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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-09-1998 CommunicationMEMORANDUM to: Police Citizens Review Board from: Douglas S. Russell subject: Miscellaneous issues date: June 10, 1998 (as revised) At the meeting of May 20, 1998 the Board asked for information or analysis of the following: 1 .) The timeliness of a complaint. Section 8-8-3D. Provides "All complaints must be filed with either the Board or the Iowa City Police Department within sixty (60) days of the alleged misconduct." The question is whether the day of the alleged misconduct counts as day one for determination of the sixty day period. Computing of.time in Iowa law is covered by Section 4.1(34), the Code of Iowa. Nothing in the Iowa City Code contradicts the State Code which should be used as our guide. The date of the alleged misconduct should not be counted as a day. Day one would be the day following the alleged misconduct. Day sixty would be the sixtieth day following the alleged misconduct. This way the complainant will have the benefit of sixty twenty-four hour periods and there will be no assertion that complainant did not receive sixty full days. In addition, if the sixtieth day falls on a Saturday, a Sunday or a specified Monday holiday during which City offices are closed, the time shalI be extended to include the next day which the office of the PCRB or clerk is open to receive a complaint. 2.) Procedure for complaints filed after sixty days. A.) It is my recommendation that a complaint received after sixty days should be assigned a complaint number by the staff and placed on the next meeting agenda for discussion. It should be sent to the Police Chief or City Manager at that time with a cover letter indicating that it appears to be an untimely complaint and will be reviewed by the Board at its next regular or special meeting. This way the Chief or City Manager will be able to deal with the allegation promptly, regardless of the Board's eventual decision about dismissal. B.) A copy of the apparently untimely complaint should be provided to each Board member in the next meeting packet. Notice should be given to the complainant that the complaint will be on the next meeting agenda giving him or her an opportunity to be heard on the issue of whether the complaint was timely liled. At the meeting at which the complaint is considered, the Board should by motion and vote determine whether the complaint will be dismissed under Section 8-8-3D. Police Citizens Review Board Page 2 June 10, 1998 C.) If the Board decides to dismiss the complaint as untimely, the staff should tbrward a copy of the decision to the Police Chief or the City Manager and also to the complainant. The copy of the complaint going to the Chief or the City Manager should state that the complaint has been dismissed as untimely and that a report to the Board by the Chief or City Manager is not required by Chapter Eight of the City Code. If the Board requests an investigation to be done anyway, it may do so but the Chief or City Manager has no obligation to investigate the matter. The copy of the decision sent to the complainant should include a cover letter advising that although the complaint as been determined to be untimely and will not be reviewed by the PCRB, there is a method for the complainant to file a complaint directly with the Iowa City Police Department that is still available. should he or she wish to pursue the matter. D.) If the Board determines that the complaint is timely and should not be dismissed it should so advise the Police Chief or City Manager so they may continue their investigation and make their required report to the PCRB. 3.) Language of the PCRB complaint form. The present complaint form includes the following language in bold print, "The Police Citizen Review Board is a public agency and as such its records and files, including this complaint form, are or may become public information". I view that this is an advisory to the complainant that the information placed on the form may become public intbrmation at some time. The purpose of the language is not to reassure the complainant that the Board will keep the complaint confidential. Having said this, the by-laws in Section Vll(1)(a) require the Board to keep complaints and documents relating to investigation of complaints as closed records. If the Board wants to change the language on the complaint tbrm, I propose you consider the tbllowing. ~q'he Police Citizens Review Board is a public agency and as such its records and files including this complaint form, may become public information. The Board makes every effort to keep the complaints, reports of investigations, statements and other documents or records obtained in investigating a complaint as confidential, closed records. Howeven results of the investigation are iocluded in a public report made to the Iowa City Council. In addition. certain documents of the Board may become public records because of the actions of others including a complainant, an officer complained ol; or a party who seeks to obtain our records in the context of litigation". : 32. ,State., The word "state'~, v/hen'applled to :., d b. * Arfibberstamp reproduction ofthe name or the different parts of the United States, includes ' facsimile of th~ actual signature when adopted by the District of Columbia and the territories, and the person with a disability for all purposes requir* the words 'United States" may include the said dis- ' lng a signature and then only when affixed by that trict and territories. ~ .......... ~, ~ 15erson or another upon request and in the pres- ., 33: "Tensefi Words in the present tense incldde ence of the person with a disability. '.. ~__.~he future.,: , :~ ~ ~ , ~ .... ,.h , ~ . 40. The word "year" means twelve consecutive ~34.: Time --l~gal holidays..~ In computing ~ months. ' ~, ~ " ' · I ~ime, the first day shall be excluded and the last in- I [C5 L §26, 2513; Rg0, §29, 4121, 4123, 4124; C73, cluded, unless the last falls on Sun'day,.in which §45; C97, §48; C24~ 27, 31; 35; 39; §63; C46, 50,'54, case the time prescribed shall be extended so as to 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §4.1] ~' include the whole of the following Monday. How- ' "83 Acts, 'ch'186, §I0002~ 10201;'87 Acts, ch 115, ever, when by the provisions of a statute or rule §3; 92 Acts,~ ch 1151/§1; 93 Acts, ch 9, §i; 95 Act~, prescribed under authority of a statute, the last ch 43 §1 96 Act~ ch 1129 §1 96 Act,s ~:h 1153 §1 day for the commencement of an action or pro~eed- ' ' ings, the filing of a pleading or motion in a pending , Tr...iti~ p~.i.~o~. ~o* ~*.~ ,,~,~.,~,.tio. i..,till, n, :h.p~, action or proceedings, or the perfecting or filing of , .... r .,:.~ an appeal from the decision or award of a court, ., · .. ,. i~ ' ' r' ~. board, commission, or official falls on a Saturday, ', 4~2 Com~no~'law'rule 'of c~on~truction.il a Sunday, a day on which the office of the clerk of The rule of the common law, that. statutes in der- the district court is closed in whole or in part put- ogation thereof are to be strictly construed, has no suant to the authority of the supreme court, the application to this Code· Its provisions and all pro- first day of January, the third Monday in JanuS, fy, ceedings under it shall be liberally construed with the twelfth day of February, the third Monday in a view to promote its objects and assist the parties Febraary, the last Monday in May, the fourth day in obtaining justice . , ~ ,: ? ,,! ~1, ,:,. of July, the first Monday in September, the elco- [C51, §2503; R60, §2622; C73, §2528; C97, §3446; enth day of November, the fourth Thursday in No- C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §64; C46, 50, 54, 5fi, 62, 66, 71, october, the twenty-fifth day of December, and the 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §4.2] . , ~ : ', following Monday when any of the foregoing · , , . named legal holidays fall on a Sunday, and any day ' 4.3: References tq other statutes. appointed or recommended by the governor of Iowa Any statute which adopts by reference the whole or the president of the United States as a day of or a portion ofanother statute pf this. state shall be fasting or thanksgiving, the time shall be extended .construed ,to include subs?quant amendments of to include the next day which the office of the clerk the statut~ or the portion thereof so adopted by ref- er the court or the office of the board, commission, erence unless a contrary intent is expressed or official is open to receive the filing of a corn- [C58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77,,79, 81, §4.3] , ,i , mencementofanaction, pleadingor,amotionina ~ , ,. , , " pending action or proceeding, or the perfect, lng or I 4.4 Presumption of ehactment. filing of an appeal. .' ,.r . ...... ' ~ In enacting a statute, it is presumed that: ' ~ 35. "United States' includes all the states77--- 1. Compliance with the Constitutions of the 36. The word ~week" means seven consdcutive state and of the United States is intended. , days. , . ~, 1:. ,, ,~ .:2~ , The entire stetute is intended ~o be effective. , 37. Will. 'The worst "'will' includes codicils., . ,: 13.,~ A just and reasonable result is intended .... 38. Words and phrases..Words and phrases 4. A result feasible of execution is intended.:. shall be construed according to the context and the 5. Public interest is favored over any private approved usage of the language; but technical interest. words and phrases, and such others as may have [C73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §4.4} acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law, shall be construed according to such meaning. 4.5 Prospective statutes. 39. Written -- in writing -- signature. The A statute is presumed to be prospective in its op- words "written" and "in writing" may include any eration unless expressly made retrospective. mode of representing words or letters in general [C73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §4.5] use. A signature, when required by law, must be made by the writing or markings of the person 4.6 Ambiguous statutes-- interpretation. whose signature is required. If a person is unable Ifa statute is ambiguous, the court, in determin- due to a physical disability to make a written sig- lng the intention of the leg/slature, may consider nature or mark, that person may substitute either among other matters: of the following in lieu of a signature required by 1. The object sought to be attained. law: '2. The circumstances under which the statute a. The name of the person with a disability was enacted, written by anotber upon the request and in the 3. The legislative history. presence of the person with a disability. 4. The common law or former statutory provi- MEMORANDUM POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD A Board of the City of Iowa City 410 East Washington Street Iowa City IA 52240-1826 (319)356-5413 TO: R.J. Winkelhake, Chief of Police FROM: Sandy Bauer, PCRB RE: Extension #98-11 DATE: June 26, 1998 In executive session on June 25, 1998, the Police Citizen Review Board considered your request for extension of//98-11, and has agreed to an extension not to exceed 30 days. POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD A Board of the City of Iowa City 410 East Washington Street Iowa City IA 52240-1826 (319)356-5413 The Police Citizens Review Board invites you to attend a Community Forum. The Forum will solicit comments about policies, procedures, and practices of the Iowa City Police Department. We want to learn if the Iowa City Police Department's performance is in keeping with community standards, and we believe we can best do this by listening to what our citizens have to say. The PCRB will use suggestions and recommendations from the Forum as we determine the focus and direction &our work. Issues raised at the Forum may become agenda items for further public input and discussion at regularly scheduled PCRB monthly meetings. It will then be the responsibility of the Board to make appropriate recommendations to the City Council. WHAT: Community Forum WHEN: July 14, 1998 TIME: 7:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M. WHERE: Iowa City Public Library, Conference Room A SPEAKERS: Advance sign-up is available for those persons wishing to address the Board during the first 90 minutes of the Forum. Please call 356-5041 to register. Sign-up will also be available at the Forum for the remaining 30 minutes. Speakers may have the floor for five (5) minutes. Speakers may receive questions from the Board members. NOTE: Any written comments received prior to the Forum will be forwarded to the Board. July 7, 1998 ~,~. Police Citizens Review Board 410 East Washington Street Iowa City, Iowa 52240° 1826 Dear Review Board, Allow me to begin by saying thank you to ail of the officers and staffwho try to keep Iowa City safe. Despite the criticism that sometimes comes their way, these efforts are appreciated. Thank you for arranging this forum, and allowing the citizens of Iowa City this opportunity to express their opinions on the policies, procedures, and practices of the Iowa City Police Department. I would like to add a fourth "p" to the discussion, that being priorities. The ICPD, like any organization, has a mission. In attempting to satisfy this mission, there are priorities that are set. What are the priorities of the ICPD? Who sets those priorities? Why are they set as they are? If priorities change, why, and at whose direction? These are ail questions that deserve public answers. Sometimes, the answers are obvious. A crime in progress will immediately become a priority. I am talking about the less-obvious but further-reaching priorities of the ICPD. Allow me to give an example. Jaywalking is against the law. Yet it occurs thousands of times every day in Iowa City. The only people who are charged with a violation are those that cause accidents. I strongly support this style of enforcement of this particular statute. Jaywalking is not a priority for tile people of Iowa City. What about the enforcement priorities we currently have? Do these reflect the "community standards" you speak of in your letter? I believe that the present priorities are deserving ora review. It can be argued that the enforcement priorities of the ICPD are and have always been to target University of Iowa students. Politically, this makes a lot of sense. Students rarely vote; they do not possess the resources to mount much of a defense against any charges; and they will not be around long enough to pursue most matters. Continually arresting students on misdemeanor charges fills the City coffers, and produces high rates of conviction. This may seem harsh, but the public has never been given any other reasons for the preponderance of student arrests. Without public acknowledgement and justification, we as a public are forced to come up with our own reasoning. I sincerely hope that there are other, better reasons for these priorities, and I hope that the City of Iowa City will make these reasons public. Only then will the Police Citizen Review Board know whether or not "community standards" are being upheld. My concerns do not originate from a deep sympathy for students. My concerns are related to the methods that the ICPD is currently using. I am a firm believer in the Bill of Rights. I feel that a number of recent ICPD activities do not reflect these rights, particularly the Fourth Amendment Right to Freedom from Illegal Search and Seizure. The tactics that concern me are many: I. "Safety Checks", which stop every vehicle, with no probable cause. 2. "Bar sweeps", which amount to premises being searched without a probable cause. 3. The newly-considered "Party Law", which gives the ICPD the right to enter any residence, no complaint necessary. I am not going to argue the legality of these procedures~ To the best of my knowledge, the courts have found such methods to be legal in most cases. (I strongly disagree with these judgements.) Just because the methods are legal does not mean we need to use them, however. I would argue that the "community standards" of IoWa City, Iowa include a strong respect for the Bill of Rights. Again, I want to ask- who set these priorities? Why? How can we change them? Finally, why not make these priorities public knowledge7 1 would imagine that, in light of the Shaw incident, the ICPD would want to pay particular attention to Fourth Amendment issues. I would also imagine that the citizens of Iowa City fully expect them to do so. Additionally, the recent violence in the Broadway Street neighborhood should probably cause us all to reevaluate the priorities of the ICPD. Do we want to be protected from students at a party, or people brandishing weapons? I thank you again for the opportunity to make my concerns known. I truly hope that the Police Citizens Review Board will see fit to find answers to my questions, and make those answers public. Sincerely, Rod Sullivan 1733 Wilson Street Iowa City, Iowa 52245 cc: Hawkeye Council- Iowa Civil Liberties Union Subj: Re: JCNEWS: Penn State riots (long) Date: 98-07-14 11:58:40 EDT From: jroberts~lNAV. NET (john robertson) Sender: jcnews~yosemite.leepfrog, co m Rel::gy-to: jcnews~ yosemite, leepfrog, corn To: jcnewS~ yosemite.leepfrng, co m I donl know anything about the Penn State riots that are aleged to have occurred recently, but lhe various themes that have arisen in this group around that topic raise a number of interesting issues. Apparently, many of us have refrained the underlying problem as one of drunkenness and bad behavior by students. I'm still interested In any good data showing the drinking behavior of young , people now as contrasted with what it has been over the last 30 or 40 years. I _ question whether the behavior is truly worse now than then. Please be aware that what wa cai drunkenness now, for purposes of driving while into=dcated charges and pubic intoxication charges is quite different -- ~' r"' than itwas in the past. Nowadays, one is guilty of drunk driving alter imbibing rather minimal amounts of liquor, and one is guilty of pubac Z._rn intoxication if he or she is merely "acting" drunk but hasn't imbibed anything .,=: at all. In the driving instance, the vast majority of persons now arrested for the offense demonstrate no significant driving impairment whatsoewer. Indeed, after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement can detain a driver for any infraction, even a pre textual one (e.g., license plate buiU burned out, failure to clean the snow off 100% of the rear window, "routine" drivars license checks) even though the real reason for the stop is to conduct an alcohol check, police have utilized millions of dollars in grant money for DUI interdiction meant to arrest those drivars whose driving itself is not a ',)biem. The net effect of this is that law enforcement now utilizes its sources to attack not the drivers who are obviously and seriously drunk, but those drivers who have consumed minimal and moderate amounts of alcohol, who hava not been in accider~, and whose driving is not demonstratively problematic. That effort has also expanded to bar sweeps and arrests of non drivars who elect to walk home because they know they shouUn't drive. Most alarming, much of that police behavior is now targeted at persons in the community that law enforcement doesn't approve of: young people whose dress and behavior is not illegal but is non conforming, Black and other minorities, and working class people who don't fit the cor~-,~nitJes' idea of what their town ought to be. Readers should also be sensitive that the bar sweeps and check law enforcement now engages in focus on establishments that do not engage in wholesale underage senAng, but instead are merely less than 100% zealous in carding any young person. (For instance, I recently obser~d a young couple enter a local establishment that does routinely card people. Bnth looked young. The woman clearly did not appear 21 when she ordered a 7-up. The man, who did appear of age, and wore a wedding ring, ordered a beer. The bartender, seeing the woman not seek alcohol, seeing a wedding ring, and seeing the ostensibly 21 year old man order a beer, made the following assumptions: 1. it was not busy and nobody was in the establishment "partying". 2. carding customers tends to be harmful to business. 3. the couple seemed to know what they were doing and did not appear to be trying to get ovar on anyone. 4. the bar isnl a typical party bar that caters to students and as a general rule doesnt have a lot of underage people attemptJng to get alcohol Turns out, ~e whole affair was a sting operation by local law enforcement, which d mined that more sophisticated efforts were needed to secure violations b~vduse local bars had indeed modified their behavior to catch the vast majority of the underage drinkers) Now all these activities are definitionally legal Its ok for law enforcement to pul people o~r for pre textual reasons. Its ok for law enforcement to trick bar owners into committing violations. Its ok for police to arrest based on the officer's subjective belief that the suspect is merely acting drank. The more important question is whether these activities comport with what you and I beieve is proper in a free and dynamic society. Although I am not arguing for carte blanche wild partying by 19 year olds, I'm not nai~ enough to think that a strong and aggressi,~ police presence will successfuly function to eiminate that behavior. I also think that such an approach not only harms the community in ways that are far more significant than the ostensible benefits such actJvities engender, but such efforts also - quite simply - do not work. Many 18, 19 and 20 year olds have a desire to drink. ~:~'c~ Many are inexperienced in such activities and do not ddnk well. Many also have a desire to get wild and crazy and drunk and see what that's like. Al the grant money in the world isn't going to change thaL All the staff power ~ -~: -~- r'" and squad cars and road blocks and cdn~nal charges and reduced standards for conviction aren~ going to to change that either. Indeed, if Iowa City's focus ~_.r~ -.~ in these areas HAS to be on merely o~erpowering the problem through arrests, ~.~. .-7 increased penaltJes, increased policing, and other power struggle tactics, then the most it wil accornpiish is to mo~ the behavior w~ say we disapprove '~' of from the bars into other lecations that cannot be regulated like dorm moms and private homes (which may be exactly why the city council thinks we now need a private home ordinance to control parties and social events) Such activities by law enforcement do accomplish certain non-intentional goals: First, they create a non helpful power struggle between the poice and the rnembers of the community that are the focus of the police. 'Ittis in turn builds potentialy dangerous tension and hcstJlity beth on the part of the -qeted con~unity towards the police and on the part of the police towerds ~ targeted community. Second, these activities engender a cynical view of law enforcement by the targets of such activities, who are in general not any different than the rest of us. (Indeed, for us baby boomers who went to co~ege in the 60s and 7Os, imagine how our livas wouU ha~ been then were we the subject of a zealous and wa!l funded zero tolerance policy regarding our de~iant behavior?.) Third, they also teach young people that the issue isnl drinking and partying, the issue is how not to get caught. Fourth, they divide the community artificially and not based upon behavior, but based upon status (i.e,, out of town college students varsus local non college students). Fourth, such activities chill the energy of the con~'nunity such that what started out as a legitJrnate concern abeut dangerous behavior rapidly tums into an ilegitimete concern about indh~iduaity, free exl~ession, and the generally accepted qualifies of a liberal society. Fifth, such activities divert funds from programs and policy implementation that can work and will address the true needs of a communit3/and into ~ograms and policy initiatives that quite simply cannot succeed. ~43ain, although there is a consensus that we will not tolerate drunk driers, once arrest policy shifted to attack social and experimental drinkers (i.e., undergraduates) who may not evan own cars, and once those efforts wore turned towards the businesses and activities that are associated wilh such conduct, and once the focus of law enforcement turned towards whole classes of people (students, workiug class, those who look different) what started out es a legitimate and generaly approved goal now appears to be something much more insidious. There are plenty of ways to deal with the real issues here. Towards students id the young, prevantJon and alternative programming works wonders. Diverting ., r 3ity and sorority eYents, as well as general undergraduate activities, fr(,, Jrinking towards other endeavors achie~s great results. Running the busses at bar closing time and allowing o~ernight parking downtown provides alternatives to driving. Teaching police how to tell the difference between a drinker who has had enough and needs a helping hand home and one who needs spend the night in the drunk tank diffuses the power struggle while accomplishing the proper goals. Utilizing the courts and the prosecutor's office to dived minor offenders into prevention programs engenders respect for the justice system, teaches people the ~alues of their personal behavior, and diminishes dysfunctional drinking. Providing more activities that truly interest colege students but do not involve ex;essive alcohol (like the Jazz lest, River lest, etc.) meets the need for fun and e~iternent without the need for harsh measures. Fina~y, without such alternative efforts, and with continued and increasing power approaches directed at punishment and control, what we face is not less drinking and acting out but more. It becomes a game between the police and their targets. Eventualy, that game escalates to the point where dots and other clearly dangerous and non peaceful conduct not only might occur but wil occur. Pretty soon, Iowa City may join Penn State in the nev,spapers too. ....... Headers ............. Return-Path: <rnajordom(~yosemite.leepfrog.com> Received: from rly-zc02.~aol, com (rly-zc02.maiLaol. com [172.31.33.2]) by air-zc02.mail.aol.com (~,~,5.18) with SMTP; Tue, 14 Jul 1998 11:58:40 -0400 Received: from yOsemite.leepfrog.com (yoserrfle.leepfrog.com [204.71.109.26]) by n'y-zc02.rn~aol, com (8.8.8/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id LAA04053; Tue, 14 Jul 1998 11:58:18 -0400 (EDT) Receh~: by yosemite.leepfrog.com (1.37.109.24/16.2) id AA149451836; Tue, 14 Jul 1998 11:57:16-0400 Received: from sol.inav, not by yosemite.leepfrog.com wi~ ESM3P (1.37.109.24/16.2) id AA149411831; Tue, 14 Jul 1998 10:57:12 -0500 ~cehed: from inav. net (dip319.inav. net [205.160.208.189]) by soli.inav, net (8.8.7/8.6.12) with ESMTP id KAA25530 for <jcnews~yosemite.leepfrog.com>; Tue, 14 Jul 1998 10:57:16 -0500 Massage-Id: <35AB8DA6.AFFA48DA~[~inav. net> Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 10:56:05 -0600 From: john robertson <jroberts~lNAV.NET> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 (Macintosh; I; PPC) IWme-Version: 1.0 To: jonews~yosemite.leepfrog.com Subject: Re: JCNEWS: Penn State riots (long) References: <35A93DFD.5782D3A7~piutonium. net> <,~O3130304blcfe3f14dc7{~[206.26.104.46]> Content-Type: texl/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: jonews~.)yosernite.leepfrog.com Errors-To: mejordom~yosemite.leepfrog.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: jcnews~y osemite.leepfrog.com Robert G. Dostal 326 Douglass St. Iowa City, IA 52246 June 3, 1998 Dear Mr. Holly: Thankyou for your June 1, 1998 letter which announces the PCRB forum on June 29 at 7 PM. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend. In your letter, you atate that "In addition to reviewing investi- gations of complaints about police, the Board is also directed to review police tactics, proceedures, and written policies." These activities are for naught if the Board does not have the authority to settle claims against the police, redress citizen grievances, and order changes in the way police operate. Please apprise me of the board's authority. Have police tactics changed since the string of uncomely incidents that climaxed with the death of Eric Shaw? Awaiting your reply, I remain: Very truly yours, Robert G. DoStal ~OWA CITY [] CEDAR RAPIDS [] CORALVILLE [] DUBUQUE Police Citizens Review Board 410 East Washington Street Iowa City, IA 52240 Dear Board Members: I would like to thank all of you for being willing to serve on the Police Citizens Review Board. This can be a very difficult job and it requires a great deal of personal commitment of time and energy. You are to be commended. My primary police policy concerns the downtown area of Iowa City, specifically the Pedestrian Mall. I have a business on the Pedestrian Mall and have been active with the Downtown Association for many years. We have in the summertime an on going problem with the behavior of some of your younger citizens in the downtown area. Very clearly they have every right to be downtown and every right to dress and appear as they choose. I don't object to that at all. As a matter of fact, until the flowers bloom, some of the green and blue hair is the only color we get. The occasional behavior of a few of our youth is a problem, however. Their sometimes rude and often vulgar behavior has driven away customers from many of the professional and retail business. The Pedestrian Mall is also one center in the community for drug dealing. The police department has made an effort to step up police presence downtown, but there are a few changes I would like to see put into place. The first change would be training of all the officers who police downtown in the concept of community policing. While I am not an expert in law enforcement it seems clear to me that community policing requires a regular presence and relationship building with the people downtown. The goal is a presence, which prevents illegal behavior and activity. The efforts of some of the police officers is that of apprehension for illegal behavior not the prevention of it. Community policy is a radically opposite approach. So training for the second shift officers would seem to be very much in order. Plaza Centre One 711 Center Point Road NE 1703 Second Street 821 Central Ave, LO. Box 1846 Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402 Highway 6 West Dubuque, Iowa 52001 Iowa City, Iowa 52244 319-364-7010 Coralville, Iowa 52241 319-556-3030 319-354-5950 800-779-0094 319-338-6274 800-598-8b04 800-779-0093 FAX 319-364-7133 FAX 319-338-77B8 FAX 319-556-I 525 FAX 319-338-2797 Secondly, I would recommend a change in the patrol hours for the downtown officers and would suggest a 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. shit't. This would result in one set of officers covering downtown during the entire business day and who will be aware of problems, which mainly occur in the late afternoon. I realize this requires an approval by the labor union, but I believe that shift changes like this have been approved in the past. I would have appeared at your community forum except for a time conflict. I believe these two steps can go a long way toward improving the safety downtown. Sincerely,/Q? / JAG/sak Fax to City Clerk, City of Iowa City, June 22, 1998 356-5009 To: Police Citizens Review Board From: James Clayton, The Soap Op~a, 119 E. College St. Iowa City, IA 52240 I am unable to attend your furum but I am interested Jo providing some input about cunent practices of our Police Degattmeat as they relate to the Police Citizens Review Board. ha, you .are.? .ttyoym'.une. i .e.to? .pr?.b.. I ,na eing expo-qence~ In soum sloe reside~..fial .ar.?s. ~ his sttuatton nas gro~oen us another opportunity to evaluate our police~itizen ratio here in I.o~. City. We have about 1.03 officers per thousand citizens. The cities ia Iowa ~ m raze to Iowa City have about 1.5 officers per tho, nan~cL The FBI recommends about 2.0 police po- thousand. Any opportunity our co.m~.unity had to eapedment with non-violent, police polici .e~ rubber bullets and conflict reaolutton probably fell by the wayside five or a~x years ago when gang activitie~ first surfaced. We are already on the slippery slope of reactive, crisis based police activity. 'l'nia ia the old 911 model where you pick up the phone, dial and thru hope someone gets to the problem Jn time. Adequate staff enables our force to begin lo move from this reactive model to a lauactivc, prevention model lf we are to have succ_es~_ _~Jrul ndghborheod policing we need to heable to get our force out of their cats and on to our ~treets. They need to be visible and familiar throughout our city, not ju.~t ia cunent trouble spots. If we continue to try and move them from one problem area to another it is inevitable that we wiU have trouble ia mor~ than one place at one time and thee the officer will need to decide which problem is most important. Then you will inve~igate and try and place rcsponaibitity. The failure of our city government to place a higher priority on public safety has left our los'ce unable to cope with their duties without resorting Io extensive overtime. Such overtime will eventually produce a situation where the cffectivene.~ ~judgment of an individual officer ia impaired to the extent he or she makes a costly mislake. Then you will investigate and try and place responsibility. The PCRB was formed to oversee th~ polici~, procedures and practices of the ICPD. You should not ignore the dep!orabie sho~ge of offices and the effect this sheltage will !nevitably have on our cqrlzma Can you expect a shiR oftwdve officers to do an adequate job when t.w. o~ of them are on a day off or vacation, two are in the station as supenri~ors, 2 are n~. awulable for calla because they stein eou~ ~c filing reports and the oth~' six are coveting an entire city?. Two years ago a group of downtown business people suggested to the City Council that we needed 20 additional officers. In order to me~t the standards sugg~tcd by the FBI our for~. would ne~d to double in size. To btiag ua up to 'average' here ia Iowa would ~equ .tr~. more tha9 the 20 o. fficers we requited. I respectfully request that you become proactive rather than reactwe and make the same suggestion to council, we need mo~ Sincerdy, James Clayton -< June 20, 1998 Police Citizens' Review Board 410 E. Washington Street Iowa City, IA 52240 Dear Members of the PCRB, As a member of a strong Neighborhood Association and a participant in the Neighborhood Watch program I have been in contact with the Iowa City Police Department (ICPD) fairly regularly over the years. I spoke to several neighbors about what to write in this letter. Most pointed out recent positive interactions with the police in their homes, on the streets, or in the schools. The consensus was that the ICPD has worked to improve its image and its services. A specific example would be a 1985 incident in which a neighbor's dog was hit by a car. The responding officer was arrogant, rude, and aggressive to those neighbors who tried to help. This same officer (now a detective) visited a neighbor's home this year to investigate a missing teen. The family reported that she was polite and professional. The change was attributed to better training and increased conscientiousness on the part of the department, and greater maturity on the part of the officer. My own experiences with the ICPD have been positive. Participation in Neighborhood Watch has been a good thing for all involved. The department and Officer Kevin Berg have done a great job of promoting and supporting this program. I am also a graduate of the Citizens Police Academy. I loved it, and wish more people in Iowa City could participate. I would eventually like to see the Academy offered twice a year. I strongly believe in community policing. Bicycle and foot patrols, and officers assigned to neighborhoods are excellent ideas. Hopefully the ICPD will continue moving in this direction. Thank you for your attention, and thank you for all of the time and effort you are giving to this endeavor. Sincerely, Alfrieta Parks Monagan [)car I'(RJ~, I am ~riting requesting a re,~im~ of the public intoxication ordinance and its implementation -\ s a do~ nlo~ n restaurant o~ ncr. not bar. I am concerned about the practices of the police during the implementation ofthe public intoxication ordinance An ordinance tha~ ~ould appear to be in place to <,~p d~nken, disorderly conduct is being used to eliminate alcoholcon~timptiondo~nto~n This ordinance has become aggressively entbrced in the last six months during the ~ell-publicized "drinking raids" Police s~op people randomly on the street, test them (in an undefined manner), and arrest them. The fear of being ~rrested do~ ntown has driven customers away The effect of these practices has been yeU delrimental ~o the entire do~ntown, not just bar owners These actRi~ies during the last six months have caused our business to lose 40% of our e~ening night business Let me s~ate, we do not make any money ~Yom alcohol sales: customers are ~ust ~?aid to come downtown I know other restaurant o~ners feel samepres,ures, andman~ ofthem may be shutting their doors This willha~ean on exerx business do~nto~n, not just the tbod and beverage businesses ['hc act m, ~t'thc police can ~er'., easiR be described as mndon~ -F[~ere ~ppear< to he a "hLmt"goingone,.cning~eekends The people arrested, inmany cases, ha~edone nothing wrong, nothing to be noticed, no sta~uerinm no xandalism- are not exen underage l'h% are doing no harm to anyone As citizens oFan enlightened city. x~e >tumid hax o t}qe right to walk de~n the street xdthout being harassed by the police l kno~ mx motixe is an economic one, and thus my concerns can be easily dismissed But. 1 hax e obserx ed this closely enough to know that the average citizen ~ould not stand ~br tbi~ if he or she kne~ ~hat x~as going on Please look into it careFulN The police lbrce ha~ done a goodjob oFtYaming this as an underage drinking i<sue: it is not i tmderst,md t%t there is no defined ;hreshold tR>r public intoxication; it is ~rong to lea~ e it up to thc offScer's .judgment I also Feel that the ordinance is not being used as intended but as a delerrem to alcohol consumption. It has become a well-discussed belief the poiice three i> being used bx the university to make sure the "drunken student" image m,c~ axt a~ Our police force should not be a tool used to complete someone else's agenda There are man5 arguments to be made against this ordinance that haxe nothingto do ~ith economic issues (Il is still legal to drink in this to~n, and ~e should be able to ~alk manx ~q'u~ Xlanvot'usha~e~,~rkedtt~rvearstode~elopprofitablehu~inesse~-~e',,e dc,, ,~led :~ll ~i'our re~ource~ to rhN. and noxx our ti~elihood our homes, and our ]it'o's ,a'. m~ arc bcin~ placed at risk t~Ilhaxea?eatefl~ctondox~nto~nbusinesses We don't need the police to muhiplx thisdamaze There could not hate been a worse time to t~' and implement this anti- drinking, anti-student agenda h is not time to antagonize our only remaining captive audience I ~ish to remain anonymous in this complaint to avoid retribution. I apologize, but the stakes for me are way too high to disclose my name or business. Sincerely, Anonymous Restaurant Owner Iowa City Police Citizen's Review Board July 14, 1998 David Baldus Mr. Chairman and members of the board. I appreciate the opportunity to appear here this evening. I am a 29 year resident of Iowa city who closely followed the evolution of the Police Citizens' Review Board in city council in 1996 and 1997. It was with great interest, therefore, that I recently reviewed the public file on the board's activities that is maintained by the city clerk. What you have accomplished is very impressive. I commend you for the substantial amount of time you have contributed and your systematic approach. I was particularly impressed with the reports you issue on each case you hear -- rich in detail and clearly presented and documented. I was also impressed with the detail in the Use of Fome Reports and the summaries of internal investigations that are prepared by the police department and are now a regular part of your materials. A. Enhanced public awareness of police department policies in general What struck me in reading the file is the large pementage of the complaints filed over the years with the police department that are dismissed by the police chief on the ground that the police practices complained of are in fact consistent with city policing policy. These cases appear to account for about one half of all of the complaints over the last seven years. Of course only a handful of these cases have come before this board which was appointed less than a year ago. In any event, the disposition of so many cases on the ground that they fail to state a claim indicates that many Iowa City citizens are unaware of police department policies. This in turn means that such citizens do not know what to expect in their interactions with the police. We clearly need to increase public awareness of existing police policies. In that regard, a useful service of the board could be to make available to the public brief scenarios, of the type that are reported in the Use of Force reports. Each scenario would present examples of typical interactions that citizens have with the police. And each scenario would involve police conduct that is acceptable under city policy. The importance of such a policy review by this board is suggested by the recent experience in a California city where police department policy authorized a neck lock that was dangerous and in fact caused some serious injuries. On careful examination by the city government, the practice was ultimately deemed unnecessary. Also, it is my understanding that the policies of our own police department that precipitated the tragic death of Eric Shaw in 1996 have since been modified to reduce the risk of injury and death. In conclusion, Iowa City's ordinance gives this board advisory jurisdiction over individual complaints and overall police department policy. When you turn to your policy review function, I urge you to address first the policies that authorize the use of force. 3 A MESSAGE TO POLICE REVIEW/ BOARD MEMBERS AND TO THIS COMMUNITY i'm going co begin Dy reminding all of you why you are here. On August 30 1996 at li:30 at night our son sat talking on the phone in his shop of over [2 years where he hag created hundreds of sculptures and manufactured thousands of futon frames - this shop was as much his home as any space on this earth - one second he was talking innocently about his friend's business problems and the next second he was looking at the barrel of a gun comming through his door. in violation of the law and their own training at the police accademy and in violation of the trust we place in them two Iowa City cops tllegaqliy entered our son's shop and shot him dead - they had no warrant an~ not even the flimsiest of reasons to enter without one- they became illegal intuders the moment they shoved open ihs door. an~ they became murderers the moment they intentionally pulled the trigger - a willful act that violates our two most basic rights on earth, our right to privacy and our right to life can not be called a accident. NONE OF THE EXCUSES THAT PEOPLE HAVE MADE FOR THESE COPS HAVE ANY POWER TO EXCUSE THIS MURDER BECAUSE THESE OFFICERS HAD NO MORE JUSTIFICATION TO ENTER ERIC'S SHOP WITH GUNS DRAWN THAN BURGLARS - THEY WERE iLLEGAL iNTRUDERS AND THEY DID NOT EVEN HAVE THE LEGAL RIGHT TO DEFEND THEMSELVES - IF A BURGLAR BREAKS IN TO YOUR HOUSE HE CAN NOT CLAIM SELF DEFENSE IF HE KILLS YOU WHEN YOU STARTLE HIM - these cops were tn fact worse than burglars, because most burglars do not carry guns. If anyone besides cops had done this to our son society would have called It murder without hesitation. But this society wants to ~ive coos the leqai riaht to murder. Hy wife and I reJect this as an ABSOLUTE EVIL of the same ilk as any of our past societies' legalizations of murder. This city's cops murdered our son, and County Attorney White made the murDer legal - if you fail to orosecute ~ klllin=, you make it leQal, and a very very large majority of people of this city and this state found it obscenely easy to accept both the murder and the injustice of Patrick Wh[te-s cowardly refusal to prosecute. At first I thought it was because people did not Know the truth of what had happened, but as lie after lie after lie told Dy these officers and by White were exposed, and the people of this city and this state showed not the slightest disgust with either the murder or the lies told to avoid mur=er charges, I began to know the full extent of our com~unity's betrayal of our son and of us - while our son's bogy lay cotQ In his grave and his life began to slide out of everyones mind. the cops who murdered him were recievlng support and even approval of their actions from people all over the state. PEOPLE WERE PERFECTLY WILLING TO CALL OUR SON~S MURDER JUST ONE OF THOSE ACCIDENTS THAT WE HAVE TO ALLOW COPS TO HAVE NOW AND THEN. WE WERE BLAMED IN THE MEDIA AND IN PEOPLE'S HEARTS FOR NOT GIVING POLICE THE RIGHT TO MURDER OUR SON. I have received more crtt~ci~lil for my tnststance on justice and for pushing a police chief who lied to my face about the policy that set up the killing of my son than these cops did for murdering my son or chief Winkelhake did for allowing horridly dangerous practices to invade his police force. VARIATIONS OF THIS BLAME THE VICTIM APPROACH SEEMS TO HAVE iNFESTED THIS CITY AND EVEN THE ENTIRE STATE - WE ARE JUDGED BECAUSE WE EXPRESSED OUR HORROR AND OUR RAGE AT WHAT THESE MEN DID TO OUR SON AND WHAT THIS CITY IS DOING TO OUR LIVES. Perhaps a short list of the evils we have had to deal with will help you see how wrong it is to blame us - police Chief Wlnkeihake allowed and approved UNWRITTEN procedures and policies In police operations that put citizens at grave risk/' police officers Kelsay and Glllasple illegally entered our son"s shop and killed him as he sat innocently talking on the phone and then tied 2 about cr~tlcai aspects of the ~illlng/ Kelsay tampered with evidence/ Police Chief Wlnkelhake made statements that are so obviously not true that one is left with no choice but to call him a ilar/ County Attorney White ignored lies from police and ignored the' murder and almost certainly made a sleazy if not illega~ ~eai with Glllasple's lawyer not to prosecute and then told lies about his reasons for not prosecuting/' a large majority of the people of this city accepted our son's murder and the obstruction of justice that followed without even raising a voice in protest/ one horror after another was visited upon us by the system and by the media and by numerous ln~lviduals, and WE ARE BEING JUDGED ON HOW WELL WE BEHAVED - lsn'~t something a little askew here? So that you can get some idea how much evil has been done to us by the people of this city, I'm going to give you a few samples of the horrors people adde~ to the horror of our son"s murder. A few days after the murder a neighbor came to our door and said to my wife, how terrible that we lost our son. but isn't it good that we will now get a better police force. I hear~ many different versions of this cruelty and the newspapers also spewed it out like It was a wonderful thing that should make us ail proud- this ts an unforgivab~e obscenity because our son did not have to die to teach the police a lesson that was learned centuries ago and was detailed with absolute clarity In their own training manuals. And how ~lspicable this seems In view of the fact that Kelsay and Wlnkelhake, who have responsibility ana culpa~illty for our son's ~eath, are still carrying guns in our son's city. MY WIFE AND [ FIND IT OBSCENE THAT THIS CITY CAN ACCEPT THESE TWO MEN WALKING AROUND WITH GUNS STRAPPED TO THEIR HIPS. On the day after the funeral the Press Citizen ran a large headline accross the top of the front page blaring that "FATHER CAN NOT FORGIVE KILLERS" - one of their reporters attended the funeral and took one co~nent of mine out of context and made a headline out of it that cast me as a villain - THIS WAS AN OBSCENE CRUELTY FOR WHICH THE PRESS CITIZEN S H O OLD BE TOTALLY ~ BUT FOR WHICH THEY COULD NOT EVEN BRING ~ TO SAY THEY WERE SORRY. [ believe that It would be possible for me to forgive the man who pulled the trigger if he stops lying and accepts the punishment that is aue him, but I will not ever forgive the men an~ women of the Press Citizen who ma~e that headline, because for this to happen they would have run one week of abject appologtes in Bold headlines on the front page of their paper with continuing articles approved by me detailing the evils that they did to my family and my son with their biased coverage of his murder. and there is more c~ance that Gillaspie will reecant his lies than there is that the press citizen will do even one small thing to right the wrongs they dig to my family. I assume that the tv stations did their ugly evils too, out we had to protect ourselves from them by not watching or knowing of anything they put out. Obscene letters were sent to the Press Citizen an~ the Gazette an~ the Icon and many bt them were published - I have lost track of the number of obscene an~ inhumanly cruel letters an~ phone calls we received - MANY IN THIS CITY REACTED WITH C~UELTY TO OUR INSISTANCE THAT OUR SON'S MURDERERS BE PUNISHED. LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE INSANTLY FORGAVE OUR SON'S KILLERS AND SAID NO PROBLEM AND NO PUNISHMENT, MY GOD. THE SICKNESS AND CRUELTY AND UGLINESS WHICH HAS BEEN DIRECTED AT US AND WHICH WE HAVE HAD TO IGNORE WOULD DRIVE MOST OF YOU STARK RAVING INSANE. YET I AM BLAMED FOR A FEW OUTBURSTS OF EMOTION IN RESPONSE TO THE CRUELTIES DONE TO US AND TO OUR SON. 3 We are blameo for not going on, Dui In fact we dim go on, we dim face the tact that our son was murQerd BY his-home town cops. and we are attempting to live with that fact ano to bring at least enough justice ~nto this world so that we can stand to live In 'it. Xt Is the people who deny our son's murder who nave not gone on. who have stayed in the past where cops do not murder, where cops do not lie and conspire with prosecutors to avol~ murder charges, where police chiefs do not lie to the father of a son his officers have ~llleo. Most of the people of this community have stayed in their comfortable past and forced us to enter this horrible future alone, a future where our son can be murdered by cops and no one is prosecuted and no one cares enough to do anything about it. a future winere we see these cops for what they are. and everyone else still sees them as heroes. I want to force this image into your minds of our son bleeding to death on the floor and Kelsay coldly and calculatlngly ignoring Eric's friend's screams coming out of the phone begging to be told 'what happenen~, what happene~~ and instead concerning himself with what Glllaspie was saying to dispatch, and yelling at Gillaspie to shut up as Glllaspie begins to tell ~lspatch that he has shot a person, and taking over the call and carefully avoiding even a hint that a cop has just fired a bullet center mass into an innocent victim. AS KELSAY WATCHED OUR SON DIE HE WAS CALCULATING WHAT LIES HE COULD GET AWAY WITH TO AVOID MURDER CHARGES. THIS MAN'S DERELICTIONS AND RECKLESSNESS SET UP THIS KILLING. YET KELSAY HAD NO CONCERN FOR OUR DYING SON. AND HE HAD NO CONCERN FOR US WHEN WHEN WE ARRIVED ON THE SCENE A SHORT TIME LATER. WHEN MY WIFE FELL TO THE STREET AND BEGAN CRAWLING AN INCH AT A TIME TOWARD HER DEAD SON ALL THIS MAN COULD THINK TO SAY TO HER WAS. 'STOP LAYING IN THE DIRT' - MY WiFE HEARD HIS WORDS AS "STOP PLAYING IN THE DIRT" - the sight of our suffering made Kelsay uncomfortable - he told another officer. "we should not have to see this. meaning our horror and suffering at the scene of the murder. AND THAT WAS JUST THE FIRST OF KELSAY'S MANY CROEL AND HEARTLESS COMMENTS. THE FACT THAT KELSAY AND HIS BOSS WINKELHAKE ARE STILL ON THE IOWA CITY POLICE FORCE SHOULD CAUSE EVERYONE IN THIS CITY UNENDING SHAME! If you ~o not take a stand for the prosecution of the cops who murdered our son then you have told us that you accept our son's murder by these cops. Everyone has his favorite rattonlatlon for catiing it by another name than murder, but tf it had been your son who these cops murdered, then these rationlizatlons would slice up your soul and leave you enraged at those who coul~ allow such lies to justify the murder of your son. When someone ~lc~s open your door as you sit talking on the telephone in your home and alms a gun at your chest and tears open your body with a hollow point bullet causing you to scream out In pain and horror and fall to the floor and convulse and struggle for breath AND COVER THE WOUND IN YOUR CHEST WITH YOUR HANDS TO TRY TO STOP THE FLOW OF BLOOD OUT OF YOUR BODY. IT IS MURDER. NO MATTER WHO DOES THE KILLING! For most people the fact that our son's murderers were police is the single fact that makes it possible to them to accept this murder, but the fact that our son's murderers were police should make it more ~ificult- it is not unlike having your own father or mother kill you - someone who Is supposed to protect you, even risk his own life to protect your life. instead kll~s you - this killing was a horrible betrayal. Many people have reacted to this killing as though it were a death like any other, but murder is a stealing of life that is rightfully yours - these cops stole trom our son the only life ne ~ad. they stole from nlm the experiences of a lifetime, they stole from him the joys of creation and marriage and cnl~aren. They even st61e from our son a proper death at a proper t~me - being shot to Geat~ by cops while talking on your phone in Your home IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE WAY TO DIE - MURDER I$ NOT ACCEPTABLE. I REFUSE TO ACCEPT IT - ANY PERSON WHO ACCEPTS PATRICK WHXTE'S FAILURE TO PROSECUTE THE TWO OFFICERS WHO MURDERED OUR SON IS AN EMEMY OF OUR FAMILY AND AN ENEMY OF JUSTICE. Not one of my business associates or my friends or our neighbors ever expressed one word of support publicly or privately for prosecution of these o~ficers - not one ~astor In this ~~ any su~ort for .lustlg~ - very few people were willing to be counted puDiiciy amoung the numbers who believed these men should be prosecuted for this killing- only one council member even saw the need to hold these men accountable. BUT SUPPORT FOR OUR SON'S MURDERERS POURED OUT OF THIS COMMUNITY AND THIS SI'ATE - THIS SOCIETY WANTS TO SEE IT COPS AS HEROES EVEN iF THEY ARE ARE MURDERERS - THE PRESS CITIZEN GAVE KELSY A FRONT PAGE SPREAD THAT MADE HIM LOOK LIKE THE BEST COP IN THE WORLD, NEVER EVF.~I MENTIONING HIS RECKLESSNESS THAT SET UP THE KILLING AND HIS CRUELTY AND LIES IN THE AFTERMATH. WHAT TWISTED THINKING IS IT TEAT WOULD ALLOW AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY TO CONCERN THEMSELVES WITH MURDERERS WHILE IGNORING THE MURDER VICTIM - THERE lS ONLY ONE INTERPRETATION THAT I CAN PLACE ON ALL OF THIS, AND THAT IS SIMPLY THAT LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE IN THIS STATE HAVE GRANTED THE COPS THE LEGAL RIGHT TO MURDER MY SON. AND THli"f COULD CARE LESS WHAT HAPPENS TO US. Everyone of you has a critical aGvantage over us - you have been able to protect yourselves from the totality of the horror of our son~s murder, either by keeping it out of your minds, or by acceptlng the lies of the police aha reGeflning the muroer as an accident. But we can not keep the horror out of our mings, anG truth is too powerful to ail ow us to accept i~es - we nave no defenses against the horror of our son's murder, and there are people who will do anything they can to aGO to that horror. A few Gays ago a horror of sadistic proportions was done to us by a person who used our son's death and our grief to rape our souls. I was on the first leg of a three day bicycle trip to visit my daughter when my wife caiieG me on my mobile phone and cried out that her grief and pain hag become more than she could stand. When the phone rang I was stopped in the middle of a country road with my head bent down on the handlebars crying ~ecause I too coulo no longer stand the horror and pain of our son's murder. We talked about the our son and about our grief and about the small "miracle" of our being overcome at the exact same instant so many miles apart anG in such different circumstances. About 15 minutes into the call I nearo a clicking souna ano a woman's voice came on the line an~ sai~ "this is an AT&T operator, I have been asked to interrupt this call by Eric Shaw~. When I screameO out in shock, she said again, this is an AT&T operator, I have been aske~ to interrupt this call by Eric Shaw... Both my wife and I felt a terrible need to believe that our son's spirit was trying to contact us, but our son would not have anything to do with a action that could so easily be mistaken for criminal sadism. There is no escaping the conclusion that someone was listening to our conversation and pretended to be our dead son to an AT&T operator and used our grief and our son's name to commit a Glspicable cruelty. This one has come very close to killing us - my wife suffered a complete breakdown - we have reached the limit of what we can stanG - those who want to give cops the right to murder our son have won - I have c~me to expect nothing but cruelty from the worst of human beings, and indifference and inaction from the rest. and nothing but injustice from our judicial system. All I can hope is that some day a few people will realize that a v. ictory against Justice Is a victory of evil and a defeat of human decency. When you tell me tha~ the ~olice ~ ~ ~ ~ kill ~ ~on, ~lch ~ you tell ~ ~en ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~, you ~ ~ ~ ~lnO ~ ~vlth ~- ~ WIFE AND I CAN NO LONG~ ~D TO BE IN THE CO~ OF PEOPLE WHO BELI~E T~T IT ACC~ABLE FOR COPS TO MURD~ ~D N~ BE PROSB~ED - THIS ~S I~TED US A~O~ COOL.ELY ~OM THE LIVES WE ~D BEFORE T~T HO~IBLE NIG~ - THOSE WHO HAVE FOUND A WAY TO ACC~ THIS KILLING ~D THE ~V~ OF ~ICE T~T FOLL~ED ~VE TO KN~ T~T TH~ ~VE ADDED I~BLY TO THE ~D~ HAVE TO BE~ BY B~YING US - If y~ have trouble understanding my rage, reme~er h~ much anger can c~e fr~ just one per~n's betrayal - then try to imagine that y~r entire c~nlty and ?~r nei~rs aha y~r frlen~ have betrayed y~. THIS CI~ ~S BKI'~D US, ~D IH THE PROC~S MURD~ED ~ HONE ~ THIS Now to my co~xnenCs directed specifically at the Police Review Board. (I am about aone. don't fret). First a personal plea - please don"t make the cruel mistake of forgetting that it was the murder of our son by Iowa City police officers which provided Just enough em~arassment to force a police biased city council to Oring this Police Review Board into existence. And don't make the equally cruel mistake of believing that this review board in some way makes up for what ~his city did to Eric and what this city did to us In the aftermath - my wife was the first to suffer this inhuman cruelty when she invited Pastor Dick Watklns of the First United Methodist Church to Eric's vigil and he said. "they've established a police review board. Isn't that enough" - the false notion that the Police Review board somehow makes up for the lack of justice and accountability in the killing of our son is made all the more obscene by the fact that the THE REVIEW BOARD'S CHARTER SPECIFICALLY FORBIDS YOU FROM TAKING UP THE MATTER OF OUR SON'S KILLING- without this condition at least five of the seven council members would not have voted you Into existence- whatever excuse council members have made for their refusal to allow the review board to look into our son's killing, the truth Is that council did not want the truth about this killing because the truth would bring them shame! There are two critical facts that members and citizens have to keep in mind about their Police Review Board: First is that the primary purpose of the review board is to protect citizens from abuse anO death at the han~g of police. AND TO PROVIDE AT L~ASE A TOKEN OF R~DR~SS WHEN THE FOLIC~ DO ABUSE CITIZENS- I have outlined the reasons for this need for protection in a letter titled "We need protection from our police" submitted earlier to the board. Boarcl~ .Io~ Is not ~o~rotect the oolite from citizens or ~o~rovide the ~oliee ~ ~ forum to _lustlfv their actions to the oubllc, and you should ouar~aoalnst ~ the board t O be u~edi~v oolite ~ubllc ~ o~an to further their own aaenda. The police have quite enough spin capabilities as CAN BE LOST (Wlnkelha~e demonstrated that). WE HAVE HF_~%RD FROM PEOPLE ALL OVER THIS COUNTRY WNOSE LOVED ONES HAVE BEEN KILLED WITHOUT JUSTIFICATION BY POLICE IN A MULTITUDE OF CIRCUMSTANCES- EACH SITUATION WAS DIFFERENT BUT EACH KILLING HAPPENED BECAUSE POLICE PUT THEIR OWN AGENDA AND THEIR OWN LIVES AHFAD OF CITIZENS THEY WERE 5¥ORN TO PROTECT, AND NOT ONE OF THE OFFICERS WAS PROSECUTED. Jay Shaw. ~ather of Eric Shaw