NY Giants safety Logan Ryan and father, a 25-year police veteran, start program to support police officers

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NY Giants safety Logan Ryan and father, a 25-year police veteran, start program to support police officers

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NEW YORK- New York Giants safety Logan Ryan and his father, a 25-year police veteran, have started a new program to support police officers and work to bridge the divide between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

According to reports, during a recent interview with “Good Morning Football,” the defensive back said that he and his father, Lester Ryan, who has been with the Camden, New Jersey police force for 25 years, started Ryan Alternative Solutions Training (RAST) to train police officers in de-escalation and minimal force techniques.

Ryan, who added that his father is his hero, said that the program seeks real police reform instead of the just hopping on the latest “defund the police” bandwagon like many other athletes. Ryan told NFL Network host Nate Burleson:

“My dad is my hero. He’s a black man in this country. He’s 25 years a cop in Camden, New Jersey … He worked in the FBI, the SWAT team, he also has multiple black belts in martial arts. So, I feel like he’s extremely qualified when we talk about police reform.”

He added:

“We obviously know where we are in the nation, where we are in the country, there’s a lot of divide. And honestly athletes have the biggest social justice calling of any time. We have the mics in front of us, we have great platforms and I always want to use my platform.”

By watching his father, Ryan has seen the difficulties his father has faced as a law enforcement officer, which inspired him to use his platform to work to improve how police officers relate to the people they protect. Ryan said:

“I believe in the police. I don’t believe in defunding the police. I believe we need the police. I believe our police need better training to be better equipped to handle some of the situations they deal with.”

According to its website, the core tenets of RAST are accountability, competency, and training. The organization believes that through proper education, police officers can make better decisions that will help them avoid violent confrontations and bring “harmony” back between police and the public. The website states:

“The Ryan Approach promotes safety for citizens and officers which reinforces police accountability to management and to the public.”

Ryan said that the goal is that both the cops and the people they interact with can each go home to their wives and kids without a tragedy. He added:

“I was involved in the George Floyd lobbying … But I really want top put some skin in the game and take it to the next step. So, I started a company with my dad because I feel like he has great insight, being a former police officer.”

Ryan stated:

“There are good apples out there, there are a lot of good apples. And just like an NFL player, if someone gets arrested, we’re all deemed bad apples. ‘All these NFL guys are spoiled, they’re entitled, they don’t care about women, they don’t care about life.’ Well, there’s a lot of good guys that are doing good things behind the scenes just like my dad.”

In a tweet, Ryan wrote:

“We founded this company together in hopes of using his expertise and my platform to better equip officers with the tools they need to achieve both maximum citizen and officer safety. As a black man and son of a black police officer, I hope to be part of the solution.”
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UFC Cuban-American star slams NFL failure Colin Kaepernick for Fidel Castro t-shirt, calls him a ‘coward’

July 20th, 2021

In a July 12th tweet, UFC star Jorge Masvidal slammed former NFL player Colin Kaepernick for wearing a Fidel Castro t-shirt while claiming to protest oppression.

According to reports, the Cuban-American UFC fighter commented on a post from Turning Point USA via his Instagram story. The post showed Kaepernick from 2016 parading around in a Fidel Castro shirt adjacent to a picture of the protests in Cuba. 

Before his Instagram post, Masvidal posted a tweet that included a video. In this video, Masvidal said:

“My father escaped Cuba when he was 14-years-old and I’ve only heard the horror stories since I could process thoughts of how (expletive) this communist regime, killing machine is. So, I just wan to shed some light on Cuba −big SOS signal for them.”

He added:

“This oppression has been going on for 61 years. This is not just because of the pandemic or it’s not just because they ran out of medicine — they’ve been out of medicine and they’ve been out of resources and food because of the corrupt government and the extreme corruption over there where only a few at the top eat and everyone has to suffer Those days have to end.”

Later, in an Instagram post, the UFC fighter recalled how Kaepernick wore a t-shirt praising Cuba’s communist dictator, Fidel Castro. In his post, he added that “cowards” like Kaepernick should be sent to live in Cuba so they can experience real oppression.

He was referring to the time in 2016 when Kaepernick wore a t-shirt praising Castro at a San Francisco 49ers press conference. At the time, the former NFL quarterback praised Cuba for its education and health care systems.

He was reportedly criticized at the time for wearing the shirt. At the time, he stated that he agreed to Castro’s “investment in education” and “investment in universal health care.” Via an article in Sports Illustrated, Kaepernick said:

“I agree with the investment in education. I also agree with the investment in free universal health care as well as the involvement in helping end apartheid in South Africa…I would hope that everybody agrees those things are good things.

And trying to push the false narrative that I was a supporter of the oppressive things that he did is just not true.”

Kaepernick then used the opportunity to bash the United States by saying:

“We do break up families here. That’s what mass incarceration is. That was the foundation of slavery. So, our country has been based on that as well as the genocide of Native Americans.”

He even claimed that the nation’s education system was as great as it was because Castro spent more money on schools than on prisons. Kaepernick should have done some research of his own before sharing his knowledge. 

One report in 2021 found that Cuba had the sixth-highest rate of imprisoning its people per capita in the world and many of those behind bars were political prisoners placed there for openly defying the communist regime. 

Recently, Masvidal showed his support for the people of Cuba fighting for their freedom while describing the Cuban government as a “killing machine.” He wrote:

“I use my platforms to do what I feel is correct and I feel everybody should be doing which is fighting against oppression, dictatorships, communism, and anything of that nature.”

He added:

“So, I think it’s time for the whole world to rally behind Cuba. Let’s go, spread the messages online, we gotta protest, we gotta get together, get attention.”

He finished by saying:

“Maybe the local media channels in American won’t cover this or in other parts of the world, but I think it’s up to us to put the word out there. It’s people against the corrupt governments. Let’s defeat these evil communist mother (expletive), man. God bless everybody watching and thank you.”

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Police-bashing NFL gives grant to group seeking to dismantle Los Angeles school police agency

June 17th, 2021

LOS ANGELES, CA- Once again, the National Football League has given a middle finger to police, albeit indirectly. Breitbart tells us that the Los Angeles Super Bowl Host Committee awarded a grant to an activist group looking to dismantle the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)Police Department.

The committee announced a series of grants to different community organizations last Thursday. Included among those groups was one called the Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition (BSS).

The committee explained the grant was given due to the group “making a transformative impact in underserved communities.”

The group, which has the appropriately “BS” contained in their acronym is described as “a group of ten community-based organizations” whose mission is “to end the criminalization of young bois [?]/boys and men of color by creating and  influencing public policy that invests in young people and their future.”

That of course is code for “not prosecuting young boys and men of color for committing crimes.”

So how exactly does the BSS plan on doing so? They are looking to “decriminalize” and “invest in young people” by dismantling the LAUSD Police Department.

Working in cahoots with the Los Angeles Chapter of the neo-Marxist Black Lives Matter organization, the group seeks to force LA lawmakers to take funding which is currently director to the LAUSD police and redirect it to programs and initiatives such as “school climate officers,” “black-centered courses,” and “restorative justice counselors.”

“Black-centered courses” is of course not-so-code word for critical race theory.

While they have thus far been unsuccessful in totally eliminating the police department, the BSS and their cohorts have been successful in forcing the school board to remove $25 million from the district police department’s budget.

They also succeeded in removing police officers from school campuses, which cost 133 police officers and related support staff their jobs.

Feckless and useless NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, in announcing the grants said he was proud to help “shine the Super Bowl spotlight onto the achievements of local community organizations that often go unrecognized.”

Included in that assistance which will be provided by the host committee includes “a $10,000 grant award, a professionally produced marketing video spotlighting their organization, and public recognition of their work in the lead up the Super Bowl.”

In addition, six out of the 56 groups selected to receive grants are eligible to receive an additional $50,000 grant at a later time.

The NFL of course was among the leading “woke” professional sports leagues after has-been former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick tried to gain some semblance of relevance several years ago by kneeling for the national anthem. Kaepernick’s stunt led to a backlash against the league by patriotic NFL fans, who objected to the sideshow.

The NFL didn’t seem to care and after initially coming out against Kaepernick’s stunt, bowed to the woke minority of NFL fans and political correctness and established a 10-year, $250 million social justice fund.

Last year, a number of NFL stadiums posted tributes to George Floyd, a career-criminal who died while in custody of the Minneapolis police department and whose death was partially caused by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was subsequently convicted of 2nd Degree Murder in his death.

Despite coming out against alleged “systemic racism” and “systemic police brutality,” the NFL has done little to police its own house when it comes to criminal activity by its players, which includes robberies, domestic violence and at least in several cases, shootings.

Likewise, the NFL has taken insignificant steps to address the significant head injuries suffered by some players, which includes both traumatic brain injury (TBI) and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE was blamed for the suicide of former NFL star Junior Seau, as well as believed to have played a part in the criminal history of former New England Patriots star tight end Aaron Hernandez.

Hernandez’s CTE, which was called among one of the most advanced such cases found among NFL players is partially blamed for his criminal involvement, which included the shooting death of Odin Lloyd outside of Boston, for which Hernandez was convicted.

He committed suicide in a Massachusetts jail in 2017.

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Some NFL teams do however try to do things the right way where it concerns law enforcement. One such case is the Green Bay Packers, who late last year donated funds for the Green Bay Police Department to defray the costs of body cameras for officers. For more on that, we invite you to:

DIG DEEPER

The following editorial is written by a retired Chief of Police and current staff writer for Law Enforcement Today. 

—

GREEN BAY, WI — Let us call this a tale of two stories. Or more accurately, a tale how one story is reported two different ways. And once again, we see a sports outlet, in this case Deadspin and not ESPN, stick their nose into the world of social justice. In a word Deadspin, stick to sports.

This whole thing of sports butting into social justice has not worked out well for ESPN, the NBA, the NFL or Major League Baseball. All bled viewers after they joined the land of the woke. Let us explain.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the Green Bay Packers donated $750,000 to the city of Green Bay to help with the purchase of body cameras.

The city council approved the purchase agreement, which will take the form of a five-year purchase agreement with a camera vendor which came after summer protests related to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the shooting of accused rapist Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The city has been looking to purchase body cameras for some time, with the impetus being a fatal shooting in the sally port of the Brown County Jail, an incident which was only partially recorded by in-car cameras in a patrol car.

The department has committed to spending $1.9 million over five years on body cameras, upgraded in-car cameras for patrol vehicles, and Tasers. All sworn officers will be equipped with body cameras, which includes patrol officers, detectives and school resource officers.

One Packers player, wide receiver Devante Adams released a video, in which the said:

“Those bodycams can obviously tell the entire story. There’s been a lot of questionable things that have happened, a lot of things caught on camera. It just makes you wonder about all the things that aren’t caught on camera.”

Fair enough.

The Packers will also help the Brown County Sheriff’s Department and Ashwaubenon Public Safety buy body cameras as well.

Great community outreach for the Green Bay Packers, correct? A lot of NFL teams have been criticized for kneeling for the national anthem, ostensibly to protest against police brutality, so credit to the Packers for attempting to bridge that gap.

This, however, is not good enough for Deadspin. A writer named Carron J. Phillips has a big problem with what the Packers are doing.

His opening sentence:

“In another edition of the NFL trying to do right, yet failing, the Green Bay Packers recently gave more than $750,000 to the city of Green Bay for police body cameras in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., according to The Washington Post.”

Phillips does not believe, as the team does, that such a move will increase “local police accountability,” referring to the term as an “oxymoron.”

The CEO of the Packers, Mark Murphy, told The Washington Post:

“Where are the areas where you can make an impact? The nice thing about bodycams is, there’s pretty much a consensus these are good things to have. The only people against it are bad cops and criminals.”

And apparently, sports writers.

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Murphy then spoke about the protests with Colin Kaepernick and the fact that the team has been supporters of their players. Then referring to the Blake shooting, right in the Packers’ “backyard,” it became an inflection point, he said.

He noted the position of the team within the community and the hope they could help impact change. Nothing wrong with that, right? Wrong.

According to Phillips, that is a good intention but bad execution. He then rails against the city because they’ve wanted to get body cameras for at least five years but found the cost to be too expensive. Then in snarky condescension, Phillips says, “how convenient.”

You see, Phillips thinks that body cameras are not an “antidote to racism and police brutality.” The fact of the matter is, nobody says that they are. That matters not to Phillips however, as he went on Google and searched for “Black people killed—police body cameras.”

You see, apparently Phillips thinks the mere presence of police body cameras are supposed to “prevent” the shootings of black people. In fact, one of the links he sourced, the shooting of Walter Wallace Jr., in Philadelphia earlier this year, was clearly an authorized use of deadly physical force.

Wallace approached two Philadelphia police officers while armed with a knife. Despite being told to drop the knife, Wallace kept advancing on the cops and was shot.

In yet another link Phillips shared, they cited the shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta, another case where police were justified in using deadly physical force when Brooks took a Taser belonging to one of the officers and turned to fire it at the police.

The District Attorney for Fulton County, who had just the week before referred to Tasers as “deadly weapons,” nonetheless charged the officer with murder, this time alleging a Taser was NOT a deadly weapon.

In fact, most of the cases which Phillips cited, for which he patted himself on the back for his Google prowess, were legitimate police shootings, not so-called “police brutality” as he alleged.

But in his best imitation of ESPN, Phillips in his best snarky way criticizes the Packers for not having the apparent Google prowess he possesses and suggested that perhaps they should have “asked some black people who do not suit up for them each Sunday and are not on the payroll.” Oooh, zing!

The only area in which Phillips represents having more than a couple of brain cells inside his skull is when he notes that body cameras do not work if they are not turned on. Pure genius.

Maybe he took a football or two to the head while covering the sport. Yeah, we get it, cameras have to be turned on. However on the rare occasion when a body camera is not turned on, it does not diminish the overall usefulness of the program.

His last statement is probably the most laughable and shows this guy is true media bias. He somehow believes that body cameras enable “systemic oppression”:

“If the Green Bay Packers truly wanted to increase ‘local police accountability,’ they wouldn’t have helped the department buy technology that doesn’t dismantle systemic oppression, but oftentimes enables it.”

Look, you can not have it both ways. What Phillips probably has an issue with is the fact that by having body cameras, they have shown that overwhelmingly police are not racist, and they do not use deadly physical force unless they have to. In other words, they do not support the narrative.

Let me just say, Mr. Phillips, that you are a bit out of your league here reporting on police and law enforcement. Maybe stick to your wheelhouse, if you in fact have one. Have some of those lemon-peppered wings you seem to like (real men eat Buffalo wings, by the way) and have a little bit of that brown liquor you favor.

When you want some real research on the effectiveness of body cameras, hit us up. We will give you the real information. Meantime, keep trying to strive for some importance and maybe you can get a gig like Jemele Hill did, another misinformed sports “reporter.”

—

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About The Author

Jenna Curren, Ed.D., is an assistant professor in criminal justice studies. As chair of a CJ advisory board, Jenna actively partners with members of the community to integrate current students into internships and prospective law enforcement careers. Prior to working in academics, Jenna held various custody and treatment positions and was a lieutenant for the CT Department of Correction. Throughout her tenure, she supervised men, women, youth and mental health offenders. A C.E.R.T and honor guard member, as well as a training officer, Jenna has 10 years of experience in the criminal justice and human services fields.

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