The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About05-08-2001 Articles Local Thursday, April "19, Iowa City Press-Citizen 2oo qowa City and Johnson something special," said John Robertson, an audi- ence member and lawyer at Mo~mt Mercy College. 'We are having a communi~:y- functions, how police func- tion, how [he jail functions. By Brlan Sharp "I woald encourage mem- Iowa CRy Press-('itizen bets of the council not to let this board die," Robertson Six months ago, the said. Police Citizens Review Taxpayers spent more Board chairman was con~- t. hm~ $163,000 on the PCRB dentIowaCity Councilvotes the past four years, as the were there to continue the board reviewed more than94 group he helped to start. allegations of officer miscon- "My sense now is that duct. Watson recalls just one might have changed," John occasion when the board dis- Watson said aft~.r a agreed with the police chief Wednesday night PCRB m~d city Rmnager. Topics for forran at the public library. today include whether t~e The boaxd ~ meet with board should have more councilors at 8:30 a.m. today authority to disagree with at the Civic a{hni~fistrafive decisions and Iowa City Center to dis- have more access to corn- cuss the f~ture plaint information. of the PCRB. Unless the Lawyer Bruce Nestor council acts to continue the asked board members how boa~, it will cease to exist far they had come in gaining Aug 1 after four years of ser- acceptance from the force, ' Waksott said it was a dif~ctdt vice. About 20 people attended question to answen "The third-had inform- Wednesday's community tion ks we are not one of the policing forum, which drew favorite institutions in the questions on policies some city," Watson said. 'We exist thought coiffticted with the to point the finger when tl)ey concept. Topics included do bad. The people who axe arrests for recreational drug pointed at are never com- use and public intx;¢ :.ation, fortable with that, or they along witIt such ta, tics as have to school themselves to garbage searches and be comfortable with that. I "Pa~ock and talks.' don't ihink that has hap- pened." 2A - The Daily lowan - Iowa City, Iowa - Thursday, April 19, 2001 CITY & STATE Police board wants continued life · The group was formed ~oc.] resident. authority," W~tson said. The board was formed to Before discussing the fate after the slaying of monitor the police and hear of the board, police Cpt. Matt Eric Shaw. complaints after a police offi- Johnson gave a presentation cer shot and killed Eric Shaw, about community policing. a By Tony Rnbjnson a local artist, in August 1996. new form of law enforcement T~e Daily 10wan Former City Councilor aimed at creating a more Members of the Iowa City Carol deProsse, who has sympathetic relationship Police Citizens Re,dew Board lived in the community for among the police and citi- voiced their unanimous rec- more than 30 years. said the zens. board serves as an asset and Under the system, officers ommendation that, the Iowa should be preserved to pre- would be assigned to one of five City City Council ought to vent situations such as designated areas of Iowa City continue the board's existance Shaw's death. to patrol and handle any calls. during an open forum "The man was murdered Johnson said community Wednesday night. was completely innocent," she policing would allow the local The council's vote on said. "His door was open, and law-enforcement officers to whether to maintain the 4- when police entered, they said operate more "customer ori- year-old board could come as they thought be was a thief ented~ and gather informa- soon as May 1. Board Chair- and shot him." tion that can be analyzed to man John Watson, along with In addition to continuing detect trends in the communi- community members, said the the board, many citizens also ty. board should not only be con- expressed their concern over "The most important part of tinued but g~ven more author- the power of the board. It cur- this new method, if put into ity regarding complaints. rently has the right to recom- effect, is the collaboration against police officers. mend changes to the police between police and the peo- "The council should not let chief but no control over ple,' he said. this board die, because it was changing policy. E-mail Ol reporier Tony Robinson at: established for a very good "We have a meeting with t0ny7474@a01c0m reason and has accomplished the council tomorrow morn- many things in its existence," ing, and we will definitely said lawyer John Robertson, a have a conversation about our .: 2A - The Daily lowarl - Iowa City, Iowa - Friday, April 20, 2001 CITY & STATE Council mulls renewing police board · Most city ~0u~cilors 'q~e big question is, Will the averages out to $50.000 per [boardl continue? I feel the year," she said. "Whe input that I seem to believe that the answer is yes," Lehman said. get from a number of people in board should CORtjFIU6. Councilor Steven Kanner said the commatory is that it's expen- the board should interact more siveY By Mike McWilliams with the community to deter- Board Chairman John W'atson The Daily lowan mine what issues need to be said it shotrid continue becatk~ it addressed and subsequently encourages citizen cot~dence in A majority of the Iowa City make recommendations to the the police department and City Councilors expressed inter- council. improves performance of the est in renewing the Police Citi- "I would like to get input from police department. He also zens Review Board Thursday. a stronger, more assertive rexdew The board. formed as a watch- board that makes recommends- praised its role as an independ- dog on police conduct after an tions about issues affecting the eat review of the departmenUs Iowa City oificer fatally shot community,' he sajd. policies and pmcfices. artist Eric Shaw in 1996, would Councilor Dce VandeHlnefsaid "We're not claiming that bc disbanded on Aug. 1 unless she isn't sure whether she wants because we did this or we did the council votes to continue its the board to continue. She would that, improvement has taken exi~;te~t,. like to see nd hoc committees place," he said. 'q3ut I think that During ik~ existence, the board take the duties of some st~mding we've existed has encotwaged the has reviewed ~veml complaints boards. such as the police board. department to do a better job of of police misconduct and made "I have a problem personally serf-monitoring its conduct.' recommendations to dty officials. with the cost of doing business. E-marl Ot reporter Mike McWifiiams at: It COSts local taxpayers roughly which conservatively I would say mic~ael-mc'vilriams@uiowaedu $50,000 a year U> fm~d. The c~uncil said it will contin- ue h> discuss the future of the txnrd and what its role shotrid be at upcoming work sessions. The board reviews allegations of Fxfilce misc, nduct and helps the city and community evaluate pol ice areduct. Councilor Ross Wilburn said the board provides him with "It just ,~ems important to me to have some type of vehicle in plac~ that's ready to go and has some type of response, reaction m~d education available," he said. Mayor Emie Lehman said the t~ard scr:cs a valuable function lbr the community but he does not think the Ix~ard is the appro- priate organization to assess co~nmunity standards for the police. "I think the [boardl should be available to the council, the city manager or the police chief to perform tasks when requested to do them," he said. Other than that, Lehman said, the board should hear com- plaints ~'om dtizens. When com- plaints demonstrate that there are flaws in the system, the board should look at flaws and make recommendations to the council. Iowa City Press-Citizen lhles tim[ (the botu~l) wou/d ponders -,-,, .o complaints only, Councilor Champion meeting with comw~ m~d ~'RB membe~ 'I don't tlm~ (the PCRB) Police board ,~ wilh defining may 10se power colunlunity ~. s~m~dm'ds for ~ ~y Sara Langenberg the police. v~ ~7 , is." Mayor ~-:Z Io~a ('ily Councihn-s Eruie ~h- a~-ccd infi,~nally Thinsday mm~ ~d. to contirade the cily's Pnlk'e ~I fidnk Citizen Rcx~cw we have Ihe Lehman Iowa Ci~ Bo;u'd, bul the opponuzfi~ for (communi- b,~d's pow- ~) foHuns whcd~er we have e5 mid scope a COIBIUiS- ~cly Will chm~ge. sion or not," ' Three council merebern Vanderhoe/ . h~gHwbomd'spowem:m',, Police ~[~ w;un io expand im scope: Chief R.J. i Councilor Ross Wilbun~ Winkelhake, t to say he w~lls to keep ed the meet- the boanl in e~W,,'o; mid ~g, decried Vanderh0ef ~dccided altogether. on whether the bo~d sho~d The majority seems head ~m~. ~at~ not my deci- ed toward a board that sion,"hes~d. review conlplalls Of polk'e See PCRB, 4~ misconduct. That would remove the PCRB~ role hi routinely rex4ewing aleph- men/policies, offering pu~ ~c fomns and evaluatb~g porte policies in tem~ of RECORDS / REGION Friday, April 20. 2001 PCRB Councilors' comments on PCRB From :I.A Com~cflozs' conunents on con- with the way we've been doing it. th~uation of Iowa City's Police It was set up for all the fight rea- The chief is hh-ed by the ciS' Citizens Review Board. which ~41] sons. The PCRB should be avaj]- manager, and both the chief and disband Aug. 1 ui~ess renewed: able to the counc~. ci5- manager the manager report to the corm- Ross W'~burn: Continue it. and the chief to perform tasks c~. Howeyen the PCRB was cro- "It's important to have some 5'pe required. and to hear complcca~ts ated to conduct independent of vehicle in place for people to front citizens. I don't ttm~ it ts rex4ews of police action. About express concerns about officers charged with defufing conreturn- four years ago. after the fatal --outsideofgoingto thechief-- ty standards for the police. The police shooting of a mm~ in a because some people may be counc~ is." downtown business. some peo* intimidated by that process. In'in Pfab: Continue it. pie questioned the police depart- Given tile recent events in Ohio strengthen it. 'The conm~tmli)' ment's ability to police itself. .., this vehicie gives us an oppor- ouu'oach of fPCRB public tbnans Since then. the five-member ttmi~' to defiLse some events." win keep thin~ from starrm~ re PCRB has reviewed more than 94 Dee x.~anderhoef: Undecided festen rd want them to be more at!egauons of police mAsconduct. but would like to consider an proacth'e in m~qex%~ng policies and But it has dkcagreedjust once ~th ad hoe conm~ttee. '1 was reD' to hnld morn conm~tmi~' forums. the adnfi~4sn-ation's lhqdin~ on opposed to it when it was fom~ed. Lool4ng for compk'-dnts is the wi~ether or not alleged miscon- W'hen I wei~ the board's costs of piest xvay to prevent them.' duct was justified. PCRB chlUr- doing business. which Fd say are Steven Kanner: Continue man .h~bm Watson said recentl.~: conservatively about S50.000 a it. strengthen it to include Now board members want year. agaix~st tile benefit ofmalang making budget recommenda- more access to investigative some feel better because it is in tions. "Because the police have reports regarding alleged n~scon- place. rosoh,.ng that is reD', ve5' special powers. we need a strenz. duct and more latitude to dis- difficult. I de~mtely wouhhi't assemx'e bo~u'd. tit should nsit! agree ~vith the chiefs lindlags. increase its latitude or powers." places we are foHllally and i~ffur- People czm chouse to have Connie Champiota really liearina complaints about. I then' complaint rex~ewed by the Continue it. m~tke it con~plain[- th/dlk the board can set conm~tud- PCRB in addition to police adnm~* activated o~y. "I was thinking ty stantktrds ,. and can recom- istrators. but the botu'd receives more along the lines that it would mend on polic2,' and budget sealit information about cases respond to con~plahlts o1113'. issues.'' hmid/ed internally; Watson said. Because of ~ the problems in the Mike O'Do~mell: Continue 'The ordinance makes repeat- cormtry about people's reaction to it, make it complaint-activated ed references to the board re,dew- police. I thh-& it's in~portant for the only: "It should be like the 13oard ing 'all complaints,' so it seems board to remafil in place.- of A~usm~ent and be acth'ated by the ordinance is not consistent Eraje Lehman: Continue it. comphimrs. TIle PCRB has done a with actuul practice,' he said. make it complaint-activated good job. but the original function In addiaon. the PCRB dislikes only: I'm not sure I totally agree was to listen to complaints." a clause in the current ordinance that says the board only can ills- "As soon as we started, we argued against reducing the agree with the petite dueFs find- started stumbling up against board's powers to include only ings if the findings are not sup- this,' V~ixtson said. "It leaves as compkant reviex~ potted by ex~dence, are rutreason- little latitnde to come to our own *We feel it's important to edu- able or are contrary to law or city findings. although we may see eate ouEelves about the policies policy. It also say~s the board is things through a different lens and procedures because that helps required to defer to the chiefs and than the chief.' out when comphm~rs come city manager~ findings because PCRB member Leah Cohen. a Cohen .said. It ~'ould be difficult of then' professional e:,'pertise. downtown restaurant owner. also to respond just to complaints.. Sunday Page 6A Sunday, April 22, Iowa City Press-Citizen 2001 Police board will change The Iowa City Council informally agreed to contin- ue the Police Citizen Review Board, but the powers and scope of the group almost certainly will change. The board was created in the wake of the fatal, mis- taken shooting of local artist Eric Shaw by police. It was intended as an investigative body to look into com- plaints against police. But the board has little authority and doesn't con- duct those investigations in public. It has evolved into a group that conducts public forums on police proce- dures. The ordinance establish- ing the board gave it a limit- ed life. It ks due to exl~ire at the end of the summer unless continued by the council. Opinion April 24, Iowa City Press- Citizen2ool Our view City board should just fade away we fi~mled the Police The issue: Citizens Review l]oard? I Police board authori[y It wa~ hecausl, m~ Iowa due to expire. City police officer suf- o~wr th~ h~smg his jab We Su~e~: -- ~flcr sh,~¢~tjfl~ Io dealh I Let it go. This never downh~wn studio. intended or hoped in the ']'he officer, J('fffcy beginning. (]ill&~pie, w;~s invesGgal b(,c~lL~e of ~ lwiWh -- discussloft r)f p()lj('e pnli- th(· police 3ll(J ;m 3veTtile be(,n looked into. But l'olice Citizens Review Ihe board -- Illlie h~ b{xly will~ Illlie aulho~ly We ~sh it could have t, investigale and no been o01e~ise. For of the public. poSce deponent. ~ got nolhing. I A boanl lhat could bo~d will expiw Aug. I. I A boanl that couhl unless i['s exh,nded by direct punishment in O~e Cily (~ouncil. c~ses ofpofice ~tLso. Council merebern sqy Btlt the leg~ impedi- they want to save Ihe meals to such a bo~ ~e board. thou~l likely ~Ol ~ greal. It won't happen. a different nl~sioll. We tJl~k [lie ~ for All the I,~;u'd is -- mul Bul il is m>{ gong to all it ever ~ll I.' -- is an accomplish what we vent. We ah'ea(ly pay the lhe pr{q~{}sed tinkering ~l~ ~ not to ~y ~t~ It ~ time m ~y so long. ',A · Tu.,.. ^,,, OPINION Police profiling may not bs pleasant, but it can be a useful tool Most people stopped by police, patterm and consistencies m regaredess of thei~ race, think behavior. That it sometimes trains The Constitution does not prohibit police from considering race the activity was unwoyranted. suspicion on non-criminal young I remember the black males may be unfair, but it is ~8 long as they do so for bona fide law enforcement purposes tLme in my not clefacre racism. and as long as it is only one o~ several fetters. distant pouth ~ A white guy driving slowly through when [ was an economically depressed. all-black puJjed over for nalghborho~x1 at 2 a.m, isn't looking 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals former President Clinton's disective ... what? Wasn't for an open 7-Eleven to buy milk, The upheld the constitutionality of an for federal law e~forcemetu agencies speeding, had police stop hLm. Cotrid be he's lost, in officer's action when he used profiling to check for the practice of "racial my seat belt on, which case the police point him in the to apprehend a suspect profilthg." my tags were right direction But could be he's "Large groups of our citizens," the The problem with such studies is current, Ahh, I looking to score. m which case they court said, "should not be regarded by that they st~ggest there shotrid be a was female with escort him to jail. law enforcement Officers as correlation between a commtnfit~,'s long blond hail' A young woman loitering along the prestLmptively crhatnal based upon demographics and the people pulled wearing a fox J.R, labbe street after dark dressed th a skirt no their race." The court, however, went over by the police that the coat driving. a Fort Worth bigger than a wide belt and a blouse on to sap that "facts axe not to be percentage of, say, Affican-.~nericans silver sports car. Star Telegram that shows cleavage from here to ignored simply because they may be stopped should track the percentage o: Was [ a Harlingen begs the pollse to check out unpleasant." A~-ican Americans living in the to~ victim of proffimg? Who knows? At her story. Years of experience have The cots[ said that race, when And if they don't parallel then the the time, I thought the guy was taught them what lands of people are considered in conjunction with other police axe guilty of racial prospecting for dates. Since I've been generally engaged in prost rut on signals, is a legitknate factor in the discrimination. married to a cop (for the record, not police have a mandate to batde decision to approach and ultimately Nonsense, that cop), Foe met one or two whom I crime. They use the tools they know detain a suspect. Any number of factors can skew wo~dn't put it past, work. and profiling is one of them. Yet police departments across the the figures, and they have zip to do But to label all raale cops as hound The Constitution does not prohibit nation axe researching their tt'affic with discrhatnation. The number of dogs is as much an unfair stereotype palice from considering race as long stops, noting the race of the people women stopped by police will never as the one being hurled at law as they do so for bona fide law with whom officers come in contact track the demographic occurrence of enforcement today ~ that officers are enforcement purposes and as long as The Arlin~on, Texas, Police women in a city's population. Neither racist for using "racial proffiing' to it is only one of several factors. DeparUnent has begun its own will the number of people over the make stops. in a federal lawsuit of the early two-year study. Chief Theron Bownlan age of 65. Make that 35. ProfiLin~ is a tool~ a recognition of 1990$, United States w, Weaver, the ordered this a~,a local response to The crLmthal census does not u:ack says Clayton Seario, president of the dealers, creating cullatexal damage for Because more than anything, this by harassing people, some of it based The Daily lowan - Iowa City, iowa - Thursday, April 26, 2001 DON'T DISBAND THE POLICE REVIEW BOARD ... Right to reject silence The fate of the Iowa City for breaches of the nation's Police Citizens Review Board is A police review board is a trust and securit.~ A police force now in the hands of the City necessity ... having a is similar to a form of local gov- Council The council will vote watchdog over the police erameat, and therefore it. too, on whether to continue the 4- helps to keep them in line. needs an institution to be its year-old panel sometime in the watchdog to ensure that the near future, perhaps as soon as I:he police have more direct pos- actions and behaviors of all the May 1. itive contact with the people police officers are in accordance The city created the board in they are serving and protecting. with societal standards. the aftermath of the August A police review board is a The board is also important 1996 shooting of Erie Shaw, in necessity in any town or city in that it is able to recommend which an Iowa City police offi- because having a watchdog changes within the police cer killed the artist. Shaw was over the police helps to keep department. This provides in his studio late at night with them in line and lets them much-needed citizen input for his door open: the officer mis- know that although they are the police force. Citizens have took him for a burglar and shot serving to protect a city's citi- the advantage of viewing situa- him. The council formed the zeus, those same citizens will tions with a perspective from board in order to try to prevent not tolerate the police abusing outside the department and events such as this from hap- their power in any wa.~L The thus may se~ ,hlnv,~ ,b,-,~ .... pcning again. T]ie board helps government has three branches due for a change -- things the to monitor the police force by of government, creating a police might overlook. heating complaints from eiti- checks and balance system in When it comes time for the zeus and recommending needed which no one branch is able to council to decide the fate of the changes to the police chief. abuse its authority in the police review board, a resound- It is essential for the City nation's matters. The media ing vote for its continued exis- Council to maintain the board's have often been labeled as the fence is needed to show the cit- existence. It not only helps to Fourth Estate, a fourth branch izens that the5' really do have a prevent further tragedies such of government that watches voice in local affairs. as the Shaw case. it also helps over all three of the branches Carolyn Ktesser ~s a DI edrtonal writer Sandy Bauer From: Suelqq@aol.com S~nt: Thursday, Apdl 26, 2001 3:44 PM BAtta~ci.berkeley.ca.us; Teresa.Guerrero-Daley(~cj.sj.ca.us; SIF(~citymgr.sannet.gov; fheske@sdccd.cc. ca.us; cfisher@mail.sdsu.edu; DWilliam@ci.dverside.ca.us; JParkeCH@co.san-diego.ca.us; mbobb~pacbell.net; dhbums@lasd.org; smdacus@lasd.org; MGrossm@lasd.org; NKULLA@aol.com; c-novak~ix. netcom.com; EllenSTaylor@yahoo.com; HGoldh2o(~aol.com; rfass@pomona.edu; Cuquiz(~aol.com; wq6i@earthlink.net; StuHolmes@aol.com; paint2@gateway.net; jemu~phy909 @earthlink.net; smaxbesTy~bos.co.la.ca.us; Ombudla@co.la.ca.us; cburdick@maui.net; CReeder@indygov.org; cdavis~ultra-tech.com; davisf@nysnet.net; NACOLE95@aol.com; james.johnson~cinlaw. rcc.org; DCasimere(~gw. sacto.org; MMonteiro~ci.cambddge.ma.us; Sandovaj~mscd.edu; dede(~hawaiian.net; rowaugh@ci.long-beach.ca.us; yogijoel @yahoo.com; markids(~no~lhwestem.edu; LPMurphy@cityofboise.org; ~nkle@ccrb.nyc.gov; CammeS@aol.com; CScott7544@aol.com; mcdonaldp~dpdchiefinv.ci.detroit.mi.us; ronald.clarkson@co.mo.md.us; bjackson~oaklandnet.com; LPerezl ~mail.ci,tucson.az.us; jwillia4~ci.phoenix.az.us; RHAaronson~gateway.net; JimFight@cs.com; mhess@ci.portland.or. us; psalk@mail.als.edu; ~eve@mail.als.edu; asb@co.clark.nv.us; Sandy-Bauer@iowa-city.org; Patdcia. Hughes2@ci.minneapolis.mn.us; phileure@hotmail.com; Sfmedley22615@cs.com; irp~co.miami-dade.fl.us; Cdavis(~diocese-gal-hou.org; hector.w.soto@phila.gov Cc: SGurin(~pcweb.net; mumseel@mindspdng.com; IIIIola@juno.com; jw2b~fuse.net; ddandrewsphd@woddnet.att.net; dheard@ci.mil.wi.us; rramos@contmcosta.cc.ca.us; T~gunnl (~aol.com; SXH(~citymgr.sannet.gov; fleichma(~uottawa.ca; elima@uottawa.ca; martina@hdcdojnet.state.ca.us; Slecorre@uottawa.ca; rzoss~mymailstation.com; PZamary@yahoo.com; afryer~seattletimes.com; LSiegel@aclu.org; tiyeluv@hotmail.com; Tim. Ohara~herald-tdb.com; Susan.Sheldon~vedzon.net; d.ramirez@nunet.neu.edu; Mvdanielesq@aol.com; sharewhy@hotmail.com; Kelly. Thomton@uniontdb.com; Legrete@aoLcom; WLN@sdpdms.sannet.gov; RmDuvall@aol.com; Chevigny@tudng.law.nyu.edu; AEHobron@aol.com; rashbaum@nytimes.com; skolnick@tudng.law.nyu.edu; apc211 @nyu.edu; samwalker@unomaha.edu; spgetty@azstamet,com; Womencops@aol.com; Collina@hrw. org; lynn_davis~la,kirkland.com; hfujie(~buchalter, com; rtrotter@akingump.com; david,weiss~cgu.edu; mcnamara@hoover. stanford.edu; DMack500@aol.com; mgmham@nctimes,com; rgreenspan@policefoundation.on3; BARBARAPYLE@att.net; bill,finney@ci,stpaul.mn,us; DRPPG@aol.com; nancy_falcon@qc,edu; usmexborder(~igc. apc.org Subject: NACOLE CONFERENCE UPDATE: DATES &HOTEL Mark your calendars. The NACOLE Conference will be held OCTOBER 9 through 12, 2001 at the Adams Mark Hotel in Denver. Note the date change. Room Rates will be $86 (singles) to $101 (doubles). Make reservations now at 1-800-444-2326. The Conference Agenda will be mailed out soon, and will be posted to the NACOLE website, www. NACOLE.org We look forward to seeing you in Denver. The NACOLE Board Page 1 of 4 Sandy Bauer From: Womencops@aol.com Sent: Tuesday, May 01,2001 10:25 AM To: MaryJeni@aol.com Subject: NJ struggles with Racial Profiling Jersey Rethinks Highway Search Law Click Here For Discussion: [] Dateline: New Jersey - 4/30/2001 Newark Star-Ledger BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG Camden police stopped a car for having illegally tinted windows and seized a loaded handgun underneath the passenger seat. Norristown police answered a call from a motorist who said he had been stabbed but recovered critical tire tread evidence that helped convict that motorist, James Koedatich, of two murders. A New 3ersey State Police trooper stopped a motorist driving recklessly and foiled a plot by an international terrorist, Yu Kikumara, to detonate three homemade bombs, each packed with a pound of gunpowder and lead shot. All of those crimes were solved because motorists gave police permission to search their vehicles, But these "consent searches" are under attack in the face of overwhelming evidence that they have been used as a pretext for racial profiling. Last June, a state appeals court put tough new limits on highway consent searches. Now members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are thinking of banning highway consent searches altogether -- something no other state has done. The committee's hearings on racial profiling have produced statistics showing such searches are aimed overwhelmingly at minority motorists despite 2-year-old reforms intended to prevent such discrimination. And they usually turn up nothing. "I just haven't seen a good reason to continue them," said Sen. Robert Martin (R-Morris), a member of the committee and a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He said police should be allowed to search a car only if they have "probable cause" to believe criminal activity is afoot, in which case they do not need the driver's permission to search. But lawmakers also say they want to eliminate abusive searches without 5/3/2001 Page 2 of 4 jeopardizing legitimate law enforcement efforts. Consent searches are used for homes as well as cars, but Martin said he would "have to see more evidence" before considering changing the taw on searching homes. "It's not an easy area of law to navigate," Sen. Norman Robertson (R-Passaic) said. "We don't want to create a whole host of unintended consequences." One reason it is complicated is because the courts keep changing the rules. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that even an offense as minor as failing to wear a seat belt allows police to arrest the driver and search the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The court ruled a Texas police officer acted properly when he handcuffed a mother in front of her two children for failing to buckle up them and herself. The woman was jailed and her truck was impounded. New Jersey's courts have ruled that the state Constitution prohibits police from making an arrest for a simple traffic infraction -- an action that would automatically allow them to search a vehicle. Last summer, a state appeals court took that principle a step further, and ruled police may not even ask a motorist for permission to search a car unless the officer can state a reason for thinking a crime is taking place. Appellate Division Judge Sylvia Presslet wrote that such a rule is needed because "baseless requests almost inevitably result in a search. It is our view that travelers on our state highways should not be subject to the harassment, embarrassment and inconvenience of an automobile search following a routine traffic stop unless the officer has at least an articulable suspicion that the search will yield evidence of illegal activity." State Police regulations already require troopers to have a reasonable suspicion before they may ask a motorist to consent to a search. Nonetheless, Attorney General John Farmer Jr. is appealing Pressler's decision, saying in court papers that it would "hinder the efforts of police officers to investigate crimes related to automobiles in transit, and force the police officers of our state to abandon their proactive, crime-preventive role." The New Jersey Supreme Court is considering the case. But a decision on whether to ban consent searches altogether may first be considered by the Legislature. "I think all consent searches are suspect," James Fyfe, a professor at Temple University and a leading expert on police practices, told the Senate Judiciary Committee two weeks ago. "I think the way to deal with it is just to say: You can't do it." Committee members are sympathetic to his argument, especially after learning 5/3/2001 Page 3 of 4 of statistics suggesting troopers search white motorists when they have cause to be suspicious but search minority motorists just on a hunch, Last year, at the southern end of the New Jersey Turnpike, troopers found contraband 25 percent of the time when searching whites, compared with 13 percent of the time when searching blacks and 5 percent for Hispanics. "This difference in hit rates speaks volumes about the difference in standards police use in searching blacks and whites," Fyfe said. Even without legislative action, the number of consent searches performed by troopers patrolling the Turnpike fell last year to 281, down from 440 in 1999. That decline is continuing, with 40 so far this year. Col. Carson Dunbar, the superintendent of State Police, attributes the decline to new training that emphasizes constitutional rights, according to his spokesman, 3ohn Hagerty. In a report submitted Friday to a federal judge, Farmer said videotapes from State Police patrol car cameras are being reviewed for every consent search performed this year. The report said preliminary results "reveal race or ethnicity appeared to be a factor in some of the decisions to request a consent search." Based on what has been reviewed so far, the Attorney General's Office said about a half dozen troopers would be referred for misconduct investigations and others required to undergo retraining. Lawmakers also are concerned that so-called consent searches are seldom, if ever, truly voluntary. Police need a reason to stop a car. But on roads like the Turnpike, where more than 90 percent of motorists violate some traffic rule, almost any car can legitimately be stopped. Once stopped by police, getting permission to search is as simple as asking. The courts do not require it, but State Police and many local agencies use a printed "consent to search" form that explains the motorist has a right to refuse. "Generally, citizens don't know they can refuse, or are told they will be kept, possibly for hours," Fyfe said. But police officers say experience shows even criminals with something to hide do consent to searches, sometimes for reasons known only to themselves. "It happens all the time," said Edward Lennon, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association. "The driver may be stalling, or calling the trooper's bluff, or have it hidden somewhere in the car where he doesn't think it will be found." 5/3/2001 Page 4 of 4 Nutley Police Sgt. Steven Rogers, president of AmeriCop, a national law enforcement advocacy group, said that about :~0 years ago, he stopped a car and noticed a green liquid oozing from golf bags bearing tags showing they had come through LaGuardia Airport. When the driver said the liquid was from ice, Rogers requested, and got, permission to conduct a search. The bags did indeed contain coconut-sized balls of ice, Rogers said. When he split one open, he found a fish head, and inside of that was a bag of marijuana. The fish heads were to fool the drug-sniffing dogs at the airport. "Some criminals think they can outsmart the police," Rogers said. "He told me he never imagined that when ][ began to search, / would take the time to split the ice." Sometimes, Farmer told committee members, a consent search is vital to protecting the public safety. He cited the 1988 case when a state trooper uncovered three homemade bombs after asking terrorist Yu Kikumara if he could search a cardboard box in his car. But lawmakers question whether the occasional big bust from a consent search is worth alienating hundreds, perhaps thousands, of motorists -- most of them minorities. "Eighty to 90 percent of the time it's creating at least some infringement on somebody's privacy," Hartin said. "We're balancing interests here." Chief Penny Hardngton Author, 'Tdumph of Spirit" available at Amazon.corn National Center for Women & Policing (a division of the Feminist Majodty Foundation) 8105 W. 3rd Street Los Angeles, CA 90048 323-651-2532 5/3/2001 Sandy Bauer From: Suelqq~aol.com · c-nt: Friday, Apdl 27, 2001 9:20 AM BAttard(~ci,berkeley,ca,us; Teresa,Guerrem-Daley(~ci,sj,ca,us; SIF~citymgr,sannet,gov; fheske@sdccd,cc.ca,us; c~sher~mail,sdsu,edu; DWilliam@ci,dverside.ca,us; JParkeCH@co,san-diego,ca,us; mbobb(3~pacbell,net; dhbums(~lasd,org; smdacu,s~lasd,org; MGrossm@lasd,org; NKULLA@aol.com; c-novak@ix,netcom,com; EllenSTaylor~yahoo,com; HGoldh2o(~aol,com; rfass@pomona,edu; Cuquiz@aol,com; wq6i@earthlink, net; StuHolmes~aol,com; paint2@gateway,net; jemurphyg09 @earthlink,net; smaxberry@bos.co.la,ca,us; Ombudla~co,la,ca,us; cburdick@maui,net; CReeder@indygov,org; cdavis~ultra-tech,com; davisf@nysnet,net; NACOLE95(~aol,com; james.johnson@cinlaw,rcc, org; DCasimere~gw, sacto,org; MMonteiro~ci.cambddge,ma,us; Sandovaj(~msccl,edu; dede(~hawaiian,net; rowaugh~;~ci,long-beach.ca,us; yogijoel (~yahoo,com; markids(~northwestem,edu; LPMurphy@cityofboise,org; ~nkle@ccrb,nyc,gov; CammeS@aol,com; CScott7544@aol,com; mcdonaldp(~dpdchie~nv,ci,detroit,mi,us; ronald,clarkson~co,mo,mc~,us; bjackson~oaklandnet,com; LPerezl~mail,ci,tucson,az,us; jwillia4~ci,phoenix,az,us; RHAamnson~gateway,net; JimFight@cs,com; mhess@ci,portland,or, us; psalk@mail,als,edu; rheve@mail,als,edu; asb~co,clark,nv,us; Sandy-Bauer@iowa-city.org; Patricia,Hughes2@ci,minneapolis,mn,us; phileure@hotmail,com; Sfmedley22615(~cs,com; irp@co,miami-dade,fi,us; Cdavis(~diocese*gal-hou,org; hector.w,soto@phila.gov; SGudn(~pcweb,net; mumseel@mindspdng,com; IIIIola@juno,com; jw2b~fuse,net; ddandrewsphd@woddnet,att.net; dheard@ci.mil,wi.us; rramos(~contracosta,cc,ca,us; Trgunnl@aol,com; SXH@citymgr, sannet.gov; fieichma@uottawa,ca; elima@uottawa,ca; martina@hdcdojnet,state.ca,us; Slecorre@uottawa.ca; rzoss@mymailstation,com; PZamary(~yahoo,com; afryer(~seattletimes,com; LSiegel@aclu,org; tiyeluv~hotmail.com; Tim.Ohara@hemld-tdb,com; Susan. Sheldon@vedzon.net; d,ramirez@nunet,neu,edu; Mvdanielesq(~aol,com; sharewhy~hotmail.com; Kelly,Thomton(~uniontdb,com; Legrete@aol,com; WLN@sdpcims,sannet,gov; RmDuvall@aol.com; Chevigny@tudng,law,nyu,edu; AEHobron@aol.com; rashbaum@nytimes,com; skolnick@tudng,law,nyu,edu; apc211 @nyu,edu; samwalker@unomaha,edu; spgetty@azstamet,com; Womencops(~aol.com; CoIlina(~hnN,org; lynn_davis@la,kinkland,com; hfujie@buchalter, com; rtmtter@akingump,com; david,weiss~cgu,edu; mcnamara(~hoover,stanforcl,edu; DMackS00~aol,com; mgraham@nctimes,com; rgmenspan@policefoundation,org; BARBARAPYLE~att,net; bill.~nney@ci,stpaul,mn,us; DRPPG~aol.com; nancy_falcon~qc,edu; usmexborder@igc,apc.org Subject: PD Rejects Punishment for Officers in Diallo Shooting April 27, 2001 Police Dept. Rejects Punishment for Officers in Diallo Shooting By ROBERT D. MCFADDEN olice Con~nissioner Bernard B. Kerik has decided not to discipline the four officers who killed Amadou Diallo in a hail of gunfire in the Bronx two years ago, but will order them to undergo retraining in tactics, high-ranking police officials said last night. These officials said Mr. Kerik would announce as early as today that he had accepted recon~aendations by two departmental investigating panels that found that the officers, despite their barrage at an unarmed man, had not violated police guidelines because they believed that Mr. Diallo had a gun and that their lives were in i~u~inent danger. While the investigators did not endorse punishment, the officials said the ~eco~nendations for retraining were intended as an acknowledgt~ent that the ,ffice~s had con~aitted serious errors in the confrontation. Critics, however, have insisted that the negligence was so grave that the officers should have been dismissed. 1 Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said it was unclear when the officers, who have been working at desk jobs without badges or guns, would be retrained, or when, if ever, they might return to full duty. Two have applied to join the Fire Department, and officials voiced doubts about ~ther the men could ever resume norraal police careers. Even before Mr. Kerik's decision became known last night, the preliminary findings of the investigators who recommended retraining but no punishments for the officers were denounced by Mr. Diallo's mother, Kadiatou Diallo; by the Rev. A1 Sharpton, who has organized demonstrations in the case; and by several politicians, including two of the four major Democratic candidates for mayor. The officers -- Kenneth Boss, Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon and Richard Murphy -- were acquitted of criminal charges last year in a trial that was moved to ~j~bany after a finding that public anger and political passions in New York City made a fair trial impossible. The United States Justice Department decided in January that federal civil rights charges were unwarranted. Thus, while civil lawsuits against the officers and the city are pending, Mr. Kerik's decision to drop departmental charges brings to an end all criminal and administrative proceedings in a racially divisive case that has provoked demonstrations and a citywide debate on aggressive police tactics and continues to reverberate in this year's nascent mayoral election campaign. Mr. Diallo, a 22-year-old street vendor from West Africa, was killed in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment building on Feb. 4, 1999, when four officers in plain clothes, who said they thought he resembled a rape suspect, confronted him and fired 41 shots, hitting him 19 times. They said they thought he drew a gun, but it turned out to be a wallet. The recommendation for retraining but no disciplinary action was made ~cently by a panel of Bronx police coramanders, whose conclusions -- that the ~ficers had fired in a split-second reaction because they believed they were in deadly peril -- were similar to those by the judge in the criminal trial and by federal officials who decided not to pursue civil rights charges. The Bronx panel's report was forwarded on Wednesday to the department chief, Joseph J. Esposito, who led a second group of senior officials, known as the Firearms Discharge Review Panel, in examining the case. Their recon~nendations, coinciding with those of the first group, were sent to First Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph P. Dunne and to Commissioner Kerik, who was said to have reached his decision late yesterday. While that decision was yet to be made public, reaction yesterday to the recommendations was swift and in some quarters vehement. Citing reports that the officers would not face dismissal for what he called an unfathomable shooting, Fernando Ferrer, the Bronx borough president and one of the Democratic candidates for mayor, said: "Such a decision would send a horrific message. It would be taken as evidence by millions of New Yorkers that the N.Y.P.D. is incapable of policing itself, and would create an even wider gulf between the police and the conmlunity." Another candidate, City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone, said: "I find it hard to accept that the Diallo tragedy occurred within the department's guidelines, as the preliminary panel contends. If this were the case, then it confirms my original claim that the department needs to immediately overhaul officer training." The city comptroller, ~lan G. Hevesi, another Democrat running for mayor, aid the recommendation against punishment "raises some serious questions about whether the outcome of the investigation is a foregone conclusion." The city's public advocate, Mark Green, the fourth major Democratic candidate, declined to conunent until the commissioner announced his decision. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has generally supported the officers, said that the case had been "investigated by everybody" and that "the police officers have been found innocent." He said the department's conclusion ,ould not be a surprising one if people are guided by the facts and the ath rather than by their predetermined prejudices." Stephen Worth, the lawyer who represented the officers in seven hours of questioning last week by the Bronx contmanders and the Internal Affairs Bureau, declined to comment yesterday, as did the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. In Harlem, Kadiatou Diallo said the reconunendation against punishing the officers was part of a pattern of politics in her son's death. "It is not about real justice," she said. "I am a mother. I have been polite. I have been reasonable, but I am beyond the limit. I have to express my feelings. For me, justification for what these officers have done is not possible." In their lawsuit in State Supreme Court in the Bronx, the parents and the estate of Amadou Diallo are seeking $20 million in compensatory damages from the city and $41 million in punitive damages from the four officers. The officers have all been assigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of the achninistrative charges. Officer Carroll has been working in the Aviation Unit, and Officer Boss in an Emergency Service Unit. Officers Murphy and McMellon have been in a Harbor Unit, and both have applied to join the Fire Department. Officer McMellon, because of a high score on the firefighters' exam, has been tentatively cleared for hiring, but fire officials have been awaiting the outcome of the police disciplinary process before making decisions. Sandy Bauer F~om: Suelqq~aol.com ~t: Friday, Apdl 27, 2001 9:16 AM ~u: BAttard@ci.berkeley.ca.us; Teresa.Guerrero-Daley(~ci.sj.ca.us; SIFi~citymgr.sannet.gov; fheske(~sdccd.cc.ca.us; cfisher@mail.sdsu.edu; DWilliam~ci.dverside.ca.us; JParkeCH(~co.san-diego.ca.us; HGoldh2o(~aol.com; rfass~pomona.edu; Cuquiz@aol.com; wq6i@earthlink.net; StuHolmes@aol.com; paint2@gateway.net; jemurphyg09@eadhlink.net; smaxberry@bos.co.la.ca.us; Ombudla@co.la.ca.us; cburdick(~maui.net; CReeder(~indygov.o~g; cdavis~ultra-tech.com; davisf{~nysnet.net; NACOLE95@aol.com; james.johnson(~cinlaw.rcc. org; DCasimere(~gw.sacto.org; MMonteiro@ci.cambddge.ma.us; Sandovaj@msc~.edu; dede@hawaiian.net; rowaugh~ci.long-beach.ca.us; yogijoel(~yahoo.com; mankids(~northwestem.edu; LPMurphy~cityofboise.org; ~nkle{~ccrb.nyc.gov; CamrneS@aol.com; CScott7544 ~aol.com; mcdonaldp(~dpdchiefinv.ci.detroit.mi.us; ronald.clarkson~co.mo.md.us; bjackson4~oaklandnet.corn; LPerezl@mail.ci.tucson.az.us; jwillia4@ci.phoenix.az.us; RHAaronson@gateway.net; JimFight@cs.com; mhess{~ci.po~tland.or.us; psalk~mail.als.edu; rheve(~mail.als.edu; asb~co.clank.nv.us; Sandy-Bauer@iowa-city.org; Patdcia. Hughes2@ci.minneapolis.mn.us; phileure(~hotmaiLcom; Sfmedley22615@cs.corn; irp~co.miami-dade.~.us; Cdavis@diocese-gal-hou.org; hector.w.soto@phila.gov Cc: SGudn~pcweb.net; mumseel(~mindspdng.com; IIIIola~juno.com; jw2b@fuse.net; ddandrewsphd@woddnet.attnet; dheard@ci.mil.wi.us; rramos(~contracosta.cc. ca .us; Trgunnl ~aol.com; SXH@citymgr.sannet.gov; fleichma@uottawa.ca; elima~uottawa.ca; rnartina~hdcdojnetstate.ca.us; Slecorre(~uottawa.ca; rzoss@rnymailstation.com; PZamaryl~yahoo.com; afryer@seattletimes.com; LSiegel~aclu.org; tiyeluv@hotmail.com; Tim. Ohara@herald-tdb.com; Susan. Sheldoni~vedzon.net; d.ramirez~nunet.neu.edu; Mvdanielesq@aol.com; sharewhy(~hotmail.com; Kelly.Thornton(~uniontdb.com; Legrete@aol.com; WLN@sdpdms.sannet.gov; RmDuvall@aol.com; Chevigny@tudng.law.nyu.edu; AEHobron~aol.com; rashbaum@nytimes.com; skolnick~turing,law.nyu.edu; apc21 l(~nyu.edu; samwalker(~unomaha.edu; spgetty~azstamet.corn; Womencops~aol.com; Collina{~hrw.org; lynn_davis~la.kirkland.com; hfujie@buchalter.com; rtrotter@akingurnp.com; david.weiss~cgu.edu; nncnamara@hoover.stanford.edu; DMack500(~aol.com; mgraham(~nctimes.com; rgreenspan{~policefoundation,org; BARBARAPYLE@att.net; bill.finney{~ci.stpaul.mn.us; DRPPG{~aol.Com; nancy_falcon{~qc.edu; usmexborder~;~igc.apc.org Subject: Why a Mom's Fate Should Worry Us All (OpEd on Seatbelt Arrest Decision) LATimes Friday, April 27, 2001 Why a Mom's Fate Should Worry Us All By SANDY BANKS It is hard not to side with Gail Atwater, the Texas soccer mom who was hauled off to jail by a bullheaded, small-town cop because her two kids were not wearing seat belts. She'd unbuckled them for just a moment, she said, so they could poke their heads out the window to look for a toy that had fallen from their pickup truck onto the street. They were on her way home from soccer practice, moving slowly along a deserted road, when a Lago Vista patrolman pulled her ove~, began berating her, handcuffed and hauled her off to jail. Atwater paid $310 bail to be released from jail and $110 in towing fees to recover her truck--for an offense whose maximum penalty was a $50 fine. Later, she sued the city, contending that the officer's behavior violated the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution by subjecting her to an unreasonable arrest. Virtually everyone agreed the police officer's judgment was bad. Some ~uspected he was acting on a vendetta. He had pulled Atwater over a few aths before because he suspected a seat belt violation but had to let her ~o because he was wrong. Even the mayor took him to task. "He's like a lot of small-town police officers," former Mayor Glen Hartman told reporters. "His gun and his badge give him a sense of imagined importance." The city defended the arrest on the grounds that the officer broke no law, because police in Texas have the power to arrest for almost any traffic violation. And on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the cop. Five of the court's nine justices agreed that even the most minor criminal offense can justify a trip to jail without anyone's rights being violated. You have to read deep into the 59-page opinion--past the history of glish co~non law and the pronouncements of 17th century judges--to get to the part about why the Atwater case matters to all of us. The new standard set by the ruling creates "potentially serious consequences for the everyday lives of Americans," writes Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, for the four justices in dissent. "Such unbounded discretion carries with it grave potential for abuse." Two weeks ago, I wrote about a black physician from Miami who was arrested recently by LAPD because he was driving an auto that had mistakenly been reported stolen. He is suing the department for racial profiling, contending that he was treated brutally because he was black. The colun~n generated e-mails from dozens of people recounting similar treatment at the hands of police. But many were surprisingly forgiving, and few chalked it up to racial profiling. In fact, most who had horror stories to tell were white. I found it oddly comforting to realize that harsh treatment by police doesn't always depend on the color of your skin. I heard from a Marine Corps officer who was "chained up next to crack addicts" for four hours in a San Francisco jail because of an outdated report that the rental car he was driving had been stolen. From a West Los Angeles woman who was followed home by six LAPD officers and threatened with arrest, after an off-duty "cop in gym clothes" stopped her and "called for backup" because she was driving in the wrong direction in the parking garage of a Bally's gym. From a San Diego couple who'd been en route to Las Vegas when they were ordered out of their Lexus at gunpoint by "two police cars, two motorcycle Dolice and a helicopter" because an anonymous motorist had reported to police ~t the husband resembled someone he'd seen on "America's Most Wanted" on _ ~. "We were handcuffed and the highway was closed" for more than hour, the woman said, until the FBI arrived, fingerprinted the husband and cleared them. Heavy-handed tactics by police, but not technically wrong. "We talked to lawyers and they all said the same thing," the San Diego woman said. "There weren't any damages. I guess not unless you count fear and humiliation." In the Texas case, Gail Atwater decided to do just that--to count fear and humiliation. When she failed to get an apology from police, she took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, contending that her constitutional right to protection against unwarranted search and seizure had been violated when she was hauled off to jail. The circumstances of her case and the others may be different, but the essential issue is the same: how to balance citizens' right to be free from harassment and goverrunental intrusion against restrictions that might unduly hamstring the police. In this case, the five justices decreed that the larger danger is in interfering with police procedures, "lest every discretionary judgment in the field be converted into an occasion for constitutional review." Atwater suffered "pointless indignity," wrote Justice David Souter for the majority, characterizing her arrest as a series of "gratuitous hurailiations, imposed by a police officer who was (at best) exercising extremely poor judgment." But her arrest was "not so extraordinary as to violate the Fourth Amendment." Or, as Justice Anthony Kennedy Observed during oral arguments last fall: "It's not a constitutional violation for an officer to be a jerk." Civil libertarians worry that the ruling will expand police powers, King them judge and jury, free to haul folks off to jail for the most benign violations. Advocates for minority groups say it will give carte 2 blanche to racial profiling. Police now have, as one ACLU lawyer said, "a license to select anyone at all, wait for them to comrait any one of thousands of possible infractions and then place their target under arrest." Regular folks are worried as well. "Just shoot me now," one letter to the The Times said. "In what demented world is it reasonable for me to be [at ~e sole discretion of the police] arrested and possibly searched just 2ause one of my taillights is out." I refuse to believe that this will turn our nation's cops into a pack of thugs, bullying frightened soccer moms with guns and billy clubs. The danger is not that police will run amok--the handcuffs now off, so to speak--but that they will believe they are no longer accountable to you and me, no longer required to adhere to reasonable standards of restraint in the streets. We have more than crime to fear if we cease to consider the police our partners and regard them, instead, as some kind of occupying army. They may have been given broad rights with few limits, but it is our freedoms--not theirs--they must still take to heart. Sandy Bauer From: Suelqq(~aol.com Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 3:34 PM BAttard{~ci.berkeley.ca.us; Temsa. Guerrero-Daley@ci.sj.ca.us; SIF@citymgr. sannet.gov; fheske@sdccd.cc.ca.us; cfisher@mail.sdsu.edu; DWilliam@ci.riverside.ca.us; JParkeCH(~co.san-diego.ca.us; mbobb~pacbell.net; dhburns~lasd.org; smdacus@lasd.org; MGrossm@lasd.org; NKULLA@aol.com; c-novak@ix.netcom.com; EllenSTaylor@yahoo.com; HGoldh2o@aol.com; rfass@pomona.edu; Cuquiz@aol.com; wq6i@easthlink. net; StuHolmes@aol.com; paint2(~gateway.net; jemurphy909 (~earthlink.net; smaxberry(~bos.co.la.ca.us; Ombudla(~co.la.ca.us; cburdick@maui.net; CReeder@indygov.org; cdavis@ultra-tech.com; davisf@nysnet.net; NACOLE95(~aol.com; james.johnson@cinlaw.rcc.org; DCasimere@gw.sacto.org; MMonteiro@ci.cambddge.ma.us; Sandovaj~mscd.edu; dede{~hawaiian.net; rowaugh(~ci.long-beach.ca.us; yogijoel @yahoo.com; markids~;~northwestem.edu; LPMurphy@cityofboise.org; ~nlde@ccrb.nyc.gov; CammeS@aol.com; CScott7544@aol.com; mcdonaldp@dpdchiefinv.ci.detroitmi.us; ronald.clarkson@co.mo.md.us; bjackson@oaklandnet.com; LPerezl @mail.ci.tucson.az.us; jwillia4@ci.phoenix.az.us; RHAaronson@gateway.net; JimFight@cs.com; mhess@ci.po~tland.or. us; psalk@mail.als.edu; rheve@mail.als.edu; asb~co.clark.nv.us; Sandy-Bauer(~iowa-city.org; Patdcia.Hughes2@ci.minneapolis.mn.us; phileure@hotmail.com; Sfmedley22615@cs.com; irp~co.miami-dade.fl.us; Cdavis@diocese-gal-hou.org; hector.w.soto@phila.gov Cc: SGudn~pcweb.net; mumsee1 @mindspdng.com; IIIIola(~juno.com; jw2b@fuse.net; drjandrewsphd@woddnet.attnet; dheard@ci.miLwi.us; rramos@contracosta.cc. ca.us; Trgunnli~aol.com; SXH@citymgr. sannet.gov; fleichma~uottawa.ca; elima@uottawa.ca; madina{~hdcdojnet.state.ca.us; Slecorre@uottawa.ca; ~zo.ss~mymailstation.com; PZamary@yahoo.com; afryer@seattletimes.com; LSiegel(~aclu.org; tiyeluv@hotmail.com; Tim .Ohara~herald-tdb.com; Susan. Sheldon@vedzon.net; d.ramirez@nunetneu.edu; Mvdanielesq@aol.com; sharewhy@hotmail.com; Kelly.Thornton@uniontdb.com; Legrete@aol.com; WLN@sdpdms.sannet.gov; RmDuvall(~aol.com; Chevigny@turing.law.nyu.edu; AEHobron@aol.com; rashbaumi~nytimes.com; skolnick(~turing.law.nyu.edu; apc21 l@nyu.edu; samwalker{~unomaha.edu; spgetty(~azstamet.com; Womencops~aol.com; Collina@hrw.org; lynn_davis@la.kin~land.com; hfujie@buchalter. com; rtrotter@akingump,com; david.weiss@cgu.edu; mcnamara{~hoover.stanford.edu; DMack500@aol.com; mgraham@nctimes.com; rgreenspan@policefoundation.org; BARBARAPYLE@att.net; bill.finney@ci.stpaul.mn.us; DRPPG@aol.com; nancy_falcon{~qc. edu; usmexborder@igc.apc.org Subject: Seattle: Cdtical audit jumps the gun on police reviews, says mayor Seattle Times Wednesday, April 25, 2001, 12:00 a.m. Pacific Critical audit jumps the gun on police reviews, says mayor Seattle police and the mayor's office yesterday agreed it's far too early to criticize recent reforms in the police department's internal-review process, despite an audit that shows the number of complaints of unnecessary force against citizens increased more than 50 percent last year. In fact, the civilian director of the police department's 4-month-old Office of Professional Accountability said she expects that complaints from the public will climb even higher as the public grows to trust the new program. "It could be a sign of a healthy system at work," director Sam Pailca said. "I really think the citizens demanded some civilian review, and the mayor and City Council responded by creating this position. I think it's only appropriate that the citizens get the opportunity to see if it works and judge its success." e audit of the police department's Internal Investigations office found .xat overall complaints of misconduct by police increased 16 percent from 1999 to 2000. Those complaints, 280 last year vs. 242 in 1999, include everything from unnecessary force to using improper language or being rude. Complaints of unnecessary force jumped from 60 in 1999 to 94 in 2000, a five-year high. The auditor, former King County judge Terrence Carroll, and community leaders [d the statistics indicate a "growing gap" between the police and the Fdblic - especially minorities -- and show a need for new ways to handle citizen complaints. But the police department pointed out yesterday that only one unnecessary-force complaint last year was found to have merit, and suggested that the reforms in the internal-review process encouraged more people to come forward than in previous years -- even before the new review program was in place. "When people are confident that something is going to be done, they'll call in more," police spokesman Duane Fish said. "At least we know people are confident they can call in and their complaints will be reviewed." The Police Guild, meantime, said the report actually is encouraging because 94 complaints is a slim percentage of the hundreds of thousands of calls to which the department's 1,200 officers respond every year. "I don't see a growing gap," guild President Mike Edwards said. "I see that it has been a narrowing gap." But Carroll's report said that while most of the complaints involved no injuries or only minor injuries, and monetary damages remain relatively low, the city should re-examine the department's methods of review. Particularly, Carroll said he was bothered that four officers each had three or more complaints against them. The department yesterday wouldn't identify those officers or the complaints. _om the complaints, 19 officers were disciplined, the report said. Four officers were forced to retire, the report said Carroll also suggests that the department takes too long to investigate complaints, averaging about 91 days each. That's up from 53 days in 1999, an increase Carroll acknowledges was the result of a backlog of complaints from 1999, when the WTO turmoil generated a flurry of cases. But Carroll said the overall conclusion from the numbers is that "there seems to be a growing gap in our city between the police and the people they serve -- particularly in minority comunities." "This cannot continue to fester, or we will see more incidents of conflict between the police and citizens or, worse yet, a reluctance on the part of the police to respond aggressively," said Carroll. The report shows that most unnecessary-force coraplaints in Seattle were lodged by African Americans. Last year blacks filed 48 complaints. Whites filed 38. Asians filed 6. One Hispanic person and one Native-American person filed complaints. Carroll recon~nends that the department add a mediation program to encourage officers to talk with the complaining citizens to resolve the complaints short of a disciplinary review. "The important point is the commitment to try to recognize it as an important step on the road to better communication between police and citizen," Carroll -ote. But James Kelly, president of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, took Carroll's report a step further, saying the report shows that the city should form a citizens panel to investigate police complaints. "It's disturbing and demands immediate action," Kelly said. "We still don't have any oversight or review of these complaints by an independent agency." ~or Paul Schell's office, however, agreed with the auditor that the city _ould give Pailca and the new Office of Professional Accountability a chance. "As things get into full swing and the process gets smoothed out, you'll see a program that strengthens the public's confidence in its police department," Schell spokesman Dick Lilly said. Pailca said that the cases counted by the auditor weren't reviewed by her office. Pailca took over the office in January. Under the new organization, Pailca, a lawyer and former manager of the county's Labor Relations Division, supervises the internal-investigations squad and reviews its investigations and reconmlendations before forwarding them to Chief Gil Kerlikowske. She said she is due to deliver a report to the City Council in July. Meantime, Pailca said she agrees with the auditor about some findings, namely that a mediation program may be a good idea, and that a system should be created to track officers who receive several complaints. Sandy Bauer From: Suelqq@aol .com ,e, ent: Fdday, Apdl 27, 2001 9:19 AM : BAttard(~ci.berkeley.ca.us; Teresa. Guerrero-Daley~ci.sj.ca,us; SIF~;)citymgr. sannet.gov; fheske@sdccd.cc.ca.us; cfisher@mail,sdsu.edu; DWilliam@ci,dverside.ca.us; JParkeCH@co,san-diego.ca.us; mbobb~pacbell.net; dhbums@lasd.org; smdacus@lasd.org; MGrossm~lasd.org; NKULLA@aol.com; c-novak@ix.netcom.com; EllenSTaylor@yahoo.com; HGoldh2o~aol.com; rfass~pomona.edu; Cuquiz@aol.com; wq6i@earthlink.net; StuHolmes@aol,com; paint2@gateway.net; jemurphy909 @earthlink.net; smaxberry@bos.co.la.ca.us; Ombudla@co.la.ca.us; cburdick@maui.net; CReeder~indygov.org; cdavis(~ultra-tech.com; davisf~nysnet,net; NACOLE95~aoLcom; james.johnson(~cinlaw.rcc,org; DCasimere~gw,sacto.org; MMonteiro~ci.cambddge.ma.us; Sandovaj@mscd,edu; dede@hawaiian.net; rowaugh@ci.long-beach.ca.us; yogijoel @yahoo.com; markids@northwestem.edu; LPMurphy@cityotboise.org; ~nkle@ccrb.nyc,gov; CammeS~aol.com; CScott7544~aol.com; mcdonaldp~dpdchiefinv.ci.detroit,mi.us; mnald.clarkson(~co.mo.md.us; bjackson@oaklandnet.com; LPerezl@mail.ci.tucson.az.us; jwillia4@ci.phoenix.az.us; RHAamnson@gateway,net; JimFight@cs.com; mhess@ci.portland.or. us; psalk~mail.als.edu; rheve@mail.als.edu; asb@co.clan~.nv.us; Sandy-Bauer@iowa-city.org; Patdcia. Hughes2@ci,minneapolis.mn.us; phileure@hotmail.com; Sfmedley22615@cs.com; irp@co.miami-dade.~.us; Cdavis@diocese-gal-hou,org; hector.w,soto@phila.gov Cc: SGudn@pcweb.net; mumsee1 @mindspdng.com; IIIIola@juno.com; jw2b@fuse.net; drjandrewsphd@woddnet.att.net; dheard@ci.mil.wi,us; rramos~contracosta,cc.ca.us; Trgunnl (~aol.com; SXH@citymgr. sannet.gov; fleichma~uottawa.ca; elima(~uottawa,ca; martina(~hdcdojnet,state.ca.us; Slecorre(~uottawa,ca; rzoss@mymailstation.com; PZamaq/@yahoo.com; afryer@seattletimes.com; LSiegel@aclu.org; tiyeluv@hotmail.com; Tim.Ohara@herald-tdb.com; Susan. Sheldon@vedzon,net; d.ramirez@nunet.neu.edu; Mvdanielesq@aol.com; sharewhy@hotmail.com; Kelly.Thornton@uniontdb.com; Legrete~aol.com; WLN~sdpdms.sannet.gov; RmDuvall@aol.com; Chevigny@tudng.law. nyu.edu; AEHobron~aol.com; rashbaum@nytimes,com; skolnick@tudng.law.nyu.edu; apc21 l@nyu.edu; samwalker@unomaha.edu; spgetty@azstamet.com; Womencops~aol.com; Collina~hnN.org; lynn_davis4~la,kirkland.com; hfujie~buchalter.com; rtmtter@akingump.com; david.weiss~cgu.edu; mcnamara@hoover.stanford.edu; DMack500~aol.com; mgraham@nctimes.com; pgreenspan~policefoundation.org; BARBARAPYLE@att.net; bill.finney@ci.stpaul.mn.us; DRPPG@aol.com; nancy_falcon@qc.edu; usmexborder@igc.apc.org Subject: TN Capt SuspendedEL Racist comments on web TN Captain Suspended for 'Intimidating' Officer Who Stopped Him Click Here For Discussion: [Unable to display image] Dateline: Nashville, Tennessee - 4/26/2001 Metro police Capt. Luther Hunter was suspended without pay for 25 working days yesterday for "using the power of his position to clearly inti~Lidate" a patrol officer who had stopped him for running a red light on Jan. 18. Assistant Police Chief Charles Smith made the ruling after a hearing at police headquarters. In a written statement issued after the hearing, Smith called Hunter's conduct "unprofessional, and well below the expectations of meters of the Metro Police Department, especially those in supervisory and management positions." Smith found t'absolutely no evidence" to support Hunter's assertion that the traffic stop was a result of racial profiling. Smith noted that Hunter didn't complain about profiling until he was the subject of an internal ...investigation. .~e suspension will cost Hunter $5,867.50 in salary, said Metro police spokesman Don Aaron. 1 Hunter and his lawyer, Lawrence Wilson, declined to comment after the hearing. Hunter joined the Police Department in July 1972 and is among a dozen captains who have been considered for promotion to assistant chief. His ~ersonnel file includes 20 commendations and over the years his job rformance evaluations have ranged from middle ratings to the highest ~tings. Hunter lost five vacation days last August for a June 2000 traffic accident that injured two pedestrians and damaged his vehicle. Yesterday's disciplinary action means that Hunter has been suspended 30 days in the past year, the maximum number of days an officer can be suspended in any 12-month period. If Hunter is suspended between now and Aug. 22, "there's no choice but dismissal," Aaron said. Hunter has the right to appeal Smith's decision to the Metro Civil Service Co~m~ission, and from there to Davidson County Chancery Court, Aaron said. Smith was acting as Police Chief Falmett Turner's designee at the hearing, with all of Turner's authority, Aaron said. Hunter also received written reprimands for having an unauthorized rider in his police car when he was stopped on Jan. 18, for violating the department's secondary employment policy and for excessive cell phone use. Hunter has agreed to reimburse Metro for excessive phone use. NASHVILLE TENNESSEAN Racist Comments Found on FL Deputy's Website Click Here For Discussion: [Unable to display image] Dateline: Fort Pierce, Florida - 4/26/2001 A St. Lucie County deputy's Internet site -- which for more than a year contained racist comments -- has caused that county's Sheriff's Office to dust off its ,de of conduct and the Fort Pierce Police Department to re-evaluate its Web _te access. In an odd twist, the information was brought to light after a Boca Raton man found it while searching for information about the Internet-related firing Monday of two Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies. A third deputy resigned. The two Palm Beach County deputies were fired for posting Internet pictures and video of themselves having group sex with their wives. In the St. Lucie County case, the site of Master Deputy Rick Stuhr -- www.geocities.com/horsefeathers229 -- was featured in the "favorite links" section of the Fort Pierce Police Department's Web site. Stuhr's site contains a "guest book" or special section allowing visitors to post messages viewable by anyone. Most of the more than 80 messages posted from March 1999 to last October were congratulatory toward Stuhr and con=aented about law enforcement agencies and related Web sites. But at least two of the messages promoted Web sites of the Ku Klux Klan and other racist groups, and called for blacks and Jews to be "eliminated" by a "brotherhood" of law enforcement officers. One lengthy posting declared, "We are now in a war declared by the minorities .... Keep locking up the racist drug pushing black traffic-a-teers." ter the conunents were brought to the media's attention Tuesday, Stuhr's guest book was wiped clean. However, it continued to accept new messages. 2 The information was brought to light after Andrew E. Towbin of Boca Raton complained about Stuhr's site after finding it during his search regarding the Palm Beach County case. Fort Pierce Police Chief Eugene Savage said Tuesday that while the '~partment's link to Stuhr's site did not indicate support for the material, vage said, he had it removed late in the day. Stuhr, an 18-year sheriff's deputy, coordinates the Citizens Observation Patrol, according to his site. "He has served with distinction ... in every assignment he's had," Sheriff's Office spokesman Mark Weinberg said. "He's received many awards and is not only a good deputy but somebody I consider a good personal friend." Weinberg said sheriff's officials were unaware of the site -- which has recorded more than 2,000 visits -- until asked about it by the media. The racist co~ents were on the site for more than a year, Weinberg said, because Stuhr did not know how to remove them. "These views ... are totally abhorrent to him and the sheriff's office. They don't represent the philosophy of Deputy Stuhr, the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office or Sheriff [Ken] Mascara," Weinberg said. Stuhr started the Web site "a couple of years ago," Weinberg said, to establish contacts with law officers throughout the world, and to spread crime prevention information. But a page of "awards" superimposed on an image of St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office badge provides links to sites such as "Hubba Hunks," offering images of scantily clad women and men. ~lling the message a "disgusting, incoherent, totally racist manifesto," inberg said Stuhr "tried to figure out how to erase it," and "about a month ago he took the whole guest book down." Officials reviewed the site and messages Tuesday. "A certain level of conduct is expected of members of the sheriff's office, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Weinberg said afterward. "The sheriff doesn't feel this represents a [code of] conduct violation." Fort Pierce's Chief Savage said this and the Palm Beach County scandal should cause police agencies to review or write Internet policies. FORT LAUDERALE (FLORIDA) SUN-SENTINEL 3 Sandy Bauer From: Suelqq@aoLcom ~'~nt: Thursday, Apdl 26, 2001 3:33 PM : BAttard@ci.be~eley.ca.us; Teresa. Guerrero-Daley(~ci.sj.ca.us; SIF@citymgr.sannetgov; fheske@sdccd.cc. ca,us; cfisher~mail.sdsu.edu; DWilliam@ci.dverside.ca.us; JParkeCH{co.san-diego.ca.us; mbobb~pacbell.net; dhbums@lasd.org; smdacus@lasd,org; MGrossm~lasd.org; NKULLA@aol,com; c*novak@ix.netcom.com; EllenSTaylor(~yahoo.com; HGoldh2o@aoLcom; rfass@pomona.edu; Cuquiz@aol.com; wq6i@earthlink,net; StuHolmes~aol.com; paint2@gateway.net; jemurphy909 @earthlink.net; smaxberry(~bos,co.la.ca,us; Ombudla@co,la.ca,us; cburdick@maui.net; CReeder@indygov.org; cdavis@ultra-tech.com; davisf@nysnet,net; NACOLE95@aol,com; james.johnson@cinlaw.rcc, org; DCasimere@gw, sacto.org; MMonteiro@ci.cambddge.ma.us; Sandovaj@mscd.edu; dede@hawaiian.net; rowaugh@ci.long-beach.ca,us; yogijoel (~2yahoo.com; markids{}no~thwestem,edu; LPMurphy@cityofboise.org; ~nkle@ccrb.nyc.gov; CammeS@aoLcom; CScott7544@aot.com; mcdonaldp~dpdchiefinv,ci.detroitmi.us; ronald.clarkson@co,mo.md.us; bjackson@oaklandnet.com; LPerezl@rnail.ci,tucson.az.us; jwillia4@ci.phoenix,az.us; RHAaronson@gateway.net; JimFight{2cs.com; mhess@ci.portland,or,us; psalk@mail.als.edu; rheve@maiLals.edu; asb~co.clark,nv.us; Sandy-Bauer@iowa-city.org; Patdcia.Hughes2(~ci.minneapoliS,mn.us; phileure@hotmail.com; Sfmedley22615@cs.com; irp@co.miami-dade.~,us; Cdavis@diocese-gal-hou.org; hector.w,soto@phila,gov Cc: SGudn@pcweb.net; mumseel(~mindspdng,com; IIIIola@juno,com; jw2b~fuse.net; drjandrewsphd@woddnet. att.net; dheard@ci,mil.wi.us; rramos@contracosta,cc. ca.us; Trgunnl@aol.com; SXH@cityrngr. sannetgov; fleichma@uottawa.ca; elima@uottawa.ca; martina@hdcdojnetstate.ca.us; Slecorre@uottawa.ca; rzoss@mymailstation,com; PZamary(~yahoo.com; afryer@seattletimes.com; LSiegel@aclu.org; tiyeluv@hotmail,com; Tim.Ohara@herald4db.com; Susan.Sheldon@vedzon.net; d.ramirez@nunet.neu.edu; Mvdanielesq@aoLcom; sharewhy@hotmail.com; Kelly. Thomton@uniontdb.com; Legrete@aol,com; WLN~sdpdms.sannetgov; RmDuvall@aol.com; Chevigny@tudng.law.nyu.edu; AEHobron@aol.com; rashbaum@nytimes.com; skolnick@tudng.law. nyu.edu; apc211 @nyu.edu; samwalker@unomaha.edu; spgetty@azstamet.com; Womencops@aol.com; Collina(~hrw.org; lynn_davis{la.ldnkland.com; hfujie@buchalter. com; rtrotter@akingump.com; david.weiss~cgu.edu; mcnamara@hoover.stanfon:l.edu; DMack500@aol.com; rngraham@nctimes,com; rgreenspan@policefoundation.org; BARBARAPYLE@att.net; bill.finney@ci.stpaul.mn,us; DRPPG@aol,com; nancy_falcon@qc.edu; usmexborder@igc. apc. org Subject: NY CCRB Woes; Panel Urges Retraining for Diallo Officers NY Daily News From: News and Views I City Beat ISunday, April 22, 2001 Cop Complaint Board Woes : Fear, lack of access foil system By MAKI BECKER and TAMER EL-GHOBASHY Daily News Staff Writers li Abdullah Sadiq, a 53-year-old African-American man who wears dreadlocks and drives a BMW, says he was pulled over in March by a white police officer for driving while using his cell phone, even though the act is legal in the City of New York. The Richmond Hill real estate broker claims the following happened: he questioned the cop, a supervisor was summoned, 911 calls were made, and at the end, Sadiq was slapped with a ticket for driving too slowly. Certain that he was the victim of "driving while black," Sadiq said he will challenge the ticket in traffic court. '-'s also filed a complaint with the Civilian Complaint Review Board and is ,nsidering suing the Police Department. "I will fight this," Sadiq vowed. "I will not capitulate to them." But Sadiq's resolve is rare. He is just one of a dwindling number of blacks and Hispanics filing Civilian Complaint Review Board complaints, say leaders in Queens' black con~nunities. tivists say that many blacks who believe they are victims of police abuse _re not submitting complaints because board complaint forms are not widely available, and too many people are afraid to go to police precincts to get them. "There is a mistrust between our community and the Police Department as well as the CCRB," said Leroy Gadsden, chairman of police and community relations for the NAACP's Jamaica branch. "The placement and advertisement of the complaint forms in local precincts projects the image of a partnership of cooperation between the agency and the violator -- the police." Gadsden, who was once a cop in South Carolina and is now a CUNY law student, supplies Civilian Complaint Review Board forms to victims, and helps them file and follow up inquiries. "A review of all the police abuse allegations in the city reveals that police precincts with the highest number of complaints are located in predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods," he said. "It's contradictory to tell someone who was nearly killed by the police to go back to the same Police Department to get the complaint form. Only a fool would take that advice." According to the board's 2000 annual report, cops were more likely to use physical force or pull a gun on blacks during stop-and-frisks than on whites. Police allegedly used force to detain 45% of the blacks who complained during stops, compared to 25% of whites, the report said. _acks also lodged 63% of the civilian complaints about such street patdowns even though they constitute a quarter of the city's population. Last year, 336 complaints were filed against Queens cops, down from 466 in 1999. But advocates say the decline only reflects a reluctance to file reports. "I don't think 50% of the problems that we have are being reported to the CCRB, because we feel nothing is going to be done about it," said Peggy Thomas, a resident adviser at Ham~el Houses in Rockaway Beach. "We feel that we are New York City's stepchildren and that people living in public housing are second-class citizens." Thomas said many blacks are not filing coraplaints because they have accepted police abuse as part of their day-to-day lives. Frank Wohl, chairman of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, warned that this behavior will only perpetrate police misconduct. "We know that a lot of people do not report because they feel nothing is going to happen," he said. "But those are still very, very important reports to make, because even if the case is not substantiated and doesn't result in discipline, the reports are kept in our office. "That is extremely valuable information and can lead to discipline. The whole · stem is better off when somebody lets us know what happened." Activists agree, but they say that too often, victims who wish to complain cannot find an outlet to file a report. 2 "We want people to have the confidence to file these reports," Gadsden said. "The people in the community don't know how good the CCRB is and what they are doing because information is not made widely available." ~gmplaint forms are available in police precincts, hospital emergency rooms, .mmunity board offices and at the board's headquarters in lower Manhattan, said board member Charles Greinsky. Gadsden and Thomas suggest the forms be placed in outlets with free public access, such as libraries and post offices, as well as throughout public housing. Gadsden would also like the review board to establish branches in conununities with the highest incidence of complaints directed at the police. "The relocation of the complaint sites would shatter this mistrust," he said. "Advertise the availability of these forms. We have to make the CCRB user-friendly if we are going to eliminate this trend of police abuse." "Clearly we are not doing enough in our outreach to let people know options that they have open to them," Greinsky admitted. "They should not have to wait around in a precinct and be doubly victimized. And we need to get that message out there even better." In the meantime, Sadiq has hired a lawyer to help him fight his traffic ticket. "This seems so insignificant, but this is what we deal with every day," said his attorney, Dawn Warren, who also is black. "This is our everyday existence." 'Times April 26, 2001 ranel Urges Retraining, Not Discipline, for Diallo Officers By KEVIN FLYNN preliminary report by Police Department investigators has concluded that the four officers involved in the shooting death of ~nadou Diallo should not be disciplined for the incident but should be retrained in tactics, according to officials who have seen the report. The investigative panel included several Bronx police con~nanders and a police officer. It found that although the officers had fired 41 times at an unarmed man, they had not violated the department's guidelines because the officers believed, however incorrectly, that Mr. Diallo had a gun and they were acting out of bona fide concern for their lives. "In their mind's eye, they perceived a very real danger, and under a perceived co~bat situation, they behaved appropriately," said one official, paraphrasing the report's conclusion. The recommendation by the panel is one step in the administrative process under which the department will decide whether the officers deserve to be disciplined, or even fired, for their actions in the Feb. 4, 1999, shooting in the vestibule of Mr. Diallo's apartment building in the Soundview section of the Bronx. The report and its recommendations will be reviewed by a second investigative panel and then forwarded to the police commissioner, who will make the final decision on whether the officers engaged in misconduct. Even though the report's conclusions are preliminary, they are nonetheless significant ~ecause, historically, the department has tended to go along with the coImmendations made by the original investigators. The Bronx panel's report was forwarded yesterday to the chief of department, 3 Joseph J. Esposito, the department's third- ranking official. Mr. Esposito will direct a second group of senior police supervisors, known as the Firearms Discharge Review Panel, in reviewing the facts. That panel's recommendations will then be forwarded to First Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph P. Dunne and Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik, most likely within few days. "We are not going to comment because this is part of an ongoing process," the commissioner's chief spokesman, Thomas Antenen, the deputy commissioner for public information, said yesterday. Although the Bronx panel did not endorse discipline for the officers, its reconunendation for retraining is a clear indication that the panel acknowledged the magnitude of the officers' error in mistaking Mr. Diallo's wallet for a handgun. The officers have said that initial mistake was part of a series of events, including a fall by one of the officers, that created a misperception that they were in a gunfight. Many critics, however, have said the officers' negligence was so serious that they should be dismissed. Mr. Diallo's mother, Kadiatou, said she was disappointed by the panel's conclusions, as relayed to her by a reporter. "It is unbelievable that these people would say that it is within the guidelines of the department that these officers acted," she said. "They are trying to say about healing, they are trying to say about police and community relations. I will tell you this. They have to have the courage to denounce those who did wrong. That's the only way they can heal this city and make the police better." Even if Mr. Kerik was to decide to keep the officers on the force, it is unclear whether they would ever be assigned to patrol duties again because of the potential liability the city might face if they were involved in another shooting. ~e four officers, Kenneth Boss, Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon and Richard Murphy, were acquitted of criminal charges at a state trial last year. Federal authorities decided earlier this year not to pursue civil rights charges against them. Since the shooting, they have been assigned to desk duty and have had their guns and badges confiscated. On the night of the shooting, the officers were assigned to the Street Crime Unit, a plainclothes detail whose officers drive unmarked cars and focus on catching violent criminals and seizing illegal guns. Currently, they are each charged administratively with "prohibited conduct," based on the original criminal charges of murder and reckless endangerment. The administrative charges can be amended or dropped as the investigation proceeds. Investigators with Internal Affairs and the Bronx Investigation Unit interviewed the four officers separately for a total of more than seven hours on Friday. In evaluating the conduct of the officers, they set out to answer such questions as whether the officers properly identified themselves, or whether they followed guidelines that outline the tactics they should use during street encounters and the situations in which it is permissible to fire their guns. The Bronx panel's recommendation was submitted with an eight- page report, with a series of additional documents, including a sketch of the shooting scene, the injury reports filed by the officers and an autopsy report on Mr. niallo. · f Mr. Kerik decides that, contrary to the panel's recommendation, there is evidence of misconduct by the officers, the case would be referred to the 4 department's in-house prosecutor for a disciplinary trial. A decision at trial would be rendered by an administrative law judge, and then that decision would be forwarded to Mr. Kerik, who would make the decision about any disciplinary action, officials said. "fo of the officers have already indicated an interest in leaving the partment to become firefighters, and they have taken the Fire Department's test. One, Officer McMellon, has been tentatively cleared for hiring by Fire Department officials because of his high score on the firefighters exam, but they are awaiting the outcome of the police disciplinary process before making a final decision. The other, Officer Murphy, scored significantly lower on the exam and would not be eligible to be hired for several years. 5 Page 1 of 2 Sandy Bauer From: Womencops@aol.com Sent: Monday, April 30, 2001 1:35 PM To: MaryJeni@aol.com Subject: SECRET SEX CRIME FILE: First Philadelphia, then Detroit, and now Atlanta have all had scandals involving sex crimes being underreported. It would be prudent for all law enforcement agencies to audit their sex crimes units and see how they are handling these cases. The National Center for Women & Policing, under a grant from the Violence Against Women Office, has developed a model training curriculum on investigating sexual assaults by acquaintances. Let us know if you would like to receive a copy. Here's a story from the Atlanta paper: SECRET SEX CRIME FILE: Atlanta police failed to report rape cases Suspicious claims not in FBI's stats BYLINE: Joshua B. Good, STAFF DATE: 02-24-2001 PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution EDITION: Home SECTION: METRO PAGE: H; 4 Dudng the past two years, Atlanta police detectives placed certain sex cdme reports in a secret file. Detectives worldrig the graveyard shift created the file to deal with reports from women who they thought were either lying about being raped or gave police a false name. When top brass learned of the secret reporting system eadier this month, Deputy Chief C.B. Jackson ordered an audit. So far, the audit has turned up 34 reports that were misfiled, he said. The effect was the 34 reports were not part of the dty's overall cdme count far ports of 1999 and 2000 and the firat month of 2001. It is unclear when the system started and the total number of reported sex crimes for that time pedod is not available. But in 1999. Atlanta police told the FBI there were 321 rapes in the city. The most recent dates available for the year 2000 are through September and the city reported 221 rapes to the FBI for the first nine months of 2000. The unreported sex crimes amount to about 6 percent of the 542 rapes reported for that 21 months. Jackson said because of the problem, he transferred the sex crimes unit commander, Lt. Terrence Steele, to patrol. Detectives working for Steele said he was in the sex crimes office Friday. He did not return two phone calls to his office seeking comment. 5/3/2001 Page 2 of 2 Jackson said all 34 of the mistlied rapes were investigated. When a women reported a rape, sex assault or aggravated sodomy, deteclives and police questioned witnesses or in some case canvassed neighborhoods for information, he said. But if detectives believed the woman was lying, they put the report in the special file instead of assigning a case number, Jackson said. The separate file served to tell detectives working the day or evening shift that the victim might be lying, Jackson said. Often, detectives had a hard time finding the victim because she gave a fake name or address. Jackson said he ordered all 34 cases reassigned to detectives for follow-up investigation. And if detectives cannot find the victim, then the reports will go on this year's books as a rape or sex assault in the city, Jackson said. The secret filing system started just after the department was audited by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for allegedly underreporting cdmes. In 1997, Louis Arcangeli accused Jackson, Chief Beverly Harvard and now-retired Deputy Chief Bobby Rocker of pressuring police to underreport cdme in the city. The GBI investigated the Atlanta Police Department to determine if federally-mendated cdme reporting guidelines were followed. The scandal tarnished the department's imege and Arcangeli was demoted from deputy chief to captain. The GBI inquiff revealed that 498 robberies and 56 rapes were omitted from the 1996 crime statistics. No one was accused of cdminal wrongdoing. Following the audit, detectives were given explicit instructions not to erase a case just because they could not tind the victim, Jackson said. "It has never been the policy of the Atlanta Police Department to underreport cdme. And it never will be," Jackson said. Chief Penny Hardngton Author, "Triumph of Spidt" available at Amazon.com National Center for Women & Policing (a division of the Feminist Majodty Foundation) 8105 W. 3rd Street LOS Angeles, CA 90048 323-651-2532 5/3/2001 Sandy Bauer From: Suelqq(~aol.com Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2001 1:06 PM " BAttard@ci.berkeley.ca.us; Teresa.Guerrero-Daley@ci.sj.ca.us; SIF{~citymgr.sannet.gov; fheske{~sdcc.,d.cc.ca.us; cfisher@mail.sdsu.edu; DWilliam@ci.riverside.ca.us; JParkeCH@co.san-diego.ca.us; PParkeCH@co.san-diego.ca.us; mbobb~pacbell.net; dhbums~lasd.org; smdacus@lasd.org; MGrossm@lasd.org; NKULLA@aol.com; c- novak{ix. netcom.com; EllenSTaylor@yahoo.com; HGoldh2o@aol.com; rfass@pomona.edu; Cuquiz@aol.com; wq6i@earthlink.net; StuHolmes~aol.com; paint2 ~gateway.net; jemurphyg09@earthlink.net; smaxberry@bos.co.la.ca.us; Ombudla@co.la.ca.us; cburdick@maui.net; CReeder@indygov.org; cdavis@ultra-tech.com davisf{~nysnetnet; NACOLE95@aol.com; james.johnson@cinlaw.rcc.org; DCasimere(~gw. sacto.org; MMonteim@ci.cambddge.ma.us; Sandovaj@mscd.edu; dede@hawaiian.net; rowaugh@ci.long-beach.ca.us; yogijoel@yahoo.com; markids~northwestem.edu; LPMurphy@cityolboise.org; ~nkle@ccrb.nyc.gov; CammeS~aol.com; CScott7544{aol.com; mcdonaldp@dpdchiefinv.ci.detroitmi.us; ronald.clarkson@co.mo.md.us; bjackson@oaklandnet.com; LPerezl (~maiLci.tucson.az.us jwillia4(~ci.phoenix.az.us; RHAaronson@gateway.net; JimFight@cs.com; mhess@ci.portland.or, us; psalk@mail.als.edu; rheve@mail.als.edu; asb@co.clark.nv.us; Sandy-Bauer~iowa-city.org; Patdcia. Hughes2@ci.minneapolis.mn.us; phileure@hotmail.com; Sfmedley22615@cs.com; irp@co.miami-dade.fl.us; Cdavis~diocese-gal~hou.org; hector.w.soto@phila.gov; don.luna@ci.stpaul.mn.us Cc: SGudn@pcweb.net; mumsee1 @mindspdng.com; IIIIola@juno.com; jw2b@fuse.net; drjandrewsphd@woddnetattnet; dheard@ci.mil.wi.us; rramos@contracosta.cc.ca.us; Trgunnl @aol.com; SXH{~citymgr.sannet.gov; fleichma@uottawa.ca; elirna@uottawa.ca; ma~tina@hdcdojnet.state.ca.us; Slecorre@uottawa.ca; rzoss@mymailstation.com; PZamary~yahoo.com; afryer@seattletirnes.com; LSiegel@aclu.org; tiyeluv(~hotmaiLcom Tim. Ohara@herald-tdb.com; Susan. Sheldon~)vedzon.net; d.ramirez@nunet.neu.edu; Mvdanielesq@aol.com; sharewhy@hotmail.com; Kelly. Thomton~uniontdb.com; Legrete@aol.com; WLN@sdpdms,sannet.gov; RmDuvall@aol.com; Chevigny{~tudng.law. nyu.edu; AEHobron@aol.com; rashbaum@nytimes.com; skolnick@tudng.law.nyu.edu; apc21 l@nyu.edu; samwalker~unomaha.edu; spgetty@azstamet.com; Womencops~aol.com; Collina@hrw.org; lynn_davis@la.kirkland.com; hfujie@buchalter. com; rtrotter@akingump.com; david.weiss~cgu.edu; mcnamara~hoover.stanfoFd.edu; DMack500(~aol,com; mgraham@nctimes.com; rgreenspan@policefoundation.org; BARBARAPYLE@att.net; bill.finney@ci.stpaul.mn.us; DRPPG@aol.com; nancy_falcon@qc. edu; usmexborder@igc.apc.org Subject: Riverside Ca: Officer Not Charged in Lethal Force Incident; Saw Glove as Gun Thursday, May 3, 2001 Officer Not Charged in Killing of Unarmed Man Moreno Valley: Many blacks were angered by shooting, but D.A. says patrolman mistook glove for a weapon. By SCOTT GOLD, Times Staff Writer RIVERSIDE--Although they acknowledge that a police officer shot and killed an unarmed man, Riverside County prosecutors said Wednesday that the Moreno Valley patrolman did not commit a crime and will not be charged in the incident. Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Soccio said a black glove Dante Ramon Meniefield was wearing was mistaken for a gun in the frenetic, dark moments before the March 10 shooting. "I think that was very, very significant," Soccio said. "The initial statements [Officer Robert Marks] made at the scene all had to do with the black glove, or a black object he thought was a gun. I think that was crucial." The white officer's shooting of Meniefield, who was black, outraged many Riverside County's African American community. Family members and activists Wednesday said they were not surprised by the district attorney's decision. "They shot him with his hands up, for no reason," said Meniefield's mother, Donna Michelle Meniefield. "But I knew this was coming. Cops are for cops. They work together, and I already knew they weren't going to convict one of their own." Moreno Valley community activist Gwyn Paschal-HaRunond said many African ricans in the region remain angry over the December 1998 shooting of a ~ ack woman, Tyisha Miller, by four white police officers in the adjacent city of Riverside. The Meniefield shooting has only stoked distrust of police in the black community, Paschal-Hammond said. "They are lying," she said. "It was an execution." Just after midnight March 10, authorities say, Meniefield was drinking beer and smoking marijuana in an alcove inside a vacant apartment with a friend, Reshaad Roberts. They were seen by Marks and his partner, Officer Dion Davis, who were on routine patrol in an area known for drug activity, vandalism and break-ins. The apartment had no electricity, so the officers were using flashlights. They shone their light first on Roberts, who had his hands up. When they moved the light toward Meniefield, authorities say, he quickly raised his hands. That, in combination with the black gloves, led Marks to believe he was in danger, and led him to shoot, prosecutors concluded. Meniefield, 23, was killed by a single shot to the head. Soccio said much of the blame for the incident must be shouldered by Meniefield and Roberts. The two men were hiding, Soccio said, and could have called out to the officers and avoided a sudden confrontation in the alcove. "~al unarmed man is dead," Soccio said. "It's a tragic loss when anybody gets killed unnecessarily. I feel bad for the Meniefield family. I also feel very bad for the deputy. The responsibility for the death is shared by all concerned." And, Soccio said, the fact that Roberts is still alive makes it clear that the shooting was not motivated by racial bias. "If the officer went in there just to kill black people, what would have -'~pped him from shooting both of them?" Soccio asked. "There is no hidden Paschal-Hammond dismissed Soccio's rationale. "I don't think that some parts of white society really understand the message that they are sending to young African men," she said. "Basically, they are saying: We can kill you. We can say your hands were up, but that you had a glove on, so we killed you." The decision by the district attorney's office, however, although it affirms an earlier recommendation from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, does not end the case. Though Marks is back on the job, the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles is investigating whether Meniefield's civil rights were violated. And attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. filed a $100-million wrongful death claim last month against the Sheriff's Department. The city of Moreno Valley contracts with the Sheriff's Department for patrolling services. Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times Sandy Bauer From: Suelqq{aol.com -~nt: Thursday, May 03, 2001 1:04 PM : BAttard{~ci.berkeley.ca,us; Teresa.Guerrero-Daley{~ci.sj.ca.us; SIF@citymgr.sannet.gov; fheske~sdccd.cc.ca.us; cfisher~mail.sdsu.edu; DWilliam{ci.dverside.ca.us; JParkeCH{co.san-diego.ca.us; rnbobb~pacbell.net; dhbums~lasd.org; smdacus~lasd.o~g; MGrossm@lasd.org; NKULLA(~aol.com; c-novak@ix. netcom.com; EllenSTaylor(~yahoo.com; HGoldh2o@aol.com; rfass{pomona.edu; Cuquiz@aol.com; wq6i@eatlhlink.net; StuHolmes@aol,com; paint2@gateway.net; jemurphy909 ~earthlink.net; smaxberry@bos.co.la.ca.us; Ombudla(~co.la.ca.us; cburdick(~maui.net; CReeder@indygov.org; cdavis@ultra-tech.com; davisf@nysnet.net; NACOLE95{aol.com; james.johnson(~cinlaw.rcc.org; DCasimere{~gw,sacto.org; MMonteiro(~ci.cambddge.rna.us; Sandovaj{mscd.edu; dede{;~hawaiian.net; rowaugh(~ci.long-beach.ca.us; yogijoel {yahoo.com; markids{northwestern,edu; LPMurphy{cityofboise.org; ~nlde@ccrb.nyc.gov; CammeS@aol.com; CScott7544(~aol.com; mcdonaldp~dpdchiefinv.ci,detroitmi.us; ronald.clarkson{~co.mo.md,us; bjackson@oaklandnet.com; LPerezl@mail.ci.tucson.az,us; jwillia4@ci.phoenix.az.us; RHAaronson@gateway.net; JimFight~cs.com; mhess~ci.portland.or. us; psalk{mail.als.edu; rheve@mail.als.edu; asb~co.cla~.nv.us; Sandy-Bauer@iowa-city.o~3; Patdcia.Hughes2~ci,minneapolis.mn.us; phileure~hotmaiLcom; Sfrnedley22615~cs.com; irp(~co,miami-dade.fl,us; Cdavis~diocese-gal-hou.org; hector.w.soto@phila.gov Cc: SGudn(~pcweb.net; mumsee1 (~mindspdng.com; IIIIola@juno.com; jw2b~fuse.net; drjandrewsphd~woddnet.att.net; dheard(~ci.mil.wi.us; rramos@contracosta,cc.ca.us; Tpgunnl@aol.com; SXH(~citymgr.sannet,gov; fieichma(~uottawa,ca; elima(~uottawa.ca; martina~hdcdojnet.state,ca.us; Slecorre@uottawa.ca; r-zoss(~mymailstation.com; PZamaryl~yahoo.corn; afryer@seattletimes.com; LSiegel@aclu.org; tiyeluv@hotmail.com; Tim,Ohara@herald-trib.com; Susan. Sheldon@vedzon.net; d,ramirez(~nunet.neu.edu; Mvdanielesq(~aol,com; sharewhy@hotmail.com; Kelly.Thomton~uniontrib.com; Legrete{aol.com; WLN~sdpdms.sannet.gov; RmDuvall{aol.com; Chevigny@tudng.law.nyu.edu; AEHobron{aol.com; rashbaum{nytimes.com; skolnick@tudng.law.nyu.edu; apc211 ~nyu.edu; samwalker~unomaha.edu; spgetty~azstamet.com; Womencops(~aol,com; Collina{hnN. opg; lynn._davis@la.kirkland.com; hfujie{buchalter, com; rtrotten~akingump,com; david,weiss{cgu.edu; mcnamara{~hoover,stanford.edu; DMack500(~aol,com; mgraham@nctimes.com; rgreenspan(~policefoundation.org; BARBARAPYLE(~attnet; bill,finney(~ci,stpaul.mn,us; DRPPG(~aol.com; nancy_falcon{~qc.edu; usmexborder~igc.apc.opg Subject: [Milwaukee] Officer Guilty of Sex Assault During Traffic Stop Woman testifies officer fondled her during traffic stop She says officer offered to throw out drug case in exchange for tryst By DAVID DOEGE of the Journal Sentinel staff Last Updated: April 30, 2001 While his partner searched a cluttered car for contraband, a police officer fondled a female motorist and told her he could keep her from facing potential drug charges in exchange for a later rendezvous, the woman testified Monday. Terrence N. Gilbert's partner "had no clue" what was going on while searching a car that the woman had been driving, she testified. "I said, 'I don't think this should be happening,' "the 25-year-old waitress told jurors during the first day of Gilbert's trial resulting from her allegations and the accusations of two other women who also have charged that he made improper sexual advances during and after a traffic stop. rst, the waitress testified, Gilbert fondled her breasts as she stood with him in the street. "I'm not sure," the woman said when asked how often Gilbert allegedly grabbed her indecently. "I didn't think to count." Later, while she sat in the squad car after a small amount of marijuana had been found in her clothing, Gilbert ordered her to lift her shirt and bra so could see if she was hiding any drugs, she said. "I had to because he's a police officer," the woman said. "He kept telling me, 'Lift it higher, higher.' Eventually, it was up to my neck." Finally, Gilbert said he could keep her out of hot water for the marijuana if she telephoned him. "He said they were having a party," the woman testified. The waitress was followed on the witness stand by another woman who told jurors that Gilbert asked her questions about her breasts and tried to talk her and her friend into exposing themselves after finding drugs on one of them during a traffic stop a few months earlier. "He said that if we stepped out of the car and fought naked, he would let us go," the woman told jurors. Gilbert, 33, faces three felony counts of misconduct in office and one misdemeanor count of fourth-degree sexual assault. The sex charge and one of the misconduct charges concern the waitress' allegations about her traffic stop Jan. 25 in the 4700 block of N. 37th St. The other misconduct counts concern the allegations of the other woman and her friend about their encounter with Gilbert on Oct, 13. Alternating between periods of apparent sadness and anger over the matter, ~he waitress testified that she was driving home from work in a friend's car en Gilbert and his partner stopped her. She eventually received a citation from Gilbert for driving with expired license plates. She said that the marijuana seized by Gilbert was worth $5. "He was telling me that this was very bad," she told the jury. "It's bad to find marijuana. "I'm going to go to jail." The woman told the jury she had the marijuana for her father, who is in pain with lung cancer. She said her father refuses to smoke it, so she does so and exhales in his face, something that eases his pain. When the traffic stop was finally over, she said, she returned to her car with a telephone number given to her by Gilbert, who suggested that she could avoid a marijuana charge by attending a rendezvous where she could perform a lap dance for him. Gilbert was arrested the next day, after the woman contacted police and they had her telephone him and say she was interested in the tryst he suggested. The case is not the first for Gilbert, an officer for eight years. In June 1997, he was charged in Milwaukee County with disorderly conduct on ~uspicion of drawing his gun while off duty and sticking it in the face of a -year-old boy. Court records show that Gilbert, who claimed he was in fear Lor his safety, brandished his gun and chased the boy and a group of young men after one of them threw a bottle at his car. 2 After a trial in October, a jury found him not guilty. He was suspended from duty when the latest charges were issued. Gilbert has been disciplined at least 10 times since 1993, mostly for minor incidents "ch as discourteousness to fellow officers and the public, and for being te for work. He was commended in 1994 for delivering a woman's baby in the front seat of her car. His trial is scheduled to resume today before Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Wagner. Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on May 1, 2001. Original URL: http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/mayO1/gilbertO3050201a.asp Officer found guilty of sexual assault But in two other incidents, jury finds him not guilty By DAVID DOEGE of the Journal Sentinel staff Last Updated: May 2, 2001 A police officer was found guilty Wednesday of sexually assaulting a female motorist during a traffic stop, ordering her to expose her breasts and offering to suppress a potential marijuana charge if she rendezvoused with him the next day. But while the Circuit Court jury believed Terrence N. Gilbert's accuser in that incident, they did not believe the somewhat similar accusations of two other women who contended that he wanted them to remove clothing during a traffic stop in exchange for his help with their drug cases. Gilbert, whom a jury acquitted of criminal charges in 1997 for pulling a gun on a teenager, displayed no emotion as Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Wagner announced the two guilty verdicts and the two not-guilty verdicts after six hours of jury deliberations. .lth convictions on one misdemeanor count of fourth-degree sexual assault and one felony count of misconduct in office, Gilbert faces a prison term of up to 23/4 years, a period of extended supervision of up to three years and fines of up to $20,000. The acquittals came on two counts of misconduct in office, The convictions will end the troubled law enforcement career of Gilbert, an officer for eight years, unless they are overturned somehow on appeal. Although he was once commended for delivering a motorist's baby in her car, Gilbert was frequently in trouble in the department, having been disciplined at least 10 times. In reaching the two guilty verdicts, the jury apparently accepted the final point emphasized by Deputy District Attorney Jon N. Reddin in his closing argument. "There's no reason she would make this up," Reddin said of the 25-year-old woman who accused Gilbert, "No person in their right mind or their wrong mind would make this up . . and put themselves through this (a trial) to face a possible criminal charge (perjury)." Gilbert, 33, received his convictions for his behavior during a Jan. 25 traffic stop in the 4700 block of N. 37th St. The woman, a waitress, testified Monday that while driving a friend's car home from work, Gilbert and his partner stopped her for a traffic violation. _While searching her in the street, the woman said, Gilbert fondled her 'easts several times over her shirt and found $5 worth of marijuana in her ~othing. After that she said he ordered her into his squad car and ordered her to lift her shirt and bra up to her neck. He then offered to see that she was not charged with a marijuana count if she met with him the next day to perform a "lap dance." ~ woman contacted police the next day and they had her telephone Gilbert to .~t up a purported rendezvous. He was arrested after he came to her workplace to pick her up. "They were giving him a chance," Reddin said in his closing argument, referring to the other officers. "They didn't take her word for it." Testifying Tuesday, Gilbert denied sexually assaulting the woman, said he found no marijuana on her, claimed she bared her breasts on her own initiative and said he intended merely to go on a date with her. "He didn't call her," defense attorney Gerald P. Boyle told the jury in his closing argument. "She called him and then she called him back." Boyle insisted there was plenty of reason to doubt the woman, noting that she contended the traffic stop lasted up to 21/2 hours while police records indicated it was about 20 minutes long. Of the two women who said Gilbert propositioned them after an Oct. 13 traffic stop, Boyle simply said, "They lied." Those women contended that Gilbert asked them to disrobe or fight naked in the street. Gilbert will remain free on a signature bond until he is sentenced June 26 by Wagner. Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on May 3, 2001. Sandy Bauer _From: Suelqq~aol.com qt: Thursday, May 03, 2001 12:55 PM BAttard(~d,berkeley.ca.us; Teresa. Guerrero-Daley{ci.sj.ca.us; SIF{)citymgr.sannet.gov; fheske~)sdccd.cc. ca,us; cfisher~)mail.sdsu.edu; DWilliam~ci.dverside,ca.us; JParkeCH{co.san-diego.ca.us; PParkeCH(~co.san-diego,ca.us; mbobb@pacbell.net; dhbums@lasd.org; smdacus{lasd.org; MGrossm{lasd.org; NKULLA(~aol.com; c- novak(~ix.netcom.com; EllenSTaylor{)yahoo,com; HGoldh2o(~aoLcom; rfass{pomona.edu; Cuquiz{aol.com; wq6i{eadhlink,net; StuHolmes{aol.com; paint2 {gateway.net; jemurphy909{earthlink.net; smaxberry~bos.co.la,ca.us; Ombudla(~co.la.ca.us; cburdick{~mauLnet; CReeder(~indygov.org; cdavis@ultra-tech.com davisf{~nysnetnet; NACOLE95(~aol.com; james.johnson{~cinlaw. rcc. org; DCasirnere{gw.sacto.org; MMonteiro@d.cambddge.rna.us; Sandovaj{mscd.edu; dede{hawaiian.net; rowaugh(~ci,long-beach.ca.us; yogijoel{~yahoo.com; markiris(~northwestern;edu; LPMurphy(g)cityofboise.org; ffinkle~ccrb.nyc.gov; CammeS{aol.com; CScott7544@aoLcom; mcdonaldp~dpdchiefinv.d.detroit.mi.us; ronald.darkson@co.mo,md.us; bjackson{oaklandnet.com; LPerezl{maiLcLtucson.az.us; jwillia4(~cLphoenix, az.us; RHAaronson{;~gateway.net; JimFight{cs.com; mhess{~d,portland,or. us; psalk{mail.als.edu; rheve{maii.ais.edu; asb{co.dark.nv.us; Sandy*Bauer{~iowa-city.o~g; Patricia.Hughes2{)ci.minneapolis.mn,us; phileure{;~hotmail.com; Sfmedley22615q~cs.com; irp~co.miami-dade,fi.us; Cdavis~diocese-gal-hou.org; hector.w.soto{phila.gov; don.iuna{ci.stpaul.mn,us Cc: SGudn{pcweb,net; mumsee1 {mindspring .corn; IIIIola(~juno.com; jw2b{~l~use .net; drjandmwsphd{~worldnet.att.net; dheard@d.mil.wi.us; rramos{contracosta.cc.ca.us; TPgunnl ~aol.com; SXH~citymgr. sannet.gov; fieichma{uottawa.ca; elima(~uuttawa.ca; madina@hdcdojnet.state.ca.us; Slecorre@uottawa.ca; rzoss{~rnymailstation.com; PZamary{yahoo,com; afryer@seattletimes.corn; LSiegel(~aclu.org; tiyeluv{hotmaiLcom Tim. Oharatg}heraid-trib,com; Susan.Sheldon{vedzon.net; d.ramirez(~nunetneu.edu; Mvdanielesq{aol.com; sharewhy{hotmail.com; Kelly. Thomton(~uniontdb.com; Legrete{aol.com; WLN{sdpdms.sannet.gov; RmDuvall@aoLcom; Chevigny{tudng.law.nyu.edu; AEHobron@aoi.com; rashbaum{nytimes. com; skolnick@tudng,law.nyu.edu; apc211 @nyu.edu; samwalker{~unomaha.edu; spgetty{azstamet.com; Womencops~aol.com; Collina{;~hrw.org; lynn_davis~;~la.ldrkland.com; hfujie{buchalter.com; rtrotteri~akingump,com; david.weiss{cgu.edu; mcnamara(~hoover. stanford.edu; DMack5O0{aol.com; mgraham@nctimes.com; rgreenspan~policefoundation,org; BARBARAPYLE{attnet; bill.finney{~ci.stpaul.mn.us; DRPPG~aol.corn; nancy_faicon{qc. edu; usmexborder{igc,apc.org Subject: Vegas Sgt Removed from Duty for False IA Rept; RevBd impacts Reopening Thursday, May 03, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal POLICE MISCONDUCT: Sergeant removed from duty Inquiry finds cover-up By J.M. KALIL REVIEW-JOURNAL A police sergeant was relieved of duty Wednesday for falsifying reports during an internal investigation of a fellow officer accused of misconduct, Las Vegas police said. Sgt. Dan Southwell, 40, could be fired for the cover-up he engaged in while nvestigating a citizen's complaint that an off-duty officer brandished a gun .en an umpire ejected the officer from a baseball game, Undersheriff Richard Winget said. Officer Richard Splinter, 30, was cleared of wrongdoing during the July baseball game based on the findings of Southwell's inquiry. But the case was reopened in February after the Metropolitan Police Department Citizen Review Board found that Southwellts investigation was ^sory at best, Las Vegas police's second internal investigation, which was completed Tuesday, sustained a complaint of misconduct against Splinter and department charges of neglect of duty and falsifying a police report against Southwell, Winget said. "The review board properly said it (the investigation) was not done well," Winget said. "The sheriff ordered the case reopened, and ... Internal Affairs discovered the investigation was insufficient, that many of the facts were not investigated." The complaint filed against Splinter was one of the first two cases examined by the Citizen Review Board after its formation in October. The 25-member board was created because of complaints that police did not effectively investigate citizens' allegations of police misconduct. "But for the review board's actions, this misconduct would have gone completely ignored," said Andrea Beckman, executive director of the board. "Those critics of the board who've claimed that the board has no power and is ineffective, this case proves to the contrary -- that this board does have a real purpose and a real influence on the conduct of the Metropolitan Police Department." Discipline for Splinter, a four-year veteran, and Southwell, a 13-year veteran, will be determined by their supervisors within two to three weeks, Winget said. ' ecause the violations occurred before the department's new disciplinary Licy was started in January, the officers' supervisors will base their punishment on examination of other cases in the past five years in which officers were found to have committed similar violations. Winget said the only o~ficer he could think of in the past five years who was found to have filed a false report was terminated. If Southwell had filed false information in a report this year, he would be fired, according to the department's new guidelines. Splinter likely will receive a less serious sanction, but Winget declined to speculate what that might be. Umpire Jon Tignor filed an Internal Affairs complaint with police last year accusing Splinter of conduct unbecoming to an officer. Tignor said Splinter, who was not on duty while playing baseball July 30 at Cheyenne High School, pulled back his shirt and showed him a gun after Tignor ejected the officer from the game. Winget said Southwell falsely stated during the investigation that a North Las Vegas police supervisor who responded to the incident found that no misconduct had occurred. Southwell lied about questioning a witness who was never interviewed, Winget said. Splinter, who was supervised by Southwell at the time of the incident, was exonerated in August. Unsatisfied with the outcome of his Internal Affairs complaint, Tignor took ~he case to the review board, which in its findings report wrote sufficient idence existed to show Splinter did display "a weapon in a public arena in _ manner that was unreasonable, improper and without legal justification." The review board criticized the investigation that led to Splinter being cleared. The board's report said Southwell interviewed only two witnesses: Splinter ~nd a witness who was friends with Splinter and Southwell. _he investigator did not even interview two of the three witnesses named in the incident report filed by the officer (Splinter)," the board wrote. Southwell contacted Tignor by phone for an interview but "decided he was drunk and uncooperative and made no additional attempts to contact him," the report said. The board found Tignor did not drink but did have a speech impediment. Unlike last year when the incident occurred, Winget said most misconduct complaints now are investigated by Internal Affairs officers instead of the accused officer's supervisor. Staffing in the Internal Affairs Bureau was increased earlier this year from 14 personnel to 24. Gary Peck, executive director of the Nevada American Civil Liberties Union, which campaigned for the review board's creation, praised the department for the new investigation. "I want to commend the department for looking into what was obviously an incompetent investigation," Peck said. "Hopefully they will mete out punishment commensurate with the offense and that will send a strong message to other officers that misconduct will be dealt with seriously." Peck said the developments validated the work of the review board. "The incident certainly does underscore what we have been saying all along: Police cannot be trusted to police themselves," he said. This story is located at: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/May-O3-Thu-2001/news/16012010.htmi Officer's falsified report revealed By Keith Paul LAS VEGAS SUN A Metro Police sergeant filed false reports during an internal investigation he conducted that cleared an officer of a misconduct complaint filed by a citizen, police officials told the Sun Tuesday. An internal investigation of Sgt. Dan Southwell's actions sustained department charges of neglect of duty and falsifying a police report, Undersheriff Richard Winget said. A Citizen Review Board review of the complaint revealed a shoddy internal investigation. Police reopened the case and discovered alleged misconduct by Southwell, 40, a 13-year Metro veteran. "An internal investigation revealed the documented information he collected was not based in fact," he said. "It cuts directly to the issue of integrity. It touches the very heart of what police officers do, and that is document materials that have to go before judges and juries." ~nly two other times in the past five years have officers been punished for falsifying information. Between January 1995 and November 2000, one officer 3 was found to have filed a false report and another filed false information in a report. In both cases the recommended punishment was tern~ination, according to Metro documents. Southwell's supervisors will determine the disciplinary action. He could be red for the violations, although Sheriff Jerry Keller must approve any Anishment that exceeds a 40-hour suspension. Southwell, a patrol sergeant, in August conducted an investigation of a citizen's complaint against Officer Richard Splinter. Splinter, who was off duty and playing baseball, was accused of pulling back his shirt and showing his gun to Jon Tignor, an umpire who had just ejected him from the game. Splinter, according to police reports, stated that he thought Tignor had a gun. Tignor dropped to his knees and remained there, with Splinter standing in front of him, until officers arrived. splinter was cleared of wrongdoing based on Southwell's investigation, Winget said. Southwell had recently been promoted to sergeant. Tignor filed a separate complaint with the Citizen Review Board after Splinter was exonerated. The board in February not only sustained the complaint against Splinter, but also rebuked Metro for the shoddy internal investigation of the complaint. "The investigating officer interviewed only two witnesses, the officer who was the subject of the complaint and one other witness who had been friends with both the investigating officer and the officer charged with misconduct," the board wrote. Southwell didn't even interview two of the three witnesses named in the incident report filed by Splinter, according to the board. uthwell contacted Tignor but, "based upon his experience," decided Tignor "was drunk and uncooperative." The board found Tignor doesn't drink, but he does have a speech impediment, the board said in its decision. Metro officials agreed the investigation was substandard and reopened an internal investigation into Splinter's alleged actions. The new internal investigation sustained a misconduct complaint against Splinter and uncovered the suspected problems with Southwell's investigation, Winget said. Splinter's discipline for his conduct will be recon~nended by his supervisors. "It's the review board that discovered the problems and brought to our attention what you could call a cover-up, but what I believe was a falsified investigation," he said. The uncovering of a shoddy investigation and accusations by police that one of their own falsified reports reinforces the need for the Citizen Review Board, said Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada. "This case once again makes clear that it cannot be left to police investigators to investigate themselves," he said. "I want to conunend the department for taking seriously the findings of the review board and for going beyond them to send a message to officers that they need to fairly and competently investigate allegations of misconduct." The review board's executive director agreed. Metro's actions unequivocally prove that the Citizen Review Board is not only appropriate and necessary, but it also proves that but for the review 4 board's actions, this misconduct by officers would have been completely ignored," Andrea Beckman said. Peck said he hopes Metro will give Southwell "the appropriate punishment" and "that this type of vigilance continues." actly what punishment Southwell will receive will be recommended by his supervisors because the misconduct occurred before the department's discipline guidelines took effect in January. Punishment under the guidelines for false information in reports and filing a false report is termination. Metro also has changed the way it handles internal investigations. The majority of inquiries are now done by internal affairs unit investigators. The nuraber of internal affairs investigators also has been increased, Winget said. The review of internal investigation reports has been increased, as well. Now, an internal affairs administrative sergeant, lieutenant and captain review the findings, Winget said. The Citizen Review Board was established last year, following years of political wrangling and public outcry, after high-profile, officer-involved shootings in which officers were vindicated by Metro's internal affairs unit or a coroner's inquest. ~i:~'~'~':::: ~::~:!~: ~i Home: New~: TodaY's StOries TiMF..S UNK::: N ~ By MARV CERMAK, Staff writer :==:::=;~ ............ First published: Wednesday. April 11,2001 Review board advocatesL E N E'S! hail ruling Schenectady -- Federal decision deemed Police Department's former strip-search policy, scrapped in 'gg, unconstitutional A federal udge's ruling labeling a past Schenectady Police Department strip-search policy as unconstitutional was hailed Tuesday by commututy leaders seeking formation of an independent police : review board. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas McAvoy last week FUR Ul TU RE ruled that the policy was unconstitutional m connection with the rights of a student who was forced to remove his clothes in front of officers after being arrested on a minor charge. The policy was abandoned in July 1999, two months after tile incident involving tile student, who was arrested for disorderly conduct. The Rev Van Stuart and Rev Philip Grigsby said implen~entmg a police review board with powers to conduct rodependent investigations would go a long way toward eliminating officer misconduct. 'Tm glad the court officially found that was the wrong thing to do, but I would hope the decision will also eliminate an attitude including police profiling, which really is a mind-set," Stuart said. "Some other actions by police officers are .just as detrimental, but a strengthened review board will result in better relations between the police and the comrnunity." Grigsby said that establ ishing an independent review board to replace the existing Police Objective Review Committee, which relies on internal affairs investigations of complaints, would improve the situation "A strong review board would prevent something like illegal strip searches fronl happening ul the first place," Grigsby said. "The proposed independent review board would also be empowered to make policy recommendations, something the existing board can't accomplish" Councilman Brian Stratton questioned wily the blanket strip-search policy was approved in the first place. He said strip-searching all persons being .jailed was a severe, misguided policy. "If someone is a known, serious threat to society, the policy is fine," Stratton said. "Obviously. there is a need to strengthen the civilian oversight of the police process because of incidents like the wrongful strip searell." Mayor Albert Jurczynski, commenting on McAvoy's decision, said he would not support anythiug that was ruled uncoustitutional. |towever, he said liberal forces trying to discredit police departments was a trend uatlonwide, not.lust in Scheucctady. ttc said the nlovcn~ent was making a police officer's .job extremely difficult "There is a scary trend going on m the nation that makes me very nervous," Jurczynski said "There is an element of society trying to tie police hands. and any mayor worth his or her salt will agree with me. Some monitoring of police is OK, but the trend is going a bit too far, which isn't healthy for cities." Police Chief Gregory Kacznlarek said the policy was discontinued after three incidents during a short period in 1999. He said the Sheri~s Department trained city police officers to strip-search persons before they were put into cells. He said that strip searches are now conducted only if there is reason to believe the person arrested is concealing a weapon or other contraband. tte said an officer must now have a strip search approvcd by a supervisor. There have been no complaiuts since the policy change, he said. During a public hearing in January regarding a proposed rodependent police review boar& Jay Musler, 77, a longtime city businessman. told of being handcuffed, strip-searched and jailed after being charged with not wearing a seat belt. "It was pretty embarrassing and scary when it happened," Musler said Tuesday, recalling the incident that took place in May 1999. He said he was encouraged by the court ruling against strip searches. "A federal investigation going on now is clearing up some problems in the department," Musler said. "Maybe the process will weed out a few officers, but I'm not upset with the Police Department as a whole." [; :~ Send this story to a friend Return to Top Police Win Latitude on Minor Cases High Court Upholds Arrest, Jailing for Seat Belt Offense By Charles [,~snc Washington Post/';taft Wrilcl Wcdnc.~.tay, April 25.20(11: I'a[/c AfI I Police may arrest people without a warrant and take them into custody for minor oflim:~es punishable only by a fine, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday in a decision that could reshape everyday interactions between law enforcement and ordinary citizens By a 5 to 4 vote, the court held that a Texas police officer was not required by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution -- which bans unreasonable searches and seizures ~- to get a warrant before he handcuffed a woman and took her to jail for letting her children ride m her pickup truck without seat belts. A warrant requirement in such cases would be too difficult to administer, the court said. Writing for the majority, Justice David H. Soulet said the court did not want to turn "every discretionary judgment [by police] in the field... into an occasion for constitutional review." Though the motorist involved in the case was a white woman, the ruling came against the backdrop of a national debate over "racial profiling," the practice under which many minorities say police single them out for traffic stops because of their race, using rainre' offenses as a pretext. Dissenting justices strongly implied the court's decision could make it harder to stop such abuses. "Indeed, as the recent debate over racial profihng demonstrates all too clearly, a minor traffic infraction may often serve as an excuse for stopping and harassing an individual," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote. "After today, the arsenal available to any officer extends to a fi~ll arrest and the searches permissible concomitant to that arrest." O'Connor was joined m her opinion by three of the court's liberal justices, John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer Souter acknowledged that tile Texas motorist, Gail Atwater, had suffered "gratuitous humiliations imposed by a police officer who was (at best) exercising extremely poor judgment." However, Souter, in an unusual alliance with the court's conservatives, wrote that "the arrest and booking were inconvenient and embarrassing to Atwater, but not so extraordinal), as to violate the Fourth Amendment." Souter was joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, and Justices Anthotly M. Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Souter said there was no evidence that the police and local governnlent were eager to round up large numbers of people for petty offenses. "The country is not confronting anything like an epidemic of minor-offense arrests," Souter wrote. Legal analysts said the court's decision affects not only police power to conduct arrests but also the power to carry out searches. That is because past court decisions have permitted police to search people and their cars without a warrant once they are under arrest Yesterday's ruling means that a motorist could be arrested for a minor offense and then subjected to a full search of his vehicle. If you want to search someone~ all you have to do is book them for littering orjaywalking," said Susan Herman of the Brooklyn Law School, who wrote a friend-of-the-court brief for the American Civil Liberties Union, urging the court to rule for Atwater Atwater was driving her two children home from soccer practice m 1997 m Lago Vista, Tex, when a police officer noticed the three were not wearing seat belts and stopped her truck Atwater was arrested, handcuffed as her children watched, booked and released after posting bond. She pleaded no contest to the seat-belt offense and paid a $50 title, but she and her husband, Michael Haas, sued the city and the police officer, claiming her Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure had been violated. Despite yesterday's decision against her, Atwater told the Dallas Morning News, "Every inch of my being believes that we were right." Bill Krueger, who represented Lago Vista, told the paper that the city is "not in tile business of arresting mothers. But when it comes to a point wilere the mother is endangering the life of a child, we think it raises to the level wilere we think an arrest would be appropriate." © 2001 ]'he Washington Post Company 2 4;2501 g:2/AM ~~ By THEOLA S. LABBE, staff writer .................................. First published Wednesday, Apdl 25, 2001 St. Peter's Police complaints spurHospital call for monitor Schenectady -- City Council members call for federal intervention P~e¢~ai¢ Inslithe Frustrated by what they say is a lack of accountability and I~dership in the Schenectady Police Department, two City Council members called on Tnesday for the appointment of a federal monitor to run the Joseph L. Allen and David L Bouck made their announcement on the steps oCCity Itall, omed by the New York Civil Liberties Union In addition, Louise G. Roback, NYCLU Capital Region executive director, said her office is considering a Federal civil rights complaint against Ihe city If the lawsuit is successful, it could change depaament operating procedures and open the door to federal oversight as seen in cities like Wallkill, Orange County which also had a trotdried police department. "The mayor and the chiefrefilse to accept there are problems," Allen said. "Until you recognize there are problems, nothing is going to change." Tuesday's announcement is the latest development to focus on problems in the city's Police Department. The FBI has an ongoing investigation into alleged police corruption m the 165-member department Two officers have been charged with shaking down drug runners and then lurning the drngs over to drug abusers to buy infom~ation. One officer has been convicted. Some City Council members have called for the resignation of Police ChiefGregol}, Kaczmarek. While Allen and Bouck acknowledged the ongoing FB[ investigation of the department, which has resulted so far in the guilty plea of former police officer Richard Barnett and tbe indictnmnt of officer Michael Slier on drug charges, the councilmen said that only a federal monitor could address what they believe to be issues of police brutality and misconduct in the department They also voiced concerns that the pattern will continue because the department is incapable of policing itsel£ The call for a federal monitor also comes .just days after it was revealed that tile forn~er head of the department's internal affhirs bureau testified that he was not given enough resources to look into complaints against tile department. Dan Johnson, who retired fi'om the depamnenl last year, was deposed April 12 as part of a lawsuit filed by Elizabeth Gonzalez, a teacher's assistant at the Schenectady County jail. She alleges that she was illegally strip-searched m July 1998. According to Gonzalez's attorney, Kevm Luibrand, Johnson testified that be did not get any cooperation from his superiors and police administration to investigate complaints against tile department. Johnson also testified that he was not given the staff to look into the allegations and was assigned a number of other tasks that prevented Iron investigating tbe complaints. As a resuh, several cases were either dropped or could never be substantiated The attorney hired by the city in the Gonzalez case, Michael Murphy, confirmed Tuesday that he was present at the deposition but would not comment on JohnsoWs testimony. As part ofTuesday's annotmcement, Roback said the Civil Liberties Union is putting together a case against the city but would not file a lawsuit until it was "ironclad" "We want to make sure we have a winning case," she said. Allen and Bouck also chastised District Attorney Robert M. Camey, a filllow Democrat who is running for re-election this fall, for not investigating Barnett and Slier, who were charged with extortion and drug dealing. Carhey would not discuss those criticisms Tuesday but said in a statement "it would be inappropriate for 425/01 8:20 AM me to independently investigate matters which are or may be encompassed within" the FBI investigation Mayor Albert P. Jurczynski, a Republican, has been under pressure from the all-Democratic council to replace Kaczmarek, who he staunchly supports and has the sole authority to fire. Upon hearing of the call for federal oversight, Jurczynski dismissed it as little more than political maneuver -- an attempt to use the law to break up a log. jam between opposing sides on the chiefs ability to lead the department. "1 don't understand it," the mayor said. Kaczmarek said there was no need for federal oversight but said he was not averse to "any independent investigation" of the depamnent. As proof, he said that he spoke to corporation counsel Michael Brockbank sometm~e last year about the possibility of a consent decree to bring needed change to the department. Such a decree can supersede collective bargaining rules, which Kaczmarek admitted have impeded change m the depamnent m the past. The town of Wallkill signed such a decree m February after Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued the town of 30,000 people, alleging federal civil rights violations such as harassment and unlawful stops of young female drivers, who would be charged with a crime but then could have the charges dismissed if they agreed to date the police officers. Roback said the American Civil Liberties Union also had successfully sued the police department m Cincinnati, Ohio, which has been plagued m recent weeks with riots and demonstrations over the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager. ~:i.!] Send this stop/to a friend Return to Top C2~j/)2~ 2001, Capital Newspapers l)iviskn~ of I'hc Ilcalsl Co~T,oralion, \llmn% N Y l'hc inlbm~ation you receive 4/25/81 8:20 AM %'~%~ii%~'~:A~""~ Home: News: Todav'e Stod~s UNION ~_~=,~*-,~_,~,;- By KIM MARTINEAU, Staff writer First published: Friday, April 27, 2001 Police face Justice review Albany -- Investigators will examine whether the Schenectady department routinely violated civil rights in a move that widens an ongoing corruption probe The US. Justice Department will seek to detemm~e whclher the Schenectady Police Department engaged m a patter~ of civil rights abuses, as scrntiny of the agency widens beyond an existing corruption probe, that he has scIH nlorc than a dozen compiaints ~eceivcd by the FBI and SchcnecIady Police Department to the Justice Department's civil rights di~ismn fo~ rewcw lie rcfi~sed Io characIerize II~e coml>lamts, though they may include incidents tt;,, already publicized "lt reaches a point when you say, there's enough here, . .......... let's turn it over," Frencb said during a news conference m the [J S. attomey's Albany office. Activists have complained that the department bas been guilty of mistreating people in the community But the ongomg investigation has focused exclusively on individual cmnmal conduct without looking at larger systemic issues, such as policies and leadership, within the depaament. Civil liberties activists welcomed the new development, "This is a recognition, in effect, by the US. Attorney's Office that real reform is needed in the police department," said Louise Roback, head of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "What's happening m Schenectady is not a recent phenomenon, it's more of an entrenched problem." What bappens nexl depends on what the Justice Deparhnent finds after reviewing the complaints. If the agency decides 1o investigate and nncovers a ~ pattern of civil r~gbls abuses, ~vhicb covers things like ,,I I t 27 !)l ? %(I PM racial profiling and police brutality, tile police departnmnt could be reqnired to implenmnt a series of recommendations through a consent decree, or legal settlement. Recent consent decrees have incl uded provisions for federal oversight of the New Jersey State Police and the Los Angeles Police Department. The Schenectady Police Department has been battered by a series of civil rights complaints over the last several years and is currently the target of an ongoing federal probe into alleged corrupuon in the deparmmnt. Two officers in the 165-member force have been indicted for allegedly shaking down drug runners oll the street and then tnmmg the drugs over Io drug abusers to buy inforn~ation. One officer has been convicted 'FIle civil rights complaints have ranged from of'ricers allcgcdly roughing up citizens to strip searching those charged with minor crmles at the police station .jail block. In one case, a black man has accused two officers of driving him to Glenville and dumping him there, without his shoes. There have been allegations that these complaints are not isolated, but could be the resull of unwritten policy. For example, m the course of civil litigation against the city, one officer has alleged that some officers used to follow an unwritteo practice of driving alleged drunks and drug dealers outside city bruits m a so-called "relocation policy." City officials deny the allegation The department at one time bad a policy of strip searching nearly everyone coming into the city lockup, regardless of how minor the cbarge The policy had ab'eady beeu discontinued by the time a federal judge deemed it unconstitutional Frencb would not say how many complaints were sent, excepl to say that they numbered at least a dozen Since February, French has considered ref'errmg some oflhe complaints to the civil rights division Only complaints that are potentially verifiable have been forwarded. "If it's just a general gripe about the deparmlent, this, in my opinion, is not enough," French said. Ultimately, tile intervention is rotended to bring 2:5(/PM closure to the department and the cozrmrunity, he said. "l'n~ hoping m the end it turns out to be a positive experience." City officials are certainly looking for closure and have expressed ~-ustration at a criminal investigation that is approaching two years "We've been living for about 20 months by assassination by accusation," Police ChiefGrego~2¢ Kaczmarek said "We don't care who points out the h-uth to us, we.lust want tile truth" "This investigation has had a stranglehold on the department and tile community and it needs to come to an end," he added. "Two people out of 165 have been indicted It's not fair to label the whole depamnent with the same brush. "We've been a far too convement target for too many people," said Kaczmarek "lt's like we walk around with a 'kick me' s~gn on our back." Mayor Albert Jurczynski said he is fi'ustrated by an investigation that seems to have takcn oil n life of its own. Both lie and Kaczmarek said they welcomed input on bow 1o run a better departtnent, ifthat's what the reds conclude "lfthere's anything -- anything -- let's move forward," said Jurczynski. "Ifthere's nothing, then let's end it." The Justice Depamnent will be reviewing the complaints based on a 1994 law that gave the Justice Department tile power to investigate "patterns or practices" of civil rights violations by police departments and to file civil lawsuits 1o correct the problems, Previously, the agency could only investigate individual allegations of police misconduct "We will consider any inforn~ation we receive and deternm~e whethera 'pattern or practice' investigation is warranted," said Justice Department spokeswoman Christine Romano French, a Democrat, will step down from his job on May 3 I, handing oversight of the Schenectady investigation to a new US attorney. "1 wish I could tell you it would crumble without me," he joked "But it's not." 427012 iI!PM ('omcidcntly, the civil riglrts investigation will fall to someone wilh knowledge of the Schenectady area. Pending confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Ralph Boyd Jr, a Niskayuna nauve, will take the helm of the civil rights division. ills father was a founder of the Schenectady chapter of the NAACP, He said Thursday he was aware of French's referral but declined Io comment. writer Theola S. Labbe contributed to this report [:~l Send this story to a friend Return to Top I ,1,1 4'27'01 2:50 PM By KIM MARTINEAU, staff writer First published: Tuesday. May 1. 2001 Dianlond Cop guilty in partner's Ridge death ............. Albany -- Kenneth Kannes goes to jail after ju~ ~ takes but 2 hours to convict him of vehicular ~ J, I If .: L-. manslaughter ~~ A Rensselaer police o~cer who had been drinkin~ when his patrol car veered o~lnterstate 90 and crashed, killing his partner, was convicted Monday of ~/:i~(,~-~ vehicular mauslaughter afterj ust two honrs ofj u~ **~ deliberation ~:~;~r~,~ Detective Kenneth Kannes, 41, cried as the verdict ........ was read and silently sun'endered his wallet, watch and other personal belongings after state Supreme Court Justice Josepb Teresi revoked his bail, Kannes was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs to spend his first nigbt in jail since the fatal wreck that killed his fiiend and partner, Officer Mark Goca, 36, in tbe early morning hours of May I% 2000 Kannes faces up to seven years in prison when sentenced "The most incredible thing he said was that as long as you feet fine, it's OK to drive regardless of your blood-alcohol level," said prosecutor Che~l Fowler. "Yon have to know how ridiculous that sounds to the urors." The six men and six women jurors were escoaed out of the courtroom immediately after the verdict and declined to comment. On the night leading up to lhe crasb, Kannes, a DARE officer and 16-year veteran of the police force, had been in Albany working on an undercover drug investigation with Goca and the Albany County Sheriffs Department. After finishing the investigation, the officers drove to a social club, the Polish American Citizens Club in Albany, where Kannes drank six bottles of beer, according to trial I,,I ~ 5'1/01 g:IOAM testimony. Shortly before the club's I a.m closing, the two officers drove to DiCarlo's Gentlemen's Club in Colonie, where Kannes says he drank another beer, The crash occurred as they were traveling home to Rensselaer at 2:30 am. Neither Goca nor Kannes was wearing a seat belt when the car swerved off the highway, tumbled down an embankment and flipped several times Goca's chest was crushed under the weight of their unmarked patrol car, a 2000 Chevrolet Lumina Goca was unresponsive by the time medical help arrived. At one point, Kannes could have taken a plea bargain offering a nmmnum of one year ill prison, according to sources, but the offer eventually was withdrawn. Kannes claims he swerved to avoid hitting a car that had cut him o~.. The defense hammered on this theme throughout the six-day trial. "When you consider the manner in which that car went off that road spinning around, there is only one reasonable conclusion that you can draw," Kannes' lawyer, Eric Sills, told the jury m his closing remarks "Another car cut Iron off That other car caused this accident" But the prosecution insisted that because Kannes had been drinking, he caused the wreck. A state trooper who analyzed the scene testified that the long, arching tire marks Kannes' car etched into the road were consistent with a driver falling asleep at the wheel The trooper found no skid marks or other signs showing Kannes jerked the steering wheel or braked to avoid another car. In addition, the trooper testified that Kannes had to have been speeding, though he couldn't estimate tile exact speed Kannes did not tell the first two people to arrive on the scene -- a truck driver and a state trooper -- that someone had tried to cut Iron off, according to testimony. Kannes concocted the story later to avoid responsibility for the crash, Fowler argued, Several witnesses called by the defense, including Mayor Lynn Ganance and Council 82 President Ron Hoyt, said they did not smell alcohol on Kannes' breath. Fowler criticized the motives underlying the officials' testimony. Goca's widow has a civil lawsuit pending against the city, which Ganance admitted she has an roterest in as mayor. Hoyt, as president of the union to which ttlany law enforcement officers in New York state belong, represents Kannes in any internal investigation the department does, which also has been on hold pending the outcome of the criminal trial Uhimately, the forensic evidence showed that Kannes was legally drunk at the tinge of the crash. Observations that Kannes did not seem dnmk, in light of the evidence, are irrelevant, Fowler told the jury in her closing remarks. Three hours after the wreck, Kannes' blood was drawn and was found to have a blood-alcohol level ofO 12 percent. The legal threshold m New York is 0. I 0 percent. "The only way you can tell for I00 perceat sure is to do that test," she said. A to×icoIogist testified that Kannes would bave bad to have consumed between eight and 16 beers to still be legally drunk at 5:30 a.m Last week, Kannes took the witness stand and sobbed uncontrollably as he described the events that unfolded the night of Goca's death. "We started rolling, and I was calling Mark's name '- Mark, Mark -- as we were rolhng, and we were rolling around in the car -- Mark, Mark -- and we were still rolling, and I was on my stomach -- Mark, Mark," Kannes testified "1 didn't get an answer, I didn't get an answer. I kept calling his name and calling his name." Fowler sympathized with Kannes -- to a point. "lt's not every day Illat you're responsible for killing a fi'iend, for killing a partner," Fowler said. "lt's understandable lie shed some tears." Kannes, who has been suspended from the force with pay, will be sentenced June 12. He is being held in tbe Albany County jail. ;-::-:1 Send this story to a friend Return to Top 5 I'01 8:lOAM FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CITIZENS POLICE REVIEW PANEL CITY OF CINCINNATI ISSUED APRIL 23, 2001 The Citizens Police Review Panel was created for the purpose of providing civilian review of the investigations of alleged police misconduct undertal~en by the City of Cincinnati and to provide advice and recommendations to the City Manager. The goal of the Panel is to ensure the integrity of investigations of police misconduct and to enhance community confidence in the Cincinnati Police Division. Panel Members: Keith L. Borders, Esq., Chair Laura L. Banks Dr. Walter Bowers, II, MD Paul M. De Marco, Esq. Rev. Paula M. Jackson Nancy J. Minson Steven Tutt CITIZENS POLICE REVIEW PANEL OFFICES: 801 Plum St., Room 158, Cincinnati, OH 45202. TEL: 513-352-2499 FAX: 513-357-7671 e-mini: Phyllis. Calhoun@rcc.org TABLE OF CONTENTS PANEL MEMBERS 3 COMPLAINT PROCESS 4 CITIZENS POLICE REVIEW PANEL TRAINING 5 TIMELINE 7 THE PANEL 'S DISPOSITION OF CASES 8 CONCLUSION 11 L Summary Of Experiences 11 IL Recommendations 14 A. Independence and a Neutral Environment 15 B. Adequate Staffing 15 C. Appropriate Authority 15 D. Building Community Confidence in Police Accountability 16 I Citizens Police Review Panel I LAURA BANKS Resident of the Evanston community. Ms. Banks is a retired Secretary from the St Mark School in her community. She volunteers three days a week at the St Mark and St, Francis DeSales Schools. KEITH L. BORDERS, ESQ. Residentof Paddock Hills and a former member of the Paddock Hills Assembly Board of Trustees. Senior Attorney and Senior Director, Associate Relations at LensCrafters, Inc, in Cincinnati. Former trial attorney with the Civil Rights Division of fie United States Department of Justice and Assistant Counsel for Federated Department Stores, Inc., in Cincinnati. Received Juds Doctorate degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. DR. WALTER BOWERS, II Resident of Clifton. Physician specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, in pdvate practice. Doctor of Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Resident, University of Cincinnati Medical School. Member of Admissions Committee and Volunteer Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati Medical School. Numerous community organization afflia'dons. PAUL M. DE MARCO, ESQ. Resident of Mt. Washington. Attorney at Waite, Schneider, Bayless and Cbesley. Received Juris Doctorate degree from the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. Member of the Cincinnati, Ohio, Federal, and American Bar Associations. Member of the Grievance Committee and the Academy of Leadership for Lawyers of the Cincinnati Bar Association. A founding member of the Collaberatjve Law Center, which fosters dispute resolution without litigation. REV. PAULA M. JACKSON Resident of Paddock Hills. Rector of the Church of Our Saviour, an Episcopal Church in Mt Auburn. Received PhD. in Theology and Masters degree in Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. Community involvement with a vadety of faith groups, including the Greater Cincinnati Faith Community Alliance. NANC Y J. MINSON Resident of Walnut Hills. Executive Director of the Mental Health Association oft he Cincinnati Area and Co-Chair of the Mental Health Sub-Committee of the Community/Police Relations Roundtable. Bachelors degree from Ohio State University, Graduate Studies, Univers~ of Cincinnati and Xavier University. Numerous community affiliations, including Cincinnatus Association, Cincinnali Women's Political Caucus, League of Women Voters, and Woman's City Club, STEVEIV TUTT Resident of Price Hill and fou~ gener~on Cincinnatian. Mr. Tutt is employed with the Clermont County general Health District as the Program Coordinator for Every Child Succeeds. He has Masters of Social Work degree from the University of Cincinnati. Among his interests are animal welfare, environmental issues, historical preserv~on, and community development, COMPLAINT PROCESS The Citizens Police Review Panel reviews investigations of citizens' complaints against members of the Cincinnati Police Division. To make a complaint against a police officer, a completed complaint form can be forwarded to the Panel's office. The complaint is then referred to the City Manager for investigation. After that: · An Investigator from IIS or OMI contacts the complainant · The CPRP receives a written report on the results of the Investigation · The CPRP reviews that report, either agreeing or disagreeing with the report's findings The CPRP may request that a supplemental investigation be conducted · The CPRP report its recommendations and the reasons for them to the City Manager · The City Manager decides whether to act upon the CPRP's recommendations. The CPRP also reviews those investigations of alleged police misconduct that did not originate with the filing of a complaint by a citizen. These types of investigations involve a vadety of police misconduct, including "shots fired" cases, which are automatically investigated by OMI and IIS. The CPRP is also responsible for making reports, including an annual report, to the City Manager on alleged police misconduct, including patterns of misconduct that the Panel has observed. The CPRP is authorized to accept complaints made in any open meeting of the CPRP. The CPRP provides reasonable accommodations for persons with special needs. CITIZENS POLICE REVIEW PANEL TRAINING The CPRP training was designed to familiarize the Panel members with basic essential information to assist in efficiently carrying out their responsibilities. The training was designed to provide information and knowledge not commonly shared by the public. This information assisted members in understanding and applying the laws, rules of process and policy governing the disposition of alleged police misconduct cases. The training explained the roles and responsibilities of the various participants, including OMI (Office of Municipal Investigations), IIS (Internal Investigation Section), the Chief of Police, the Safety Director, the City Manager, and the accepted rationale applicable to the Police Division disdplinary system. Instruction also provided CPRP members with background information, instrumental in the formulation of procedure and/or policy recommendations concerning the Police Division for the City Managers consideration. Education consisted of the following categories: A. Initial Training and Orientation 1. Administrative Code Article II, Section 20 This component covered the history leading up to the passage of legislation authorizing the creation of the Citizens Police Review Panel. It was designed to familiarize Panel members with the purpose of the CPRP and its authority. 2. Police Recruit Selection and Testing The presentation reviewed the process of attracting and selecting candidates for the position of Police Recruit. Included was an overview of the various provisions of the Ohio Revised Code and the Rules of the City Civil Service Commission that pertain to the hiring and training of candidates. 3. Office of Municipal Investigations Training acquainted CPRP members with the techniques used by OMI in achieving its investigative purpose and included the function of OMI "Shots Fired" investigations, police investigations, OMI investigative techniques and tools, OMI reports, and OMI recommendations. 4. Use of Force Investigation, Reporting, and Simulation Training covered the CPD's use of force policy, analysis of the policy, and rationale. CPRP members also participated in use of force simulations with the Firearms Training Simulator (FATS). 5. Cincinnati Police Division Policy and Procedure This element reviewed established Police Division policy and procedure related to the conduct of police while performing neighborhood patrol duty. 6. Disciplinary Process This component covered disciplinary contents from the time a charge is filed against an officer, to the initial hearing, penalties, appeal of penalties to Civil Service, arbitration, and judicial appellate opportunity in the event of termination. 7. Police and Community Constituent Groups The CPRP heard presentations and held discussions with various individuals representing groups that participated in the mediation that led to the ordinance which created the CPRP, including the Fraternal Order of Police, its President and its attorneys, as well as Mr. AI Gerhardstein, Ms. Sheila Adams, Ms. Karla Irvine, and Mr. Cecil Thomas. 8. Media Training The Panel received training in communicating effectively with media representatives. 9. Patrol Ride-Alongs To give Panel members practical experience and see the job from a police officers perspective, Panel members went on one or more ride-alongs each. B. Supplemental Training 1. FBI/Department of Justice Presentation "Color of Law" Representatives from the FBI and the Department of Justice made this presentation to familiarize Panel members with federal dvil dghts issues as they apply to the use of force by police officers. 2. Additional dde-alongs Panel members are encouraged to take advantage of additional dde-alongs. TIMELINE January 1999 Ordinance approved by City Council June 23, 1999 CPRP established June 29, 1999 Introductory meeting with City Manager to discuss Panel working procedures July 11, 1999 Citizen Complain Resolution Process and Use of Force Investigation and Repoding training. July 14, 1999 Administrative Code Art. II Sec. 20; Police Recruit Selection & Testing; CPD Policy & Procedure training. August 4, 1999 OMI and Disciplinary Process training August 18, 1999 Media Training; Meet with Pres. Of Urban League, Deputy City Solicitor, Personnel Director, and Attorney to discuss the Mediation Process August 28, 1999 Organizational meeting September 23, 1999 Panel conducts first public meeting October 11, 1999 Meeting with FOP President and attorneys October 12, 1999 Panel adopts operational guidelines November 29, 1999 CPRP begins case review of "shots fired" OMI # 99067, IIS #99052, CPRP #101, Michael Carpenter. December 6, 1999 Panel requests an amendment to the Ordinance requiring that discipline not be imposed prior to review of recommendations in the Panel's final report. December 18, 1999 Panel requests outside legal services, due to conflict of interests; City Manager agrees to request for independent ethics opinion. December 20, 1999 City Solicitor recommends denial of December 6 request, no action taken by Council. December 22, 1999 City Solicitor's Office issues opinion reviewing conflict of interests allegation and denying December 18 request. No independent ethics opinion. March 6, 2000 CPRP issues final report on "shots fired" case of Michael Carpenter. March 20, 2000 Panel holds public meeting in the community of Evanston April 12, 2000 Training with FBI, SherTi Farrar, "Color of Law" May 1, 2000 Receipt of materials completed for beginning of deliberations on "shots fired" case OMI #98276, IIS#98294, Timothy Blair/Officer Daniel Carder May 15,2000 US Attorney's office closes investigation of shooting of Michael Carpenter; "insufficient evidence to support a federal criminal prosecution." June 5, 2000 Panel requests invocation of subpoena power as permitted by Ordinance, to interview key witnesses in CardedBlair case. July 17, 2000 Panel conducts public meeting in the Lower Price Hill community October 25, 2000 Panel amends procedures to refine Summary Disposition process November 6, 2000 Panel issues final report on "shots fired" case of Timothy Blair. THE PANEL 'S DISPOSITION OF CASES Statistics The Citizens Police Review Panel logged 247 citizen complaints between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2000. Following is a listing of citizen complaints by category. Discou~,teous Treatment 1 'Discourtesy 32 Excessive Force 62 False Arrest 4 Harassment 4 Illegal Search 1 Improper Procedure 75 Improper Search 1 Lack of Proper Service 5 Law Violation by Officer 3 Off Duty Conduct 1 Other 18 Shots Fired 20 Unethical Conduct 11 Unlawful Arrest/Citation 3 Unlawful Search 1 Verbal and/or Physical 5 Abuse Total 247 In reviewing investigative reports processed by IIU and OMI, the CPRP may make recommendations to the City Manager by: (A) Agreeing with the report findings (B) Agreeing with comment (C) Disagreeing with the report findings (D) Disagreeing with comment (E) Requesting additional investigation or clarifying information Major Shots Fired Cases To date, the CPRP has reviewed two major "shots fired" investigations. On March 6, 2000, the CPRP sent its report to the City Manager in the Michael Carpenter case, disagreeing with comment. On November 6, 2000, the panel reported to the City Manager that is was unable to reach a unanimous conclusion in the Timothy Blair case regarding the justification of the use of deadly force. In this matter, the Panel unanimously concluded, however, that the investigations by OMI and IIS were not credible and perhaps were biased. Summary Disposition Process The Citizens Police Review Panel reviews cases that do not involve loss of life or shots fired through a summary disposition process. Three subcommittees, consisting of two panel members each, review these cases of a less sedous nature, prepare summaries of the investigations and make recommendations to the panel as a whole during the regularly scheduled public meetings. These subcommittee recommendations are reviewed by the panel and by majority vote sent to the City Manager. To date, 24 cases have been review through this process as follows: Subcommittee A Summary., .Disposition Recommendations Discourteous Treatment 3 1 Harassment 1 Improper Procedure 2 Unlawful Arrest 1 Unlawful Detention 1 Total (9) 5 3 0 I 0 Subcommittee B Summary Disposition Recommendations Complaint Category Agree Agree with Disagree Disagree with Request Comment Comment Information Llnethical Conduct 1 Off Duty Conduct 2 Improper Procedure 6 1 Excessive Force 1 Misuse of Authority 1 Total (12) 10 2 Subcommittee C Summary Disposition Recommendations Complaint Category J Ague Agree with Olsagren DIsagree with Request Comment Comment Information Unethical Conduct I I 1 False Arrest 1 Improper Procedure I I t Excessive Force I 3 Unauthorized Use of 1 Position Lack of Proper 1 Service Total (13) 4 7 2 CONCLUSION I. Summary of Experiences The City of Cincinnati, like many other municipalities throughout the country, has adopted a policy of community policing and, in doing so, recognized the need to give the public access to the system of review and oversight. The formation of a panel made up of citizens, charged to review investigations of alleged police misconduct, took place in response to a consensus of public opinion that public confidence in the police division would be served by making it accountable to independent citizen review. This did not happen easily. A federal mediator recommended the panel in response to the 1997 shooting of Loranzo Collins, a black mental patient. Members of City Council, of the Safety Division, and of the Fraternal Order of Police were resistant. Some felt that a review panel simply created an additional layer of review. Some felt that a group of citizens untrained in law enforcement did not have the proper perspective to judge the actions of any police officer. Year 2000, the inaugural full-year of service for the Citizens Police Review Panel, like any change effort, was a mixed bag of success and setback, accolade and criticism. In many respects, the experience has been a positive one. · The members of the Panel have learned to work together as a group and conduct business effectively. We have not only overcome our philosophical differences, but seem to utilize our diversity in positive ways. · In comparison to review policy in other dries, the complaint process functions well. Citizens are able to file a gdevanca with the CPRP directly, avoiding the obvious conflicts of processing a complaint through the police division. · Meetings are open to the public and any findings by the Panel also are made public. The reports produced by the CPRP are well-documented and carefully reasoned, based on the information, or the lack thereof, with which the Panel is allowed to wo~. · The CPRP has been consistent in improving its own standards as it fulfills its obligation to assess the credibility, accuracy, thoroughness, and impartiality of investigations. The CPRP. in reviewing two major shots-fired cases, has issued moderate and achievable recommendations to the City Manager in the belief that they "would further enhance the goals of improving investigations of police misconduct and enhancing community confidence in the Cincinnati Police Division." (Carpenter Report, p. 1 ) These included: 1. Develop a means by which the community can be assured that officers who deviate from the use of force policy or the firearm policy are subject to appropriate discipline. 2. Develop a specific policy for disabling an automobile in the course of a non- routine traffic stop. (This recommendation has been issued formally, twice.) 3. Develop a policy regarding discharging a firearm into glass. 4. City representatives should refrain from making public comment on events involving the CPD, until after investigations and reviews have been completed. 5. CPD or other City representatives should convey condolences to family members of individuals killed or injured as a result of incidents involving the Police Division - without indication of fault or elaboration of circumstances. 6. The City should increase efforts in practical education of the public concerning police stops, to help avert future tragedies. 7. Investigation reports by IIS and OMI should clearly delineate a resolution of divergent witness accounts identified in the course of the investigative process and not simply create a Construct of the incident, used to support the police actions in question. 8. It is inappropriate for IIS or OMI to adopt the County Prosecutors finding (based as it is on the Criminal Investigation Section report) as justification for a finding that a police officer did not violate CPD policy. The Prosecutor is applying a different standard and asking a different question than those entrusted to OMI and IIS 9. Individuals who give testimony to CIS, IIS, or OMI should be given opportunity to review, verify, and sign their transcripts as accurately representing their testimony, and to prevent reliance on misrepresentations of witness accounts. The work which went into the completed reviews and recommendations has not been without its frustrations. Though the CPRP was created to build public confidence in the Police Division, certain aspects of the process have served to erode public confidence in the Panel's ability to effect change in community/police relations. 1. The Panel struggles to maintain its independence from the Safety Department, against a structure that strongly indicates, to outside observers, control of the CPRP by the Safety Department. The Panel was trained by the Department. Its Coordinator is employed and subject to supervision by the Department, even in situations where their directions to her might conflict with responsibilities to the CPRP. The Panel's legal counsel is provided by the City Solicitor. Its operating budget is within that of the Safety Department. Consequently, part of the community perceives the Panel as nothing more than an arm of the very body that it is mandated to review. The perception of control by, rather than independence from, the Safety Department was underscored in instances where the Department, in the opinion of the Panel, attempted to undermine the work of the CPRP. · For example, jn reviewing the investigations of the Michael Carpenter shooting, the Panel sought to view the car driven by Mr. Carpenter. The Safety Depadment first told Panel members that the City no longer had the car, and then that the car could not be viewed. VVhen the viewing was reluctantly permitted, it was subject to restrictions and conditions dictated by the Safety Department. · In another instance, the CPRP sought to subpoena an impodant witness during the review of the Timothy Blair shooting. The Safety Director publicly opposed issuance of the subpoena. City Council ultimately approved the subpoena, after a time- consuming process of appeal by Panel members. The witness eventually provided evidence that was worthwhile and that indicated some negligence in the investigations under review. We believe that the Panel's position was vindicated and that it was inappropriate for the Safety Department to attempt to hinder the CPRP's review by limiting the lengths to which the Panel might go in pursuit of thoroughness. 2. The amount of work necessary to produce the high quality reports that the public deserves from an independent citizen review is tremeOdous. The members of the Panel serve voluntarily, in addition to their other responsibilities. The membership conducts its own detailed review of investigations and of the evidence investigated; and creates its own reports, without assistance, While the work of our Coordinator in providing administrative and communications support is most appreciated, the Panel is in need of additional staffing to streamline the work of case review and report wdting, if we are to increase the rate of reports without sacrificing quality. Criticism of what some perceive as a Panel slow to produce is based on a failure to recognize the obvious practical need for staffing. At a meeting in November 2000 and later in a December 2000 communication, the CPRP asked the City Manager to provide additional staffing Despite the fact that the City Manager has criticized the CPRP for taking too long in wdting reports and the fact that the ordinance that created the CPRP reqUire~ adequate staffing for the CPRP, the City Manager has not acted on the CPRP's staffing request. 3. The disposition of the Panel's recommendations has been in question from the beginning of its work. By ordinance, the CPRP makes recommendations to the City Manager, including evaluations of thoroughness, accuracy, credibility, and impartiality of investigations; evaluations of disdpline; comments on patterns of misconduct; and recommendations on CPD policy and procedures, in the public interest, The City Manager is free to implement or not to implement the recommendations as he sees fit. Neither he nor any other City representative is obligated in any way to implement CPRP recommendations. The apparent disregard for the Panel's mandate has been communicated, even if unintentionally, in several forms. · The City Manager issued discipline recommendations after the Michael Carpenter incident, but prior to the Panel's issuance of its report. While there is assurance that in the future this will not be the case, there has been no apparent response to the CPRP's recommendations in other and subsequent cases, suggesting that the Panel's work is being disregarded by the Administration. It seems that recommendations from the shots-fired repods, as well as in the many summary dispositions in less critical citizen complaints, have fallen into a bureaucratic abyss. · The public is aware of this situation. In our first quarterly community meeting (March, 2000), citizens commented on the toothless nature of the CPRP's mandate. Attendance at meetings has dwindled, as the impression grows that the work of the Panel will have no impact on police conduct or CPD policy and procedure. · The CPRP requested from the Administration a response by the CPD to the Panel's Michael Carpenter report. The Panel was led to believe there was no response; however, the CPD later informed the CPRP that it had submitted its response to the Safety Director within weeks of the March 2000 issuance of the Carpenter report. Repeated at!empts by the CPRP to obtain a copy of that response have been met, first, with the suggestion that the City Manager had chosen not to release the response to the CPRP and, later, with the contention by the Safety Department that the now almost one-year-old response is still in "draft form." · Continued nonresponsiveness by the City Administration creates the impression that the CPRP was never intended to have an impact, except as a salve for the wounds of hostility between the CPD and primarily African American citizens in the City who perceive that they are targeted for unjust treatment. Presently, the Panel's recommendations, which sometimes address patterns of improper conduct, are not considered seriously. Rather, it seems to many that the City intended, in creating the Panel, to provide those with a grievance another avenue of discourse, so as merely to placate their cries, legitimate or not. II. Recommendations The members of this Panel, the first group to occupy the position in Cincinnati, offer these recommendations to the City in hopes of making our mandate - the enhancement of public confidence in our police force and the improvement of police-community relations -- more neady achievable as we continue our work. A. Independence and a Neutral Environment Every administrative change needed must be made to cladfy the independence of this Panel from the Safety Department. Budget and offices need to be separate from the Department's budget and offices. Staffing for the Panel, including its Coordinator, should answer to the Panel, rather than to the Department. Bo Adequate Staffing Given the amount of work required, the CPRP will never manage its caseload expeditiously (as the public and the officers involved deserve), without additional technical support. The consensus of the Panel is that a full-time paralegal, chosen by the Panel and answerable to the Panel, is needed to gather and summarize data from investigations, especially in the monumental task of reviewing shots-fired cases. This staff person will complete detailed initial review of reports and summary outlines of evidence and exhibits, with analysis of contradictory accounts and of disagreements between CIS, IIS, and OMI conclusions. Many cities with Civilian Review Panels maintain professional staffs such as this, including Riverside, California, Detroit, Michigan, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. In New York City, the Civilian Complaint Review Board maintains three executive staff members and nine senior staff members. We estimate that a skilled and experienced paralegal would receive approximately $30,000 in annual salary. C. Appropriate Authority What is expected of the City Manager, when the CPRP has issued its recommendations? What accountability does the Cincinnati Police Division have to the CPRP? What is the role of City Council in creating and fostering the accountability that it mandated by establishing the CPRP? Unless these questions receive more systematic treatment, the ongoing work of the CPRP will be ineffective in relation to its stated purposes. 1. The Panel is allowed by ordinance not only to request further investigation on unresolved questions, but also to investigate where necessary in order to reach conclusions in the review of conflicting investigations. Indeed, it is impossible to assess whether a completed investigation was thorough, accurate, credible, and unbiased, without examining the very evidence upon which that investigation was based. Further, it may be necessary to ask about other evidence which was not considered in the odginal investigation. This essential ability to inquire and gather information is nonetheless a point of ongoing tension, criticized at best and sometimes attacked from among the City's representatives. The CPRP must have unquestioned investigatory ability and sufficient means to gather information without having to rely on . information, or the interpretation of information, gained in prior investigations by the police. 2. The historic odgins of the CPRP are based in ethnic and racial concerns regarding police conduct. The CPRP should have authority for the review (and investigation, where needed, with adequate power and staff) of all complaints of racial profiling, discrimination, and intimidation, and other discrimination/bias complaints concerning police misconduct. 3. The CPRP should be able to comment and make recommendations regarding discipline. 4. At the very least, the public should see systematic follow-up on recommendations made by the CPRP pertaining to the Police Division. The City Manager should inform the Panel in writing as a matter of public record, of the receipt of recommendations and their disposition. If City Council is serious about independent citizen review of the police division, it should amend the current ordinance to require such public response. 5. The Safety Department should be obligated to reopen investigations in which the CPRP finds a critical lack of thoroughness, accuracy, credibility, or impartiality. 6. The Panel is encouraged by the recent practice of both OMI and the CPD, to have personnel present as communication liaisons, at all CPRP public meetings. This will increase mutual accountability, and also may expedite the completion of reviews by reducing the time needed to pursue questions of procedure. D, Building Community Confidence in Police Accountability The CPRP is always guided by its underlying purpose: to improve community-police relations, to build public confidence in an accountable police force, and to enhance "customer service" as one Safety Department representative put it. The Panel has put considerable effod into the systematic review of investigations, and into learning and understanding the training and rationale behind officers' decisions; we have also listened intently to the voices of many citizens who believe their safety or rights have been violated rather than defended. The patterns we have witnessed in our first full year of work give rise to the following recommendations, in addition to those offered in the Carpenter and Blair reports. 1. Establish an equal training focus on communication skills along with training in use of force, in the CPD. Police officers already require extensive training in the appropriate use of force. They need equal ability to implement nonviolent, problem-solving and conflict resolution skills. 2. Create an incentive for officers to report misconduct, in an environment which allows officers to report actions or display of attitudes that undermine public confidence in the CPD, without suffedng negative consequences. 3. Deny promotions to officers with numerous citizen complaints. An effective police officer is one who can use his or her authority in a manner that inspires confidence. 4. Impose discipline on officers who lie or who omit or distort facts in reporting. Police officers are expected to report incidents accurately. Officers who are found to be lying - as evidenced, for example, by a jury verdict against them in a citizen lawsuit - should be fired. 5. Create a new position within the CPD for "risk management," to oversee and respond to citizen complaints against police. 6. The bulk of the $3.2 million, paid out by Cincinnati in the past two years due to lawsuits and claims against the City, arose from disputes involving police misconduct. The CPD budget should be charged for settlements of civil cases brought because of such allegations. Such a requirement will encourage the department to track problem officers and retrain them properly, especially those who cost the department funds needed for peak operation. The CPRP, which maintains a database of citizen complaints, should also track information on settlements and claims awarded against the department.