Summer Lane, revisited?

It's official.

The uneasy detente between the Community Police Review Commission and the Riverside Police Officers Association is definitely over.

The RPOA has filed another law suit against the city of Riverside. This time, its target is the CPRC and the nine citizen volunteers who serve on it.

This news surprised few people with good memories even as the chilly relationship between the CPRC and the RPOA appeared to thaw earlier this year under the astute leadership of its current president, Kent Tutwiler. After all, that "negative peace" came after a five year struggle which culminated in the inclusion of the CPRC in the city's charter in 2005. Just because things had quieted down after the monumental vote of 2004 to place the commission in the city's charter, did not mean they would stay quiet. Every stage show has its intermission and some patterns are too etched in stone for them to stay broken for long.

Still, there are questions to be asked, points to ponder, enigmas to explain. With a jury trial perhaps several years away, there is still time to explore all these things. After all, the only true way to resolve the issues raised in this law suit for both sides arising from a thorny incident several years ago, is trial by jury. The RPOA leadership has graciously provided the opportunity and venue for that to take place.

This latest development might not be completely bad news for the CPRC, as every cloud has its silver lining and in this case, there are several places where one might emerge.

Last year, the most severe blow to the CPRC was not dealt by the RPOA, but by the city's management and the police department. Through one act of inaction on the Summer Lane shooting, those entities did more damage to the commission than any actions by the RPOA and its staff of attorneys ever could. Not through the decision that was finally made but by how it was made.

What the RPOA, through its law suit, has done is to provide both an opportunity and a venue for the CPRC to regain both the independence and strength that it had lost, on a silver platter. Not to mention the perfect defense.

Especially through this statement.

[Kent]Tutwiler said the commission has publicly criticized Wilson and other officers. The intent of the lawsuit is, he said, "to put an end to those remarks."

That states the case in a nutshell. They should give medals for that kind of thing. Actually, they do.


Coming to a venue in Riverside.


The Trial of Summer Lane

(Currently in pre-production. Filming to take place on location, not like with David Lynch's new film, Inland Empire which was filmed in Poland.)


Place: Old historic courthouse on Main St.

Time: Sometime before 2010, give or take a few months depending on how many times the civil court calendar is "frozen" by the criminal caseload.


Cast of Characters:

RPOA (the plaintiff)

City of Riverside (the defendant and proxy)

CPRC (the party being "slapped")

Riverside Police Department (the high stakes holder)

Officer Ryan Wilson (the star witness for both sides.)

Summer Lane (the ghost of Decembers past who keeps returning)



And a cast of dozens, to be cast. Audition notices to be announced soon.



To be continued.



RPOA wants CPRC to stop criticizing its officers in public