My office is in Davenport, Iowa and I have had multiple clients mistreated by the Davenport police. Due to attorney-client privilege and confidentiality, I am prohibited from discussing those client’s cases here. So, I will instead only discuss cases from the news that do not relate to my clients. Even with the limitation of not being able to talk about the majority of what I know about police brutality in Davenport, there is still information I can share using only news articles.
Problems with policing in Davenport, Iowa in particular
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Davenport police officer who stomped on a man’s ankle was using excessive force, but that the legal doctrine of qualified immunity means that neither the officer nor the Davenport police department will be held liable. https://qctimes.com/news/local/court-officer-who-stomped-on-suspects-ankle-cannot-be-sued/article_95a9f4b7-9b92-50fe-8e1c-37d8f84b56bf.html
Police brutality and a lack of accountability has been a problem in Davenport, IA for some time now. A Davenport police officer was “disciplined” but not fired for lying on in police report in which he claimed a woman who he attacked was actually the aggressor, is a good example. In that case, the video showed the officer’s violence and lies. The Davenport police chief agreed the officer’s actions were improper but refused to fire him. The local prosecutors refused to bring charges against the officer. https://jonathanturley.org/2013/08/19/iowa-officer-beats-woman-because-she-appeared-willing-to-fight-police-chief-refuses-to-fire-him-and-says-such-things-just-happen-from-time-to-time/
Scott County, Iowa (Davenport is the largest city in Scott County, Iowa)
Despite similar rates of marijuana usage, black people in Scott County Iowa are nearly 13 times more likely to be arrested than white people. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2020/04/20/aclu-iowa-among-worst-nation-racial-disparities-marijuana-arrests/5155632002/
The state of Iowa as a whole
A Black person in Iowa is 7.3 times more likely to be arrested than a white person for marijuana possession, even though both groups use marijuana at about the same rate, a national ACLU study of law enforcement data has found. Iowa ranked the fifth-worst in the nation in racial disparities for marijuana arrests, even as other states are decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana. https://www.aclu-ia.org/en/press-releases/iowa-ranks-among-worst-states-racial-disparities-marijuana-arrests
Racism and brutality in policing in general
The following articles provide much more information on the problems of racism and police brutality in the American policing system and criminal justice system:
https://www.learnaboutguns.com/2020/06/17/police-use-of-force-depends-upon-the-race-of-the-suspect/
https://www.learnaboutguns.com/2020/07/05/our-criminal-courts-are-inherently-racist/