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Home My WebLink About11-07-2000 ArticlesAIr -aze Aden ACG;30 3000'3A .; .BRIEFyL yyS ' --Repod-4misville police stbp moreblack ddvers M' LbLtsvuB, icy. - Black' drivers. are ;pulled over by Lou- isville' poh(i, at-almost'twice' the rate : of white drivers; a study published. Sunday found.; In a':survey of more than 1,6C)O, -police. reports. over ,.the Past Year,,The Cauher-Journal , newspaper •found that 44 per- cent of the drivers' who were stopped and chocked for war- rants were blahk.'.The newspa- per said that equates to one out, of every, 75 J)aa old: enough, to driveeingFed over, in -,_• 1'IWjmbalanCe was largely A resulf'of a:disproportionately high percentage -of blacks being stopped in (sections of the,city),_ which are ,`VYy6minantly `�tvilite," the ndmiipaper s9A i 'Mavor. WMIC1I pick 9 IM police board' - unreeunion.unu htlh: hrwrv.Inncsunion.condAuptitoncvskgy.arclYllloryt.eV 4lL%+a,cmogoi� r F UNK)N Home : News: Todays Stories By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Staff writer First published. Wednesday, October 25, 2000 Mayor, council pick 9 for police board Albany -- Appointees are meant to represent the community's diversity With three days until the Citizens' Police Review Board law goes into effect, the mayor and Common Council have selected nine members whom officials hope will reflect the spectrum of city residents. Among the appointees -- to be sworn in on Friday -- are a Baptist minister, a member of one of the city's prestigious law firms, a retired University at Albany psychology professor and a Democratic Ward Leader who is also active in the gay and lesbian community. The appointees include four Ati ican Americans, four whites and a Hispanic -American community representative. The appointments are a major step in a process that aims to ease years of escalating tension between the Albany Police Department and residents, particularly those in the African -American community. "1'm hopeful this will go a long way in improving relations between the police department and the community, that both sides will have a fair forum in which they feel they have been listened to," said Michael Whiteman, a founding partner at Whiteman Osterman and Hanna who was among the council's five appointees "If 1 weren't hopeful, I wouldn't be terribly interested in participating" The Citizens Police Review Board law, which was approved by the council on July 17, states that the body should "reflect community diversity" with a mix of income levels, ethnicity, race, age, gender, sexual orientation and experience. City officials were initially concerned that appointing a suitably diverse board would be difficult because THE PEANIIi` PRINCIPLE I nl I 10 25 00 2-2h I'M 'Manor. Council pick 9 1ia police board' - limcsunion.com help -rrwrc limcsunion.com Ast,Sloriet'sloly.usli NtN) Kco=4429.S.4c:llq ,I% r minority residents were slow to respond to the call for applications. However, a pool of about 100 people sent in applications to serve. "We weren't scraping the barrel to come up with someone suitable," said Council Member Thomas Nitido, a member of the Public Safety Committee. "There were a lot of very high -caliber candidates." At a special meeting on Tuesday night, the Common Council unanimously approved a slate of review board appointees recommended by the Public Safety Committee. The committee interviewed more than 60 applicants for five positions. Mayor Jerry Jennings interviewed about 15 applicants for the review board over the past few weeks and made his final four selections public on Monday. Marilyn Hammond, a longtime South End resident and neighborhood activist who was tapped for the review board by Jennings, also served for more than six years on the body's precursor, the Community/Police Relations Board Critics opposed the old board for being powerless to truly investigate complaints against police officers. The new board is a compromise. Its members will have the ability to appoint an outside investigator and use the Common Council's subpoena power to compel witness testimony if they are unsatisfied by internal investigations by the police department's Office of Professional Standards, the police chief and the mayor. As to whether the new board will work, Hammond said: "You don't know until you try." "You have to be fair with residents and police officers, and be able to tell both, 'Look, you're wrong,' " she added "I'm able to do that I'm able to be objective" Police Chief John C Nielsen said he's satisfied with the new board members and is ready to begin working with them "As long as they don't have an outward bias, will get along fine," he said nl -1 10.25.00 226 I'M 'Mawr. c.uncil pick 9Im police board'-linmvunion Gom IIIIc.limcsunion.com. AzpSloncs zlop.uIII) l,,Lk II 4 NCe% ai<•r +a.cmcpoI I, I Meanwhile, the Albany Police Officers Union is weighing steps to prevent the new board from ever investigating a single complaint. Christopher Gardner, acting counsel for the union's parent organization Council 82, said he has drafted an improper practice charge against the city and plans to file it with the state Public Employment Relations Board. In creating the review board, Gardner said, the city is unilaterally mandating a measure that Should have been subject to collective bargaining. The union is also researching a lawsuit to prevent the board's enactment, Gardner said, although he hopes the officers and city officials can resolve their differences before then. "They're adding additional investigative and disciplinary procedures inconsistent with those in the contract, and they didn't bargain with us on any of these matters," Gardner said. "But it's not up and running yet." Jennings said Tuesday that the union's actions won't prevent the review board from moving forward. "It's unfortunate the union feels they have to go to this extent at a time that is critical to this city, particularly when we're going through a process that they have fully participated in," he added. The Citizens' Police Review Board will not likely be ready to hear its first complaints until late November, officials said. Its members must elect a chairman and set up by-laws but cannot do so until they attend a four -and -a -half hour training session run by the Albany Law School's Government Law Center. They will also have to graduate from a consolidated version of the Police Department's Citizens Police Academy sometime in the first six months of their tenure. Send this story to a friend I Return to Too ghl 2000. 1,ap ial Nrrlsp:yn•Is Dicivinn ol'Ilm I I Cars) CorporIII III . :Ubangi \.1 .'IIII inlilmlaliIt) You reeoice online It 'I'MWI, I Orion Is prol.2lnl by the cope, gla Im,v nl'(lie I niled Stal"-llie cop, ghl hm, proluba anc 10-25 00 2.26 I'M 'May,", council pick 9 1ol Ixdice Gourd' - nnwsunioo cone uup.,. +. a+..w uc,uwvu........ copving. Ted INribuling. Iet, III smilling. or rcpwponing A unv a+I+yright-pn+lealed ma.alnl. d old 10 25 00 2'.26 PM 'Activists see age gap on police rc6e%N board'- linwsunwin cone lit 1p, (III rosunion.cum ANpStories tiln' � ast,'sIorn Kcc 41 Q—I&cmcpunI 11,I Y ES UNCON By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, staff writer First published. Thursday, October 26, 2000 Activists see age gap on police review board Albany -- Some say young people should be represented on panel In their effort to be inclusive in appointing members of the new Citizens' Police Review Board, critics say the mayor and the Common Council overlooked the people who most often come in contact with the police- Youth_ Although the exact age of every board member was not available because applicants had not been specifically questioned about how old they were, officials confinned that none of the nine selected is in his or her 20s- Alice Green, executive director of the Center for Law and Justice, said she found this fact disturbing. "Young people make up the bulk of arrests and the inmate population," she said "They're on the street. They're the ones parents call us worried about. They need to be represented on this body." Mayor Jerry Jennings on Wednesday defended the board -- whose members will be officially sworn in at a news conference on Friday -- saying he believes it adequately reflects the city's residents "Arse shouldn't be an issue," the mayor said. "I'm confident this board will accomplish what we set out to do, and that's to establish a level plaving field for everyone -- citizens and police " Overall, activists who have long called for civilian oversight of the Albany Police Department by a body stronger than the old Community/Police Relations Board, seemed willing Wednesday to give the new board a chance Home: News Today's Storles E :an(a I of 2 I 26 00 x. -' AM 'Acticistd See ape gap on police Ie%IOvY hnard' -I inwsuninn.ennl IlllI) N\ru\ limesmuon coin AspSlimev .Iory a,l,' IN A KeY 14124K.culcgon C "We won't prejudge," said Louise G. Roback, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union's Capital Region Chapter. "This isn't the structure we advocated for, but we hope it will be successful. Hopefully, the board will improve community/police relations to the point that there are no complaints and it puts itself out of business." Green, too, said she is adopting a wait -and -see attitude and pledged to help it work. The new Citizens Police Review Board goes into effect on Friday but will not likely review any Police Department investigations or hear complaints on its own until the end of November. The board has no subpoena power, but it can hire an outside investigator and ask to invoke the Common Council's subpoena power in cases that involve alleged civil rights violations or brutality by officers. Send this story to a friend Return to Top C'op,u,,W 2000, (,ll i(al N,,papers DIN ISl oil of Ilie I leant Cuipoimom.:Alham: A.) 'Ihe inlbrnmhon You reco, online liom'llma 1'nion is prolecled ha the cupvrighl Isms of the tended Stales]lie op,,ght hms prohibit am ropvinp. rodislnhuling, mlrmnmill ing.or repurp.min....fan, op"'glil-po'led"I omml;d. A 2 10 26 00 8 i 2 AM Marian Karr From: media@iowa-city.org Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2000 8:29 PM marian_karr@iowa-city.org ubject: RELEASE: Traffic Stop Demographics Contact: Sgt. Bill Campbell - Iowa City Police Department Phone: (319) 356-5293 Date: 11-05-2000 Time: 8:25 pm Authority of: Chief R.J. Winkelhake The Iowa City Police Department compiles race and sex demographic information on drivers of vehicles stopped by members of the department. Below are the totals for each demographic catagory, from January 2000 through October 2000. Male White - 7199 Male Black - 701 Male Hispanic - 206 Male Asian - 244 Male Other - 150 Male Unknown - 36 Female White - 4417 Female Black - 300 Female Hispanic - 79 Female Asian - 115 —male Other - 37 .male Unknown - 14 Unknown - 5 TOTAL - 13,503 � v ------------- — ----- — --------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - You may view past media releases at http://www.iowa-city.org/media_releases.asp ------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe to this mailing list, please go to http://www.iowa-city.org/mailing/mailing.pl and enter your email address. Then uncheck the lists from which you wish to unsubscribe. 1