Google donates to the Seattle Police Foundation
Alphabet workers news
Corporate watchdog organization Littlesis published an article today that outlines the broad corporate financial support for police foundations, which enable police departments to purchase weapons with minimal oversight.
As the article mentions, as of 2019 Google is a donor to the Seattle Police Foundation. The Seattle police is the organization that recently maced a 7-year-old Black child at a protest rally and was just expelled from the city's largest labor group.
Other Big Tech donors to police foundations identified by the article include Amazon, Motorola, Verizon, Facebook, and Microsoft.
Some extracts from the article below.
- Bruce
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https://news.littlesis.org/2020/06/18/corporate-backers-of-the-blue-how-corporations-bankroll-u-s-police-foundations/
Corporate Backers of the Blue: How Corporations Bankroll U.S. Police Foundations
... While police budgets are typically public documents that must be approved by elected officials, there are other institutions in place with the sole purpose of funneling even more resources toward law enforcement.
Police foundations across the country are partnering with corporations to raise money to supplement police budgets by funding programs and purchasing tech and weaponry for law enforcement with little public oversight. Annual fundraising events and parties like the St. Paul Police Foundation’s “Blue Nite Gala” and the Chicago Police Foundation’s “True Blue” event are huge moneymakers.
... The Houston Police Foundation has an entire page on its website showcasing the equipment it purchased for the police department, including SWAT equipment, LRAD sound equipment, and dogs for the K-9 unit. The Philadelphia Police Foundation purchased long guns, drones, and ballistic helmets. The Atlanta Police Foundation helped fund a major surveillance network of over 12,000 cameras.
... these foundations provide a public-private structure wherein the corporate elite can overtly support police departments through direct donations, sponsorships, special programs, and by serving as directors on foundations’ boards. The ongoing protests have emphasized that police exist to enforce a racist social order that protects corporations, capital, and buildings rather than black and brown lives. Police foundations are a key space for orchestrating, normalizing, and celebrating the collaboration between corporate power and the police...
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