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July 8, 2020
Emergency Food Former Cop on Police Culture of Violence
Book explores
Stamps Extended impacts on
Maximum benefits
to last through July
minority
communities
The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS)
has received approval by the Food and Nutrition Ser-
vice to provide an additional $30 million to eligible
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
recipients this month because of the coronavirus pan-
demic.
“Oregonians continue to face economic instability
and food insecurity,” said Self-Sufficiency Programs
Director Dan Haun. “Providing another month of
emergency assistance will help address ongoing food
needs.”
With the additional funds, all eligible Oregon
SNAP households will receive the maximum benefit
amount in July, officials said. They will receive the
extra allotment in the same way they receive their cur-
rent benefits. For most customers this is an EBT card.
No additional action is needed from Oregonians
already enrolled in SNAP, officials said. The maxi-
mum SNAP benefits are based on the number of eligi-
ble people in the household. For a household of one,
for example, the amount is $194; for a family of three
it’s $309 and for a family of five it is $768.
This allotment will not permanently change a
household’s monthly benefit amount. It is a temporary
supplement to help during the current health crisis.
DHS will not be sending individual notices to house-
holds about the emergency allotments.
Learn how to apply for SNAP and other benefits
online or by calling 2-1-1 or visiting oregon.gov/
DHS/COVID-19.
According to a 2019, USA Today
report, at least 85,000 law enforce-
ment officers across the United States
have been investigated or disciplined
for misconduct over the past decade.
Moreover, in minority communities
throughout America there has been an
urgent crisis in policing since the early
20th century.
Presently, there is a perceived up-
tick in the media concerning improp-
er police procedure and use of force,
including killings of unarmed African
American citizens like that of George
Floyd in Minneapolis, and Rayshard
Brooks in Atlanta. While no two cas-
es are alike, there is a universal set of
rules that governs when and how po-
lice officers should use force.
Timothy T. Williams Jr., a leading
expert on police procedure, use of force
and wrongful convictions, believes
that, “Unfortunately, in minority and
white communities, law enforcement
has a different approach as it relates to
policing the respective groups.”
Williams said the easing of Coro-
navirus stay at home orders and use of
masks, increases the opportunity for
different types of policing, subjecting
Retired Los Angeles police detective Timothy T. Williams Jr. dives deep into
police procedure, use of force, and wrongful convictions in his debut book
‘American Policing: A Culture of violence in Minority Communities.’
minorities to a higher probability of
being stopped vs. white counterparts.
“If additional racial bias training
isn’t embraced, especially during the
COVID-19 pandemic and for protests,
there will be continued civil rights vi-
olations that will cost municipalities
millions of dollars,” Williams said.
A study of 100 million traffic stops
by 21 state patrol agencies from 2011
to 2017, found that police had a lower
bar for stopping and searching black
and Hispanic drivers than they did for
stopping white drivers, NBC News
Reports. Research also shows that po-
lice are more likely to target and use
unnecessary force against them too.
Perceptions of a few “bad apples”
within police departments are quickly
being dispelled due to such data and
video recordings from cell phones and
security cameras. Such visual evidence
captures what appears to be a culture of
violence in an almost daily onslaught
of misconduct by police officers, espe-
cially toward minority communities.
In his timely debut book, A Deep
Dive: An Expert Analysis on Police
Procedure, Use of Force and Wrongful
Convictions, Williams recounts his ex-
periences as a retired Los Angeles Police
Department senior detective supervisor.
An over 29-year LAPD veteran,
Williams launched his private consul-
tancy practice in 2003, and has pro-
vided expert testimony in over 200
cases and analysis of over 1,200 cas-
es. Williams has been hired by some
of the most recognizable names in law
including The Innocence Project, The
Cochran Firm, Carl Douglas, Mark
Geragos, and Thomas Mesereau.