Just Media Utah

06/24/2023

UPDATE:
CopDB has over 10K cops from 131 agencies.

How you can help: visit COPDB.ORG, collect as much data as you're able to (Website has information on guidelines).

Document the police.

06/20/2023

A group of abolitionists based in Utah is embarking on a basal yet fundamental project that enables us to take a step further in the fight for liberation. Cop Data Base, or CopDB, is a publicly accessible database developed to capture and measure the prevalence of violence and brutality of the police force.

As many who have endured police violence know, bringing these attacks to light is necessary for many reasons, including the ability to name and recognize the faces of those that harm us, but just as importantly, to stop falling prey to the unrelenting copaganda that seeks to obscure the true nature of the largest criminal element in the streets of Salt Lake and its neighboring municipalities, the Police.

Visit COPDB.ORG to find out ways to get involved!

03/07/2023

Salt Lake City Police Department is seeking assistance from businesses and property owners, this time, through participation in their Trespass Affidavit Program (TAP). This sworn process would grant SLCPD full access to common areas like lobbies, stairwells, basements, sidewalks and courtyards of privately owned property.

Recently, the data presented in a class-action lawsuit against the NYPD was such that the police department was forced to terminate their TAP program, also known as Operation Clean Halls. A federal court was unable to deny the egregious practices which included to stop, question, search and criminalize predominantly black and brown communities without meeting the state's capricious threshold of reasonable suspicion or probable cause. 

The impact of racist policies has been vocalized and documented for generations. Centuries of policing has unequivocally demonstrated that POLICE DO NOT REDUCE CRIME. We cannot continue to wait for the state to acknowledge and respect our right to a dignified existence.



#1312

01/15/2023

On March 1st of 2022 U.S. District Judge David Barlow dismissed the civil lawsuit against Salt Lake City Police Officers over the ex*****on of Bernardo Palacios Carbajal by the hands of Neil Iverson and Kevin Fortuna. David Barlow decided that SLCPD did not violate Bernardo's right to life and justified his ex*****on based on Bernardo bringing both his arms in front of his body after falling.

On Tuesday January 17th 2023, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver Colorado will be hearing the case at 9 am. in courtroom 2.
Please join virtually to show support for Bernardo and his family.

Link for the virtual meeting on bio.

01/15/2023

On March 1st of 2022 U.S. District Judge David Barlow dismissed the civil lawsuit against Salt Lake City Police Officers over the ex*****on of Bernardo Palacios Carbajal by the hands of Neil Iverson and Kevin Fortuna. David Barlow decided that SLCPD did not violate Bernardo's right to life and justified his ex*****on based on Bernardo bringing both his arms in front of his body after falling, while holding a gun.

On Tuesday January 17th 2023, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver Colorado will be hearing the case at 9 am. in courtroom 2.
Please join virtually to show support for Bernardo and his family.

Link for the virtual meeting on bio.

01/01/2023

Para les que luchan día con día, en cada relación y en toda ocasión.
Éste año no la llevamos tranqui.

12/02/2022

Nate is Community

Displacement and isolation, palpable legacy of settler-colonialism makes life in this majority-white city rough. As an indigenous person living hundreds of miles from my ancestral territory, Nate has lifted me through prayer, song, and endless conversations. It is individual connections like these how Nate supports Indigenous Peoples and connections like these that make us collectively stronger.

Support us by supporting Nate in this journey to fight for his health.

******GoFundMe link in bio******

A note from Nate:

My name is Nate, and I work for a nonprofit called the Neighborhood House. I am a teacher in the school-age department, and I run the intergenerational program activities, which bring together kids in 2nd to 6th grade and elders. I also facilitate 4 garden towers where we grow our own vegetables for cooking. I have worked with youth in Salt Lake City, and specifically on the west side, for almost my entire career.

I have lived in Salt Lake City on and off for my entire life since I was 5 years young. Originally, I come from the Diné Nation and the Tohono O’odham Nation Indian Reservation in southern Arizona. I have coached girls’ and boys’ high school basketball at West and East High Schools in SLC for over 10 years. For 7 years, I also worked at the Boys and Girls Clubs in Rose Park and Glendale, and I have served as a mentor for the Upward Bound program at the University of Utah. I’ve been a summer coach at the University of Utah summer basketball camps as well, and I was a youth coordinator at the Urban Indian Center for 5 years. Working with youth has always been my calling, and I take it very seriously.

I have also been called to protect Mother Earth and vulnerable communities. I was fortunate enough to stand with the tribal nations in Standing Rock, North Dakota to protect water. I also stay involved with my community back home on the international border with Mexico. I love basketball, and I love to garden. I am proud of the communities that my family and I come from.

I was recently diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
(Continued in comments)

11/24/2022

We protect each other

11/21/2022

Today is your Birthday you are forever 20 but we should be celebrating 29, you my dear Dillon are forever in my heart. My hope has always been to get some kinda justice & accountability, but I am sad to say it doesn't look like that is going to happen. So we will continue whatever fight we have, and remember the good memories.
Happy Birthday my beautiful Dillon I miss you with all my heart and I am so jealous Adam gets to see you today. Love love ❤️
Never4getDillonTaylor.❤️❤️❤️

10/27/2022

Dixon Place is burning down along with the hopes and dreams of real estate developers Lowe Property Group who, with the help of MVE + Partners, Inc., would be honoring the memory of prominent colonizer George Dixon Snell (1836-1911) by naming the apartment complex after him.

This incomplete and now burned down project in Sugar House, Utah was valued at $12 million earlier this year.
🔥 🏘🔥

Un incendio a destruido los apartamentos Dixon Place. El inmueble aún no terminado se ha quemando junto con las esperanzas y los sueños de los desarrolladores inmobiliarios Lowe Property Group, que con la ayuda de intentaban rendir homenaje a un prominente colonizador George Dixon Snell (1836-1911) al llevar su nombre.
Éste proyecto, aún no sido terminado, ya tenía un valor calculado a principios del año de $12 millones de dólares. 🔥 🏘🔥

10/16/2022

La obsoleta y refutada teoría de las "ventanas rotas" de 1982 sostenía que el desorden que no se controla causa que se cometan delitos más graves y, al mismo tiempo, aumenta el miedo en las personas lo cual reduce su participación en sus vecindarios.

Académicos, legisladores y analistas argumentaron que la vigilancia policial denominada "mantenimiento del orden" previenia y reducia los delitos más graves.
Como resultado, cientos de departamentos de policía de todo el país adaptaron el uso de esta teoría de disuasión.

Estas normas y políticas se enfocan en areas pobres y
con poblaciones mayoritariamente de color imponiendo multas altas por ofensas como el vandalismo, cruzar la calle en areas no designadas, acampar, beber en público, por aparecer desordenado o lascivo en público, etc.

Desde finales de los años 90 varios estudios concluyeron que la teoria de las ventanas rotas es falsa.
-El desorden social no conduce a un aumento de la delincuencia, pero el declive económico si.
-Las normas y politicas de disuasión no son efectivas para reducir el crimen como otros enfoques como mejorar las circunstancias económicas de los residentes en áreas de alta crimen.

Los criminólogos también concluyeron que las estrategias policiales no deben basarse en la idea de que el desorden hace que las personas infrinjan la ley o participen en conductas peligrosas o poco saludables. En estos estudios, criminologos vieron este enfoque como una estrategia políticamente popular pero analíticamente débil, simplista y erronea que no reduce el crimen.

Más policías significa más muertes en nuestros vecindarios.

Que se vallan a la mi**da Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall Salt Lake City Police Mike Brown y su Plan de Contol de Crimen 2022.

**K12

10/16/2022

The outdated and disproven Broken Windows Theory from 1982, held that disorder left unchecked emboldens criminals to commit more serious crimes while at the same time, increase fear in others, causing them to reduce their involvement in their neighborhoods.

Academics, policymakers, and analysts argued that order maintenance policing prevented and reduced more serious crimes.
As a result, hundreds of police departments around the country adapted the use of this deterrence theory.

This racialized and classed policy targets poor neighborhoods and
imposes heavy fines for minor quality of life offenses such as loitering, vandalism, jaywalking, camping, public drinking, fare evasion, appearing disorderly or lewd in public, etc.

Since the late 90's studies have concluded the following:
-superficial social disorder does not lead to higher crime, rather economic decline does.
-deterrence policies are not as effective in reducing crime as other policy approaches like improving the economic circumstances of
residents in high-crime areas.

Criminologist have also concluded that policing strategies shouldn't be based on the idea that disorder causes people to break the law or participate in dangerous or unhealthy behavior.

Furthermore, they see this approach as a politically popular but analytically weak, simplistic and misplaced strategy to reduce crime.

More cops means more deaths in our neighborhoods.

F**k Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall
f**k Salt Lake City Police Mike Brown and f**k their 2022 Crime Control Plan.

**K12

09/26/2022

LAS LEYES SON PARA LOS POBRES
Se otorga plena autoridad a estos agentes a no solo proteger la vida, la propiedad y la comodidad de los ricos a expensas de los pobres, sino también para determinar caprichosamente quién es digno del privilegio de la vida y la libertad.
Las leyes no son más que violencia codificada, y el estado nunca cederá su monopolio sobre la violencia.

**k12

¿QUÉ QUEREMOS DECIR CUANDO DECIMOS QUE LAS LEYES SON PARA LOS POBRES?
En mayo de 2017, Joe Gomez salió de un vehículo en una calle cuando su funcionario de vigilancia penitenciaria, Andrew Reed O'Gwin, le disparó 3 veces. O'Gwin, agente del Departamento de Correciones de Utah, dio varias versiones del incidente. Su primera versión fue cuando reporto el incidente por la radio la noche del incidente mintiendo que un hombre saltó por la ventana de un automóvil y le arrojó un objeto. La segunda versión de O'Gwin fue documentada durante la investigación formal del Fiscal Del Distrito Del Condado de Salt Lake. (OICI, por sus siglas en inglés). O'Gwin dijo a los investigadores que Joe golpeó la ventana de su auto de policía varias veces "tan fuerte como pudo" con un objeto en su mano que hizo un fuerte sonido metálico. O'Gwin informó: "Este individuo quería hacerme daño extremo, pude ver eso desde el principio". y afirmó que temía por su vida porque creía que Joe estaba tratando de acabar con él. O'Gwin informó que su preocupación por su seguridad aumentó al pensar que el sospechoso podría ser un pandillero en libertad condicional. Una tercera versión de lo acontecido fue publicada por el Fondo Legal para Agentes de Ley, o el Law Enforcement Legal Fund. La publicacion, una repugnante campaña de desprestigio hacia la victima, afirma que un hombre encapuchado con un andar de cholo, se acercó agresivamente al vehículo de O'Gwin, golpeándolo con la culata de una pi***la u otra arma. El artículo también afirma que cuando O'Gwin trató de salir del automóvil, el atacante pateó repetidamente la puerta para cerrarla.
Mas sin en cambio, el informe de la OICI documenta las declaraciones de tres testigos que informaron que, si bien Joe se acercó al auto del agente O'Gwin, este no tocó el vehículo.
Cuando entrevistaron a la victima, Joe Gomez, el relató que se bajó del auto porque la ceniza de su ci******lo le cayo en las piernas después de que tiró el ci******lo por la ventana. Al salir del auto en una intersección con un semáforo en rojo, se sacudió los pantalones cuando de repente sintió que lo habían golpeado y colapso. Joe informó que se levantó después de notar sangre en su torso. Durante la investigación OICI se determinó que O'Gwin disparó su arma 5 veces.
El informe determinó que el relato del agente Andrew O'Gwin no estaba respaldado por las declaraciones de los testigos o la evidencia física y consideró injustificado el uso de la fuerza letal, según la ley del estado de Utah. A consequencia, se declararon cargos criminales a O'Gwin por asalto agravado.
Joe se sometió a múltiples cirugías como resultado del ataque de O'Gwin. Su telefono móvil fue confiscado. Joe fue encarcelado por siete meses aun cuando no tenia cargos criminales.
Sus llamadas fueron grabadas y revisadas en la prisión durante varias semanas después de que O'Gwin lo atacara.
Despues de ser dejado en libertad, le dieron una infracion y le hicieron pagar $100 por el cargo de Alteración del Orden Público. Dos años más tarde, Sim Gill, el Fiscal del Distrito del Condado de Salt Lake, retiró el cargo de asalto agravado del agente O'Gwin afirmando que era su "responsabilidad legal y ética cerrar el caso". Gill señaló los problemas con dos testigos críticos, uno de los cuales supuestamente cambió la historia "levemente" y por que Joe Gómez no estaria disponible para testificar porque enfrentaba cargos federales.

09/22/2022

WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY THAT LAWS ARE FOR THE POOR?

In May of 2017, Joe Gomez got out of a vehicle at an intersection and was shot by his Parole Officer, Andrew O'Gwin 3 times. O'Gwin, a Utah Adult Probation and Parole Agent gave multiple versions of the incident. His first version, as reported through radio traffic the night of the incident, was that a man jumped out of a car window and threw an object at him. O'Gwin's second version was documented during the Officer Involved Critical Incident (OICI) investigation. O'Gwin told investigators that Joe hit his police car window multiple times "as hard as he could" with an object on his hand that made a loud metallic sound. O'Gwin reported “This individual wanted to do extreme harm to me, I could see that from the get go.” and claimed that he was in fear for his life because he believed that Joe was trying to end him. O'Gwin reported his concern for his safety was heightened by the thought that the suspect may be a gang member parolee or someone acting on behalf of a gang member parolee. A third version of this event was published by the Law Enforcement Legal Fund website. The article engages in a disgusting smear campaign claiming that O'Gwin's victim, a hooded man with a gangster strut aggressively approached O'Gwin's unmarked vehicle, banging on it with the butt of a gun or other weapon. The article also claims that when O'Gwin tried to get out of the car the attacker repeatedly kicked the door closed.
The OICI report documents the statements from three witnesses who all reported that while Joe did approach the police car, he did not touching the vehicle.
When interviewed, Joe recounted getting out of the car because the cherry of his cigarette was burning his lap after he threw the cigarette out the window. He reported getting out of the car at an intersection during a red light and brushing his pants off when he suddenly felt like he had been punched and collapsed. Joe reported getting back up after noticing blood on his torso. It was determined during the OICI investigation that O'Gwin shot his weapon 5 times.
The OICI report determined that Andrew O'Gwin's account of the events was not supported by the statements of the witnesses or the physical evidence and deemed the use of deadly force unjustified under Utah State law. O'Gwin was charged for aggravated assault.

Joe underwent multiple surgeries as a result of O'Gwins attack. His mobile device was recovered from the scene and was seized and searched. Joe was charged and convicted for disorderly conduct for this incident. His calls were recorded and reviewed from prison for several weeks after O'Gwin attacked him.

Two years later, Sim Gill dropped O'Gwin's aggravated assault charge stating that it was "both our legal responsibility and our ethical responsibility to go ahead and dismiss the case,” Gill pointed to problems with two critical witnesses, one who reportedly changed the story slightly, and Joe Gomez, who was not available to testify because he was facing federal charges.

LAWS ARE FOR THE POOR

Full authority is awarded to those that enforce laws not only to protect the life, property and comfort of the wealthy at the expense of the poor but to whimsically determine who is worthy of the privilege of life and liberty.
Laws are but codified violence, and the state will never cede it's monopoly on violence.

**K THE POLICE
**K SIM GILL

06/01/2022

CW: Sexual Abuse

Over 80 women have accused Dr. David H. Broadbent https://www.facebook.com/david.broadbent.7524
of sexual abuse spanning throughout four decades. Some were children as young as 14 when he allegedly assaulted them.
These lawsuits are also accusing MountainStar and Intermountain Utah Valley Hospital, whose parent company is Intermountain Healthcare Intermountain Healthcare (IHC). "Multiple formal and informal complaints were made of Broadbent’s acts of sexual abuse, but neither IHC or MountainStar properly responded,” an amended complaint alleges. “In fact, formal complaints made it all the way to the Chief Administrator and Chief Medical Officer at Utah Valley Hospital, and yet, over a decade later, IHC was still referring women to go see Broadbent at his private clinic.”

05/11/2022

Poverty is a direct result of policies meant to prioritize and benefit a select few.

SLC Police Department and the Salt Lake County Health Department engage in cruel and dehumanizing behavior when enforcing ordinances because these the states and its policies are inherently violent.

This week I will yet again sit in the chambers of injustice to await the decision of a judge who is to determine if I violated the codes of the white settler colonial system he represents.

In the meantime, the ongoing displacement and brutalization of those in extreme poverty continues to be the policy of choice.

We need to destroy the idea that those that control the narrative of law and order do so in the interest of our safety.

04/08/2022

03/25/2022

Salt Lake City Government is banning new homeless shelters, temporary and permanent, from now until May 2023.
Service providers and community members showed up to oppose the proposal and to demand actual solutions to the housing insecurity crisis created by their own policies.
True to form, the Salt Lake City Council ignored all input and approved the proposal which ends up being a death sentence for many of our unsheltered neighbors.
Public hearings are a farce.
These so called public officials represent the few who seek profits at the expense of our environment, our health, our communities.

Representation is a myth.
Women q***r or POC politicians will not save us.

We only have each other.
Build power by rejecting their illegitimate power and turn to each other for support and to build structures that protect us from their violence.

03/16/2022

'Riot Medicine' is a full-length, public domain book to help street medics in the struggle for liberation, autonomy, and dignity for all.

The 466 pages include organizing, medcine, equipment, and tactics. It is written for those with no medical training and no experience at protests, but medical practitioners and seasoned protesters will still find it useful.

Download here:
https://riotmedicine.net/downloads

03/08/2022

by Paula Cornell (This article was originally printed by Real Change News and has been reprinted with permission.) Advocates say that on March 1, Victor Fonseca, a detainee at the U.S. Immigration …

02/27/2022

The so called justice system, in function of its paternalistic role, has created and controlled the discourse on law and order completely disregarding the needs and experiences of those it considers as its subordinates, the same people fighting to survive the violence we face as a direct consequence of the inequitable distribution of resources and wealth.

In this video, Salt Lake City Police responds to a complaint of poor people existing in a public space. Eight heavily armed despots enter the scene to displace four unsheltered people from the space they created to attempt to protect themselves from the elements while remaining close to the limited services available to them.
Intolerant of what would be basic civil rights like freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom to assemble, these officers of the law draw from their arsenal of penalties to impose their authority.
One year later, a jury trial clearly displays once again how these illegitimate structures
operate to deprive people from their right to exist and how they use laws as a weapon to discard of those it has categorized as dangerous and invaluable.
Cops have a role and it is not to serve, protect or even offer reprieve to those in need.
Their role is to criminalize poverty and dissent.

02/21/2022

This is an emergency ask of support and solidarity for a grieving … Jennifer Montano needs your support for Emergency Support for Grieving Dine Single Mother

01/25/2022

Struggle over slogans.

Image description :
Stencil of person with hand out with text that reads
Solidarity Not Charity
-Is disruptive to the systems of domination.
-It works towards changing our material conditions.
-It DOES NOT come with eligibility requirements

Artist unknown.

01/22/2022

-Patriot Front-
WHO ARE THESE FASCISTS? Excerpts from their public manifesto and their now leaked member Evaluation Process and Interview document corroborate that this is a white supremacist, chauvinist, homophobic, transphobic, patriarchal fascists group of about 300 members nationally and about 15,000 followers.
They've recently joined forces with the misogynist annual rally in DC where they were protected by the police.

Keep your community safe by keeping fascist out.
We only have each other

01/13/2022

The Salt Lake Tribune has published an article updating the public of their ongoing legal proceedings with West Jordan City after West Jordan Police Department shot and killed Michael Glad.
City and state officials want to keep police records confidential as to further protect the police when under investigation for murdering members of our community.

For further details look up "Utah AG joins West Jordan and media sign on with Tribune in open records fight" by Paighten Harkins Jan. 13 2022

01/07/2022

Shout out to those who dare to protect and fight for one another guided by an unwavering commitment to create a better world.

Funds are still being raised to support those who are facing state repression after paint was spilled and windows were smashed at the on July 9th 2021.


**kSimGill

12/21/2021

12/10/2021

The so called Justice System is a farce.
From the police department to the prosecutors, judges and public defenders

Brick by brick
Wall by wall
This whole damn system
Has got to go!

Justice and accountability will not come from agencies that callously disregard the most basic of our rights.

Salt Lake Legal Defenders Association
801-532-5444

Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake

Utah Attorney General's Office

12/09/2021

When discussing Public Health, make sure to remember how the city and state are offering public funds and clearing the path from any obstacles to build an environmentally disastrous port.

STOP THE POLLUTING PORT