Crosscut Now
May 18, 2023 - How Seattle Police use bikes at protests
5/18/2023 | 1m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
How Seattle Police put bikes at the forefront of protest clashes.
Local bike cops drove a national evolution toward forceful crowd tactics — and made money doing it.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Crosscut Now is a local public television program presented by Cascade PBS
Crosscut Now
May 18, 2023 - How Seattle Police use bikes at protests
5/18/2023 | 1m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
Local bike cops drove a national evolution toward forceful crowd tactics — and made money doing it.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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In May of 2020, the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin while three other cops failed to intervene, sparked outrage and protests nationwide and globally.
The social justice demonstration saw massive deployment of police bike crowd control tactics throughout cities.
The Seattle Office of Police Accountability received more than 19,000 complaints against SPD between May 30th, 2020 and the end of that year.
Crosscut and type investigations obtained records from SPD and other departments shedding light at how police spend thousands of dollars on bikes, equipment, and training.
Law enforcement veteran and SPD Bike Officer, Jim Diamond, created a private company that trains police officers around the world to use their bikes as forceful means of crowd control.
Diamond had no comment on the story, but our investigation found training companies like his and bike manufacturers make significant money from police department contracts.
I'm Paris Jackson.
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