HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-09-2002 ArticlesMarian Karr
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[NACOLE Update] Prosecutorial Misconduct Project
Steve Weinberg, a veteran reporter and former director
of IRE, is dolng a major project on prosecutorial misconduct
for the Center for Public Integrity in Washington. It's based on
his observation over many years of prosecutors who do anything
to wln convictions, knowing that even if caught bending or breaking
the rules, they would go unpunished. Among other things,
Weinberg is studying every appellate opinion in the nation
that deals with prosecutorial misconduct. He also is conducting
detailed studles of misconduct in a few jurisdictions. The results
will be published on the Web, in print and broadcast magazines
and probably as a book. The project will name names, holding
individual prosecutors responsible for misdeeds. Weinberg has
gathered much information already, but is looking for other published
or broadcast material from journalists, as well as unpublished tips
that might be worth his following up. He promises to point us later
to a Web site breaking down findings county by county. His contact
info: 807 West Blvd. South, Columbia, Mo. 65203, 573-875-2882,
weinbergs@missouri.edu
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Marian Karr
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Subject: [NACOLE Update] Miami IRP Urges Police To Allow Residents to Have Lawyers at Hearings...
Posted on Fri, Jun. 28, 2002 ~ __ IMiami Herald
Panel urges police to allow residents to have lawyers at hearings about officers
BY CHARLES RABIN
crabin@hera!d,com
The Miami-Dade Police Department should allow residents the right to representation at complaint
hearings regarding officers' behavior, the county's Independent Review Panel recommended to
county leaders and police Director Carlos Alvarez on Thursday.
The panel voted unanimously to recommend the department adopt a set of recommendations on
police behavior that resulted from a January 2000 ticket received by Maria Lopez, 51, and that
residents receive the same rights to representation at complaint hearings as police officers.
The department currently encourages its internal affairs investigators to interview citizens alone.
Though the independent panel can only make recommendations, its executive director, Eduardo
Diaz, said Thursday's motion is likely to carry more weight given the current political climate. A string
of police shootings in the last 18 months has brought calls for more oversight.
"1 believe the Miami-Dade Police Department will take this seriously," Diaz said shortly after the vote.
The fuss began in January 2000, when Lopez was given a traffic ticket on the Dolphin Expressway
near Southwest 107th Avenue. Officer Robert Brutto, in street clothes, claimed Lopez cut off his
patrol car.
Though the ticket was thrown out, Lopez was upset with Brutto's driving and the way she said he
mistreated her. So in May 2001, she visited the department to give a sworn statement before the
Professional Compliance Bureau.
With her was her daughter, Maria Lopez, 26, an attorney. But police refused to allow the younger
Lopez to accompany her mother. Fearing her mother might be intimidated into saying something
wrong, the younger Lopez dissuaded her mother from talking. The PCB found no problems with
Brutto's actions.
The Lopezes subsequently went to the Independent Review Panel, but not before Major Anthony
Gentile passed along a memo outlining the PCB's policy on taking sworn statements from
complainants.
"Every effort will be made by the Professional Compliance Bureau investigators to interview
complainants alone, without representation. Exceptions to this policy will be considered on a case by
case basis," the July 5, 2001, memo read.
"We are finding glaring holes in the system that needs to be fixed," said local ACLU President Lida
Rodriguez-Taseff. "They should be willing to open up the process. This department soundly rejected
the creation of the Citizen Review Panel based on the existing system not being broken. You can't
have it both ways."
7/3/02
Page 2 of 2
Thursday, the IRP suggested the policy statement be changed to: "Complainants may have
representation when providing statements."
Said the younger Lopez: "It's a proceeding that doesn't have much bite, but it's certainly a forum to
vent dissatisfaction."
The IRP also suggested the department determine if Brutto complied with standard operating
procedure when he gave Lopez the ticket, or if he should have called dispatch since he was not in
uniform.
It also recommended a policy be created for officers using patrol cars while off-duty.
7/3/02
Marian Karr
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From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 02, 2002 1:58 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Hartford Police Officer Released after Conviction for Sex Assault on Duty
http;//wWW~ctn~W-c~m/neWs/[~ca~/h~-mccr~rey~29-artjun29~st~ry?c~!~=hc%2Dhead!ines%2D~ca!
City Officer Released After Conviction
Plea Bargain Frees Policeman Who Sexually Assaulted
Woman
By TINA A. BROWN
Courant Staff Writer
June 29 2002
Daryel McCrorey, a Hartford police officer found guilty Friday of sexually assaulting a woman while he was on duty two
years ago, walked out of Hartford Superior Court a free man.
But he will never work as a police officer anywhere again, Hartford Superior Court Judge Elliot Solomon tole him.
The plea bargain was struck between McCrorey's lawyer, Joseph Moniz, and Senior Assistant State's Attorney Vicki
Melchiorre. The charge of first-degree sexual assault was reduced to a misdemeanor.
Melchiorre asked Solomon to accept the plea bargain under the conditions that McCrorey immediately resign from the
Hartford Police Department, refrain from working in law enforcement again, stay away from the victim and register with the
state as a sex offender.
Losing his job and agreeing never to seek another job in law enforcement is a "significant penalty," she said.
Solomon accepted the deal even though he told McCrorey that his behavior was troubling. His conduct, Solomon said,
was "reprehensible....You are obviously a gentleman of some size. People look to you to protect them, not to abuse
them.
"It is important to this court that you never put on another police uniform, not in Connecticut or anywhere," said Solomon.
McCrorey, 33, a police officer who has been suspended without pay since his arrest, received a one-year suspended
sentence and three years' probation. He is the sixth Hartford police officer convicted in a criminal court in the past four
years for charges associated with on-duty sexual misconduct.
McCrerey pleaded guilty to fourth-degree sexual assault using the Alford Doctrine, which means he did not admit guilt, but
conceded that the state had sufficient evidence to convict him if he went to trial.
McCrorey was originally arrested at roll call in November 2000 after the victim, an acquaintance he met at a funeral,
reported the assault. According to the victim and McCrorey's own written statement, signed Friday, he had attempted to
have sex with the victim numerous times before the morning of Nov. 8, 2000, and his time wasn't being monitored by his
supervisors at the Hartford Police Depar[ment.
7/2/02
Page 2 of 2
McCrorey took a break from his routine duties between 9:31 and 10:47 a.m. on Nov. 8 and went to the victim's home in
the Blue Hills section of Hartford, court records say. He forced his way into the victim's residence, pushed her down on a
sofa, pulled off her pants and forcefully performed oral sex on the victim, court and police records say.
After repeating the allegations against McCrorey, Moniz asked the judge to accept the deal, and did not elaborate
because McCrorey must now face a civil trial. The victim has filed suit against McCrorey and the city of Hartford.
The victim was in the courtroom but allowed her lawyer Wesley Spears to speak on her behalf. The victim would have
objected to the plea agreement if McCrorey had not recanted on Friday his statement that that he and the victim had
sexual relations prior to the incident.
A spokesman from the Hartford Police Department had no comment when asked Friday afternoon if McCrorey had
resigned. Copyright 2002, Hartford Courant
7/2/02
Marian Karr
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From: Suelqq@aol.com
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Subject: [NACOLE Update] Rift Divides Officers, Detroit's New Police Chief
http~//sunsp~t~net~news~nati~nw~r~d/ba~.te~detr~it3~jun3~'st~ry?c~=ba~%2Dnati~nw~r!d%2Dhead!ines
Rift divides officers, Detroit's new police chief
He says changes needed; they say his distaste for unions is partly to blame
Associated Press
June 30, 2002
DETROIT - An anonymous letter that cimulated recently urged Detroit police officers to call in sick on the day of a huge
fireworks show. The outbreak of "blue flu" didn't materialize Thursday, but the letter illustrated the tensions between
Detroit's moro than 4,000 police officers and the new chief, who says radical changes are needed to root out brutality and
other misconduct.
"I'm going to tell you right now, we aro going to run off a lot of people, because we've got some criminals that work for us
here," Chief Jerry Oliver said recently. Oliver, who had been chief in Richmond, Va., since 1995, took over in January.
The first outsider to lead the force since 1968, he quickly cast a critical eye on a department that is under federal scrutiny
after deadly police shootings and questionable treatment of prisoners.
Police also are charged in lawsuits with arresting murder witnesses to put pressure on them to tell what they saw.
Oliver has said hundrod of officer misconduct cases have languished for years because of lapses in the department's
disciplinary process, broakdowns in accountability and union rosistance. "Under every rock that I've lifted, there's been a
problem," he said.
Many officers say Oliver has made sweeping statements about the department before spending a significant amount of
time in the city. And, they say, his vocal distaste for unions has played a large role in widening the riff.
Marty Bandemer, president of the Detroit Police Officers Association, said that if there were major problems in the
department, "1 can't believe it wasn't discovered before." "We do all we can with what we got," Bandemer said. "You don't
chop down the apple tree if you find one bad apple."
Oliver angered the rank-and-file in Detroit from the start for efforts to enfome a policy on hairstyles that includes a ban on
braids, and for asking officers to wear a button that read "Mind'N Our Business." The buttons were effort to remind officers
of their duties in the community, but they were criticized as grammatically incorroct and so confusing that they sent exacfiy
the opposite message. The hairstyle policy, which some said is insensitive to blacks, was issued under a former chief.
Oliver and his predecessor are black.
Officers have been working without a contract for about a year and complain that they earn less than their counterparts in
other big cities. Detroit's starting police salary is about $28,000; New York's is $31,305.
Oliver also has faced news reports about accusations by an ex-wife and an ex-girlfriend who said he beat them in the
early 1990s. Oliver has said repeatedly that the allegations are false. None has led to charges. The chief has the support
of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick spokesman Jamaine Dickens said that if there aro rumblings in the department, "it's
a sign of something different, and different is what they need."
7/2/02
Marian Karr
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From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 02, 2002 1:58 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] San Bemardino Officer Faces 43 Felony Counts re Rapes on Duty
Women & Policing News Wire
June 27, 2002
Additional Charges Filed Against California Officer Accused of Serial Rape
Prosecutors filed additional charges last week against Officer Ronald VanRossum, a San Bernadino, California police
officer accused of raping more than a dozen women while on patrol. The number of women he is accused of sexually
assaulting has reached 16. VanRossum has been charged with 43 felony counts, including rape, kidnapping and assault
for alleged on-duty attacks between April 2000 and November 2001. His accusers claim that VanRossum used his badge
as a weapon, threatening his victims, most of who were drug addicts, with arrest if they didn't cooperate. His bail has been
set at $2 million.
7/2/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 1
From: Suelqq@aol.com
sent: Monday, July 01, 2002 12:58 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] NJ Pays $5M to Settle Trooper Suit;
N.J. Pays $5M to Settle Trooper Suit
The Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey will pay $5 million to settle a race discrimination lawsuit filed by 13 black state
troopers who claimed they were harassed and denied promotions.
The settlements, covering back pay and emotional distress, were negotiated separately and ranged from $225,000 to
$500,000, said Douglas Wolfson, director of the Division of Law in the Attorney General's Office.
"We've taken the position we are not going to fight these cases," Wolfson told The Star-Ledger of Newark. "We are past
the point of trying to defend these cases, of saying they were not subjected to discrimination."
Negotiations were completed in April, but the deal could not be completed until the state budget was approved early
Monday. The settlement included $1 million in attorney fees, Wolfson said.
The settlement came nearly a decade after the minority troopers were among the first to accuse other troopers of racial
profiling and discrimination in the workplace.
The issue gained national prominence after a 1998 shooting on the New Jersey Turnpike in which two white troopers fired
on a van occupied by four minority men, wounding three. The troopers eventually pleaded guilty to official misconduct,
and the state paid a $12.95 million settlement to the van's occupants.
A year after the shooting, the state attorney general admitted that the troopers had engaged in racial profiling. To prevent
a federal lawsuit, the state agreed to reforms including monitoring the races of motorists stopped by troopers.
The newly settled lawsuit alleged that the state police increased its minority representation because of a 1975 federal
court order but then harassed and discriminated against the new hires.
It also maintained that the }laintiffs' careers were stalled when they complained about the racial profiling of motorists.
7/I/02
Marian Karr
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Kelvyn.Anderson@phila.gov
Thursday, June 27, 2002 1:19 PM
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[NACOLE Update] New Trial Ordered in Suit Over Suicide That Followed 'Outing' Threat
New Trial Ordered in Suit Over Suicide That Followed 'Outing' Threat
Shannon P. Duffy
The Legal Intelligencer
06-27-2002
Finding that a jury simply got it wrong, a federal magistrate judge
has ordered a new trial in a civil rights suit brought by relatives
of a man who conunitted suicide after a police officer allegedly
threatened to tell his family that he was gay.
In his 23-page opinion in Sterling v. Willinsky, U.S. Magistrate
Judge Arnold C. Rapoport of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said
he was "convinced that the weight of the evidence in this case is
against the defendants" because the testimony of the plaintiff's key
witness was corroborated by several credible and "uninterested"
witnesses.
By contrast, Rapoport found, the lead defendant's story was backed up
by just one "interested" witness who admitted that he did not hear
the conversation between the officer and the man who committed
suicide.
In his closing paragraphs, Rapoport quoted a passage from a 1996
decision by the late U.S. District Judge Daniel Huyett III in
Cacciavillano v. Ruscello Inc. that Rapoport said "eloquently"
described his own sentiments in the Sterling case:
"A reasonable jury could not have come up with a verdict for
defendants on all of the claims. While it is unclear if the jury was
guided by passion and prejudice or a misunderstanding of their
duties, having had the opportunity to observe the demeanor of the
witnesses, the court is certain that the verdict for the defendants
on all claims was contrary to the weight of the evidence and allowing
the verdict to stand would permit a miscarriage of justice."
The ruling is a victory for attorneys Alan L. Yatvin of
Philadelphia's Popper & Yatvin and David Rudovsky of Philadelphia's
Kairys Rudovsky Epstein & Messing who represented Madonna Sterling,
the mother of the man who co~hmitted suicide.
According to court papers, on April 17, 1997, Marcus Wayman, then 18,
and Matthew Adamick, then 17, were parked in a lot adjacent to a beer
distributor.
Minersville, Pa., Officer F. Scott Willinsky grew suspicious because
the car's headlights were off and because the area was known as a
high-crime area. After calling for backup, Willinsky was joined by
Officer Thomas Holban, and the two officers questioned the young men.
After searching the car and finding condoms, police said the men
admitted that they were gay and had parked to have sex. Both were
arrested for underage drinking.
The suit alleged that at the station, police lectured the two men
about the Bible's condemnation of homosexual sex. Willinsky allegedly
then threatened Wayman that if Wayman did not tell his grandfather
that he was gay, Willinsky would do so himself.
After the alleged threat, Adamick said Wayman told him that he was
going to kill himself. Police later forced Adamick to tell his mother
that he was gay. Wayman was released from custody later that night
and committed suicide in his home.
When Rapoport refused to dismiss the suit, the police appealed on
qualified immunity grounds.
But the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the police were
not entitled to "qualified immunity" because the right to privacy
relating to one's sexual orientation was already a "clearly
established" right at the time of the incident.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court has never "definitively extended the
right to privacy to confidentiality of one's sexual orientation," the
3rd Circuit held that a long line of cases from the high court had
clearly established a "zone of privacy" involving "matters of
personal intimacy."
As a result, the 3rd Circuit said, the police "should have known"
that forcing Wayman to disclose his sexual orientation would violate
his constitutional rights since they admitted that it was "a matter
of private concern."
But when the case went to trial, the jury handed up a verdict that
cleared both Willinsky and the borough of Minersville.
In a post-trial motion, Yatvin and Rudovsky urged the court to take
the rare step of setting the verdict aside because it was "against
the weight of the evidence."
"This court has the opportunity to correct a severe injustice,"
Yatvin and Rudovsky wrote.
"Rule 59 [of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure] was intended to
permit the exercise of discretion by the grant of a new trial in
precisely this situation: where the jury's verdict is inexplicable
given the evidence and where it must have been the result of a
serious misjudgment, prejudice or confusion," they wrote.
The plaintiff's team said the jury was asked to decide a single issue
-- whether Willinsky had violated Wayman's right to privacy.
By finding in favor of Willinsky, they said, the jury "had to reject
the overwhelming and credible testimony that defendant Willinsky had
told Marcus Wayman that if he did not tell his grandfather that he
was gay that the officer would do so."
Rapoport agreed, saying the testimony from Adamick was corroborated
by several witnesses -- including a high school counselor -- who
testified that Adamick had told them the same story within hours of
Wayman's suicide.
That testimony, Rapoport said, challenged the credibility of
Willinsky, who testified that he did not make any threat to Wayman.
Rapoport found that Robert Connelly, a counselor at Minersville High
School, "was an exceptionally credible witness" who had "no possible
interest in the outcome of this case."
After viewing all the evidence, Rapoport concluded that the plaintiff
deserves a new trial because "the jury's verdict is truly
2
inexplicable."
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Marian Karr
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Hector. W.Soto@phila.gov
Thursday, June 27, 2002 11:20 AM
update@nacole.org
[NACOLE Update] NYTimes.com Article: Nassau Police Revise PolJcy on Lineups
This article from NYTimes.com
has been sent to you by hector.w.soto@phila.gov.
Nassau Police Revise Policy on Lineups
June 27, 2002
By BRUCE LAMBERT
GARDEN CITY, N.Y., June 26 - After complaints of racism
from community leaders, the Nassau County Police Department
says it has stopped paying black youths to appear in
lineups.
The new policy stems from a detective's recruitment of
students, for a $20 fee, near Uniondale High School in
March, which provoked objections from parents, school
officials and a county legislator.
The police denied any wrongdoing. "Racism doesn't play any
role at all," said the agency's spokesman, Inspector Peter
Matuza. But he said that to prevent any misunderstanding,
the police had adopted new guidelines last week.
Under them, the department will no longer recruit near
schools for lineups, and it will require written parental
consent for volunteers younger than 18. The Nassau County
executive, Thomas R. Suozzi, said that he would issue an
executive order next week reiterating the limits on student
recruitment. That order parallels legislation drafted by
Patrick C. Williams, a county legislator, who accused the
police lineup organizers of racism.
The dispute, which Newsday reported today, started when a
Nassau detective offered $20 to each of several students in
Uniondale, where school enrollment is 98 percent black or
Hispanic, to take part in a lineup. School officials said
that one youth objected, saying he would first need his
parents' permission. His parents, upset by the police
overture, called the principal, who in turn asked the
schools superintendent if the school system was working
with the police.
"I knew absolutely nothing about it," the superintendent,
Dr. Mary R. Cannie, said in an interview today. She shared
her concerns over the practice in a letter to parents in
her district and to other Nassau school superintendents.
Local preachers also weighed in on the issue, and many
parents wrote to the police.
"There was quite a lot of interest," Dr. Cannie said.
Mr.
Williams, the county legislator, who withdrew his proposed
statute once the county executive stepped in, charged that
1
such recruitment "doesn't happen at white schools" and that
"this selective application of the policy" was racist. But
Inspector Matuza disputed that claim, saying that
recruitment was also done at mostly white or Hispanic
schools, depending on the race of the suspect in a given
lineup.
Some critics of the recruitment wondered about the
possibility of volunteers being prosecuted if they were
wrongly identified as culprits. Inspector Matuza, who was
once wrongly picked out of a lineup, said that it had never
happened with the student recruits. Concerns were also
raised that the police might keep photographs of lineup
volunteers, but Mr. Matuza said that lineup pictures went
into court records, not into police files.
In a similar incident in New York City in 1996, police
officers in Manhattan's 24th precinct, in violation of
department rules, detained two 15-year-olds for more than
three hours for a lineup, over their objections and without
their parents' permission. The police commissioner at the
time, William J. Bratton, later apologized.
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&en-b52690adb648991c
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Marian Karr
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From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2002 1:39 PM
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Subject: [NACOLE Update] N Jersey Troopers VVho Profiled Are Denied Disability Pensions
NewJersey.com
Profiling pair denied pensions
Thursday, June 27, 2002By BRUNO TEDESCHI Trenton Bureau Chief
The two former state troopers who shot at four unarmed minority men during a traffic stop on the New Jersey Turnpike are
not eligible to receive disability pensions, a state board ruled Wednesday.
The board of the State Police Retirement System ruled 4-0 that former troopers John Hogan and James Kenna did not
meet the criteria for honorable service, which they needed before they could be considered for disability pensions, said
Treasury spokesman Tom Vincz.
Hogan and Kenna were charged with aggravated assault and Kenna was charged with attempted murder after the April
23, 1998, shooting on the turnpike that sparked nationwide furor over racial profiling.
Hogan and Kenna fired 11 bullets at the four young men, seriously injuring three, after stopping their van on the turnpike
in Mercer County. The four friends were driving to North Carolina Central University for basketball tryouts.
In January, the troopers pleaded guilty to lesser charges - both to official misconduct, Hogan to hindering apprehension,
and Kenna to hindering prosecution. The judge did not order jail time or probation, but ordered them to pay $280 in fines.
The judge also barred them from working in law enforcement.
In order to qualify for a disability pension, the troopers had to first prove to the board their state police service was
honorable. The board considered 11 criteria, including the length of their pension membership, the nature of their duties,
and the nature of the misconduct to which they plead guilty.
Hogan's lawyer, Robert Galantucci, said the fact that his client received no jail time or probation should have been enough
to convince the board that Hogan was entitled to a pension.
"He's very disappointed, but he's been dealing with disappointment from the state of New Jersey fer a number of years
now," Galantucci said.
Kenna's lawyer, Jack Arseneault, said his client deserved disability because, a month before the shooting, someone stole
Kenna's trooper car and nearly ran him over before driving off.
"He is seeking a disability pension based on post traumatic stress syndrome suffered from a dramatic event 30 days
before the turnpike event," Arseneault said. "But for the state's refusal or inability to act in Mamh 1998 and get him off the
road and treat him, the events of April 1998 might have never happened."
Both lawyers said their clients are considering an appeal.
Under the appeal policy, if there is a disagreement over a factual matter, the board can refer the case to an administrative
law judge for fact-finding. Otherwise, the case is appealed directly to the Appellate Division.
6/27/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 3
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 11:40 AM
To: Update@NACOLEorg
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Houston internal Affairs Sgt Arrested for Kidnapping for Ransom; w Editorial
June 22, 2002, 4:08PM
HPD officer charged in kidnapping of woman
By MIKE GLENN Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
A Houston police officer who investigates his colleagues was arrested Friday for kidnapping a woman he stopped in a
patrol car as part of an attempt to collect a $100,000 ransom, authorities said. Sgt. Andres Reza, 37, assigned to the
internal affairs division, and Gloria Rodriguez, 48, are accused of abducting the 52-year-old woman here Thursday
morning. Officers rescued her before dawn Friday in a Chambers County motel, and Reza and Rodriguez were with her,
officials said.
Law enfomement officials would not say from whom the ransom, later reduced to $50,000, was being sought. They also
would not identify the woman. "The motive was obviously money," said Harris County prosecutor Julian Ramirez. "1 don't
know who they were in contact with (or) who they were making the demands of." Reza and Rodriguez are e, ach charged
with aggravated kidnapping and held on $500,000 bail.
In an interview with local television stations, the victim, whose face wasn't shown, said she didn't know Reza. The stations
said she is a businesswoman who owns property and is the girlfriend of another Houston officer.
"1 never thought I would be alive today," she told KPRC-Channel 2. She said her abductor threatened to kill her. "He
sounded so cold, like there was no feeling there," she said. "That is a monster to me."
Reza, a 16-year HPD veteran, has been relieved of duty while the charges are investigated. Police said Reza, driving an
HPD patrol car, pulled the victim over on the Katy Freeway near Taylor Street.
She told Channel 2 the officer told her to get out of her vehicle. "You have to obey, he's a police officer." Later, she told
KTRK-Channe113, "He got the gray tape and put it on my eyes, nose and mouth. So I figured I was being kidnapped."
Reza put her in his police car, and later transferred her into a city of Houston unmarked van, Ramirez said. Talking on his
cell phone, the abductor started negotiating the ransom. Officers traced him to the motel through a device that picked up
signals from the cell phone.
The abducted woman was taken to a motel in Mont Belvieu, about 40 miles east of Houston, where she was found
handcuffed and bound about 3:30 a.m. Friday, Ramirez said. He said she apparently injured her leg while being moved
into the van, and was treated and released from a hospital.
Yahoo: Monday June 24 07:05 PM EDT
Questions Follow Officer's Arrest
Houston's chief of police answered questions Monday about the arrest of a Houston police officer on aggravated
kidnapping charges. Officials said Andres R. Reza, 37, abducted a 52-year-old woman Thursday around 9 a.m. as she
drove near the Katy Freeway and Taylor Street, where she was pulled over, handcuffed and duct taped. The victim said
she was transferred from a patrol car to a city van to be transported to a motel.
She said she was told to call her boyfriend, another Houston police officer, to bring the $100,000 ransom. The woman's
boyfriend called police and the FBI who arrested Reza and an alleged accomplice, according to authorities. The victim
was found in a Mont Belvieu, Texas, motel room in the 8900 block of Highway 146 around 3:30 a.m. Friday with Reza and
Gloria Rodriguez, 48, police said.
Since Reza was a member of the Internal Affairs Division, the group that normally investigates officers will not investigate
him. "1 think it would not be proper to allow that particular division to investigate," said Chief C.O. Bradford with the
Houston Police Department. Bradford said that unlike uniformed officers, undercover detectives have a lot of leeway when
it comes to access to city equipment.
6/26/02
Page 2 of 3
He said it's needed for the investigations. Other officers wonder what more will come from the Reza investigation.
"If it bears to be true, then it has a horrible impact on Houston officers," said Hans Madiciuc, the president of the Houston
Police Union. "It makes you wonder what else he has done." Marciciuc predicts that previous cases involving Reza would
be investigated again following Reza's arrest. Reza and Rodriguez are charged with aggravated kidnapping. Both
suspects are being held on a $500,000 bond. Reza, who joined the Houston Police Department on Sept. 27, 1986, was
relieved of duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
June 25, 2002, Houston Chronicle Editorial
INTERNAL AFFAIRS
Something worse
than a rogue cop, and
Houston has it
If there is anything more troubling
than a rogue cop, it is a rogue cop
who is a supervisor in the internal
affairs division, which is responsible
for ferreting out crimes committed
by police officers. That is the
situation the Houston Police
Department faces, and every tool -
including the FBI -- should be
brought to bear to discover and
excise any corruption in the
department and restore public
confidence.
Because of their peculiar duties, the
61 officers and supporting staff of
HPD's internal affairs division must
be the purest of the pure, the most
incorruptible of law enforcement
officers. But on Friday, internal
affairs Sgt. Andres Reza was
arrested and charged, along with his
girlfriend, with aggravated
kidnapping of a Pasadena
businesswoman.
The victim, who is the wife of
another HPD officer, said the
kidnapper told her he could get
away with the kidnapping because
her husband, Jaime Escalante, was
crooked. Escalante's records show
32 sustained complaints of
misconduct and violations of police
procedure, and he admitted to being
the subject of several internal affairs
investigations.
The kidnapper, who used both a
patrol car and police van, showed a
brazenness that demonstrates a
disturbing if misplaced confidence
that he was invulnerable to
prosecution. The reluctance of
Houston-area juries to indict and
punish police officers, even those
who kill, shares partial blame for
Reza's appalling assumption and
behavior.
6/26/02
At a time when violent crime is
rising sharply in Houston, police are
preoccupied with the investigation
of a crime within their ranks. What's
more, HPD's large internal affairs
division is disqualified from acting
in this case or any others involving
its members that might be
discovered.
For that reason, HPD must make
every effort to rid itself of
corruption, and an FBI investigation
would make it less likely any
corruption would be tolerated or
overlooked.
Page 3 of 3
6/26/02
Marian Karr
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
Hector. W.Soto@phila.gov
Tuesday, June 25, 2002 9:46 AM
update@nacole.org
[NACOLE Update] NYTimes.com Article: Conspiracy Convictions Restored Against Five
Orange, N.J., Police Officers
$RFC822 emi
This article from NYTimes.com
has been sent to you by hector.w.soto@phila.gov.
Conspiracy Convictions Restored Against Five Orange, N.J., Police Officers
June 25, 2002
By RONALD SMOTHERS
A federal appeals court reinstated conspiracy convictions
yesterday against five Orange, N.J., police officers found
guilty in the beating and pepper spraying of an innocent
man who died in police custody in 1999. He was wrongly
suspected in the killing of another officer.
In May 2001, the trial judge threw out the jury's guilty
verdicts on the conspiracy charges, the most serious
allegations that the officers had faced, and two of the
five policemen went free.
But a three-judge panel of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia ruled
yesterday that the trial judge, District Court Judge John
C. Lifland, had "misapprehended" at least two court
precedents in dismissing the convictions against the
officers in the death of Earl Faison, who they believed had
been involved in the shooting death of Officer Joyce
Carnegie.
Judge Lifland had found that a conspiracy could not be
inferred from the evidence presented during the officers'
seven-week trial in November and December of 2000, and that
there were other "plausible and nonconspiratorial
explanations." Judge Lifland had also ruled that certain
acts after the death of Mr. Faison, 27, like filing false
reports, could not be considered evidence of conspiracy
under court precedents.
But in the unanimous opinion by the appellate court panel,
Judge Richard L. Nygaard wrote, "It is intuitive that
concerted actions to cover up the circumstances of Faison's
death, taken just minutes after his death, have a tendency
to suggest that the acts of brutality were undertaken as
part of an agreement, as opposed to having been random,
uncoordinated acts."
The two officers who went free were spared penalties of up
to 10 years in prison on conspiracy charges.
The jury had also found the three other officers guilty of
violating the civil rights of Mr. Faison, an asthma
sufferer, by punching and pepper spraying him in an
isolated and darkened stairwell of the Orange police
headquarters. Judge Lifland had let those verdicts stand in
his ruling. But those three officers have not served any
prison time, pending appeals.
Yesterday's appellate ruling was the latest upheaval in a
tumultuous and emotionally charged case. It included the
arrest of three innocent men before a fourth pleaded
guilty, charges that the police had beaten two of them, and
the forced resignation of the Essex County prosecutor,
Patricia A. Hurt, whom many accused of mishandling the
investigations into the deaths of Officer Carnegie, and
later, Mr. Faison.
The case became a cause c~l~bre for community activists,
who charged that it was typical of a rash of incidents of
police brutality, and who pressed the state unsuccessfully
to bring murder charges before the federal charges were
filed. The case also shredded the bonds within the Orange
Police Department and cracked the so-called blue wall of
silence as officers were forced to testify against their
colleagues or face charges themselves.
Against this turbulent backdrop, reaction to the new ruling
yesterday was sharp and predictable.
Lawrence Hamm, president of the People's Organization for
Progress, a civil rights group based in Newark that had
taken up the cause of the Faison family as they sought to
make sure the officers were prosecuted, said the reversal
of the jury verdict by Judge Lifland had "been a slap in
the face to our community, to family and to justice."
"This is great news, good news, and a total vindication of
our position," Mr. Hamm said. "However, it still does not
change the fact that the system operates one way for police
and one way for the rest of us. It's been three years since
Earl's death, a year and a half since the conviction, and
those people have not been in jail."
William D. Sayers, the lawyer for Tyrone Payton, a former
police officer who was one of the two men found guilty only
on the conspiracy charge and spared by Judge Lifland's
ruling, said that he was disappointed, and that his client
was "very upset" at the news.
"These officers have been on a roller coaster," Mr. Sayers
said. "But we are still in for the long haul."
Anthony J. Iacullo, the lawyer for Andrew Garth, a former
policeman and a resident of Bloomfield who was also
convicted of violating Mr. Faison's civil rights by
punching him during his arrest, said: "We will seek every
avenue of review including a rehearing and going to the
U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. The only thing I can say
is that I was totally behind Judge Lifland's decision."
Lawyers for the three other policemen - Paul Carpinteri Jr.
(who was convicted only of conspiracy); Thomas Smith, a
former lieutenant; and his brother, Brian Smith; could not
be reached for comment. Calls were not returned yesterday
by the United States attorney for for New Jersey, whose
2
office had appealed Judge Lifland's decision to throw out
the conspiracy convictions.
Mr. Faison, an aspiring rap artist, fled from a cab when
the police stopped it in April 1999 in connection with
their search for the killer of Officer Carnegie three days
earlier. The Police Department in Orange, a city of 30,000
in northeastern New Jersey, was on high alert and
emotionally tense, according to trial testimony, as the
police conducted their investigation into their fellow
officer's death.
After Mr. Faison was chased down by officers, he was
punched and kicked, according to police witnesses, and then
taken to headquarters, where a half-dozen officers broke
with usual practice and took him inside by way of a little
used entrance.
Witnesses at the trial said that in a rear stairwell Mr.
Faison was punched and kicked again by vengeful officers,
and that Brian Smith, one of the officers, sprayed pepper
spray into his face. An autopsy found no traces of the
spray in Mr. Faison's lungs, and so state prosecutors found
no evidence to charge the officers with murder.
The federal charges did not accuse officers in Mr. Faison's
death, but did cite them for the beatings and for concerted
efforts to cover up what they had done.
The appellate ruling yesterday recounted the officers'
actions during and after the arrest, saying, "The fact that
a group of people, arguably with a common goal - that of
punishing Officer Carnegie's murderer - engaged as a group
in so many unusual acts, could certainly lead a reasonable
juror to the conclusion that there was at least a tacit
agreement between the officers, formed at the scene of the
arrest, that Faison was to be assaulted."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/O6/25/nyregion/250RAN.html?ex-lO26014292&ei l&en=
36fdc7ba7619ab79
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Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
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3
Marian Karr
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
Kelvyn. Anderson@phila.gov
Monday, June 24, 2002 10:14 AM
update@nacole.org
[NACOLE Update] Cop suspended from Union for federal testimony
NACOLE members: In addition to the issues raised by this officers
suspension from the local FOP, this is the first instance (that we're aware
of) in which a Civilian Review Board has been (quietly) established in
Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, apparently as the
result of a pretrial agreement. We're trying to find out more details.
-kelvyn anderson
BRISTOL BOROUGH
6/02/2002
Cop suspended from
union
The officer's
membership was
suspended for a year
over allegations
that he slandered
two co-workers by
giving a false
deposition in a
federal harassment
lawsuit.
The Bristol Borough
Police Benevolent
Association has
suspended an
officer's membership
for a year over
allegations that he
slandered two
co-workers by giving
a false deposition
in a federal
harassment lawsuit.
Cpl. Robert Lebo was
censured Thursday in
a 4-3 vote by ?BA,
members. One member
abstained.
The PBA action
follows residents
Chet and Melinda
0eMarchis' federal
lawsuit against Cpl.
Dominic DiRenzo and
Officer William
Lutz.
In a deposition,
Lebo testified
against his
colleagues who had
been accused of
harassing DeMarchis
and his wife. The
lawsuit was settled
for an undisclosed
sum with both
officers denying any
wrongdoing.
Following the terms
of a pretrial
agreement, the
borough established
a Civilian Complaint
Review Board to
handle resident
disputes with
police.
Patrolman Joseph
Moors, the PBA
president, refused
comment on
Thursday's vote
because it was an
"internal PBA
matter."
Moors wouldn't
confirm or deny
information provided
by Lebo, who said
the PBA complaint
against him wasn't
based on fact. Lebo
denied lying in the
deposition.
Furthermore, he
said, he didn't
understand how the
PBA could punish him
for statements he
made in a federal
lawsuit.
Lebo said he's
suspended from
voting on PBA issues
for one year,
starting July 1. He
also was given a
two-year suspension,
effective Jan. 1,
2003, from running
for PBA president,,
vice president or
secretary-treasurer.
Seven full-time
borough officers
cast individual
ballots while the
borough's five
part-time officers
voted as one, Lebo,
DiRenzo and Lutz
were allowed to
vote.
Lebo said he still
will receive the
benefits of PBA
membership.
Sunday, June 2, 2002
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 2
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 10:38 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Seattle Racial Profiling Data Collection: Union Response; Mayor Response
City Council OKs collecting racial data from police stops By r orange a
Davila Seattle Times staff reporter
Just hours after the Seattle City Council approved a plan to collect racial information from police
stops, Mayor Greg Nickels' staff said the mayor -- in step with Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske -- may
not support the long-awaited proposal after all. And a second, companion measure -- also approved
by the council yesterday -- to install 25 video cameras in patrol cars could get mired in negotiations
between the city and the police-officers guild, the mayor's office warned. Police questionnaire approved
The data-collection plan approved by the Seattle City Council would require officers to fill out a
questionnaire each time a motorist is stopped, regardless of whether a citation is issued. The
questionnaire would include: Time, date and location of stop; their best guess as to the driver's race
and whether the officer had identified the driver's race before the stop; the driver's gender, age and
residence; the reason for the stop and the outcome; its duration; number of passengers; whether the
driver was asked to step out of the car; whether a search was conducted; the basis for the search;
items discovered during the search; and the officer's squ ad assignment.
Councilman Richard Mclver, who voted for both measures, disagreed and promised the city's legal
staff would review any labor issues that might arise from adding cameras to police cruisers. The
racial-data-collection plan passed 5-2, with Councilwomen Jan Drago and Judy Nicastro voting no.
Peter Steinbreuck and Heidi Wills were absent. The camera proposal was approved 7-0. The data-
collection plan would require officers to fill out a 17-item questionnaire each time a motorist is
stopped, regardless of whether a citation is issued. Data would be collected for one year and then
analyzed by an outside consultant. Such data collection is increasingly being used by police
jurisdictions nationwide, including the State Patrol and 16 police forces in Washington. Data
collection, however, has limitations and won't unequivocally answer whether police officers engage in
race-based policing or racial profiling. While it may have flaws, some national experts argue,
collecting data from police can be used as a tool to assess a problem or perception, while also easing
relations between police and racial minorities.
But after 19 months of brainstorming, compromising and fine tuning, Kerlikowske last week warned
the plan was flawed and "harmful." The plan might discourage officers from making stops altogether,
he said. And the data results, once issued to the public, could be used to target individual officers.
"The data can clearly be misused to judge the department, precincts, watches," Kerlikowske
reiterated in an interview yesterday. "Entering into a data-collection plan, as the national experts have
pointed out, without a clear and specific plan as to who will analyze the data, how it will be analyzed,
and how it will be reported on is an extremely hazardous path to go down."
Marianne Bichsel, spokeswoman for Nickels, said the mayor would "be listening to those concerns."
"This may not be the best way," she said. "We may at some point have to come back to the council if
we believe this is not going to get us where we want to go." Such concerns were echoed yesterday:
Drago said she had been fully in favor of the measure for two years but worried that it wasn't yet clear
6/21/02
Page 2 of 2
how the data would be analyzed or how officials would safeguard results of the data from being used
to single out a particular officer. "1 don't believe this action will improve relations between minority
communities and the Police Department," she said.
Nicastro, explaining how she too had been supportive of the plan originally, has since changed her
mind. "Until we start removing and firing the bad apples," she said, "this is all smoke and mirrors."
"Well, let's get rid of the bad apples," said Councilman Nick Licata. "But until we do that, we have to
have a number of tools." Responding to a statement by Nicastro that the council was merely bowing
to political pressure by approving data collection, Licata said it was important for the council to listen
to community frustration over policing. And he noted that pressure already had been exerted by the
police guild. For example, a requirement that officers identify themselves on each questionnaire was
dropped, Licata said.
The council has set aside some $200,000 for the one-year data-collection plan, which could go into
effect within 90 days. Florangela Davila can be reached at 206-464-2916 or
fdavila@seattletimes, com.
Nickels to union: No 'depolicing'
SEATTLE -- Mayor Greg Nickels is warning the city's police union against "depolicing" as a response
to a racial-profiling study approved this week. In a letter to Seattle Police Officers Guild President Ken
Saucier, Nickels said he was concerned about news reports in which Saucier was quoted as saying
officers might respond to the study by refusing to pull over drivers in minority neighborhoods, a
practice known as depolicing.
"1 will not tolerate, under any circumstances, police officers not enforcing the laws that they have
sworn to uphold," Nickels wrote. The City Council approved the racial-profiling study to track the race
of drivers pulled over by police. The council also approved placing video cameras in 25 patrol cars in
neighborhoods with a high percentage of minority residents.
Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske objected to the council's action, saying he worried about how the data
will be analyzed and publicly distributed. Kerlikowske said he and Nickels will meet next week to talk
about how to proceed with the profiling study. Saucier did not respond to phone calls.
6/21/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 2
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 9:39 AM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Ulster Protestant Says British Police Urged '89 Killing of Lawyer
Ulster Protestant Says British Police Urged '89 Killing of
Lawyer
By WARREN HOGE NYTimes 6 20 02
!~!ELFAST, Northern Ireland, June 19 --A man who confessed to killing a well-known Roman
Catholic lawyer in Belfast 13 years ago said today that he had acted at the direction of the Northern
Ireland police.
The case has drawn widespread attention because of allegations that British authorities colluded with
the Protestant guerrillas who shot the lawyer, Pat Finucane, in 1989.
The confessed killer, Ken Barrett, 39, a member of the paramilitary group responsible for the killing,
the Ulster Freedom Fighters, said in a BBC interview that officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary
had told him Mr. Finucane was a member of the Irish Republican Army and should be eliminated. He
said a British Army undercover agent had given him Mr. Finucane's picture six days before the
murder and told him where the lawyer lived.
Mr. Barrett, who has moved to England and is under police protection, said the assassination squad
he was part of carried out the killing only after the police assured them that a security patrol had been
withdrawn from the escape route.
Mr. Finucane (pronounced fin-OOO-kin), 39, who had defended a number of high-profile Catholic
rebels, was killed by gunmen who invaded his North Belfast home during a Sunday lunch and fired at
him repeatedly as he sat at the dining table with his wife and three children.
Legal and human rights groups in Britain and the United States said British intelligence and police
officials made Mr. Finucane a target for death by accusing him of sectarian sympathies, threatening
him through menacing warnings to his clients and actively assisting Protestant paramilitary killers.
The family, which has denied he was a member of the I.R.A., has led a campaign for an independent
public investigation after two confidential judicial inquiries in the 1990's reported no evidence to
support the claims of collusion.
Mr. Barrett was secretly taped making his statement for a BBC presentation that was broadcast
tonight. Filmed and recorded while sitting in a car talking to a reporter, Mr. Barrett said a policeman
had told him that Mr. Finucane "is an thorn in everybody's side -- he'll have to go."
He explained that "the peelers wanted him whacked," using a slang word for police officials. "We
whacked him, and that's the end of the story as far as I'm concerned."
He said Protestant guerrillas would not have thought of killing Mr. Finucane otherwise because
lawyers were considered off limits. "To be honest, Finucane would be alive today if the peelers hadn't
interfered," Mr. Barrett said. "Solicitors were kind of taboo, you know what I mean? We used a lot of
6/20/02
Page 2 of 2
Roman Catholic solicitors ourselves."
Sir John Stevens, the London chief of police, is to issue a report next month on the Finucane case
and the charges of collusion. Mr. Barrett has been questioned by members of the investigating team.
Mr. Finucane's widow, Geraldine, said on BBC that Britain should investigate the matter. "It is difficult
to think of anything more serious than to accuse a government of systematically murdering its own
citizens as a matter of policy," she said.
In the one formal charge to have arisen out of the Finucane case, William Stobie, 51, a member of
the Protestant paramilitary and police informer, was acquitted of conspiracy last November. A month
later he was shot dead in Belfast. The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name for several Protestant
paramilitary groups, took responsibility for the killing, accusing Mr. Stobie of "crimes against the
Loyalist community," Protestants who want to keep Ulster a British province.
6/20/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 2
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2002 10:37 AM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Mexico Begins to Wade Through Morass of Police Corruption
Mexico Begins to Wade Through Morass of Police Corruption
,By TIM WEINER NY Times
] EXICO CITY, June 16 --The final misfortune of Josue Ulises Banda Cruz, a 17-year-old ne'er-
do-well, was that he was standing on a corner drinking beer with his buddies when the police came
cruising by at 2 a.m last Tuesday.
Officer Jos6 Luis de la Cruz Gamas's crude crowd-dispersal technique -- firing his service revolver in
the general direction of the young men -- proved fatal. One bullet struck Josue in the back of the
neck. The officer took the dying boy, threw him in his patrol car, and dumped his body on a deserted
street, the police and witnesses said.
The next day, the patrolman was arrested and booked for murder. Then his fellow officers let him flee.
Many of Mexico City's citizens think their biggest law enforcement problem is the police. Thousands
of uniformed officers do double duty as criminals: petty thieves, armed robbers, extortionists and, on
occasion, killers.
"They were not made to serve society," Alejandro Gertz Manero, the federal public security chief, said
in an interview. "The police are a force that the people fear."
The problem is hardly a Mexican phenomenon. The biggest cities in the United States have
witnessed police corruption and violence over the decades, suggesting that there is still life in the
dictum of Alexander Williams, a 19th-century New York policeman: "There is more law in the end of a
policeman's nightstick than in a Supreme Court decision."
But now the fight to weed out bad officers is becoming an epic struggle in Mexico.
President Vicente Fox has declared the fight for public security one of his highest goals. In his year
and a half in office, he has made some significant advances by cleaning up his federal
counternarcotics forces and making a dent in petty corruption among customs officers.
But the states and the cities have seen little measurable improvement in either police corruption or
public confidence.
The new Mexico City police chief, Marcelo Ebrard, who commands 82,000 officers, a department
twice the size of New York City's, said in an interview that his forces "need very deep reform."
"There is no code of conduct that says this is what a career in the police means, these are the rules
of the game, this is the basis of discipline, rewards and punishment," he said.
Chief Ebrard, in office for four months, has created a new Department of Internal Affairs, modeled on
New York City's, to police the police. He says he knows the inherent risks of trying to uproot
corruption.
6/19/02
Page 2 of 2
"But the worst risk of all," he said, "is to have criminals dressed up as cops."
The police, he said, "have to build a bridge to the people.
"Can that be done?" he continued. "1 think so, but it won't be easy because you are going against all
tradition."
For many people in the city, state or federal police, the job became an opportunity to make money by
any means necessary. A prior criminal conviction has not been a barrier to holding a badge and a
gun.
In the last decade police officers have been arrested in the fields of drug smuggling, kidnapping and
extortion. Mexico's drug cartels have been a particularly powerful corrupting force. But the deepest
problem may be the perception among citizens that a badge constitutes a license to break the law.
"Corrupt police officers recruit their friends and relatives to join the force, allowing corruption to
multiply," said Nelson Arteaga Botello, a political science professor who has studied the state police
for years. "Corruption doesn't start when police go out in the street, but from the moment they come
into the ranks."
Professor Arteaga sent one of his graduate students, Adrian L6pez Rivera, out on an unusual
assignment: to join the police for a year and to listen, watch and learn. Mr. L6pez met one veteran
officer who told him, "We are here to get all the money we can."
In the end, Mr. L6pez said he learned that "by wearing a uniform, anyone can enjoy as much impunity
as his imagination and avarice will allow"
Greed is one problem in a city where the average police officer makes $200 a week. Official violence
is another. Mexico's National Commission for Human Rights reports that it receives, on average,
about 400 complaints a month from people who say they have been abused or tortured by the police.
That far outstrips the commission's ability to investigate such charges.
But Mr. Gertz Manero, the federal public security chief, says the government has the ability to change
the way the police work -- and the perception that officers are public enemies, not public servants.
"The police can be an instrument of society, not of public power," he said "They can connect with the
public, serve them -- not simply serve the powers that be, but serve the people.
"But today, nobody in Mexico is satisfied with the police, or with the rule of law, or with the
administration of justice. That is a fact. Nobody."
6/19/02
Marian Karr
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
Hector. W.Soto@phila.gov
Wednesday, June 19, 2002 8:59 AM
update@nacole.org
[NACOLE Update] NYTimes.com Article: Big.Brother vs. Terrorist in Spy Camera Debate
$RFC822 emi
Big Brother vs. Terrorist in Spy Camera Debate
June 19, 2002
By ADA~M CLYMER
WASHINGTON, June 18 - Amid uncertainty about whether
surveillance cameras should be used to control crowds,
detect terrorists or scare off drug dealers, the
authorities in the nation's capital are debating rules
intended to keep them from becoming a tool of Big Brother
spying on citizens.
The Metropolitan Police Department has only 14 cameras in
use, at places like the Old Post Office Building on
Pennsylvania Avenue and the neighborhood of DuPont Circle,
and officials insist they have no current plans to install
more. But other institutions, like the school system and
the metro, use cameras.
At a five-hour City Council hearing on the issue last week,
Margaret Nedelhoff Kellems, deputy mayor for public safety
and justice, said that while there were no plans to expand
the police surveillance, the "efficient way is to access
the cameras of others."
Michael J. Fitzgerald, executive assistant chief of police,
said at the hearing that the police had tested links that
would access a few hundred surveillance cameras in the
city's schools and the subway system. Mr. Fitzgerald said
the cameras had been used only for crowd control during
demonstrations and to move police units to places where
violence might break out.
AS to other uses, Stephen Gaffigan of the department
suggested that terrorism was another concern, saying,
"Sept. 11 began to put pressure on us to expand the
capability." Mrs. Kellems said the downtown sites selected
"were thought to be the highest risk targets for
terrorists."
But she said they might also be used for "crime detection."
In addition, Councilman Adrian Fenty said his constituents
were eager to have cameras in neighborhoods so they could
discourage drug sales.
A few hundred more cameras, over which the city authorities
have no influence, are maintained outside federal
buildings.
Representative Constance A. Morella, a Maryland Republican
who is chairwoman of the Congressional subco~unittee that
oversees the District of Columbia, held a hearing on the
issue in March and said in a recent interview, "We found at
our hearing that there were no standards" on where cameras
could be installed, who looks at their pictures and how
long data is kept on file.
"We were rather startled that they admitted they didn't
have any," Ms. Morella said.
Issues of control were the focus of the Council hearing
that generated heated discussion of fears about loss of
privacy.
"This whole Big Brother is watching you is scary,"
Councilwoman Carol Schwartz said.
An even more alarmed witness, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of
the Partnership for Civil Justice and the National Lawyers
Guild, said, "The D.C. government is already spying on us
when we go out of doors or stand by a window."
Mr. Fitzgerald said the cameras had been programmed to
black out any views of windows.
Mr. Fitzgerald and Mrs. Kellems insisted that the cameras
were not actually in use on the day of the hearing, and
that even when they were used, there would be no
tape-recording of the closed-circuit television pictures
until the department's regulations had been settled.
Miss Schwartz and Kathy Patterson, who heads the Council's
Judiciary Committee, both sharply criticized the draft of
those regulations as being too vague. As to the purpose of
the cameras, the draft said that they would be used "to
safeguard the District of Columbia," that they represented
"a valid use of a government's power to protect its
citizens" and that they would help the police "prevent
crime and fear of crime."
Miss Schwartz said she could not tell from the regulations
"how much of this is related to terrorism" and "how much of
this relates to the drug dealers in the community." She
told Mrs. Kellems, "I am not going to give you carte
blanche to do anything with these cameras." Ms. Patterson
said that any broadly based surveillance system "needs to
have a specific law enforcement purpose."
Witnesses attacked the potential uses of the cameras as
objectionable or ineffective. Marc Rotenberg, executive
director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said
requests under the Freedom of Information Act had shown
that cameras had been used by the federal authorities to
put political demonstrations under surveillance, and Ms.
Verheyden-Hilliard said the Washington police used them for
that purpose, too.
Washington's mayor, Anthony A. Williams, has cited the
cameras in London and in Sydney, Australia, as systems this
city should emulate. But Steven Block, legislative counsel
of the American Civil Liberties Union, said that with
150,000 cameras in use in London in an effort that was
begun to combat attacks by the Irish Republican Army,
"there is no record of these cameras being involved in the
apprehension of a single terrorist."
Mr. Rotenberg said the cameras used for crime prevention in
Sydney had produced only "one arrest in 160 days." He said:
"The District of Columbia is beginning a process of
building a system of hi-tech police surveillance for a city
that has long cherished freedom. I urge you to proceed with
great caution."
The mayor's office appeared to agree. Mrs. Kellems, the
deputy mayor for public safety and justice, assured the
subcommittee that the police were very conscious of privacy
As to procedures for the cameras controlled by the federal
government, a spokesman for the National Park Police, Sgt.
Scott Fear, said it would have written rules in force
before its cameras were put into operation, which he said
would be around the Fourth of July.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington's nonvoting delegate in
Congress, said the Congressional hearing in March showed
that "nobody is tending to the store when it comes to
surveillance cameras."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/O6/19/national/19PRIV.html?ex-lO25494214&ei=l
&en-b2cd624be288e069
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Marian Karr
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
Pittinger, Beth [Beth. Pittinger@city.pittsburgh.pa.us]
Wednesday, June 19, 2002 11:21 AM
'NACOLE Mailing list'
[NACOLE Update] Pittsburgh Settles Federal Cases
City settles 32 police abuse cases for
$275,000
Wednesday, June 19, 2002
By Torsten Ove, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The City of Pittsburgh agreed this morning to settle more
than 30 remaining police abuse lawsuits headed for trial in federal court
for a total of $275,000, part of which will be distributed to the
plaintiffs. The settlement is subject to approval by city council.
City lawyers told U.S. District Judge Robert Cindrich that
the city decided to settle to save taxpayer money that would have been spent
on defending police.
Even if the city won the rest of the 32 cases pending,
attorneys' fees for Fraternal Order of Police lawyers would total an
estimated $200,000. That amount, combined with overtime for officers to
appear in court, costs for transporting witnesses and other expenses would
probably exceed the settlement amount, said City Law Department
attorney Susan Malie.
The remaining cases were part of more than 40 suits against
city police scheduled to be heard this year in Cindrich's courtroom. The
complaints were among those included in a 1996 suit by the Aznerican Civil
Liberties Union, which led to a federal consent decree in which the city
Police Bureau is overseen by the U.S. Justice Department.
Five cases have gone to trial. In three of those cases,
Cindrich ruled that officers violated the civil rights of citizens, but only
one plaintiff won any money.
Despite those losses, Malie said police and the city
maintain that officers were not engaged in a pattern of civil rights
violations.
"I want to make it abundantly clear that nothing in this
settlement should be construed as a retraction of this position," she said.
Tim O'Brien, one of four plaintiffs' lawyers trying the
cases, said the suits showed a pattern of abuse that has since been
eliminated because of the consent decree. He said the settlement is a
victory for all sides in that the Police Bureau has been reformed and the
plaintiffs will receive some compensation for their efforts.
"This case was never about money," he said. "This was about
changing the way things were done."
Of the $275,000, about $50,000 will go to O'Brien, American
Civil Liberties Union head Witold Walczak and two other lawyers. Another
$60,000 will go to pay their court expenses. The rest will be distributed to
the plaintiffs.
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1
Marian Karr
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
marie [rd justice@monitor.net]
Tuesday, June 18, 2002 5:38 PM
LPMurphy@cityofboise.org; CoachJMW@aol.com; Jhsko@ao[.com; NACOLE95@aol.com;
NKULLA@aol.com; RHAaronson@aol.com; Suelqq@aol.oom; BAttard@ci.berkeley.caus;
MMonteiro@ci.cambridge.ma.us; CejaaRE@ci.denver.co.us; mhess@ci.portland.or, us;
rrosenthal@ci.portland.or.us; Teresa. Guerrero-Daley@ci.sj.ca.us; LPerezl@ci.tucson.az. us;
james.johnson@cinlaw.rcc.org; Beth. Pittinger@city.pittsburgh.pa.us;
DCasimere@gw.sacto.org; dede@hawaiian.net; martina@hdcdojnet.state.ca.us;
gvillecopwatch@hotmail.com; CReeder@indygov.org; Sandovaj@mscd.edu;
rzoss@mymailstation.com; Update@nacole.org; markiris@northwestern.edu;
mharris@policylink.org; fheske@sdccd.cc.ca.us; John. Parker@sdcounty.ca.gov;
cdavis@ultra-tech.com; philip.eure@dc.gov
[NACOLE Update] Unprecedented Million Dollar Settlement: Sheriff Held Accountable in
Domestic Violence Homicide
Unprecedented Million Dollar Settlement: Sheriff Held Accountable in
Domestic Violence Homicide
In the first ever monetary award by law enforcement for their failure to
protect a domestic violence victim leading up to her homicide, the Sonoma
County Sheriff's Department
agreed to pay a million dollar settlement in the landmark federal civil
rights lawsuit of
"Maria Teresa Macias vs. Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Ihde."
The announcement came mid-trial at the close of dramatic testimony by Sara
Rubio
Hernandez detailing more than 20 attempts by her daughter, Maria Teresa
Macias,
to get help with her violent estranged husband, Avelino.
Hernandez outlined her daughter's repeated reports to the Sheriff Dept. of
Avelino's
multiple felony crimes including his sexual assaults of Teresa and her
children, his constant obsessive stalking, repeated threats to kill and
restraining order violations. The Sheriff's Department never once arrested
or cited Avelino Macias. After deputies ignored more than twenty reports in
just the last few months of her
life, Avelino fatally shot Teresa, then shot and seriously wounded her
mother, Sara, on April 15, 1996.
This landmark federal civil rights lawsuit, filed in October 1996 claimed
that Sonoma County Sheriff's Department violated Teresa's constitutional
right to equal protection of the laws. A July 2000 9th Circuit Appellate
Court decision in the Macias case established for the first time and in the
most unambiguous language to date, women's rights to sue law enforcement
when they fail to act.
With today's testimony and the historic damages award, Sara Hernadez said,
"I have fulfilled my daughter's wish." Shortly before her death, Teresa
told her mother, "If I die I want you to tell the world what happened to me.
I don't want other women to suffer as I have suffered. I want them to be
listened to."
The settlement sends a resounding message to law enforcement around the
country that they can no longer ignore domestic violence victims with
impunity. And it sends an equally forceful message to women everywhere,
that they have a constitutional right to hold law enforcement accountable
when law enforcement refuses to act.
Marie De Santis
Women's Justice Center
(707) 575-3150
www.justicewomen.com
email rdjustice@monitor.net
Tanya B/annan
Purple Berets
{707) 887-0262 or (707) 217-2683
www.purpleberets.org
info@purpleberets.org
Update mailing list
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Marian Karr
Page 1 of 1
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2002 1:43 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Return of [Prince George's] Chief Farrell
The Return of Chief Farrell
Wednesday, June 12, 2002; Page A30 Washington Post
IT LOOKS as if Prince George's County residents hoping for constructive change in their
police force will have to wait for a change of top county government officials. The
current administration has struck a blow for the status quo. Sticking to the customary
secretive ways that prevailed in the department under former chief John S. Farrell,
county officials agreed shortly after his abrupt resignation in February to retain him as a
consultant. At the time, officials would not divulge how much Mr. Farrell would be paid
or how long he would stay. It turns out he will have a higher pay rate than he did as
chief: $75,000 for a six-month stint that began June 1.
His responsibilities appear to cover the full range of police policies and practices. Under
this creative arrangement, he can share the secrets of a tenure riddled by repeated
allegations of brutality, coercive interrogations that produced false confessions and an
internal wall of silence that shielded misconduct.
Continuity, to be sure; but hardly what the department needs. Why stick the current
acting chief, Gerald M. Wilson, with his former superior, whose policies and practices
were marked by failure? Mr. Farrell does have extensive experience with federal
investigations of the department, some of them still in progress; and he can pass along
his experiences in protecting police practices from public scrutiny. But that isn't going to
comfort residents or the honest, diligent county police officers who lost confidence in the
ability of their chief to improve the department's performance and reputation.
'Tm concerned that taxpayers' money is being spent to hire someone who has already
been on the payroll to address these same issues but didn't," says Edythe Flemings Hall,
president of the county's NAACP. "What troubles me is that every time the police
department has an opportunity to build a bridge with the community, instead of building
that and creating confidence, they create more concern and questions." Residents
should hope for better answers from the candidates seeking to lead the county.
6/18/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 3
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2002 1:43 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Exonerated Prisoners Rarely Paid for Lost Time
06/18/2002 - Updated 01:24 AM ET
Exonerated prisoners are rarely paid for lost time
By Richard Willing, USA TODAY By Eileen Blass, USA TODAY
Ray Krone walked out of a state prison and into the Arizona sunshine in April, 10 years, three months and 9% days after
his arrest for a murder that DNA tests later showed had been committed by another man. Krone got an apology from the
prosecutor and $50, the usual exit payment to the state's convicts. He also got some bad news from his attorney: Despite
the Phoenix prosecutor's admission that Krone was wrongly convicted, Arizona laws would make it nearly impossible for
him to receive compensation from the state for the decade he lost in prison, including more than two years on death row.
"It's in everyone's interest to get a guy (leaving prison) started down the right path," says Krone, who lost his house, a
boat, a dune buggy, his retirement savings and a $30,000-a-year job with the U.S. Postal Service after he was convicted
of killing a Phoenix barmaid in 1991. "That should go double if the guy didn't deserve to be in prison in the first place,
right?"
Read more below
Video L ~
Exonerated prisoner seeks compensation
Chart
Some states offer compensation to wrongly convicted people
Thanks to DNA testing and rising scrutiny of verdicts nationwide, America has more Ray Krones than ever. Since 1973,
more than 200 men have been deemed wrongly convicted and released from death sentences or lengthy prison terms,
most in the past decade. Like Krone, most have not been compensated because of laws that encourage aggressive law
enforcement by shielding cops and prosecutors from lawsuits.
Many of the men say the policies that prevent compensation should be changed to help them pay legal fees and other
debts, and to give them a new start. Detractors argue that lingering questions about the innocence of some of the men
should prevent them from winning payback. In some cases, courts have agreed with the detractors.
But after years in which courts and states have taken a hard line on prisoners' rights, there are signs of change, at least
when it comes to compensating the wrongly convicted. This year, Congress is likely to consider plans to greatly increase
the money available to exonerated federal prisoners.
Meanwhile, attorneys for the wrongly convicted increasingly are finding ways around the legal barriers. In Illinois, seven
exonerated men have won nearly $40 million in settlements since 1998.
And in perhaps the surest sign that compensation for the exonerated is a hot legal issue, celebrity lawyer Johnnie
Cochran has joined DNA legal specialists Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld to form a firm that aims to win money for those
freed because of DNA evidence. DNA tests compare the unique genetic code carried in body fluids with samples left at
crime scenes.
Even so, the obstacles to compensation remain daunting:
In every state court and in the U.S. system, prosecutors and law enforcement officers usually are immune from lawsuits.
Fifteen states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. government have laws that offer compensation. But the laws rarely
are used because they typically demand that anyone seeking compensation first receive an official pardon, or that a court
declare them innocent. That means a DNA test that exonerates an inmate by showing "reasonable doubt" that he did not
commit a crime often isn't enough, by itself, to qualify him for compensation.
6/18/02
Page 2 of 3
State legislatures occasionally pass special appropriations for those who have been exonerated, but such efforts can take
years and are subject to government budget processes and political whims. Laws rooted in history
But legal analysts say the rising number of inmate exonerations, and DNA technology's rising impact in solving crimes,
likely will lead governments to make compensation easier to get.
"It all comes back to three little letters: D-N-A," says Scott Wallace, director of defender services at the National Legal Aid
and Defender Association in Washington, D.C. "Science has convinced the public and prosecutors that the criminal justice
system is far more fallible than they had ever expected ..... That is beginning to show up in (compensation) court cases."
Science was Ray Krone's friend.
He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1992, then won a new trial in 1995 after an appeals court ruled
that the prosecution had taken too long to turn over evidence to Krone's attorneys. Krone was convicted again in 1996,
largely on the strength of a bite-mark specialist's testimony that Krone's teeth matched the pattern in a wound found on
the victim, Klm Ancona. After the second conviction, Krone, now 45, was sentenced to life.
In 2000, Krone's attorney, Christopher Plourd, persuaded a judge to run DNA samples lifted from the victim's body
through a federally sponsored database of people convicted of serious crimes. The samples, which had been tested using
DNA technology that had been unavailable just a few years earlier, cleared Krone and matched the DNA of a sex offender
in an Arizona prison.
The sex offender, Kenneth Phillips, had lived 600 yards from the site of the slaying but had not been a suspect. Instead,
police had focused on Krone, who had gone out with Ancona and some friends a few nights before she was killed. Phillips
was charged with murder two weeks after Krone was released and is awaiting trial.
For Krone, winning money could be even tougher than winning his freedom.
Under Arizona law, the prosecutors who charged him are virtually immune from lawsuits. Police and expert witnesses are
immune, too, and are not liable for any mistakes they make as long as they can show they acted in good faith. Such
immunities date back several centuries, when they were put in place to protect prosecutors in England and to keep
governments from being bankrupted by o~cials' errors. Today most states have immunity laws, which have been upheld
by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The law leaves Plourd little to work with in trying to get compensation for Krone. Plourd, of San Diego, says he is
examining whether Krone could claim rights violations that aren't covered by immunity laws, such as willful misconduct by
police.
Still, Krone is relatively lucky. A bachelor, he has moved in with his parents in Dover, Pa., has joined a softball team and
has been offered part-time work as a plumber. Krone has thought about trying to get another Postal Service job but says
he is unsure what he wants to do. He's considering a return to Phoenix but is worried that despite his exoneration, he will
be regarded with suspicion.
Others who have been exonerated have walked into a backlog of problems. Clarence Brandley, who was freed by Texas
in 1990 after his 1981 murder conviction was reversed, sued for wrongful imprisonment and soon was hit with $50,000 in
child-support bills that built up during his time in prison
Clyde Charles, released from a life sentence by Louisiana in 1999 when a DNA test cleared him of rape, has been socked
with medical bills for a variety of ailments and overdue property taxes. In a painful twist, the DNA test that cleared Charles
cast suspicion on his brother, whose DNA eventually was matched to a crime scene sample. Charles' brother, Marlo, was
convicted of the crime for which Charles served 19 years. Last month, Marlo Charles was sentenced to life in prison.
A bill to compensate Clyde Charles stalled in Louisiana's Legislature, partly because his brother's silence, not just state
actions, helped to keep Charles in prison.
Those who are exonerated and receive compensation often aren't satisfied. Freddie Lee Pitts, convicted in 1963 and
cleared in 1975 of a murder at a Florida gas station, had to wait until 1998 for state lawmakers to pass a bill that gave him
and co-defendant Wilbert Lee $500,000 each. Pitts, who had sought $1.5 million, refused to appear at a ceremony with
the bill's sponsor. "A cheap political cop-out," says Pitts, 58, who was 19 when he was convicted.
Kirk Bloodsworth, a commercial fisherman cleared in 1993 of a rape-murder conviction in Baltimore, got $300,000 tax-free
from Maryland's Legislature. After paying legal bills and student loans, Bloodsworth had about $100,000, which he says
he spent in two years.
6/18/02
Page 3 of 3
"You have a lot of suddenly appearing friends, and you want to be accepted .... so you spend like crazy," says
Bloodsworth, 41. "You realize when (the money's) gone that you were ... looking to get rid of this shadow that follows you.
Even if you're exonerated, some people still treat you like you're guilty."
Most states require pardon
State and U.S. compensation statutes date to Wisconsin's 1913 law, which gives up to $25,000 to ex-convicts who can
convince a state board they were innocent.
Most other states with compensation laws offer lesser payouts, and several require a pardon from the governor as a first
step in a lengthy process When she studied the issue in 1998, law professor Adele Bernhard found that only a few states
had paid such claims. The exception was New York, which has no compensation limits and where $2.81 million was paid
to nine claimants from 1994 through 1998.
The laws were intended to be used rarely, and "never contemplated the exposure of wrongful convictions and the
explosion in exonerations we're experiencing," says Bernhard of Pace University in White Plains, N.Y.
For those exonerated because of a technicality, proving innocence can be difficult, especially if evidence suggests that
they, in fact, were guilty.
Jay Smith, a high school principal in Upper Merion, Pa., was released from a death term in 1992. He had served six years
after being convicted of killing a teacher and her two children to help her husband collect an insurance payment. The
conviction was reversed in part because police did not disclose that two grains of quartz were found on the victim's toes,
which might have strengthened Smith's claim that the teacher was killed by her husband on a beach.
Two years ago, a U.S. appeals court shot down Smith's lawsuit against the police and a prosecutor. The court cited
"overwhelming" evidence against Smith: a pin belonging to the victim that was found in his car, carpet fibers on her body
that were similar to those from a rug in his house and a comb that likely was Smith's and was found under the body.
Lawyers for those seeking compensation have begun to shift tactics. In Illinois, where 13 men have been released from
death row since 1987, lawyers no longer seek to file suits in federal court, where dismissals had become common.
Instead, they file in state court and allege police misconduct, such as coerced confessions and fabricated evidence. Police
are not immune from such misconduct lawsuits.
The strategy is paying off. In 1999, Cook County, II1., paid $36 million to settle a suit brought by four men convicted in a
1978 murder. The men, who had served 11 to 17 years in prison, alleged that police ignored or hid evidence that pointed
to the real killers. Since then, four other ex-convicts in Illinois have won smaller settlements. Another was awarded $15
million by a Chicago jury in December; that award is being appealed.
Lawyers in other states have begun to adopt the Illinois tactics. But that doesn't help the many freed prisoners who, like
Ray Krone, were convicted because police, prosecutors and juries apparently acted in good faith but were mistaken. For
them, the best hope appears to be special awards from state lawmakers, or changes in compensation rules.
Krone isn't holding his breath.
"Most people think, 'Hey, this could never happen to me,'" he says. "1 thought the same way. I was a middle-class kid
from mainstream America, never in trouble, and things like going to prison for murder ... just didn't happen. Until it did."
6/18/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of l
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2002 1:43 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] [GA] Ex-Sheriff Goes on Trial in KiPling of His Successor
Ex-Sheriff Goes on Trial in Killing of His Successor ByT,,E
ASSOCIATED PRESS
iLBANY, Ga., June 17 (AP) -- A former sheriff in suburban Atlanta accused of ordering the
assassination of his successor went on trial today on murder charges for what prosecutors called a
power-mad effort to regain his job.
A defense lawyer countered in his opening statement that two hit men hatched the ambush
themselves and that his client, former Sheriff Sidney Dorsey of DeKalb County, had nothing to do with
it.
The victim, Derwin Brown, was shot in his driveway on Dec. 15, 2000, three days before he was to
take office. Mr. Brown had defeated Mr. Dorsey in a hotly contested election months earlier by
promising to clean up corruption in the Sheriffs Department.
District Attorney Ken Hodges told the jury that Mr. Dorsey had ordered the killing in hopes of forcing a
special election.
Mr. Dorsey, 63, could get life in prison without parole if convicted. Prosecutors are not seeking the
death penalty.
Mr. Dorsey is also accused of racketeering in the Sheriffs Department.
The case is based almost entirely on the testimony of two former associates, Patrick Cuffy and Paul
Skyers, who were given immunity. Mr. Cuffy and Mr. Skyers have said they killed the sheriff-elect with
two other men, David Ramsey and Melvin Walker, on orders from Mr. Dorsey. In January, a jury
acquitted Mr. Ramsey and Mr. Walker.
Mr. Dorsey's lawyer, Brian Steel, told the jury today that Mr. Cuffy and Mr. Skyers had hatched the
plot to kill Mr. Brown on their own.
Mr. Cuffy was a Iow-wage jailer looking for a promotion, Mr. Steel said, and Mr. Skyers hoped to get a
job in the department. They killed Mr. Brown in hopes of improving their job prospects, he said.
6/18/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 2
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2002 1:43 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Police May Search Bus Riders, Minus the Speech
Police May Search Bus Riders, Minus the Speech
By LINDA GREENHOUSE NY Times
[ASHINGTON, June 17 -- The Supreme Court ruled today that in conducting random searches
for drugs or weapons on buses, the police need not advise passengers that they are free to refuse
permission to be searched.
The 6-to-3 decision reinstated the convictions of two men who allowed a police officer to pat them
down while their Greyhound bus was on a stopover in Tallahassee, Fla. Both men had packets of
cocaine taped to their thighs.
Adverlisement
A federal appeals court held that the search was unconstitutional because in the cramped and
"coercive" atmosphere of the bus, with two officers positioned front and back and a third looming over
the seated passengers, the men would not have felt able to withhold their consent unless instructed
that they were free to do so.
But under the "totality of the circumstances," the men were not seized and their consent was the
product of their free will, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority. While it made relatively
little new law -- the court had dealt in similar fashion with a bus search 11 years ago -- the decision
had the effect of validating a popular law enforcement technique as well as demonstrating the
justices' sharply differing personal responses to the nature of this type of police-citizen encounter.
The three officers boarded the long-distance bus at Tallahassee, one taking the driver's seat and the
two others moving to the back. While one remained at the rear, the ether moved forward, talking to
passengers and asking permission to search their carry-on luggage. Two seatmates, Christopher
Drayton and Clifton Brown Jr., gave permission to search the bag they shared, which contained no
contraband.
Then the officer asked Mr. Brown, "Do you mind if I check your person?" Receiving the answer,
"Sure," the officer patted down Mr. Brown's heavy jacket, waist area and thighs, where he detected
objects similar to packages used by drug smugglers. He handcuffed and arrested Mr. Brown and
obtained Mr. Drayton's permission for a personal search, with similar results.
In the majority's view today, there was nothing intimidating about the scene.. "There was no
application of force," Justice Kennedy said, "no intimidating movement, no overwhelming show of
force, no brandishing of weapons, no blocking of exits, no threat, no command, not even an
authoritative tone of voice." Such an encounter on the street would "beyond question" have been
constitutional, he said, and the fact that it took place on a bus "does not on its own transform
6/t 8/02
Page 2 of 2
standard police questioning of citizens into an illegal seizure."
In fact, Justice Kennedy said, the incident was reassuring, inviting cooperation between passengers
and the police. Bus passengers commonly cooperate, he said, "not because of coercion but because
the passengers know that their participation enhances their own safety and the safety of those around
them." He added, "It reinforces the rule of law for the citizen to advise the police of his or her wishes
and for the police to act in reliance on that understanding."
In the dissenting opinion, Justice David H. Souter objected that there was "an air of unreality" to the
majority's description of what he himself called "an atmosphere of obligatory participation."
"When the attention of several officers is brought to bear on one civilian, the imbalance of immediate
power is unmistakable," Justice Souter said "We all understand this," he continued, adding, "As
common as this understanding is, however, there is little sign of it in the court's opinion."
Responding to Justice Kennedy's emphasis on the officer's quiet tone, Justice Souter said, "A police
officer who is certain to get his way has no need to shout."
The majority opinion, United States v. Drayton, No. 01-631, was joined by Chief Justice William H.
Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Stephen G.
Breyer. Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg signed Justice Souter's dissenting
opinion.
The Supreme Court first dealt with bus searches in a 1991 decision, Florida v. Bostick, which held
that the test for the validity of such a search was whether, on a case-by-case basis, "a reasonable
person would feel free to decline the officers' requests or otherwise terminate the encounter" In that
case, however, the officer had advised the passenger that he could refuse consent.
The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which is based in Atlanta and includes
Florida, interpreted the Bostick decision as requiring such advice. Based on that understanding, the
appeals court ordered the evidence against Mr. Drayton and Mr. Brown suppressed, and the Justice
Department appealed to the Supreme Court.
The five decisions the court issued today left 14 cases remaining to be decided before the term ends,
presumably later this month. The court has scheduled more decisions for Thursday.
6/18/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 4
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2002 11:23 AM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] NACOLE Training Survey
TO: Readers of NACOLE Update
FROM: NACOLE Board
RE: Training Survey
Date: June 17, 2002
Respond by: June 28, 2002
NACOLE is considering more formal ways to share our collective knowledge about civilian oversight of polZing issues,
including the idea of adding a training program of some type to the services that NACOLE offers. Denver's Denise
DeForest is collecting information from NACOLE participants in order to identify and build on methods of sharing our
knowledge among us.
As par/of the preliminary research necessary to design a good training program, we need feedback from experienced
civilian oversight practitioners about the goals for such a program.
This survey presents questions about five different issues that NACOLE would need to decide during the design of any
training program. There is room for you to add your comments about each question topic or about training generally.
Read and respond to the questions in this email by June 28, 2001. We are sending you the questions in two formats so
you can choose which format is easiest for your o use. The 2 formats are 1. in the email below; and 2. in the attachment
which has same questions, but is in Word format.
You can
1. use email to type responses only, or
2. Copy and paste the questions into your response, or
3. Download the attachment and type responses onto it, then email or fax it to Denise.
E-mail responses to: DENISEDEFOREST@msn.com
If you would prefer to fax the completed document rather than use e-mail, you can print out the
document, fill it in, and fax the completed survey to Sue Quinn at (619) 294-3225 who will forward
them to Denise.
Your Name:
City (or Jurisdiction) and State:
NACOLE Training Program Survey
For purposes of this survey, a training or instructional program is an effort to provide a standardized curriculum on civilian
oversight issues to practitioners across the country. (Please note that training may involve any number of mechanisms,
and may or may not involve travel - see options discussed be[ow in Q.3 and Q.4.)
Questions:
1. Training for whom? Please check the categories of people involved in civilian oversight for whom training should be
designed:
6/t 7/02
__ Volunteer, part-time civilian reviewers (used primarily in the commission or board models of oversight)
Staff members for boards or commissions
__ Auditors, ombudsmen, or other paid civilian reviewers with decision-making authority
__ Investigators
__ Non-investigative staff for auditors, ombudsmen, or other oversight agencies
Others: Please describe:
Page 2 of 4
Comments about your answer to Q.1: (If you believe that certain groups should have priority for instruction, please let us
know)
2. What Level of Training? If NACOLE were to initially focus on one instructional area, what skill level of training do you
think should be offered?
Basic training in core concepts for review of police actions
__ Advanced training for specialty substantive areas, such as investigation or audit procedures
__ Advanced training in administrative issues, such as police-civilian oversight relations or structure issues
__ Development of policy
__ Other. Please explain:
Comments about your answer to Q.2:
3. What Type of Training Format? Assuming that NACOLE fully enters the training arena, what kind of instructional
format(s) do you think would be most useful? (The feasibility of these options is addressed in Q.4) Check more than one,
if applicable:
__ Training sessions - students assemble at a location for a period of time; instruction is led by live instructors;
instructional methods can include presentations from multiple instructors, participatory exercises with live feedback from
instructors, multimedia presentations, and hard copy materials.
__ Individualized training - trainer goes to a group (or individual) who requests the sessions; instructional methods
can include live presentations, participatory exercises with live feedback from the instructor, multimedia presentations,
and hard copy materials.
__ Computer-based training - NACOLE offers courses which are available either over the Internet or through a CD;
instructional methods can include pre-recorded lectures, participatory exercises with pre-programmed feedback,
multimedia presentations, and hard copy materials.
Publication-based training - NACOLE offers courses which are available through the use of workbooks and
other hard copy reference materials; instructional methods include traditional written lectures and written exercises.
Other - Please explain:
6/17/02
Page 3 of 4
Comments on your answer to O. 3: (If you believe that certain formats are most usable for certain tasks, please feel free
to include those details in your comments. Also, if you believe that a particular instructional format is more desirable than
the others, please tell us.)
4. Which Instructional Formats Are Feasible? When considering the instructional formats discussed in Q.3, which format
(s) do you think would be most feasible for NACOLE? (For feasibility, please consider whether people would be
sufficiently interested to participate in this manner, and whether governmental entities would be willing to invest money
into funding participation. Assume that NACOLE can find a way to fund and staff the initial development of such a
system.) Please check one or more options:
__ Training sessions - students assemble at a location for a period of time. The costs in this plan would at least
entail travel and food/lodging for participants, the cost of having multiple instructors at the site (which includes the cost of
their time in addition to food/lodging etc.), and the cost of reproduction and distribution of the materials.
__ Individualized training - trainer goes to an agency who requests the session. The costs of this plan would at
least include travel and food/lodging for the instructor, the cost of the instructor's time, and the cost of the training
materials.
__ Computer-based training - NACOLE offers courses which are available either over the Internet or through a CD.
The costs of this plan include the cost to the agency for the technology required to receive the training, and the costs for
distribution of any hard copy materials.
Publication-based training - NACOLE offers courses which are available through the use of workbooks and
other hard copy reference materials. The cost of this plan includes the time and development of the materials and then
duplication and distribution of the materials.
__ Other option identified in answer to Q.3
__ None of these options are feasible. (Please explain your reasoning in the comments.)
Comments on your answer to Q.4: (Again, if your answer varies by the topic or target audience of the training, please feel
free to explain. Additionally, please let us know if you believe that a particular instructional format is currently more
feasible than any of the others.)
5. Where to Hold Training? Assuming that NACOLE decides to offer training sessions which require the participating
individuals to assemble in one spot, what type of training site do you think would we should find? Check the option(s) that
you believe would result in the greatest attendance for training sessions.
a. Rotating, conference-oriented, or in one spot - Do you think that NACOLE should set up its training location in one
place and hold everything there, or should the training be rotated around the country?
__ One place for everything
__ Rotating independently from the yearly NACOLE conference
__ Held in conjunction with the yearly NACOLE conference
b. Type of location - Assuming that the training is held independently of the NACOLE conference, what type of location
do you think would result in the greatest attendance?
__ Resorts. The training should be held in the types of places that people would go to on an upscale vacation.
__ Big cities. The training should be held in large US cities which are easily reachable by air.
6/17/02
Page 4 of 4
Out of the way spots. The training should be held in places in the U.S. which are unlikely to be seen by others as
boondoggles, even though the places may be more difficult to reach.
Other. Please describe:
Comments on your answer to Q.5:
Do you have any other comments that you would like to offer about training?
Thank you ~r your ~edback!
*** eSafe scanned this email for malicious content ***
*** IMPORTANT: Do not open attachments from unrecognized senders
6/17/02
Your Name:
City (or Jurisdiction) and State:
NACOLE Training Program Survey
NACOLE is considering more formal ways to share our collective knowledge
about civilian oversight of policing issues, including the idea of adding a training
program of some type to the services that NACOLE offers.
As part of the preliminary research necessary to design a good training program,
we need feedback from experienced civilian oversight practitioners about the goals for
such a program.
This survey presents questions about five different issues that NACOLE would
need to decide during the design of any training program. There is room for you to add
your comments about each question topic or about training generally.
Instructions:
Please open this document as a Word document. You can fill it out in Word, then
e-mail it back to: DENISEDEFOREST~msn.com. If you would prefer to fax the
completed document rather than use e-mail, you can print out the document, fill it in, and
fax the completed survey to Sue Quinn at (619) 294-3225.
We hope to have these surveys back no later than June 28, 2002.
For purposes of this survey, a training or instructional program is an effort to
provide a standardized curriculum on civilian oversight issues to practitioners across the
country. (Please note that training may involve any number of mechanisms, and may or
may not involve travel - see options discussed below in Q.3 and Q.4.)
Questions:
Training for whom? Please check the categories of people involved in
civilian oversight for whom training should be designed:
Volunteer, part-time civilian reviewers (used primarily in the
commission or board models of oversight)
Staff members for boards or commissions
__ Auditors, ombudsmen, or other paid civilian reviewers with
decision-making authority
__ Investigators
__ Non-investigative staff for auditors, ombudsmen, or other
oversight agencies
Others: Please describe:
Comments about your answer to Q. 1: (If you believe that certain groups should have
priority for instruction, please let us know) '
What Level of Training? If NACOLE were to initially focus on one
instructional area, what skill level of training do you think should be
offered?
Basic training in core concepts for review of police actions
__ Advanced training for specialty substantive areas, such as
investigation or audit procedures
__ Advanced training in administrative issues, such as police-civilian
oversight relations or structure issues
Development of policy
__ Other. Please explain:
Comments about your answer to Q.2:
What Type of Training Format? Assuming that NACOLE fully enters the
training arena, what kind of instructional format(s) do you think would be most
useful? (Thefeasibili.ty of these options is addressed in Q.4) Check more than
one, if applicable:
__ Training sessions - students assemble at a location for a period of
time; instruction is led by live instructors; instructional methods can include
presentations from multiple instructors, participatory exercises with live feedback
from instructors, multimedia presentations, and hard copy materials.
Individualized training - trainer goes to a group (or individual)
who requests the sessions; instructional methods can include live presentations,
participatory exercises with live feedback from the instructor, multimedia
presentations, and hard copy materials.
__ Computer-based training - NACOLE offers courses which are
available either over the Internet or through a CD; instructional methods can
include pre-recorded lectures, participatory exercises with pre-pro~'ammed
feedback, multimedia presentations, and hard copy materials.
Publication-based training - NACOLE offers courses which are
available through the use of workbooks and other hard copy reference materials;
instructional methods include traditional written lectures and written exercises.
Other- Please explain:
Comments on your answer to Q. 3: (If you believe that certain formats are most usable
for certain tasks, please feel free to include those details in your comments. Also,
if you believe that a particular instructional format is more desirable than the
others, please tell us.)
Which Instructional Formats Are Feasible? When considering the
instructional formats discussed in Q.3, which format(s) do you think would be
most feasible for NACOLE? (For feasibility, please consider whether people
would be sufficiently interested to participate in this manner, and whether
governmental entities would be willing to invest money into funding
participation. Assume that NACOLE can find a way to fired and staff the initial
development of such a system.) Please check one or more options:
__ Training sessions - students assemble at a location for a period of
time. The costs in this plan would at least entail travel and food/lodging for
participants, the cost of having multiple instructors at the site (which includes the
cost of their time in addition to food/lodging etc.), and the cost of reproduction
and distribution of the materials.
Individualized training - trainer goes to an agency who requests
the session. The costs of this plan would at least include travel and food/lodging
for the instructor, the cost of the instructor's time, and the cost of the training
materials.
Computer-based training - NACOLE offers courses which are
available either over the Internet or through a CD. The costs of this plan include
the cost to the agency for the technology required to receive the training, and the
costs for distribution of any hard copy materials.
Publication-based training - NACOLE offers courses which are
available through the use of workbooks and other hard copy reference materials.
The cost of this plan includes the time and development of the materials and then
duplication and distribution of the materials.
Other option identified in answer to Q.3
__ None of these options are feasible. (Please explain your
reasoning in the comments.)
Comments on your answer to Q.4: (Again, if your answer varies by the topic or target
audience of the training, please feel free to explain. Additionally, please let us
know if you believe that a particular instructional fomaat is currently more
feasible than any of the others.)
Where to Hold Training? Assuming that NACOLE decides to offer training
sessions which require the participating individuals to assemble in one spot, what
type of training site do you think would we should find? Check the option(s) that
you believe would result in the greatest attendance for training sessions.
a. Rotating, conference-oriented, or in one spot - Do you think that
NACOLE should set up its training location in one place and hold everything
there, or should the training be rotated around the country?
One place for everything
Rotating independently from the yearly NACOLE
conference
Held in conjunction with the yearly NACOLE conference
b. Type of location - Assuming that the training is held
independently of the NACOLE conference, what type of location do you think
would result in the greatest attendance?
__ Resorts. The training should be held in the types of places that
people would go to on an upscale vacation.
Big cities. The training should be held in large US cities which
are easily reachable by air.
Out of the way spots. The training should be held in places in the
U.S. which are unlikely to be seen by others as boondoggles, even though the
places may be more difficult to reach.
Other. Please describe:
Comments on your answer to 0.5:
Do you have any other comments that you would like to offer about training?
Thank you for your feedback!
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 1
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2002 11:07 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Albuquerque's Study of Police Oversight Process
Albuquerque's new study of their oversight process is available on line. You can access it at the following web address:
Click here: http://www.cabchgov/council/pocstudy.pdf
6/17/02
Marian Karr
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
BMohr@cabq.gov
Friday, June 14, 2002 1:38 PM
update@nacole.org
[NACOLE Update] Mayor Pushed Friend for Police Watchdog
Thursday, June 13, 2002
Mayor Pushed Friend for Police Watchdog
By Mike Gallagher
Journal Investigative Reporter
Mayor Martin Ch~vez has withdrawn the name of his nominee to serve
as the city's civilian police watchdog, citing concerns that their
relationship could undermine the position.
On May 30, Chavez sent the name of Taos County Manager Robert Dale
Morrison to the City Council for confirmation as the city's
independent review officer.
The IRO investigates civilian complaints against police officers,
reviews officer-involved shootings and reports to the Police Oversight
Commission.
The council was scheduled to take up the appointment Monday.
Morrison didn't make the list of top candidates submitted by the
commission to the mayor, and Ch~vez raised commission hackles when he
challenged the selection process.
The mayor and Morrison acknowledged they are social friends, and
Morrison and his wife contributed to Ch~vez's unsuccessful campaign
for governor.
Morrison, a former FBI agent, also represented the mayor's
brother-in-law in a high-profile lawsuit against Bernalillo County
District Court several years ago.
His current job as Taos County manager has placed him in a swirl
of local political controversy.
"I don't think it's fair to Dale to come into this job with any
questions," Ch~vez said in an interview with the Journal on Wednesday.
"He's a very good man," Ch~vez said. "I think he would have done a
good job, but any decision of the IRO is second-guessed."
Morrison said he was "very disappointed. I feel I was very well
qualified for the job."
Ch~vez said he lost sleep over the decision to withdraw Morrison's
name but said their relationship would raise questions about
Morrison's impartiality.
"It wouldn't be fair to him, and it's not fair to the system that
questions would be raised ? he supported the mayor for governor, for
instance," he said.
Ch~vez said that he and Morrison have been friends for five years
and that their wives have been friends. "I've known Dale for five
years and think very highly of him. There's no doubt in my mind that
if I tried to interfere with him as IRO, he would have told me to
stuff it."
But Ch~vez said Morrison would also be faced with questions
stemming from his work in Taos County, where "Dale came in to do a
tough job and made a substantial number of political enemies."
Ch~vez said that Morrison was cleared by an APD background
investigation and that an officer spent a day in Taos looking into the
situation there.
"You're talking about a small community with a highly charged
political atmosphere," Ch~vez said.
Selection process
The commission initially asked that Ch~vez nominate Ann Steinmetz
to continue in the post without a search. Ch~vez declined and asked
the commission to send him three names as required by city ordinance.
Steinmetz dropped out, and the commission began interviewing
candidates in February. Five applicants were reinterviewed in March
The commission wasn't happy with the candidates, either because of
their answers or prior affiliation with police, but it sent the mayor
three names on March 19. Morrison's name was not on the list.
Commission Chairman Joseph Dorn said Ch~vez asked why.
"I explained the scoring system to the mayor," Dorn said. "I told
him Morrison came in fourth."
According to Dorn, Ch~vez said, "I know Dale (Morrison) and I
couldn't imagine that he didn't make the cut."
Morrison sent the coramission a letter, requesting all the records
on how the commission reached its decision. Dorn told the Journal that
he felt the letter was a veiled threat.
"My question is how well are you going to work with people who
didn't want you in the first place," Dom said. "How is that
relationship going to work if you try to sue your way through the back
door?"
Morrison said in an interview Wednesday that he was upset with
some of the comments made by the commissioners.
"The entire process was very frustrating," he said. "They were in
violation of the open-meetings law."
After that meeting, one of the three finalists, assistant city
attorney Ron Bratton, withdrew his name from consideration.
"We discussed reopening the position again," Dorn said, but the
administration said that would be unnecessary and asked that an
additional name be forwarded.
"That's when we sent Morrison's name to the mayor," he said.
Morrison's name was forwarded to the City Council by Chief
Administrative Officer Jay Czar on May 30.
Hot-potato case
Morrison in 1996 represented Anthony Aragon in an employment
lawsuit against the 2nd Judicial District.
"It was a case that no one else in the legal community would
touch," Morrison said. "And we won a settlement in that case."
State records show that Aragon was paid more than $99,000, plus
time on paid leave, in a dispute that arose after Aragon was passed
over for a promotion.
Aragon was the coordinator of Teen-Court, a program designed to
help kids stay out of trouble.
He claimed, in a nine-page news release distributed by Morrison,
that he had been sexually harassed by a judge.
An investigation concluded that there was no sexual harassment but
that there had been inappropriate remarks that resulted in a hostile
work environment.
Morrison had applied for an open judgeship before taking Aragon's
case. He didn't make the list of those recommended.
"I didn't have a chance of getting that after I took that case,"
Morrison said.
(For those unfamiliar with Albuquerque, Anthony Aragon is the Mayor's
brother-in-law)
Update mailing list
2
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Marian Karr
Page 1 of 3
From: marie [rdjustice@monitor.net]
Sent: Saturday, June 15, 2002 11:10 AM
To: rd justice@monitor, net
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Macias Trial Begins_ Juicio Macias inicia
Espanol--vease abajo
Please post to others:
Macias Trial Begins June 17
Can Police Ignore Domestic Violence with Impunity?
Or can Women Hold Police Accountable for Failing to Act?
A Landmark Women's Civil Rights Trial
Establishing Women's Constitutional Rights to Police Protection
For more information see www.justicewomen..com and www.purpleberets.org
Attend the Trial!
The Trial of Teresa Macias vs. Sonoma County Sheriff
Begins Monday June 17 and runs for 2 to 3 weeks, 8:30 am to 3 pm,
Mondays through Thursdays,
At the San Francisco Federal Bldg, 17th Floor, 450 Golden Gate at Polk St
The federal civil rights case of Macias vs. Sonoma County Sheriff is poised over a question of life and death
importance to women. The question is this. Can police ignore women's pleas for help with domestic violence
whenever they wish and with impunity? Or can women hold police legally accountable when police refuse to
act?
Until the Macias case, U.S. Courts have repeatedly held that police have no obligation to act. Thus police in the
United States have absolute discretion to ignore rape and domestic violence victims whenever they please, no
matter how much evidence exists that a crime has occurred. And women have no means to hold police
accountable. This current state of unrestricted police discretion, combined with the extreme male biases of so
many police, systematically leaves women abandoned to the rampant violence against them.
During the last year and a half of her life, Maria Teresa Macias, a Sonoma County mother of three children,
went to the Son0ma County Sheriff f0r help on more than 22 occasions seeking protection from her physically
and sexually violent husband, Avelino. The Sherift's Department rebuffed Teresa at every turn, until finally, on
April 15, 1996, Avelino shot and killed Teresa. In October 1996, the Macias family filed a $15 million federal
civil rights lawsuit against Sonoma County Sheriff's Department. The suit claims that Sonoma County Sheriff
denied Teresa's 14~h Amendment constitutional right to equal protection of the laws.
As with previous such lawsuits by women, Teresa's case was thrown out of court. But the Macias family
appealed. In July 2000, ruling on the Macias case, the 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, in the most
unambiguous language to date, unanimously declared women's constitutional right to non-discriminatory police
protection. And with this ruling the Appeals Court revived the Macias case in federal court. Since then, the
Macias case has received increasing national attention as a landmark case carving out a previously unavailable
legal remedy by which victims of violence against women can hold police accountable when equal protection is
6/17/02
denied by police. The trial begins on June 17 at the San Francisco Federal Court Building.
For Macias case history and documents sec
www.justicewomen.com
or www,purpleberets.org
Marie De Santis
Women's Justice Center
E1 Centro de Justicia para Mujeres
250 Sebastopol Rd.
Santa Rosa, CA 95407
Bilingual (Spanish) web site
www.j~u sticewomen, corn
Email: rdj ustice~monitor.net
Page 2 of 3
Espanol ********************************************** **********************
Por favor comparte esta informaei6n eon otras personas.
Juicio Macias inicia el 17 de junio:
/,Puede la policia ignorar la violencia dom6stica con impunidad?
/,O pueden las mujeres responsabilizar a la policia por no actuar?
Un juicio trascendental para los derechos civiles de las mujeres que establece su derecho
constitucional a recibir protecci6n polieiai
Mils informaci6n en: ~.justicewomen.com y www.purpleberets, org
iAsiste al juicio!
E1 juicio de Teresa Macias contra el alguacil del condado de Sonoma inicia el 17 de junio y durarfi entre dos y
tres semanas. Se realizarfi de 8:30 a.m. a 3 p.m., de lunes ajueves, en el Edificio de la Corte Federal de San
Francisco, Piso 17, 450 Golden Gate en Polk Street.
E1 caso federal de derechos civiles "Macias contra el Departamento del Alguacil del Condado de Sonoma" se
basa en una pregunta de tan crucial importancia que puede ser una cuesti6n de vida o muerte para las mujeres.
La pregunta es 6sta: LPuede la policla, cada vez que se Ie antoja y con impunidad, ignorar los llamados de ayuda
de las mujeres pot violencia dom6stica? LO pueden las mujeres responsabilizar legalmente a ia policia cuando
~sta se rehfisa a actuar?
Hasta el advenimiento del caso Macias, las cortes de Estados Unidos habia sostenido repetidamente que la
policia no tenla la obligaci6n de actuar. Asi, en el pals la policia posee, siempre que opta por ello, una absoluta
discrecionalidad para ignomr a las victimas de violaci6n y violencia dom6stica, sin importar cmintas evidencias
existan de que un crimen ha sido cometido. Y las mujeres carecen de los medios para responsabilizar a la
policia. Este actual estado de irrestricta discrecionalidad policial, en combinaci6n con los profundos prejuicios
masculinos de tantos agentes de policla, sistemfiticamente deja a las mujeres abandonadas a la violencia
rampante que se cierne contra ellas.
6/17/02
Page 3 of 3
Durante el flltimo afio y medio de su vida, Maria Teresa Maclas, residente del condado de Sonoma y madre de
tres nifios, acudi6 al alguacil de este condado en m/ts de 22 ocasiones, en busca de protecci6n contra su esposo
Avelino, un hombre que la atacaba fisica y sexualmente. E1 Departamento del Alguacil ignor6 a Maria Teresa
en cada una de esas ocasiones hasta que, finalmente, el 15 de abril de 1996, Avelino la asesin6 a balazos. En
octubre de 1996, la familia Macfas entabl6 una demanda federal de derechos civiles por $15 millones contra el
Departamento del Alguacil del condado de Sonoma. La demanda alega que el alguacil del condado de Sonoma
le deneg6 a Maria Teresa el derecho constitucional, segfin Ia 14a. Enmienda, a la protecci6n igualitaria de la ley.
Tal como ha ocurrido con otras de esas demandas por parte de las mujeres, el caso de Maria Teresa rue
desechado por la corte. Pero la familia Macias apel6. En julio del 2000, emitiendo dictamen en el caso Maclas,
la Corte Federal de Apelaciones del Noveno Circuito, en el m/ts inequlvoco lenguaje hasta la fecha, declar6
unfinimemente el derecho constitucional de las mujeres a protecci6n policial sin discriminaci6n. Y'con este
dictamen la Corte de Apelaciones revivi6 el caso Maclas en una corte federal. Desde entonces, el caso ha
recibido una creciente atenci6n nacional, al tratarse de un caso trascendental que provee un remedio legal,
previamente inexistente, por medio del cual las mujeres victimas de violencia pueden responsabilizar a la
policia cuando 6sta les deniega protecci6n igualitaria. E1 juicio inicia el 17 de junio en el Edificio de la Corte
Federal de San Francisco.
Para conocer la historia y los documentos del caso Macias, ver:
www.justicewomen.com
o www.purpleberets.org
Marie De Santis
Women's Justice Center
Centro de Justicia Para Mujeres
Bilingual (Spanish) Website:
www.justicewomen.com
250 Sebastopol Rd., Santa Rosa, CA 95407
Tel. (707) 575-3150
Email rdj ustice~monitor.net
Update mailing list Update~nacole.org
http://gamma.j umpserver.net/mailman/listinfo/update_nacole.org
6/17/02
Marian Karr
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
BMohr@cabq.gov
Friday, June 14, 2002 1:41 PM
update@nacole.org
[NACOLE Update] Evaluators Find Fault With Police Oversight Office
Friday, June 14, 2002
Evaluators Find Fault With Police Oversight Office
By Katie Burford
Journal Staff Writer
Police oversight in Albuquerque is having a hard time moving
forward.
Selection of a new head for the Independent Review Office, which
investigates citizen complaints, hit a snag this week when Mayor
Martin Ch~vez withdrew his top choice. Ch~vez cited the possible
appearance of impartiality because of social connections to the
candidate, Robert Dale Morrison.
And a new report says Albuquerque's police oversight system needs
"substantial reform."
At the Police Oversight Commission meeting Thursday, Richard
Kennedy, the mayor's liaison, told co~eissioners that Ch~vez would
announce another selection next week from the remaining two
candidates, Andrew Mills and Jay Rowland. The post has been vacant since April.
Meanwhile, the report on the oversight process found that it
suffers frequent gridlock.
"At times, unfortunately, the POC has had a polarizing effect on
relations between police and the community, rather than functioning as
a bridge. The POC is viewed ... as 'anti-police' by many members of
the police force. In sharp contrast, the POC is considered ineffective
by civil rights advocates and community activists," the 89-page report
states.
In early 2001, the city hired two evaluators, Richard Jerome and
Nick Miller, after consulting with a national civilian oversight
association for referrals.
The report examines the oversight commission and the review
office, two interdependent police watchdog entities created by city
ordinance in 1998. The ordinance called for the two to be evaluated
after about a year and a half of operation.
Jerome and Miller conducted interviews with commissioners, who are
appointed volunteers; review office staff; police acLministrators;
police union members; community leaders and civil rights advocates.
They also reviewed citizen complaint files for cases investigated by
both the review office and APD's Internal Affairs.
The report lauded some mechanisms in place to ensure that police
misconduct is not overlooked ? including the review office's scrutiny
of Internal Affairs investigations. But the document concluded that
serious adjustments are needed.
One of many suggestions in the report was that the commission hear
citizen complaints in closed session. Now, citizens not happy with the
outcome of their case can make an appeal before the commission. These
meetings are televised, though, which makes citizens and police
officers reluctant to appear, the report states.
A public forum to discuss the report is tentatively scheduled for
5 p.m. Aug. 7 at City Council chambers. Jerome and Miller will be
there to answer questions.
Patricia Galindo, a City Council policy analyst, said a copy of
!
the report will be posted on the council's Web site,
www.cabq.gov/council.
Update mailing list
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Marian Karr
Page 1 of 2
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 10:52 AM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Inquiry of Miami-Dade Police Halted; Miami Police Inquiry to Procede
Posted on Sat, Jun. 01, 2002 Miami Herald
Inquiry of Dade police halted
Justice to probe Miami department
BY KARL ROSS AND OSCAR CORRAL kross@hera!d,com
U.S. Department of Justice officials told Miami-Dade County police Director Carlos AIvarez on Friday
that his agency would not be the focus of a wide-ranging civil rights inquiry, despite strong criticism
from black leaders over recent shootings.
But the federal agency notified Miami Police Chief Raul Martinez on Friday that it will investigate long-
standing allegations of racially motivated slayings by Miami officers -- at the city's request.
Both received faxed letters from Robert N. Driscoll, the deputy assistant attorney general who
oversees civil rights investigations. Preliminary inquiries into both police departments were opened in
February.
A Justice spokesman declined to explain the contrasting decisions.
Alvarez called Justice's decision to call off the inquiry a vindication of his officers, who have been
publicly maligned in recent months.
"1 was confident, even cocky back in February, because I felt the truth would come, and the
investigation would show the Miami-Dade Police Department is one of the premier police
departments in the country and we don't violate anybody's civil rights," he said.
U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, D-Miami, said Justice officials told her about the split ruling, but did not
elaborate. She said congressional hearings she held in Miami in March showed "deep-seated
mistrust" among minorities toward county police.
"1 believe the Department of Justice needs to explain to this community why the city of Miami is being
investigated and Miami-Dade County is not," Meek said. "Nonetheless, I am hopeful that this
investigation will help alleviate concerns by uncovering any wrongdoing by police and bringing about
the necessary changes."
Max Rameau, spokesman for the Coalition against Police Brutality and Harassment, also questioned
why county police got a pass from Justice officials.
"We're disappointed they're not going to do it in Miami-Dade," Rameau said.. "We think there's plenty
they would find. We do hope they come back with something in which the end result will be less black
men."
Rameau noted county police have shot and killed four crime suspects so far this year -- three of
whom were black men. The fourth was a mentally unstable white Hispanic man shot earlier this week.
The initial federal inquiry into the county police was prompted by outcry over the death of Eddie
Macklin Jr., an unarmed black man who was fatally shot by a county officer Jan. 21. Macklin was
6/12/02
Page 2 of 2
driving a stolen car in the vicinity of a Martin Luther King Day celebration in Liberty City.
Miami Mayor Manny Diaz said the Justice investigation into Miami police is crucial to regaining public
confidence in the city's troubled force. Last year, 13 Miami police were indicted in connection with
three fatal shootings. All of the victims were black men.
"The city wants to bring whomever we need to bring in to make sure we're doing everything the way
we should," Diaz said. "1 think that's what the public wants us to do. And I think that's what the public
deserves."
Diaz, U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis and Chief Martinez have planned a news conference for Monday at
City Hall to announce the investigation. City Manager Carlos Gimenez said the city asked Justice to
investigate the police department last year.
"We want this prestigious, independent agency to come in, and whatever they find, we're committed
to making the changes they feel we need to make," Gimenez said. "The idea is to avert similar
problems in the future."
Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas was upbeat about the Justice Department finding no pattern of
misconduct. He disagreed with critics who believe the decision could stymie his efforts to create a
civilian oversight panel to investigate shootings by county police similar to the one approved by Miami
voters last fall.
"1 think the [Justice Department] letter further supports my call for the creation of a civilian
investigative panel," he said. "We are an honest and professional police department. We should not
be afraid of sharing our processes with the citizens."
Penelas' proposal is scheduled to go before the County Commission on Tuesday for a crucial vote. A
majority of 13 commissioners must approve the measure before it is placed on a countywide
referendum ballot in the fall.
One commissioner who thinks the Justice Department finding weakens Penelas' hand is Joe
Martinez, a former Miami-Dade police detective who opposes Penelas' plan.
'That's why we said, 'If it ain't broke, why fix it?'" Martinez said. "It told us what everybody in the
department already knows -- that the police department goes above and beyond to investigate all
police shootings and all complaints."
Herald staff writer Andrea Robinson contributed to this report.
6/12/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 3
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 10:52 AM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Miami Dade Police Panel Referendum Rejected
Posted on Wed, Jun. 05, 20021 ~ 1
[Miami-Dade] Police-panel referendum is rejected
BY KARL ROSS AND ANDREA ROBINSON
kross@herald.com
Voting 8-4 along racial lines, the Miami-Dade County Commission on Tuesday discarded two plans
for a referendum to create a civilian oversight board, equipped with subpoena powers, to investigate
fatal shootings and alleged misconduct by Miami-Dade County police officers.
Miami-Dade Police Director Carlos Alvarez said commissioners acted "bravely" in voting down the
measures that he and police union leaders argued would have had a demoralizing impact on the
county's police force.
"This is not a matter of winning or losing," Alvarez said. "It's a matter of asking the commission if
there's a problem with the way the Miami-Dade Police Department handles investigations, particularly
into police shootings. And if there's not, let's move forward and address other issues."
Max Rameau, spokesman for the Coalition against Police Brutality and Harassment, expressed
disappointment but said the lopsided vote against the Civilian Investigative Panel (CIP) came as no
surprise. "We have to go to alternative means to accomplish what we want," he said.
Rameau wouldn't elaborate, but sources close to the issue said they expect activists to start a petition
drive to put the matter before voters in a referendum vote this fall.
Mayor Alex Penelas, who urged Commissioner Dorrin Rolle to sponsor the civilian oversight
referendum, said the issue won't go away.
"This is a real test for our community," Penelas said. "The issue is: 'Will we be progressive,
courageous and submit the excellence of our police department to the scrutiny of our citizens?'
"Why are we afraid of letting the community have a voice in this process? This goes well beyond the
police department. It's about building a community and when you build a community, you build it with
everyone."
The push for a civilian board drew strength in the black community after the death of Eddie Macklin
Jr., an unarmed black man who was fatally shot by a county officer Jan. 21. Macklin was driving a
stolen car in the vicinity of a Martin Luther King Day celebration.
County police have shot and killed four crime suspects this year, three of whom were black men. The
fourth was a mentally unstable white Hispanic man shot last week.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would not conduct a civil rights inquiry of
Miami-Dade police, although it said it would do one of Miami police.
FIRST PROPOSAL
6/12/02
Page 2 of 3
The debate Tuesday did not center on the original proposal to create a CIP submitted by Rolle, who
filed the measure at the urging of his Liberty City constituents and Penelas. It focused, instead, on a
last-minute substitute item, also filed by Rolle, that more closely mirrors the model created by Miami's
new civilian oversight panel.
Rolle's original CIP plan had been criticized by black leaders as vague and ineffective. His substitute
provided for more autonomy and, unlike the earlier version, would have allowed the panel to issue
subpoenas without first consulting with the State Attorney's Office.
Still, black activists blasted Rolle, who is also black, for letting commissioners vote on the plans
instead of seeking a deferral that would have kept the proposals alive. Rolle and the mayor
acknowledged during the debate that they were unlikely to win.
"This was clearly designed to fail," said Brian Dennis, president of Brothers of the Same Mind, a
member of the Justice Now coalition pushing for the panel. "The commissioner didn't do his job, and
I hope he gets voted out of office."
Rolle voted for the CIP plans, as did his African-American colleagues Barbara Carey-Shuler, Betty
Ferguson and Dennis Moss. Opposing the CIP were commissioners Rebeca Sosa, Joe Martinez,
Bruno Barreiro, Katy Sorenson, Gwen Margolis, Javier Souto, Jose "Pepe" Cancio and Natacha
Seijas. All are white. Jimmy Morales, who argued for a deferral of the issue, left the commission
chambers prior to the voting.
"The most distressing thing about this is the extent that racial division is apparent on the
commission," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.
Commissioner Morales was also miffed by the outcome of Tuesday's vote. Late last week, Morales
attempted to broker a compromise between black community leaders and law enforcement.
RACIAL ISSUE
Morales questioned Penelas' handling of this racially charged issue.
"Leadership is bringing the community together to reach consensus, not holding referendums on
divisive issues without trying," Morales said.
Commissioners also voted 7-5 to kill an alternative proposal by Commissioner Martinez that would
have revamped an existing board called the Independent Review Panel -- a more limited measure
that was acceptable to the police union but opposed by Justice Now.
Unlike previous hearings on civilian oversight held by the commission's public safety committee,
turnout for proponents of the CIP was substantial and included the Rev. Al Sharpton, the well-known
New York civil rights activist, and Abner Louima, the Haitian-American man who became a symbol of
police brutality after he was tortured by New York City cops.
"1 think what you have to ask is whether there's merit to democracy, because what you're saying this
morning is that the people of Miami-Dade are not capable of deciding for themselves," Sharpton said.
ANOTHERSTEP
Attorney H.T. Smith, a local black leader, took that logic a step further, and compared the
6/12/02
Page 3 of 3
commission's unwillingness to sponsor a public referendum on civilian oversight to Cuban ruler Fidel
Castro's disdain for Cuban dissidents seeking a referendum on political reform.
Police Benevolent Association President John Rivera, a vehement foe of the CIP plan, praised the
commission action as a victory for law and order.
"Today the county won," he said. "Today the truth won. So let's get on with life and protecting our
good law-abiding citizens."
Commissioner Sorenson said elected leaders were within their rights to oppose the referendum
process.
"If there was a hue and cry to get this on the ballot I would give it serious consideration," Sorenson
said. "But except for my one constituent [ACLU executive director] Howard Simon, no one has asked
me to put this on a ballot."
6/12/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 3
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 10:52 AM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Detroit PD Chief: Criminals on Force
Detroit's top cop: Criminals on the force
Oliver will speed up firings of rogue officers, turn them over to prosecutors By Norman Sinclair/The
Detroit News
"I'm going tell you right now we are going to run off a lot of people." -- Detroit Police Chief Jerry
Oliver
Oliver's other plans
* Giving officers small retractable batons and other nonlethal weapons, including electric cattle
prods, so officers have more alternatives to using lethal force.
* Hiring a police-training expert to supervise all department training, including how and when to use
lethal and nonlethal force.
DETROIT -- Police Chief Jerry A. Oliver Sr. said his department has criminals in its officer ranks, and he is
gearing up to fire them as soon as he can.
"I'm going tell you right now we are going to run offa lot of people, because we've got some criminals that
work for us here," Oliver told The Detroit News in an interview about changes he plans for the department.
A breakdown in accountability in the 4,300-officer department, serious lapses in the disciplinary process and
union resistance have allowed the cases of hundreds of officers accused of misconduct to languish for years,
Oliver said.
"Part of the department's problem is no one is held accountable," Oliver said. "Everybody is able to get out
from under any charges. We have another 200 or 300 cases in the hopper from Internal Affairs -- we're that far
behind -- and many of those cases are serious cases where police officers have committed crimes, and yet they
are still here."
Oliver said he will fire officers who violate their oaths by committing felony and misdemeanor crimes. The
department -- long criticized for failing to aggressively investigate officers accused of wrongdoing -- only
automatically fires officers who are convicted of felonies.
Oliver's comments were criticized as inflammatory by union leaders and attorneys, but they were praised by
civil-rights activists.
The department's treatment of civilians is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice -- an
investigation sparked by a string of highly publicized fatal shootings by Detroit police officers in the late 1990s.
Martin Bandemer, president of the Detroit Police Officers Association, said he doesn't know of ahy criminals
on the fome.
"To the best of my knowledge, any officer accused of a felony would be suspended without pay. So I don't
know who these criminals could be," Bandemer said. "I can assure the citizens of Detroit that the men and
women of this department are hard-working, underpaid officers, working seven days a week doing so much
with so little."
Heaster Wheeler, executive director of the NAACP's Detroit Branch, said clearing the department of bad
officers would help increase the public's trust in the force.
"There is an image problem, a potentially serious credibility gap, in Detroit and many of the surrounding
police agencies," Wheeler said. "If this helps to restore some of that credibility, it's a good thing."
Oliver, who came to Detroit in January after a six-year stint in Richmond, Va., said he expects legal battles
with police unions.
"In the past, I believe the leaders of this organization were overwhelmed with human issues and contract
issues," he said. "I'm willing to take those on because the fight we have in this organization is that we've got to
6/12/02
Page 2 of 3
rid ourselves of these people."
But John Goldpaugh, a lawyer for the police officers union, accused Oliver of trying to trample on officers'
rights. "The chief wants to fire officers without due-process rights or without a hearing and then say come on
back and file your grievance," he said.
Oliver countered that he believes in police values above all. "We get hung up on irrelevant trivial stuff on the
side and forget about the honor, the integrity of the code of ethics that we all swore to uphold," he said.
Oliver said he will use that code of ethics to fire officers who commit misdemeanor or felony crimes on the
grounds that they violated the oaths they took when they joined the department.
"Where the real show-stopper comes in is the Code of Ethics that every employee, every police officer swears
to keep their private lives unsullied, that they will live a life above reproach, and where they will n6t tolerate in
themselves or anyone else, misconduct or criminality," he said.
Oliver also plans to speed up the disciplinary process. The Internal Affairs Section, which investigates officer
misconduct, is overwhelmed by a backlog of hundreds of cases, many of them criminal offenses, he said.
Oliver pointed to the case of an officer he fired last Monday -- four years after he was brought up on
department charges of having sex with a female prisoner in the ninth-floor cell block of the Police Department's
headquarters.
"Since 1998, this guy has remained on the payroll. He's been coming to work every day. And we've got two or
three hundred others .just like him that are roaming around out there that have done egregious things, but they
are still with us," Oliver said.
But Goldpaugh said that the officer fired last week was not a criminal because he was never charged with a
crime. He said the department failed to bring him up for a hearing until six months ago, and at that time the
officer admitted to the sexual encounter.
Oliver fired him after an arbitrator ruled he should be fired, Goldpaugh said.
"No one says that changes (in disciplinary procedures) shouldn't occur," he said. "But the changes have to be
done in an appropriate way -- and that's what this chief doesn't seem to want to follow."
Goldpaugh said that through arbitration decisions, collective bargaining and agreements between the city and
the unions dating back to the 1970s, the department's policy is that officers formally charged with felonies are
immediately suspended without pay pending the outcome in court. If they are convicted of the charges, they are
fired.
Officers charged with misdemeanors, however, face suspension only after departmental hearings or after a
conviction in court. They then could be brought up on department charges and could be fired after those
proceedings.
In cases where officers are fired but then regain their jobs through arbitration, Oliver said he will ask the state
regulatory agency that certifies all Michigan police officers to revoke the officers' certifications.
"If they are finally found not guilty and they are put back to work, they will not come back as police officers
but as civilians," he said.
Oliver said he will urge Wayne County Prosecutor Michael Duggan to prosecute officers who, in the past,
might have escaped prosecution because prosecutors gave them breaks out of professional courtesy.
Goldpaugh said, however, that the state does not automatically decertify officers convicted of misdemeanors.
"It appears to me that the chief's position is that if you are charged with a misdemeanor -- regardless of its
nature -- you can't be a police officer," he said. "Well one of those (misdemeanors) is domestic assaults, and
because I have an altercation with my wife or significant other ... does that mean the guy should be fired
automatically?"
But two leaders of civil rights groups cautiously praised Oliver's plans.
"If we see in a short time a more efficient investigation process -- while still adhering to standards of due
process -- that will be a sign of definite proactive action by the department," said Kary L. Moss, executive
director of the Michigan American Civil Liberties Union.
Wheeler, the NAACP Detroit Branch's executive director, said the moves might help the department improve
its image with the public, especially among youth. Right now, he said, when he talks to young kids, few say
they would ever consider a career in law enforcement.
Chris Davis, who lives in the 8th (Grand River) Precinct and is a member of the Chiel~s Advisory Committee,
said she welcomes the idea of ridding the department of bad officers.
But Davis said she fears Oliver's take-no-prisoners style might broom good officers who need help. "I think
6/12/02
it's a good idea, but how far is it going to go?" she said.
Page 3 of 3
Detroit News Staff Writer dennifer Brooks contributed to this report. You can reach Norman Sinclair at ('313)
222-2034 or nsinclair~detnews, com,
6/12/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 1
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 10:50 AM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Pittsburgh: Consent Decree Cools Tensions
Pittsburgh: Consent decree cools tensions
By Mike Seate Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW 6-10-02
Hanging out on East Ohio Street, shooting the bull with the incense salesmen, professional
panhandlers and midday drinkers, something happened that you seldom read about in the
newspapers. A police car cruised by the corner of Cedar Avenue and East Ohio Street, occupied by
two young, white patrolmen, and a couple of the corner-hangers offered a halfhearted wave and
"whassup" toward the police car. The two cops waved back, and everyone went on about their
business. Not one of the guys hanging around Stedeford's Records and its permanent outdoor
bazaar thought what just happened to be of note, but it was. When, in recent memory, have relations
be tween the city's black population and the police been friendly enough to warrant casual greetings?
Toddy Jacobs of Germantown couldn't remember when he'd last waved at a cop or how he'd come to
know the two patrolmen who'd just buzzed by, but he didn't want to make too much of a fuss over it
"They from out Zone One. They cool," was all he said with a shrug. Cops in Pittsburgh have a
reputation for lots of things, but hearing them described as "cool" by a guy who has probably been
run off his favorite corner a few times, seems like a Great Moment in police/public relations. It echoes
a recurring feeling on the streets these days, a grudging admission that, yeah, maybe the federal
consent decree slapped on the PPD back in 1997 has worked. And though t here are no easy
numbers to qualify just how effectively the decree has changed things, word on the streets is that
black folks and cops are finding each other a little easier to live with. Of course, even acknowledging
such a phenomenon would be enough to get Malcolm X labeled an Uncle Tom. Homicide detectives
will tell you that finding a resident in a black community willing to admit seeing a crime come down is
as rare as a responsible landlord. And there are still plenty of black folks who will always see cops --
all cops -- as an invading, hostile force in their neighborhoods. Beth Pittinger, executive director of
the city's Citizen Police Review Board, says the actual number of complaints lodged against the
police has held steady at around 500 to 600 for each of the past four years, so the numbers are of
little help. Pittinger does admit that there are many variables involved in judging whether progress is
being made. New training methods for rookie cops instituted by Chief Robert W. McNeilly Jr. have
been applauded. And it's undeniable they've had some effect on how cops and residents perceive
each other. Many of the old school cops, who were, shall we say, less sensitive to the communities
they patrolled, have retired since the decree was installed back in 1997 to curtail civil rights abuses
against citizens. Pittinger, however, remains unconvinced. "Has the consent decree changed police
behavior? Well, who can say?" she asked. Well, you can say that it's been years since any high-
profile cases of poi i ce brutality have made the headlines. And protest marches against police
conduct -- always an accurate barometer of how the two sides are getting along -- have been thin
on the ground since Jonny Gammage and Derron Grimmit's names filled the headlines. There are still
unresolved issues facing the department, but for now, maybe it's time to consider lifting the decree.
Because if it has worked for the better, calling it quits makes sense. Mike Seate is a staff writer for the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He can be reached at (412) 320-7845.
6/12/02
Marian Karr
From;
Sent:
To:
Subject:
Kelvyn Anderson [kwa357@yahoo.com]
Tuesday, June 11, 2002 8:35 AM
NACOLE-List
[NACOLE Update] Fwd: What's New in Policing at the Vera Institute of Justice
--- Vera Institute Webmaster <Webmaster@Vera.org> wrote:
From: Vera Institute Webmaster <Webmaster@Vera.org>
To: Vera Institute Webmaster <Webmaster@Vera.org>
Subject: What's New in Policing at the Vera Institute of Justice
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:24:39 -0400
WHAT'S NEW IN POLICING
at the Vera Institute of Justice
http://www.vera.org/ Summer 2002
ADVANCING POLICE OVERSIGHT
Is every police action that considers the race or the suspect racial
profiling? "Racial Profiling," a new paper from the Police Assessment
Resource Center (PARC), outlines how law enforcement officials,
prosecutors, courts, and juries can distinguish practices that may
result in disparate impacts on racial and ethnic minorities from
those that are illegal discrimination.
http://www.vera.org/publications/publications_5.asp?publication_id=162
In their first semiannual report, Dean Esserman, court-appointed
monitor of the Town of Wallkill {NY} Police Dept., and PARC, which
assists Esserman, examine the ongoing reform of the department
following serious misconduct by its officers. PARC's 14th semiannual
report on the LA County Sheriff's Dept. examines the death of a
homeless, mentally-ill African-A~nerican man while in police custody.
Both reports are available under Monitor's Reports:
http://www.vera.org/project/projectl 73.asp?section_id=2&project_id=7
The careful review of investigations following officer-involved
shootings is a crucial part of police oversight. PARC director
Merrick Bobb and Julio Thompson, a lawyer who has completed hundreds
of these reviews, recently conducted a training for the six-lawyer
Office of Independent Review, created recently to oversee internal
affairs investigations by the LA County Sheriff's Dept.
PARC publishes a monthly newsletter devoted to accountable and
respectful policing. It covers topics such as the use of force, risk
management, civilian oversight, racial profiling, community policing,
recent litigation, and developments in jurisdictions subject to
consent decrees and features regular interviews with prominent
practitioners and academics, occasional book reviews, and a calendar
of upcoming seminars and conferences. To subscribe, visit
http://www.parc.info.
>
>
> POLICING IN DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES
>
> Police in democratic societies are accountable to many different
> groups: their superiors, legislatures, courts, members of the public
1
seeking their assistance, and society as a whole through the media
and citizens' groups. In May, Vera and the Police Assessment
Resource Center co-hosted an international meeting in Los Angeles on
civilian oversight of police. It was the third in a series of
meetings on police accountability hosted by Vera and supported by the
Ford Foundation.
http://www.vera.org/project/projectl_l.asp?section_id=2&project_id=31
IDENTIFYING BEST PRACTICES IN POLICING IN INDIA
While there have been several attempts to make the police force in
India more service oriented and police stations more hospitable, the
business community has yet to play a role. With support from Vera,
Dr. R.K. Raghavan, the former head of India's Central Bureau of
Investigation, is leading an initiative to have business leaders in
select Indian cities help identify and develop projects with a view
to creating areas of excellence within the police. For more
information, contact Chitra Bhanu at cbhanu@vera.org.
MAPPING CRIME ACROSS NEW YORK STATE
Over 50 law enforcement agencies, which span 22 counties in New York,
are now contributing data to the state's crime mapping system. A
recent upgrade in the records management system that the NYS Division
of Criminal Justice Services makes available to law enforcement
agencies helped make this expansion possible. With the upgrade,
agencies can more easily download their crime data in a format that
is compatible with the state's mapping system.
Law enforcement officials can now create maps that include data
related to homeland security, such as the location of power plants
and military reserve sites. State officials are working with the
MapInfo Corporation to refine the system even further so that it
seamlessly meets the needs of traditional crime analysts and people
responsible for assessing homeland security who may not be familiar
with crime mapping techniques.
http://www.vera.org/project/projectl_l.asp?section_id=2&project_id=6
WHAT'S NEW IN POLICING at the Vera Institute of Justice is published
quarterly. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please use our online form
at: http://www.vera.org/subscribe/subscribe.asp. Using that form, you
may also subscribe to updates on Vera's work on Crime and
Victimization, The Judicial Process, Sentencing and Corrections, and
Institutions for Youth, as well as updates on our new publications
and international programs.
ABOUT the Vera Institute of Justice
A private nonprofit organization, Vera works closely with government
to improve the services people rely on for safety and justice.
The Institute develops innovative, affordable programs that often
grow into self-sustaining organizations, studies social problems and
current responses, and provides practical assistance to government
2
officials in New York and around the world.
To send us feedback about this update, write an e-mail to Vera's
webmaster at <webmaster@vera.org>.
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
Update mailing list
Update@nacole.org
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Marian Karr
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
Granillo, Anthony R [anthony.r.granillo@boeing.com]
Monday, June 10, 2002 10:45 AM
ACLU; Amnesty International USA; Amnesty Int'l-Grp4; Amy Jenniges; Andrew Ko; Bastian;
Bill Miller; Carol Sinclair; Colleen Roman; Community Action Network; DHSC; El Centro de la
Raza; Florangela Davila; George Hickey; lan Ith; James Egan; Jean Buskin (Fellowship of
Reconciliation); Jim Brunner; John Saul; KCCADV; Kery Murikami; KEXP; Kimquy Kieu;
KUOW/Conversation; Larry Gossett; Lewis Kamb; Lisa Daugaard; Lutheran Public Policy;
Lynne Wilson; Martha Baskin; Minority Executive Directors Coalition; Mother's for Police
Accountability; NAACP; Nell Modie; Nick Alien; Ophelia Ealy; Paige Kayner; People's Coalition
for Justice; Rabble Rousers; Rice-Shupe; Richard Lee; Robert Jamieson; RTS; Sue
Quinn/NACOLE; Urban League of Washington State; UW Daily; Vanessa Lee
Letter to the Editor
The following letter ran in the Seattle Times this past Saturday, June 8,
2002. The letter clarifies a Seattle Human Right Coms~ission co~plaint
alleging the Seattle Police Department used unnecessary force and instigated
a riot during demonstrations on Capitol Hill April 20, 2002. The original
complaint is also included below.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/displ
ay?slug=satlets08&date-20020608&
Protesting protest
Instigating clarity
In "Complaint accuses police of excessive force in protest" (Local News
digest item, May 2), The Times reported the Seattle Human Rights Commission
"filed a complaint accusing the police of using too much force when they
clashed with protesters during ... A20 demonstrations."
Your report leaves out a more important element of the Human Rights
Commission complaint. The Commission complaint also alleges the police
instigated the clash that resulted from the alleged excessive use of force
on this group of demonstrators.
This is a very important clarification. The television images the Seattle
public saw of a rioting crowd that required pepper spray and physical force
to disperse do not convey that this group of demonstrators was completely
peaceful and in the process of dispersing prior to an order by the police to
enter the crowd with use of force.
The Commission complaint alleges that the police decision to use force on a
peaceful crowd was unnecessary and instigated the ensuing clash with
demonstrators.
- Tony Granillo, commissioner, Seattle Human Rights Commission
APRIL 29, 2002
The Seattle Human Rights Commission wishes to file a complaint with the
Office of Professional Accountability for unnecessary use of force and
instigating a riot during an April 20, 2002 demonstration at the
intersection of Broadway E. and E. Thomas on Capitol Hill. The complaint
names Captain Michael Sanford and Assistant Chief Jim Pugel for giving the
order for use of force that resulted in a riot.
Details:
At -5:40 PM the demonstrators in the intersection announced on a loudspeaker
they intended to hold the street until 6 PM. The crowd had been in the
intersection since ~5:25 PM by that time. The crowd was completely peaceful
and could be entered and mingled with at will. It was a festive and
spirited atmosphere that felt very safe. An under cover police officer with
radio communications was observed at the time the demonstrators made the
announcement to hold the intersection and would also have heard the
announcement. The officer was observed in radio communications several
times prior to ~5:55 PM. At ~5:55 PM, as the demonstrators were dismantling
their gear in order to leave, the police entered the crowd with use of
force. The crowd began to run and it looked like the only people arrested
were those too slow to get away.
Before N30 two years ago police established demonstration control protocols
that included 5 minute, 3 minute and 1 minute warnings to disperse, prior to
use of force to effect the dispersion. That did not happen prior to the
police use of force on this demonstration. Instead Captain Sanford and
Asst. Chief Pugel instigated a riot by ordering an unnecessary use of force
on a totally peaceful demonstration. Ail the violence from demonstrators
came only as a reaction to the police use of force first perpetrated on the
demonstrators.
Captain Sanford's and Asst. Chief Pugel's order for use of force in this
instance is in violation of the Seattle Police Department Policy and
Procedures Manual, Section 1.145, Use of Force, which states: "Personnel
shall use only the minimal amount of force necessary to overcome physical
aggression or resistance to compliance with a lawful process." Necessary is
further defined as: "means that no reasonably effective alternative to the
use of force appeared to exist and that the amount of force used was
reasonable to effect the lawful purpose intended. (RCW 9A.16.010)"
In this case there was no possibility of "aggression or resistance to
compliance with a lawful process" because Captain Sanford and Asst. Chief
Pugel failed to order a request for compliance prior to ordering use of
force. A "reasonably effective alternative to the use of force appeared to
exist...to effect the lawful purpose intended"; i.e., clearing the
intersection, because the crowd was in the process of leaving prior to the
order for use of force. Further "the amount of force used" was not
"reasonable to effect the lawful purpose intended" because the lawful
purpose intended was in the process of occurring on its own without police
use of force.
Witnesses:
Seattle Human Rights Commissioners Pat Champion, John Denooyer, Tony
Granillo
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 2
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2002 1:05 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] "Driving While Female" Study Assails Police
Thursday, May 30, 2002
'Driving While Female' study assails police By lan Ith Seattle Timee staff reporter
It's been dubbed "driving while female": A male police officer targets a woman for a traffic stop, then
uses the power of the badge to sexually harass or even sexually abuse her. When they're caught, the
officers are often labeled rogue cops and are punished, fired, even jailed.
But a national study released yesterday by a police-accountability expert has cited three such recent
incidents in Western Washington as part of what he says is an institutional pattern that leads to a
dozen substantiated cases, on average, reported in the United States every year. The prevalence of
these cases calls for overhauls in police policies much like what has been done to combat racial
profiling, the report says.
"This problem has existed for ages, and we need to look further to see how to prevent it," said
Samuel Walker, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and co-author
of the report. "1 see this as a problem that can be controlled."
But Seattle-area law-enforcement leaders say the report exaggerates the frequency of such incidents.
They say the few cases that have occurred in Western Washington don't justify changing policies that
already strictly forbid officers from using their uniforms as sexual weapons. "We wouldn't see it as a
national epidemic inherent to police work at all," said Greg Dymerski, spokesman for the King County
Sheriff's Office.
The office forced a deputy to resign in 1999 for stopping a woman so he could handcuff and fondle
her, to which he subsequently pleaded guilty. "The policies we had (forbid) everything he did,"
Dymerski said. "We couldn't have changed anything that would have changed what happened. He
basically decided to stalk her."
The report, "Driving While Female: A National Problem in Police Misconduct," available online at
www,policeaccountability.org, found more than 400 public allegations of officers abusing women
during traffic stops since 1990. The authors found an average of a dozen substantiated allegations
each year.
"Additionally," the report says, "there is good reason to believe that these cases represent only the tip
of the iceberg. Many victims did not come forward because of humiliation or fear of reprisal. And
some police departments do not accept and investigate complaints from many victims who do come
forward."
Among the substantiated cases, Walker said, the study reviewed three cases in Western Washington:
· Last June, fired Snohomish County sheriff's Deputy Charles Adams was sentenced to a year in jail
for raping a 17-year-old girl in a police substation after offering to drive her home from a car accident.
· In June 2000, Kitsap County sheriff's Deputy Gary Farvour was fired and given a suspended jail
term for assault after he stopped a woman for drunken driving in 1998, drove her home while forcibly
fondling and kissing her in his patrol car on the way.
· In the King County case, Deputy Thomas A. Davis was sentenced to 10 days in jail in 1999 after
6/10/02
Page 2 of 2
pleading guilty to a felony for pulling over a woman he was casually acquainted with so he could
handcuff her and touch her sexually as he frisked her.
The report alleges that some police departments ignore such allegations, have an inadequate system
for public complaints or maintain a "sexist culture" that allows such incidents to occur. The report
urges all police forces to gather data on traffic stops to determine whether they have a problem with
abuse, a step much like measures aimed at identifying racial profiling.
The report also calls for improving training and supervision of traffic officers, toughening policies and
hiring more policewomen. Locally, police leaders don't downplay abuse cases when they do occur,
but they say they're not an institutional problem.
Both Dymerski and Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, whose department had no incidents of
sexual abuse cited in the report, said recent improvements in public-accountability procedures and
strict sexual-harassment rules and training are meant to prevent such incidents. "Given the number of
traffic stops that are made and the people who are stopped across the nation, I think it's a very small
number (who are abused)," Kerlikowske said. "It's not like you need a separate rule in place. Integrity
and trust are paramount issues, but I think this is a very small segment of what goes on in law
enforcement."
lan Ith can be reached at 206- 464-2109 or iith@seattletimes, com.
6/10/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 4
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2002 1:06 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] The Human Cost of Wrongful Convictions
l,O00 Years in Prison
Wrongful convictions destroyed inmates' lives
DNA tests vindicate innocents too late
By Sharon Cohen and Deborah Hastings I Associated Press
Ralph Barrera I Associated Press
Richard Danziger, center, was sentenced to life for a 1988 murder, but was released March 28, 2001, after
serving 1'1 years. Danziger suffered brain damage from a brutal beating by a fellow inmate.
NEW YORK -- Their time in prison surpassed 1,000 years, and all were wrongly convicted. Then they
returned to lives that had passed them by.
An Associated Press examination of what happened to 110 inmates after their convictions were overturned
by DNA tests found that, for many of the men, vindication brought neither a happy ending nor a happy
beginning.
"It destroyed my family," says Vincent Moro, unjustly convicted of rape and imprisoned for 101/2 years in
Pennsylvania.
Moto, 39, and a father of four, survives on odd jobs, welfare and food stamps.
"I have to live with these scars all my life," he says.
Richard Danziger is even less fortunate.
Wrongly convicted of rape and sentenced to life, he suffered permanent brain damage when he was beaten
by another inmate. Danziger was released in 2001 after he served 11 years in Texas. Now 31, he lives with his sister, Barbara Oakley.
"He basically gets up, watches TV, goes to the park, and that's the extent of his day," she says.
In reviewing the cases of the 110, all men, the AP found:
* About half had no prior adult convictions, according to legal records and the inmates' attorneys. While
some were picked up for questioning because they were known to police, many had never been in trouble
before.
* Eleven of the men served time on death row; two came within days of execution.
* Slightly more than a third have received compensation, mainly through state claims. Some have received
settlements from civil lawsuits or special legislative bills. For others, claims or suits are pending;, and some
had lawsuits thrown out or haven't decided whether to seek money.
* The men averaged 101/2 years behind bars. The shortest wrongful incarceration was one year; the longest,
22 years. Altogether, the 110 men spent 1,149 years in prison.
* Their imprisonment came during critical wage-earning years when careers and families are built. The
6/10/02
Page 2 of 4
average age entering prison was 28. Leaving, it was 38.
* Their convictions follow certain patterns. Nearly two-thirds were convicted with mistaken testimony from
victims and eyewitnesses. About 14 percent were imprisoned after mistakes or alleged misconduct by
forensics experts. Nine were mentally retarded or borderline retarded and confessed, they said, after being
tricked or coerced by authorities.
Finally freed, by determined lawyers or their own perseverance, the men were dumped back into society as
abruptly as they were plucked out. Often, they were not entitled to the help, such as parole officers, given to
those rightfully convicted.
"The people who come out of this are often very, very severely damaged human beings who often don't ever
fully recover," says Rob Warden, executive director of Northwestern University School of Law's Center on
Wrongful Convictions.
"Lightning strikes, they come out," he says, "and they're in bad, bad shape."
Many walks of life
They represent many walks of life, a homeless panhandler, a therapist, a junkie, a mushroom picker, a
handyman, a crab fisherman, but almost all were working-class or poor.
Of the cases reviewed by the AP, about two-thirds involved black or Hispanic inmates, roughly reflecting
state prison populations' racial makeup.
"All of these people have a certain vulnerability. It may be race, class, mental health issues or personality
problems," says Peter Neufeld, who co-founded The Innocence Project with attorney Barry Scheck at the
Cardozo School of Law in New York.
About 60 percent of the men were helped by the 10-year-old legal assistance program. The project's first
DNA releases came in 1989.
"They sort of get caught in this Kafkaesque vortex," Neufeld adds, "and the rest is history."
David Vasquez of Virginia, for example.
The 55-year-old man was mistakenly identified by a witness who said he was lurking outside the home of a
woman later found raped and murdered.
Vasquez, who is borderline retarded, confessed. Four years after his conviction, DNA testing identified the
real killer, a serial rapist.
"They destroyed his life and mine," says Vasquez's mother, Imelda Shapiro, beginning to weep. "We can't
afford to go out, and I'm afraid to go out."
Team identified 110
A team of AP reporters identified 110 cases through late May in which convictions were overturned because
of DNA testing. Several other cases were pending.
Most of the 110 men had been convicted of rape; 24 were found guilty of rape and murder, six of murder
only.
Legal experts differ on who these men represent.
Neufeld says they're the tip of the iceberg.
But John Wilson, who heads a state crime lab in Missouri and has testified as a DNA expert in criminal
trials, doubts Neufeld's point. He also says widely available DNA testing has made wrongful convictions less
likely in recent years.
"The fact is, the majority of the time, the cops are right. It is the right guy," Wilson says.
Some of the men whose cases the AP looked into had criminal records. At least seven had prior convictions
for sex crimes. Since being released, 11 have been convicted of new offenses; nine of them were sentenced to
prison.
Though genetic testing helped Albert Wesley Brown win release from an Oklahoma prison last year, he now
admits he murdered a 67-year-old man.
Trial testimony claimed Brown's hair matched samples taken from the victim. But DNA tests later showed
they didn't. As prosecutors prepared to retry him this spring, he pleaded guilty in exchange for a sentence of
time served, which was 18 years.
6/10/02
Page 3 of 4
Others were successful Other men have been successful.
Mark Bravo graduated from a California law school and plans to start a foundation for people like him.
Anthony Robinson just finished his first year as a law student in Texas. Timothy Durham helps run his
family's Oklahoma electronics business.
Four men have died: two from cancer, one from a heroin overdose and one in an accident, Kenneth Waters
fell from a 15-wall and fatally fractured his skull while walking to his brother's Massachusetts home.
Exonerations have kept pace with the availability of genetic testing. The Innocence Project reported 23 men
were cleared last year by DNA, compared with six in 1992.
The increase has prompted legislation allowing inmates access to DNA testing. Twenty-five states now have
such laws, most passed in the last three years, says Nina Morrison, the project's executive director.
Meanwhile, the number of inmates asking for genetic analysis grows. The Innocence Project says it has
4,000 requests.
The biggest problem, Neufeld says, is racing against time.
In three-quarters of the Innocence Project's cases, physical evidence such as hair or blood has been lost,
misplaced or destroyed. During a criminal trial, the disappearance of evidence can mean acquittal. After
conviction, it can mean losing all chances to prove one's innocence.
When lawyers for Marvin Anderson wanted DNA analysis in 1993, they were told the evidence against him
had been destroyed. But a swab containing genetic material was later found, taped to the inside of a Iab
technician's notebook.
It proved Anderson was not guilty, though not everyone was convinced.
"Some people look at me like I'm guilty," he says. "It's hard finding a job. No one hires a person convicted
of rape."
Five years after his exoneration, Anderson is a trucker, scraping by on $200 to $400 a week.
Some of the freed men say they cannot work because of post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression or
physical handicaps. Of 29 who are working and told the AP their income, the average weekly earnings were
$438.
Steven Toney, a shuttle bus driver in Missouri, earns slightly more than minimum wage. He has tried for
better-paying jobs, but says no one will hire him.
"How many are going to come out and say, Tm not hiring you because you were incarcerated'?" he asks.
"But I don't get the call."
6/10/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 1
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2002 1:06 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Feds Weigh Charges in Cook County Chase
Feds weigh charges in [Cook County]chase
June 6, 2002BY CARLOS SADOVI AND FRANK MAIN STAFF REPORTERS
Chicago Sun Times
Federal prosecutors are considering launching a civil rights case against the five Cook County sheriff's officers acquitted
last week of chasing and trying to kill a black south suburban couple in 1999, a source said Wednesday. The U.S.
attorney's office has reached out to the Cook County state's attorney's office to review the case and plans to meet with
officials shortly to look over paperwork in the case, the source said."There is a possibility that the federal government
would conduct a civil rights investigation into the officers' conduct," the source said.A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's
office refused to comment. The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Wednesday called on federal officials to get involved in the case,
which he described as a hate crime. The officers were not charged with singling out the couple because of their race,
although prosecutors during the 11-day trial brought up the fact that the five officers are white and the victims, Cory
Simmons and Dominique Mapp, are black."The U.S. attorney must get involved in pursuing this as a hate crime," Jackson
said. "If this were Alabama or Mississippi we would be immediately calling this a hate crime. We want those that engaged
in this attempted murder to face the full weight ofjustice."The officers said they were fired on by the couple, but no gun
was found in the couple's SUV.Criminal Court Judge Clayton Crane on May 30 acquitted Sgt. Thomas Lanigan and officer
Anthony Bohling of attempted murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm, obstruction of justice and official misconduct.
Officer Andrew Remus, deputy Daniel Troike and former deputy Robert Jones were found not guilty of obstruction of
justice and official misconduct. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) called Crane's verdicts "atrocious" and said he will lead efforts to
defeat Crane in his November retention election. Rush will discuss the verdicts at the Center for Inner City Studies at
Northeastern Illinois University's South Side campus in a forum Monday?It rewarded lawlessness. All the citizens of Cook
County should repudiate his decision by voting no to his re-election," Rush said. "Anytime you have five police officers
who are off duty, who have left a party drunk and who pull their weapons and start firing wantonly at innocent people, they
are the epitome of law breakers."Lanigan and Troike resigned Tuesday. Remus and Bohling were notified that Sheriff
Michael Sheahan will move to fire them. Jones left the department in 1999.Speaking after meeting Wednesday with
Sheahan, Jackson said there is a "culture of collusion and corruption in the sheriff's office."Jackson released a statement
saying the office "allows rogue officers to run rampant" and responds slowly to complaints--and "only if a stink is
made."Sheahan looked at the written statement and responded: "This is not true. Our department is well-
respected."Sheahan defended the conduct of most of his officers, saying there have been only two brutality complaints
against his police force in the last two years?One is too many," he said. Last month, federal and Cook County prosecutors
chose not to charge two Chicago police officers in the killings of two unarmed motorists in June 1999, saying there was
not enough evidence to prove the officers had criminal intent. The shootings left LaTanya Haggerty and Robert Russ
dead.
6/10/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 2
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2002 1:06 PM
To: Update@NACQLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] Cook County Sheriffs Office Faces 4 More Indictments (w 2 murder charges)
http:~www `ch!cag~tribune~c~m~news~!~ca!~sh~wcase~ch!~2~6~7~297~un~7~st~ry?c~!!=ch!%2Dnews%2Dhed
Sheriff's office faces 4 more indictments
2 murder charges the latest blot on Sheahan's force
By Janan Hanna and Mickey Ciokajlo Chicago Tribune staff reporters June 7, 2002
In the latest case alleging criminal conduct by officers from the Cook County Sheriffs Department, two correctional
officers were indicted Thursday on first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of a West Side man.
John LaVelle, 32, and Esteban Perkins, 31, are being held without bond in the shooting death of Jeffrey Smith, 22, whom
the officers confronted May 3 about a drug debt owed by Smith's father, prosecutors said.
A third County Jail guard, Morris Richardson, 29, was indicted on charges of official misconduct for allegedly trying to
collect drug money from the Smith family, prosecutors said.
In another case, Thomas Wdson, 37, accused of beating James Degorski, one of two suspects in the 1993 Brown's
Chicken massacre, was indicted on charges of official misconduct and aggravated battery.
The indictments come a week after five sheriffs officers were acquitted on criminal charges relating to a chase during
which an officer fired at an SUV in which a Blue Island couple were riding. That case, and a series of other allegations
against sheriffs officers over the last year, have prompted widespread criticism of the Sheriffs Department and calls for
Sheriff Michael Sheahan to enforce higher standards in the hiring and supervision of officers.
Sheahan, who declined to comment Thursday, defended his department in interviews this week, saying the instances of
criminal conduct by officers are rare and are not representative of the office as a whole.
"The office is light-years ahead of where it was 10 years ago," Sheahan said, adding that 98 percent of his employees "do
a great job."
Sheahan, a former Chicago police officer and alderman who defeated the incumbent sheriff in 1990, said the department
has a good reputation nationally and that misconduct by a few individuals is hurting the reputation of the entire office.
"Individuals will never, never run the department," he said. "The department is here and it's an institution and its reputation
depends on what we do every day."
Critics said the system at the sheriffs office is broken, and they called on Sheahan to set a firm tone that criminal behavior
and violating department rules will not be tolerated.
"There's been an unacceptable level of violence that has resulted in litigation and an unacceptable level of, quite frankly,
poor judgment," said Cook County Commissioner Peter Silvestri, who heads the County Board's litigation committee. "We
spend too much on avoidable acts, at the jail especially."
County officials were told recently that they could expect to pay nearly $1 million in legal fees over two years to defend the
county against a civil lawsuit brought by the family of Louis Schmude, who died in custody. Three sheriffs deputies
accused of beating Schmude to death were acquitted of first-degree murder charges in March.
Since 1998, Cook County has paid about $2.5 million to settle civil lawsuits arising from allegations of misconduct by
sheriffs personnel, the Tribune reported earlier this year.
Independent panel urged
Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, a frequent sheriffs office critic, said an independent body needs to be brought
in to investigate the department, implement reforms and report to the County Board.
Quigley suggested a format similar to the Kolts Commission, a special panel headed by a former judge that brought about
6/10/02
Page 2 of 2
reforms in the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department with a report 10 years ago.
"We're the ones writing the checks for the culture in the system that they have put in place," said Quigley, noting the
sheriff is separately elected but the board approves the budget and pays the bills. "Now's the time for him to say we have
a real serious problem and I want to be part of the solution."
Sheahan said Wednesday that he has an independent consultant currently studying the department, examining its
disciplinary process "to look at overall what we do right and what we do wrong."
According to the indictments Thursday, the officers were hired to collect the debt by two friends who they had met while
working security at an electronics store on the West Side.
Assistant State's Atty. Nancy Donahoe said LaVelle and Perkins went to Smith's home in the 1400 block of North Lotus
Avenue on May 3.
The officers, accompanied by the two friends, banged on the door. When the victim opened it, Donahoe said, LaVelle,
who was carrying his .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and one of the friends fired, striking Smith in the upper torso.
Smith died three days later in Cook County Hospital, Donahoe said.
The officers were arrested May 16, after a sheriff's investigator posing as a relative of one of the friends gave LaVelle an
$8,000 payoff, which was to be shared by all four men for their efforts at collecting the debt, Donahoe said.
In addition to murder, the officers were accused of multiple counts of official misconduct; aggravated unlawful restraint;
residential burglary and attempted aggravated kidnapping.
Suspensions, other charges
Sheahan has suspended all four officers indicted Thursday without pay and has taken steps to have them fired, said
Sheahan spokesman Bill Cunningham.
Last week, another correctional officer, John Bittenbinder, 31, was charged with disorderly conduct and unlawful use of a
weapon for allegedly brandishing a handgun at another driver outside a video store.
Meanwhile, correctional officer Timothy Brogan, 25, of Evergreen Park is awaiting trial on charges of official misconduct
and obstruction of justice in the death of Water Department foreman John Chambers, who was killed in a brawl after a
wedding reception in August 2000.
Civil lawsuits pending
The department also is facing numerous civil suits alleging misconduct by officers, including one brought by a 57-year-old
electrician who alleges he was pistol-whipped by a sheriffs officer in January 2001 in the hallway of Austin High School.
Among the evidence introduced in that case is a deposition from a top aide to Sheahan, Sgt. Terry Lanigan, who was
asked about training in the department. Lanigan, the sheriff officer's supervisor, was one of the five officers acquitted last
week on charges of chasing and firing at the Blue Island couple.
Echoing criticisms of the Sheriff's Department leveled this week by Rev. Jesse Jackson, County Commissioner Eadean
Collins said Thursday there was a culture of violence in the office. She said, however, the problem was bigger than
Sheahan.
"The people are out of control and he couldn't control them if he wanted to," Collins said. "You know why there's a culture
of violence there? Because they can get away with it."
6/10/02
Marian Karr
Page 1 of 4
From: Suelqq@aol.com
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2002 1:06 PM
To: Update@NACOLE.org
Subject: [NACOLE Update] What Price Justice for the Innocent Sent to Jail?
What price justice for the innocent sent to jail?
Cleveland Plain Dealer, 06/10/02 Sharon Cohen Associated Press
After A.B. Butler Jr. was cleared of rape and freed from prison two years ago, Texas granted him a
pardon and gave him a check for its mistake. The value of 16% years behind bars: About $4.60 a
day. The check totaled $27,854 for more than a third of his life wasted, while his parents died and his
marriage collapsed.
"It should have been more, and it could have been more," sighs Butler, a 47-year-old construction
worker. "But I just look at it as a blessing that I'm free. I take what I have and move on."
Jimmy "Spunk" Williams of Akron is looking forward to his day in court, hoping that the same system
that sent him to prison for 9% years for a rape he never committed will now do something to make
things right.
Williams sued Ohio for $666,208 in compensation for wrongfully wasting the prime years of his life -
age 19 through 29 - behind bars. State court judges will eventually decide whether Williams is entitled
to that sum, which would be almost 40 times the compensation per day that Butler got in Texas.
The two men's cases and a growing number like them raise a thorny question: When innocent
prisoners are freed after "paying a debt to society" that was never owed, does society have a debt to
them in return?
An Associated Press review of 110 men whose convictions were overturned by DNA testing shows
that where they live, when they were freed and even how skilled their lawyers are greatly influence
whether they get compensated and if so, by how much.
"There's no fairness," declares Randy Schaffer, a Houston lawyer who has represented three freed
Texas men. "Society has not decided it owes any obligation to those that it sweeps from its midst
wrongly."
Only Ohio and 14 other states, along with the District of Columbia and the federal government, have
specific laws to compensate the wrongly convicted, according to a review conducted last year by
Pace University associate law Professor Adele Bernhard.
The Associated Press found that 43 of the 110 men in its case review have received compensation,
ranging from Ben Salazar's $25,000 in Texas to an extraordinary $36 million civil settlement shared
by four Illinois men locked up for a total of 65 years.
Thirteen men collected $1 million or more, from civil suits, state claims or both.
A matter of survival
6/10/02
Page 2 of 4
Although money will never make up for the lost pieces of these men's lives, for some, compensation
isn't just a question of fairness, but a matter of survival.
Kirk Bloodsworth was branded a child killer and languished in the brutal world of a Maryland prison
for nearly a decade. For 2~ years he was on death row.
He says the state robbed him of the chance to build his business and make his living as a crab
fisherman. Now 41, the former Marine has high blood pressure, dental problems and no health
insurance - and he fears he could lose his boat.
Bloodsworth seethes when he compares his compensation to that of a woman awarded far more after
she burned herself with spilled coffee at a fast-food restaurant. "The state was ready to kill me," he
says, his voice rising, "and I got $300,000."
Bloodsworth collected $30,000 for each year he was locked up. But he spent more than half of it the
day he received his check, paying off loans and legal fees and reimbursing his father, who dug into
his own savings for the drawn-out battle to free him.
He ran out of money quickly and for a short time was homeless, sleeping in his truck and at a
restaurant where he found work. He admits he wasted some of his compensation, opening his wallet
too often for newfound friends. "1 guess I wanted some social acceptance," he says. "1 wanted to feel
good again."
David Shawn Pope knows that feeling. After spending 15 years in a Texas prison for a rape he didn't
commit, he indulged in his own spending spree with the first part of $385,000 he will collect.
Pope, now 40, benefited from a Texas law passed last year that boosted compensation to $25,000 for
each year of wrongful incarceration, up to $500,000.
Previously, Texas paid a maximum of $50,000 - though practically speaking, almost no one received
much more than $25,000. Because Butler's compensation came under the old law, he received less
than one-tenth of what Pope collected, although he served more time.
As DNA continues to free inmates, more states are considering compensation.
But on Thursday, Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating vetoed a bill that would have provided up to
$200,000 to the wrongly convicted. He said the measure would have created liability even when the
state did nothing wrong.
How much is enough?
It is hard to find any official opposed to the principle of compensating those wrongly imprisoned. The
difficulty is in the details. Lawmakers in some states have expressed concern about straining already
tight budgets with compensation payments or, as Keating noted, awarding money in cases where
there was no official negligence.
In states that do pay the wrongly convicted, there often are strings attached: filing deadlines; pledges
that the exonerated will not file suit; and frequently, a requirement that the governor issue a pardon.
Ohio law allows for reimbursement for court costs, fines and attorneys fees as well as lost wages of
6/10/02
Page 3 of 4
up to $30,000 a year plus $25,000 a year in damages and $10,000 a year in punitive damages. The
Ohio Court of Claims hears all suits for compensation.
When the alleged rape victim in the Jimmy Williams' case recanted her testimony last year, Summit
County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said that she did not have enough evidence to retry Williams,
yet she vowed to oppose his receiving compensation.
When the community criticized Walsh, an elected official, for opposing his compensation, she
dropped out of the debate. The Ohio attorney general's office has taken up the unpopular cause. A
hearing is scheduled for Aug 15 before Summit County Common Pleas Judge Jane Bond.
Williams was freed Feb. 14, 2001. He spent last winter living in a run-down rental house without heat.
He has worked odd jobs in his Akron neighborhood and has grown frustrated.
"1 missed out on 10 of the most important years of a man's life. I'm still out here with nothing. Who is
going to hire a guy who has a 10-year hole in a resume that ends at high school?" he said. "And the
compensation procedure is a joke.., a total joke. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? I
have to fight the state to prove I am innocent, after 10 years of being innocent behind bars."
Most states also have a money cap, which Schaffer, the Houston lawyer, argues is shamefully Iow,
considering the agony endured.
State claims, where available, are the most common form of compensation. In at least five cases,
men who had been freed collected money from states with special legislation, sometimes called
"moral obligation" bills, written to help a specific person.
Others have pursued civil lawsuits - though cases against law enforcement or governments are very
difficult to win.
Prosecutors have absolute immunity for anything done at trial. Police have qualified immunity, though
not when it can be proven they deliberately did something wrong, such as conceal exculpatory
evidence.
In an extremely rare case, a wrongful conviction led to criminal charges against seven law
enforcement officials in DuPage County, III. They were accused of fabricating evidence and lying to
railroad Rolando Cruz for the murder of a 10-year-old girl. All were acquitted in 1999.
However, the following year, the county paid Cruz and two other men $3.5 million to settle civil suits
against the sheriff and some deputies, saying it was cheaper than going to trial.
In 1999, four wrongly convicted men - the so-called Ford Heights Four - received $36 million from
Cook County, III. They claimed sheriffs police hid evidence that would have helped the defense while
ignoring leads pointing to the real killers in a double murder.
About 14 lawyers, including the celebrated Gerry Spence, were marshaled, and a claustrophobic,
true-to-scale prison cell was built to wheel into court as an exhibit.
But the lawyers never went to trial. The county settled.
Not every wronged man can hire a Gerry Spence.
David Shepard had no grounds to sue after being cleared of rape in New Jersey in 1995 - no
6/10/02
Page 4 of 4
ineffective lawyer, no prosecutorial misconduct, no forensic errors, just a victim who had .mistakenly
identified him.
So his attorney, Paul Casteleiro, lobbied lawmakers, who passed a bill for the wrongly imprisoned
that provides compensation based on the length of time behind bars or previous salary. It was a
partial victory.
"No one would value 11 years in their life at $240,000, would they?" Casteleiro says, referring to
Shepard's compensation.
A former ramp worker at the Newark airport, Shepard, now 39 and unemployed, feels the state's
check wasn't enough to rebuild his life. "It was just something to ease their conscience," he says. "It
wasn't about me."
Plain Dealer reporter Donna Robb contributed to this story.
6/10/02
Marian Karr
From:
Sent:
To:
Cc:
Subject:
Kelvyn.Anderson@phila.gov
Tuesday, June 04, 2002 11:09 AM
update@nacole.org
Hector. W.Soto@phila.gov
[NACOLE Update] Police-Privacy Law Challenged
Police-privacy law challenged: Creator of personal-data Web site sues over
'censorship'
By Michael Ko
Seattle Times Eastside bureau
The creator of a controversial Web site that lists the personal information
of police officers has fired back at a state law intended to shut him down.
Bill Sheehan, a network engineer who lives in Mill Creek, yesterday filed a
lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle challenging Senate Bill 6700,
which was approved by the state Legislature this past session.
The law makes it illegal to do what Sheehan has done since March 2001:
collect and giving out personal addresses, home phone numbers, birth dates
and other private information about police officers and court employees
without their permission.
Under the law, which becomes effective June 13, Sheehan could be sued for
monetary damages for posting that information on his Web site.
Prosecuting attorneys would have to prove that the information has an
"intent to harm or intimidate."
"Free speech isn't exactly a novel concept ? it's withstood a lot of
challenges thrown at it," said Sheehan, who says his Web site is protected
political speech.
"The only thing that's changed over time is the technology ? television,
radio, now the Internet. But it will survive."
State Attorney General Christine Gregoire and King County Prosecuting
Attorney Norm Maleng are named as defendants in the claim because they have
the authority to enforce the state law.
Spokesmen for Gregoire and Maleng said they had received notices of the
suit yesterday. But they said they would withhold comment until their
respective legal departments had reviewed the complaint in detail.
Elena Garella, Sheehan's attorney, wrote in the suit that the law is
unconstitutional because it punishes people with a certain viewpoint.
Sheehan and another network engineer, Aaron Rosenstein, said they created
the Web site because they wanted to hold police accountable, contending
that departments were secretive and inaccessible.
Sheehan is being targeted only because he is criticizing police departments
and officers, Garella said. On the other hand, if someone wanted to use the
same information to send a thank-you note to a police officer, this law
would not apply, she said.
Governments should not make that distinction, Garella said.
"The (law) places an instrument of punishment and censorship in the hands
of the prosecuting attorney or any person affected," Garella wrote.
Sheehan's complaint asks U.S. District Judge John Coughenour to declare the
law unconstitutional.
The bulk of Sheehan's Web site is devoted to the rosters of 22
law-enforcement agencies in the Puget Sound area. Most are incomplete, but
there are names, salaries, ranks and addresses. Some officers' names have
links to civil records or personal-bankruptcy files.
Sheehan said all the information posted on his Web site was obtained
legally from government records, public databases and pay-for-information
Internet businesses.
At one time, Sheehan also had listed Social Security numbers of police
officers in Kirkland. But King County Superior Court Judge Robert Alsdorf
ordered them removed a year ago, saying they were an invasion of privacy.
Alsdorf also ruled the site was legitimate, albeit distasteful, political
speech.
After that ruling, the city of Kirkland sued Sheehan for $609,000. The site
could lead to harassment, identity theft or worse, city attorneys argued.
That lawsuit is still pending.
Michael Ko can be reached at 206- 515-5653 or mko@seattletimes.com.
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