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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-09-2000 ArticlesIOWA TODAY Council about, ~11~ ~ condu~':%~as w-'~"n-e~gmg ~o=~ ~er the dea~ of Eric ' From page lB Shaw; a police o~cer ~y so f~ ~ 20~, he said. shot Shaw in Shaw's ~uth Watson sh~ conce~s about ~e poUce ~ion fate of te~g ~ membors to not,p~[eipato ~ modia- ~st 100~ while investigating flon or nm~cle~g he~gs or mle~e ~- an open door at the shop. scripts of theR ~te~iews wl~ ~tem~ I e board council membor8 had ~ ~ presse~ a desire to continue 'Tm ~ncemed about ~e bl~et prohibition the bo~ ~ Steve K~er of mention," Watson said. "It shoffid b~ Residents' comfo~ anO Ross Wflb~. ~e other ~dividu~ officer's dec.ion." five said more ~omation Council member Ross factors in ~ture of woma be needed before a d. bo~d has ~e tools it ne~s to do i~ job. c~slon wo~d be made. Wagon s~ it does. but police review bo~d~ut ~ ~ab, who baa more cooperatlon ~om officers. sa~d prev~omly that he w~ "As long ~ ~t is ~ ~d~vidu~ dec~i6n, I ~ess ~ lohn 8~n~on loaning against renewal, we c~ llve with it,' hp s~d. G~e~e ataff wrl~or s~med to have c~g~ ~M- Watson asked co~cfl members what criteria IOWA CITY -- For Mayor tton MonOay. prong ~o ~ey wffi use to Oecide whe~er to eont~ue Ernie ~hm~, a factor in h~s bo~d'~ effo~. : bo~d. Lehm~ said ~e v~te on the fut~e of the city's "I sup~ w~t gO~'re ~o-' cus~d ~ose criteria, but shoffid do so soon. Police Cit~en's Review Bo~d ~g.' ~ab said, eit~g pmb- Co.cfi member D~ V~derhoef said her mm w~ be the level of comfo~ in lores wi~ polico ~ other c~t- criteria wffi be much l~e ~'s: to the community brought about ~es as ovidenc~ ~at ~o sm~ tempe how the public perceives ~e ~d. by the bond's existence, co~d hap~n bore. "~ether it woffid be d~erent wi~out you, "~e level of comfo~ ~s "It rolieves the press~o on ~at is ~e question.' better, I think, in just know- a press~e cooker re~tion- ing the board is here." ~h- ship." man smd Monday at a meet- Boa~ cha~ ~ohn Wat- ing of the City Go~cfl and son sh~ed deta~s about tho the ~a~. bond's actions since i~ ~- ~e two ~oups met at the ception. Thirty-~ght eom- request of the bo~d, whos~ pla[n~ haw been ho~d, but m~mbers wero looking for a the number h~ decre~e~ re~o~ c~0 fr~ the council, each ye~, with o~y on~ ~ed The council wffi vote before Au~st 2001 on the board's I lure to 5~: future; a sunset clause in tho . board's fomat~on 2~ goats ago goes ~to effect Aug. 1 next ye~. Page 3A Tuesday, May 2, Iowq! City press-Citizen 2000 The council will ~tecide in She said on the majority August 2001 whether the, of cases the board Review groupshouldevencontinue, plies with Winkelhake's and members of both bodies advice. But if it doesn't, it said there should be some makes another repor~ to be board for deciding . sen. t to the council the effectiveness of the rewew. ~ ~ board. The 5t~ffC~ W~d have, The board reviews com-, the opportunity' to come to ing policemisconduct, i before it goes to the court- Board member Eeah 'cil, but the police umon rec- Cohen said having the board i onunends that officers not council the community feel ~,go. better. . Watson said the board ~l~c~ere is a perception ,would like to have more with the b~ard setting there '~ public forums. (that) the police department ', There was some criti- Group's future ~d of ~liees i~e~: she discussed ~d. Co~.~.o~ Steve Kanner Bo~.rd chairman John '~ said the board should "take Watson said there have.ia more proactive role" in been 38 complaints since getting minority representa- mee~.no the board was started in tion. 1997, 10 of which came Councilor Connie By Fred huca$ from the same person in the Champion said the board Imva C{t~l Press-Citize~ first year. ! was "distant" from the When a. complaint is :police department and the ~ The Iowa City Police filed, the board asks for a council Department's credibility is reportfrompOliceChiefR~. gre~ter because of the Winkelhake as well as all Police Citizens Review additional information on ~oard, Mayor EroieLehman the topic, such as video said. tapes or manuscripts of This was the sentiment interviews. ~-pressed by almost all After reviewing the evi- Iowa City Council members dence, the board decides at a joint whethertoacceptordiscard ~O~ City meeting with the complaint, said. board the review member P~t Farrant. board Monday night, where they discussed the board, its future and its role in the community. Gazette, Monday, May 1, 2000, 5B Council holds future of police board By Adam Lowenstein board's authority. Gazette staff writer IOWA CITY -- The future of the Police Mayor Ernie Lehman and council Citizens Review Board will be on the members Connie Champion, Mike table when the board and City Council O'Donnell and Dee Vanderhoef have praised the group's accomplishments but meet at 6:30 tonight, said they need to do more research When the board was formed 2'5 years before making a decision. ago after the Eric Shaw shooting, a "sunset clause" was included, requiring Irvin Pfab has said he needs to gather the council to vote by next August on more information but his inclination is whether to continue the group, to discontinue the board. A police officer fatally shot Shaw in Shaw's South Gilbert Street art shop late Also to be discussed are cost issues on the night of Aug. 30, 1996, while associated with the board and the partic- ipation and cooperation of Iowa City investigating an open door at the shop. police. An informal survey of council mem- bers in February indicated that Steven The meeting will take place at the Kanner and Ross Wilburn already have council chambers at the Iowa City Civic decided they will vote to renew the Center, 410 E. Washington St. Tuesday, April 25, 2000 Page 0 The costs of racial Profiling Racial profiling palces minorities in the cross hairs of police officers, with far greater consequences than the temporary discomfort of increased police scrutiny or harassment. Racial profiling is responsible for the deaths of black men such as Amadou Diallo, whose body was riddled with 19 bullets for reaching for his wallet, and Patrick Dorismond, also of New York. Dorismond was trying to hail a cab in New York City when dndemover police agents attempted to entrap him in a drug deal. Dorismond wanted no part of the deal, was angered at the suggestion, had no idea he was dealing with undercover policemen, and wound up dead. Racial profiling has other victims. The Justice Department is investigating allegations of racial profiling in Connecticut, Florida, Maryland and New Jersey. A series of lawsuits in Mount Prospect, Ill., alleged that Latinos were targeted for traffic stops. Mount Prospect denies it did anything wrong, but there was a $900,000 settlement. In the meantime, Mount Prospect began tracking the stops of minority drivers, recruited several Latino police officers, eliminated ticket quotas, and instituted a new policy selectively enforcing the law. Black women have also been targeted. The Government Accounting Office reports that black women traveling on international flights are more likely to be strip-searched than any other demographic group, despite the fact that the searches are less likely to uncover contraband than searches of other people. The FBI admitted that racial profiling of Asians led to the investigation and arrest of Wen Ho Lee on questionable espionage charges. Disproportionate incarceration rates in the United States for minorities are another consequence of racial profiling. Blacks are 54 percent of the 1.7 million Americans who are incarcerated, but represent only 13 percent of the general population. Iowa mirrors the national trend. Blacks make up 24 percent of Iowa's state prison population but only 2 percent of the state's general population. In Minnesota, blacks make up 8 percent of the state's general population, but account for 48 percent of the state's prison population. In 1981, two white people went to prison in Minnesota for every non-white person; today, it is 1-1. The combination of racial profiling and the war on drugs is to blame, not an increased rate of crime an~ong minorities. Charles Shaw, a federal judge, reported in an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the United States has 5 percent of the world's population but 25 percent of the world's population that is behind bars. Two million Americans sit in America's prisons and jails; I million are imprisoned for non-violent offenses. One-quarter of the people in jail are incarcerated for possession or low-level dealing. Blacks account for an estimated 14 pement of the nation's drug users but make up 35 percent of the number of people arrested for drug possession, 55 percent of the number of drug-possession convictions and 74 percent of the number of people sentenced to serve time. Randall Kennedy, a Harvard law professor, describes racial profiling as a special tax on all young, black men. Kennedy states that conviction and arrest statistics may be skewed by racial profiling itself "If people believe that young, black men are more likely to commit crime and thus pay special attention to young black men, it should come as no surprise that police will nab larger percentages of young, black lawbreakers," Kennedy said. "People tend to find, after ail, what they are already looking for." I o1'2 4/25:00 2:13 President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno have responded weakly to complaints of racial profiling by encouraging local police departments to gather data on the racial makeup of people who are stopped. Approximately 200 police agencies across the country are collecting data on the race of drivers who are stopped, including Iowa City. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has created a task force to study the minority prison population. Chuck Samuelson of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union believes that if police check the race of drivers, they will be deterred from stopping motorists because of the color of their skin. But racial-profiling studies are not permanent -~ and even if reporting deters racial profiling, once the studies are over, the disincentives for targeting minority drivers will be gone. Police will also be encouraged to discontinue racial profiling during a study, but it will be business as usual when the study ends. More permanent remedies are needed but are hard to find. Last week, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a measure to the state Senate that allows people who believe they were stopped merely because of their race to file a compliant with the state Human Rights Commission or the district attorney. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this month that law officers cannot stop someone because of ethnicity unless there is other very specific information that identifies the suspect. More remedies of this sort are needed because driving while black or brown should not be a crime. The police have a duty to keep an eye out for criminal activity by persons of all races. Effective crime control should not unfairly target minorities. Eric Richard is a DI columnist and editorial wrilcr. I_km~c I ,";care3 [ Fronl I Mctro & Iowa I Nation & World l_Vicwpoints I Sports ] Arts [ 80 110urs[ UnivcrsiW Editionl l'rcGamc] ' t~l'2 ¥25/00 2:13 PM By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Staff writer First published; Friday, April 28, 2000 Albany Law at heart of police oversight plan Albany -- City officials say involvement of school would ensure board would act impartially Responding to criticism that a proposed Citizens' Police Review Board will not be independent enough, supporters Thursday said oversight by Albany Law School would ensure thorough and impartial investigations into police misconduct. Critics are concerned because the new board would continue to rely on the Albany Police Department's Office of Professional Standards to conduct the initial investigation into complaints. During public bearings over the past several months, questioned the ability of police to effectively police themselves. Setting up a wholly independent revie~v board with its own investigators would be too expensive, city officials told the Times Union editorial board Thursday. And removing the right to investigate complaints against officers would undercut the police chiefs ability to discipline his employees, they said. "By letting the chief take care of what he needs to do first, we are not undermining his authority," said City Treasurer Betty Bamette, who was a member of the mayor's task force on civilian police review. Deputy Mayor Philip Calderone on Thursday said the law school's Government Law Center will oversee eve~7 step of the process -- fi-om training review board members and drafting the body's bylaws to recommending outside investigators il' the board has exhausted all other options. Under the proposed Citizens' Police Review Board ~lan, the Government Law Center will also run a mediation program as an option for residents who I o1'3 4:2~1/00 I I 5q AM choose to work out their problems with an officer without initiating a full investigation. It will help design "user-friendly" complaint forms that will be available at yet-to-be-determined locations throughout the city so residents who don't want to file a complaint in person with the board or at the Police Department can do so in a "safe" and familiar environment like a community center. "Albany Law School is an institution of undisputed integrity and renown, and it's involvement should assure the community of the integrity of the process," said Calderone, adding that the relationship between school and review board would be "unique and highly progressive" compared to other boards nationwide. Albany Law will contract with the University at Albany's School of Criminal Justice to collect data about the review board, conduct surveys of residents' satisfaction with the process and issue quarterly reports, Calderone said. If the school's research indicates people are dissatisfied with the board, officials will consider changing it. S. Neal Currie, co-chair of the Capital Region Justice for Diallo Committee, on Wednesday questioned if Albany Law is equipped to handle the job. Law school officials, though, say the Government Law Center has seven full-time employees ~hd a mediation program with a lawyer and would likely hire an additional employee for the board. Officials estimated the review board will cost at least $150,000 in its first year. The law school will pay mediators and investigators and the city will reimburse it. And Mayor Jerry Jennings pledged "the city will find the money necessary to make it work" even if the cost increases. The proposed Citizens' Police Review Board was unanimously approved Wednesday by a nine-member mayor-appointed task force. Jennings said he will most likely send the legislation with few changes to the Common Council for an eventual vote. The legislation calls for a review board with tbur members appointed by the council and three by the 2 o1'3 4/28/00 11:55 AM mayor. The board would review investigations by the Office of Professional Standards and have the ability to request further inquiry by both the police chief and the mayor. If the board is unsatisfied with the mayor's findings, it will be able to ask the Common Council for authority to begin an outside investigation. The board could use the subpoena power afforded the council by the City Charter. ~ Send this story to a friend Return to Top Copyright 2000, Capital Nc'mpapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany. N.Y. The i~ffom~alion you receive c,~linc Ii-om Time~ Union is protected by Ihe copyright lax,.~ of tt,,e Uniled Slal~-~. mite copyright laws prohibit any cx~ying, redistributing, retra~niitting, or repurposing orally copyrighl-protcclcd material. 3 of 3 4/28/00 I 1:55 AM