Revealed: oil giants help fund powerful police groups in top US cities

[Judi Lynn]

Investigation portrays fossil fuel industry as common enemy in struggle for racial and environmental justice in America

Nina Lakhani in New York
Published onMon 27 Jul 2020 11.00 EDT

Big corporations accused of driving environmental and health inequalities in black and brown communities through toxic and climate-changing pollution are also funding powerful police groups in major US cities, according to a new investigation.

Some of America’s largest oil and gas companies, private utilities, and financial institutions that bankroll fossil fuels also back police foundations – opaque private entities that raise money to pay for training, weapons, equipment, and surveillance technology for departments across the US.

The investigation by the Public Accountability Initiative, a nonprofit corporate and government accountability research institute, and its research database project LittleSis, details how police foundations in cities such as Seattle, Chicago, Washington, New Orleans and Salt Lake City are partially funded by household names such as Chevron, Shell and Wells Fargo.

Police foundations are industry groups that provide substantial funds to local departments, yet, as nonprofits, avoid much public scrutiny.

The investigation details how firms linked to fossil fuels also sponsor events and galas that celebrate the police, while some have senior staff serving as directors of police foundations.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/27/fossil-fuels-oil-gas-industry-police-foundations

[NEOBuckeye]

1. Big Oil has been public enemy #1 for years, hiding in plain sight

This shouldn’t be news, but maybe it is news that people are finally noticing its long tentacles in every part of our lives.