FBI warned of white supremacists in law enforcement 10 years ago. Has anything changed?

[orleans]

this article is from 2016

"In the 2006 bulletin, the FBI detailed the threat of white nationalists and skinheads infiltrating police in order to disrupt investigations against fellow members and recruit other supremacists. The bulletin was released during a period of scandal for many law enforcement agencies throughout the country, including a neo-Nazi gang formed by members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who harassed black and Latino communities. Similar investigations revealed officers and entire agencies with hate group ties in Illinois, Ohio and Texas.

Much of the bulletin has been redacted, but in it, the FBI identified white supremacists in law enforcement as a concern, because of their access to both “restricted areas vulnerable to sabotage” and elected officials or people who could be seen as “potential targets for violence.” The memo also warned of “ghost skins,” hate group members who don’t overtly display their beliefs in order to “blend into society and covertly advance white supremacist causes.”

“At least one white supremacist group has reportedly encouraged ghost skins to seek positions in law enforcement for the capability of alerting skinhead crews of pending investigative action against them,” the report read."

more at link
thom hartmann was talking about this and i only caught a bit of it so i thought i'd google. i found this four year old article
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fbi-white-supremacists-in-law-enforcement

[regnaD kciN]

1. Yeah...there are more of them...

...and they feel enabled by the nation's leader.

[Sherman A1]

3. +1

[ListenWhenYouHear]

2. That article was full of scary boogeymen...but little factual info...

Police in this country go through one of the most thorough back ground checks prior to being hired. Few careers require such extensive looks into a person’s personal life on top of the standard review of work history, education levels, and financial history.

Cities do not want to hire officers with checkered pasts as that just comes back to bite them in the long run — costing them far more than what the officer was worth! Yes, there might be some members of racist organizations working in police work...but probably no more than those teaching in your school district or working in your local hospitals.

Police departments are one of the last employers to refuse hiring anyone that has a tattoo visible on their body. Granted, some departments have relaxed their tattoo policies, but even those that have refuse to hire anyone with offensive tattoos.

[gollygee]

9. Police departments are having a hard time hiring people

It's a difficult job that doesn't pay well. They aren't able to be very choosy.

[mercuryblues]

10. info you claim is factual

but no links to support your claim.

Which begs the question... where did you find your factual info?

[marble falls]

11. The problem is not cities wanting to hire bad cops but that police authorities allow bad cops ...

go to another authority without their bad jackets following them. Some of these cops worked five or more different departments by the time they reached 30yrs old.

[2naSalit]

4. Got worse?

[SamKnause]

5. Yes:

They are being encouraged by Trump and his cult.

Gun laws are almost nonexistent.

They are more brazen.

They have infiltrated the police and military.

The police have used them for protection during disturbances.

The police have warned them when streets were being cleared.

Antifa is being blamed for violence that was done by white supremacist.

The republican party (now the party of Trump) protect them at all costs.

[Maeve]

6. A more recent article

https://www.justsecurity.org/70507/white-supremacist-infiltration-of-us-police-forces-fact-checking-national-security-advisor-obrien/

An investigation published in 2019 by the Center for Investigative Reporting found that hundreds of active-duty and retired law enforcement officers are members of Confederate-sympathizing, anti-Islam, or anti-government militia groups on Facebook. Within these private groups, members often are openly racist. Police officers have also been linked to groups like the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, who believe in defending white Americans from “enslavement” and are actively hostile to immigrants. The investigation identified active-duty and retired police officers as active members in explicitly racist Facebook groups such as “Veterans Against islamic Filth” (the group deliberately lowercases “Islamic” in its name) and “PURGE WORLDWIDE (The Cure for the Islamic disease in your country).”

[The Magistrate]

7. Thank You, Ma'am

I expect you noticed the cute little bunny up-thread....

[Maeve]

8. I also found this about US police training from June on CBS

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-training-weeks-united-states/

Some U.S. police train for just a few weeks, in some countries they train for years

By Graham Kates

Updated on: June 10, 2020 / 8:12 PM / CBS News

The Minneapolis police academy trains young soon-to-be officers for 16 weeks before they're assigned weapons and sent out on the streets as rookie cops. They then spend six months paired with training officers who show them the ropes.

On May 25, two rookie officers, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, held down George Floyd's back and legs as their training officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee down on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes.

Floyd's death, which was ruled a homicide, catalyzed a nationwide movement to drastically change the way policing is conducted in America. Around the world, police who are required to go through years of rigorous training and study before they can wear a badge saw Floyd's death as the latest example of America's antiquated and deadly law enforcement training system, according to Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
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"We are very far behind. It's problematic that we have 18,000 different police departments and there are no national standards," said Haberfeld, who was previously a police lieutenant in Israel.

In the U.S., training to be a police officer, and carry a gun on behalf of the state, ranges from as few as 10 weeks to as much as 36 weeks. It's a far cry from the years of education required in most western European countries and others around the world.

Always nice to see you, sir!