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Angela Harrelson, centre, aunt of George Floyd, talks to supporters at George Floyd Square after the guilty verdict was announced Julio Cortez via PA Images

US Justice Department to investigate policing in Minneapolis after Floyd verdict

The department is already investigating whether the officers involved violated George Floyd’s civil rights.

LAST UPDATE | 21 Apr 2021

THE US JUSTICE Department is opening a sweeping investigation into policing practices in Minneapolis after a former officer was convicted of the killing of George Floyd there, attorney general Merrick Garland has announced.

The announcement came a day after former officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter over Floyd’s death last May, setting off a wave of relief but also sadness across the country.

The black man’s death prompted months of mass protests against policing in the US.

The Justice Department is already investigating whether Chauvin and other officers involved in Floyd’s death violated his civil rights.

“Yesterday’s verdict in the state criminal trial does not address potentially systemic policing issues in Minneapolis,” Garland said.

The investigation is known as a “pattern or practice” — examining whether there is a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing — and will be a more sweeping probe of the entire police department and may result in major changes.

It will examine practices including use of force, and whether the department engages in discriminatory practices. It will also look into the department’s handling of misconduct allegations and its treatment of people with behavioural health issues and will assess the department’s systems of accountability, Garland said.

It is unclear whether the years under investigation will begin when Floyd died or before.

The 46-year-old was arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit 20 dollar bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He panicked, pleaded that he was claustrophobic and struggled with police when they tried to put him in a patrol car. They put him on the ground instead.

The centrepiece of the case was bystander video of Floyd, handcuffed behind his back, gasping repeatedly, “I can’t breathe”, and onlookers shouting at Chauvin to stop as the officer pressed his knee on or close to Floyd’s neck for what authorities say was about nine and half minutes, including several minutes after Floyd’s breathing had stopped and he had no pulse.

Floyd’s death 25 May became a flashpoint in the national conversation about the deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement and sparked worldwide protests.

At trial, Chauvin’s lawyer persistently suggested his knee was not on Floyd’s neck for as long as prosecutors argued, suggesting it was across his back, shoulder blades and arm.

President Joe Biden has promised his administration will not rest following the jury’s verdict in the case, saying much more needs to be done.

“‘I can’t breathe.’ Those were George Floyd’s last words,” Biden said. “We can’t let those words die with him. We have to keep hearing those words. We must not turn away. We can’t turn away.”

The Justice Department had previously considered a pattern or practice investigation into the police department soon after Floyd’s death, but then-attorney general Bill Barr was hesitant to do so at the time, fearing that it could cause further divisions in law enforcement amid widespread protests and civil unrest, sources told the Associated Press.

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    Mute Rob Munnelly
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    Sep 17th 2015, 9:08 PM

    This might be the poorest informed article I’ve read on an Apple release in a while.

    1) Doubling the ram is something just “does” in its phones, almost year on year.

    2) 2GB of ram wasn’t a surprise, it was widely speculated and assumed that would be the case.

    3) Extra ram, on iOS, doesn’t really affect how apps run in the background; it allows larger apps to run more processes in the foreground. That means better graphics in a game because it can load more triangles / drawing processes etc.

    4) Cramming 4gb of ram into something with a mobile chip doesn’t make it as powerful as a laptop, it just has as much ram as one. A lot of these things still run on really crappy processors, and Android is a one-for-all operating system – it’s not built to get the most out of any 1 combination of processor make / speed / model, combined with a ram / speed / make / model. So you can’t really compare them based on the headline number of a single part of it.

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    Mute Byyys
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    Sep 17th 2015, 7:16 PM

    Apple also launched it’s first Android APP called ‘Move to iOS’ yesterday on Google Play as part of the iOS 9 launch…. It got blasted with over 8 thousand 1 star reviews (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.movetoios) Most of the reviews are just rants against Apple.

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    Mute John Lawless
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    Sep 17th 2015, 7:24 PM

    I thought Apple Music was the first Apple app released on Android?

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    Mute Byyys
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    Sep 17th 2015, 9:15 PM

    John… Aside from Beats Music for Android, which Apple acquired, this is the company’s first Android APP. Apple didn’t announce ‘Move to iOS’ at WWDC 2015. Instead, the APP was quietly listed on Apple’s What’s new in iOS page the same day.

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    Mute john
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    Sep 17th 2015, 8:22 PM

    My vodafone smart ultra 6 has 2gb Ram and lots of other stuff the iphone 6s has and it only cost me €170!! The only thing it doesnt have is the apple logo on the back :( I’ll just have to live with not being cool!

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    Mute Brendan
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    Sep 17th 2015, 8:54 PM

    Funny enough when I see someone flashing the apple logo on their phone or laptop/tablet I just think knob!!!

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    Mute Paul Lanigan
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    Sep 17th 2015, 11:29 PM

    boulder on your shoulder Brendan

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    Mute Carlin Ite
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    Sep 18th 2015, 7:52 AM

    I have a MacBook Pro. I will never use a windows laptop again.

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    Mute Jonny Lennon
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    Sep 17th 2015, 8:04 PM

    The Journal.. Sponsored by Apple!!!

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    Mute Anon Ymous
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    Sep 18th 2015, 12:46 AM

    I updated my iPhone 5 to iOS9 today. Purely by chance I discovered that, with this new update, it automatically starts your 3 month free trial with Apple Music and – in the small print – after the 3 month trial is up, Apple will start charging your account. I wouldn’t have known this only a friend and I were chatting about Apple Music this evening and I had a quick look at it. I have never signed up for the free trial so am really Annoyed by it.

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    Mute Sean 
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    Sep 18th 2015, 3:29 PM

    Well it hasn’t opted me in on any of my devices not any of my friends I have checked with so you must just be unlucky

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    Mute Jim Rodgers
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    Sep 19th 2015, 12:57 PM

    Surely you seen this nugget of information in the 400 pages of terms and conditions that you read before agreeing to iOS9 ;-)

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    Mute Seamus McSpud
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    Sep 17th 2015, 8:30 PM

    During testing of iOS9 it was discovered that there is an issue for users who use custom Access Point Names (APN) to access their corporate networks.
    This could affect some customers using Vodafone Office Access, Vodafone Data Control or customers who have custom-built APNs.
    The impact it may have is that if a user upgrades to iOS9 they may lose complete data connectivity.

    As a precaution we strongly recommend that any users who use custom APNs, Vodafone Office Access or Vodafone Data Control do not upgrade to iOS9, until further notice. We understand that Apple are working on a fix.

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