North Miami Beach, Florida
Police Targeting Black Men in the Streets... AND at the Target Range
January 19, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
A South Florida family is outraged—and people should join in this outrage—at the fact that North Miami Beach police use mug shots of African-American men at a shooting range for cops’ sniper training. This came to light after the Florida Army National Guard’s 13th Army Band came to use the shooting range. One member of the band, Sgt. Valerie Deant, saw among these mug shots being used for target practice the image of her own brother, Woody Deant, who spent four years in prison in connection to a drag race in 2000 that left two people dead.
Woody Deant said: “The picture actually has like bullet holes. One in my forehead and one in my eye.... I was speechless.” North Miami Beach Police Chief J. Scott Dennis has defended this practice saying the technique is widely used! Now he has suspended the sniper training program as part of an internal investigation, saying his department will resume use of human image targets after it expands the number of images in its inventory (to avoid charges of racial profiling). The Deant’s attorney, Andell Brown, points out, “This can create a very dangerous situation. And it has been ingrained in your subconscious what does that mean when someone [police] comes across Woody or another person on the street and their decision-making process on using deadly force or not.” Woody Deant said, “Automatically in his [police officer’s] mind, he’s going to think target, target, target...”
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