It has been said that the police officer on the beat is the most powerful person in the American justice system.  More powerful than a congressman who makes laws, more powerful than a senator, even more powerful than a judge on the United States Supreme Court.  This is because a police officer on the street has the complete power over a person’s life.

As Americans, at some point in our education, perhaps even from early childhood, we have been taught that the President of the United States is the leader of our nation, often being exalted as “the leader of the free world”.

In a speech delivered to a group of law enforcement officials in a New York suburb last Friday, President Trump, quite literally, encouraged their use of excessive force, stating “When you see these thugs, being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon,

Like many Americans, we at the firm were shocked, mortified, and deeply saddened by the horrific events that took place in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Like many Americans, we at the firm were shocked, mortified, and deeply saddened by the horrific events that took place in Las Vegas on Sunday.

So, what protections do you have under the Fourth Amendment?Of course, in many cases, whether your search falls into these case law "definitions" may be subject to interpretation.

For those who do not know what IAM2018 is, it is a continuation of the fight that Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. did for the civil rights of all African-Americans in our country.

Today, I want to take a moment and talk about what is the law enforcement’s response to those who are mentally ill. Law enforcement officers are most commonly seen in a municipal setting, which is designed to serve the community.

So there's this cafe in Oakland named "Hasta Muerte Coffee". Oakland, as you well know, is an urban community in Northern California. It has had a long history of being one of the more high crime areas within California.

If you warn the police about someone who is dangerous and they do nothing, are the police responsible? In the eyes of right or wrong, the answer is, yes, they are responsible. In the eyes of the law, no, they are not responsible.

What can I do if you want the police to help and you don't want the person to be hurt? Well, the first thing you can do is if you're in a major city, ask if they have a psychological response team.

It's very interesting to me that since about the last three or four years, ever since the situation involving Trayvon Martin, the national consciousness has been thinking about police shootings and thinking about why they happen.

In almost every officer involved shooting, if you really dig into them and isolate the dynamics and the energy that precipitates this use of deadly force, what you're going to see is some combination of fear and anger. And anger has a lot of components.

Would police trainings and excessive force instances be reduced if you had a situations where officers received sensitivity training on race? Well, it certainly is not going to hurt.

I've always hated the term trigger happy because I don't think any officer is ever feeling joy when they pull the trigger. But I do think that questioning why they are trigger happy refers to a concept that I like to call discipline.

The Cochran Firm California will represent Mr. Darris Love in unlawful detainment case. Article below is credited to mynewsla.com.

On Wednesday, August 1st, 2018, the Cochran Firm California held a press conference where they declared their wrongful death and negligence claim against the Los Angeles Police Department.

On Wednesday, August 1st, 2018, the Cochran Firm California held a press conference where they declared their wrongful death and negligence claim against the Los Angeles Police Department

This week's special guest on A Nation Divided with Brian Dunn is Rev. James M. Lawson, one of the great leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement. Lawson was also an active member of the Civil Rights Movement, and did many great things to end segregation where he could.

G. FLINT TAYLOR, a graduate of Brown University and Northwestern Law School, is a  founding partner of the People’s Law Office in Chicago, an office which has been dedicated to litigating civil rights, police

G. FLINT TAYLOR, a graduate of Brown University and Northwestern Law School, is a  founding partner of the People’s Law Office in Chicago, an office which has been dedicated to litigating civil rights,

The following was taken from Brian Dunn's radio show "A Nation Divided", which is aired live every Saturday at 4 pm Pacific Time on 790 KABC.

The following was taken from Brian Dunn’s radio show “A Nation Divided”, which is aired live every Saturday at 4 pm Pacific Time on 790 KABC.

One hundred years ago this week President Woodrow Wilson signed the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 and committed the federal government to combating the domestic drug trade. If any single event launched our modern drug war, this was it.

The National Enquirer’s parent company said Friday that it will investigate Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ claims that he was extorted and blackmailed after he launched a probe into how the National

Jury duty is not a punch line. I helped decide a case about police, a black driver and a traffic stop, and I never felt more significant as a

The ‘death with dignity’ movement gives in to despair and preys on terminally ill patients when they are most vulnerable. On Dec. 30, as snowflakes fell outside his window, my

Here’s a look at the death penalty in the United States. Facts: As of October 11, 2018, capital punishment is legal in 30 US states. Federal Government: The US government

The Cochran Firm is pleased to announce the May 21, 2019 findings of the Los Angles Police Department’s five member civilian review board, known as the Board of Police Commissioners

Americans need to go beyond holiday volunteerism and become more intentional about helping the homeless year-round. The reasons people become homeless vary; addiction and mental health disorders are often cited,

What is the Electoral College? The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors who cast votes to decide the President and Vice-President of the United States. When voters go

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has sound policies in place to prevent the unnecessary use of deadly force. The following excerpts from the Use of Force Policy apply to

Family of a 24-year-old man shot and killed by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and the man who was with him filed a claim Wednesday for damages against the county,

New York (CNN Business) Can a knife emoji double as a threat to kill someone? Does a heart emoji from a manager constitute sexual harassment? More emojis are showing up in court cases

We want to know, should the reporting of false news be a crime? It's that simple. Should the reporting of false information be something that is not protected by our freedom of speech? Should it be something that we look at as a crime? And as we start to delve and peel the layers back on this very complicated subject, one of the things that we're confronted with is the fact that we're living in an age that is quite unprecedented.

Access to guns are so prevalent that it might have something to do with it. But the discussion that we’re going to have today in the wake of two horribly

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a coronavirus relief package that includes provisions for free testing for Covid-19 and paid emergency leave. The Senate had earlier Wednesday approved the House-passed

For more than six years, through two governors and hundreds of lawmakers’ votes, California’s state government slowly built the largest cash reserve in its history — projected to total $21

Monday was the first day that the number of U.S. deaths due to the coronavirus grew by more than 500, according to data compiled by The Washington Post. Almost half of

In Catalonia a project has been launched to help neighborhood bookshops stay afloat during the lockdown Times are tough for independent businesses that have been forced to shutter their stores

What will life look like when stay-at-home orders are lifted? As President Trump tells governors to “call your own shots” in easing social distancing restrictions, local officials are already thinking about how to loosen

While each person’s legal situation is different, there are times when you really should hire a lawyer. In fact, failing to work with an attorney in certain instances can lead

Los Angeles County public health officials announced a five-stage “Recovery Roadmap” on Wednesday, May 6, which eases some aspects of Safer at Home orders issued on March 19. Here’s what you

It’s not exactly the Montgomery bus boycott, and Elon Musk is no Rosa Parks, but Tesla is apparently engaged in a highly unusual act of corporate civil disobedience. Ordered by

Face masks have become one of the most enduring — and surprisingly controversial — images of the coronavirus pandemic that’s been tearing through the US for more than two months

Ready or not, life is returning to some sort of normal in the United States, and normal inevitably includes police officers killing an unarmed black man in their custody, followed

Thousands of people gathered at more than a dozen peaceful demonstrations around Los Angeles on Saturday to protest the death of George Floyd and other black Americans at the hands of police.

A 59-year-man exonerated last year after spending 36 years behind bars for a rape and stabbing in Baton Rouge that he didn’t commit is seeking compensation in a federal lawsuit.

The Supreme Court dealt a major blow to President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on sanctuary policies on Monday when it refused to take up a case challenging a California law

For more than 40 years, associates at Dorsey & Whitney helped the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office prosecute misdemeanor cases. Each year, a handful of the firm’s litigation associates would spend

Have you ever heard of “tech law”? If you have it’s probably because it’s one of the most popular law practices today. The boom of startups in the 1990s, where

The civil rights auditors Facebook hired to scrutinize its record delivered on Wednesday a long-awaited and scathing indictment of the social media giant’s decisions to prioritize free speech above other

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday that the city’s COVID-19 threat meter is “on the border of going to red,” the highest level, which would mean a complete shutdown in L.A. owing

President Trump on Wednesday said that the Justice Department would send federal law enforcement officials to Democratic-led cities experiencing an increase in violent crime, including Chicago, and again tried to draw a direct line

For more than three decades, California has clung to one of the nation’s toughest testing standards for law school students hoping to practice law in the most populous state in

Hours before the Beverly Crest shooting, aerial video from Sky5 showed a mansion on Mulholland Drive packed with people. In a statement Wednesday, the L.A. County Department of Public Health

Attorneys for a woman injured in a deadly crash at Piedmont Hospital released a new video of the incident Tuesday and said they may file a lawsuit. New footage

A flurry of notifications lighted up the phones of Lyft and Uber users in California early this week. A California appeals court granted an emergency stay Thursday allowing Uber and Lyft

It was a dream that couldn’t have seemed further from reality. Williams, an African American man from a humble background in Baton Rouge, was serving a life sentence plus 80

Hours after President Trump stood on the South Lawn of the White House to rail against what he called agitators bent on destroying “the American way of life,” thousands of Americans streamed to the Lincoln Memorial, not a mile away,

The 59-year-old Baton Rouge native related that he was falsely accused of the rape and stabbing of a woman at her home in the Hundred Oaks area of Baton Rouge

“I thought they were just playing games with me, like a prank” Suspect got a chance and speaks out his innocence. Click on the link to find out what the

The ACLU of Nebraska has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the City of Omaha, alleging that its police department violated protester’s constitutional rights by using excessive force, misapplying

Samuel Asghedom, the brother of Nipsey Hussle and administrator of the late rapper’s estate, filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the Crips LLC, in U.S. District Court in California. Read

Nigeria has been rocked by days of nationwide protests over police brutality, harassment, and extortion by a controversial police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). Read More

Black Lives Matter demonstrators stopped traffic in Stockton for several hours to protest police brutality. Read More

President Donald Trump has said there’s one place he wants to determine the outcome of the presidential election: the U.S. Supreme Court. But he may have a difficult time getting

Police officers in Milwaukee over two years ago, Milwaukee Bucks guard Sterling Brown has agreed to a $750,000 settlement with the city of Milwaukee. Read More

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles County leaders approve a $3.9 million settlement of a federal lawsuit brought by the grieving family of Ryan Twyman, an unarmed man from Compton who was killed

Two Los Angeles County deputies fired nearly three dozen rounds into a white Kia Forte as its driver reversed through an apartment complex parking lot in Willowbrook. While the passenger

For the first time in history, a president-elect and vice president-elect have appeared together on a Time’s cover. Read More

Civil rights attorney Brian Dunn has been around long enough to see judges and juries shift their attitude about police officers. The Cochran Firm California’s managing partner, Brian T.

Investigations into how pro-Trump rioters came to overrun the Capitol building need to reckon with US history, experts say, and whether a racial double standard has been embedded in forces including the

Law enforcement analysts review the Los Angeles Police Department’s handling of last summer’s mass protests got an earful during two public “listening sessions” Thursday, as activists and protesters blasted the

Among the most contentious and debated statistics are those for crime rates in the United States. When reviewed on their own, they reveal a troubling reality: people of color, particularly

The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, the state agency that certifies police officer, on Wednesday voted unanimously to accept Schneider’s voluntary surrender. If someone surrenders or is stripped

The decision by a Minnesota jury to convict Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd represented a rare instance in which a US police officer was held accountable for the killing of a black person. Police killings are a frequent occurrence in the US.

A Black man who says an unprovoked beating by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies left him with eye damage and other extensive facial injuries has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the county.

Among the most contentious and debated statistics are those for crime rates in the United States. When reviewed on their own, they reveal a troubling reality: