous. In one city, it’s so bad that people want to know what needs to be done to hold killer cops accountable.

Vallejo, CA has one of the highest rates of police killings. In this small city of just over 100,000 people, police officers have killed 19 people in 10 short years. Even more terrible? Many of these killer cops are repeat offenders, who get protected so that they can do it again. The evidence is disturbing.

It’s gotten so bad, residents have a name for the officers: the “Fatal 14.” These include officers like Ryan McMahon, who has killed Black people like Willie Mccoy, who was sleeping, and Ronnell Foster, who was riding a bike

Officers with multiple killings over periods as short as a single year have been promoted to higher positions, as if they were being rewarded. The police force has been subject to a California Department of Justice review, but it’s not entirely clear that’s going to change much.

Killer cops kill because the system of policing is set up for them to do so. The immunity and racism built into policing is why many are now demanding defunding police and abolition. Cops like the Fatal 14 always get away with it - because the system wants them to!

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