Elections 2007: Heading into the first turn
City council elections are in full fling as March went out like a lamb and April alas, brings no showers even as the city of Riverside is contemplating a controlled burn to eradicate non-native grass growth in Sycamore Canyon Park, which has had hardly any new plant growth of any kind this year. One of the alternatives to burning the hillside was to find, lease or purchase goats to eat the offensive plants and hopefully, not the entire hillside while they were at it.
There were some fireworks in the council chambers as well. The Press Enterprise most often doesn't report on city council meetings until Thursday's edition at the earliest which given that its parent company is based in Texas makes some sense. The weekly meeting did take place as scheduled.
Ward seven incumbent, Steve Adams has decided he's serious about winning this election and retaining his seat in the La Sierra Area. At least as serious as he was when he tried out for the Republican Party candidate for state assembly. He's apparently decided as councilman, not a political candidate to sponsor a meet-and-greet for his constituents April 4 beginning at 6:30 pm at the La Sierra Park Gymnasium.
How much support does Adams have even from his main base?
Something that was really surprising took place when former city mayor and current ward seven candidate Terry Frizzel sharply criticized Adams at the March 27 city council meeting. Many of the individuals in the audience who were employed by the Riverside Police Department applauded her speech. That shocked some, because only four years ago, Adams had not only been endorsed by the Riverside Police Officers' Association but its members did a lot of precinct walking door to door on his behalf.
He might get that union's endorsement this time around, but it doesn't sound like he'll get all their votes.
At this week's meeting, Adams was castigated by another ward seven candidate, veterinarian Roy Saldanha who said that he had never claimed that Adams latest flier was illegal as both City Manager Brad Hudson and City Attorney Gregory Priamos seemed to imply, just corrupt and unethical. Other candidates and residents in ward seven had criticized the timely newsletter financed by city funds which advertised what Adams called his accomplishments in his ward and they said it smacked of a campaign brochure.
Adams didn't look too pleased at the criticism but said nothing, opting not to do what the "From"( Frank and Dom) duo often do which is to wait until the end of public comment and then either call a speaker who criticized them a liar or to completely misstate what they said through the creation of a straw man argument. Adams did stay in his chair for most of this meeting as did the other council members as Mayor Ron Loveridge kept the breaks to a minimum.
Saldanha, who some city residents have said may be a spoiler in the ward seven race has been regularly attending city council meetings since announcing his candidacy.
Still, it's difficult to unseat an incumbent even one that decides halfway through his term that he'd rather be off searching for greener pastures in the political arena which Adams did last year when he tried and failed to obtain a seat in the state assembly. But four candidates will be trying their best to do so and several of them have been showing up recently at city council meetings to speak, one reason why Mayor Ron Loveridge has been pushing the public comment agenda item further into the meeting.
It's interesting how protective the current elected officials sitting in the dais are during an election year of their political allies and their collective power base on the dais. One speaker commented last night on the actions taken by many of them to endorse one another in the upcoming elections. Of course, there's also the intriguing fact that in one case, the incumbent isn't getting the vote of approval from others sitting alongside him. But let's begin with the ones who did.
Betro who is running for election and already picking up funding from major developers like Doug Jacobs and Mark Rubin, has picked up the blessings of other city council members including two who belonged to the much ballyhooed GASS quartet.
According to his last two campaign brochures, Betro is endorsed by council members, Andrew Melendrez, Nancy Hart, Ed Adkison and Frank Schiavone. Adams is sending feelers out in Betro's direction as well, by attending Betro's fundraiser last month at the Marriott Hotel. With all the development projects on the horizon that will arise due to the "Riverside Renaissance", it's clear that the city council wants to keep its voting bloc intact.
Well, almost.
The lone exception is Councilman Art Gage who was pretty much ousted from the current party by the decision of Melendrez, Betro, Schiavone, Adkison and then Loveridge to endorse his political rival, William "Rusty" Bailey, Jr. in the ward three election. Gage, a former member of GASS was obviously not going to be part of the new quartet, which community activists particularly those in the La Sierra area have called BASS, for Betro, Adams, Schiavone and Adkison.
Whatever is the cause of the banishment of Gage from GASS on its way to becoming BASS is up for much debate. Some have said it's a matter of politicians eating their own. Some say the rest of the quartet got fed up with Gage either not going with the program or with their assertion that he leaks confidential information from City Hall to members of the public as was alleged in a meeting several months ago.
The preference that members of BASS have shown a young political neophyte like Bailey bears watching. Could it be that the members believe it is much easier to mold someone like Bailey into their own image or maybe this new development-oriented quartet just likes the fact that Bailey once worked for the Economic Development Agency, the same department that Hudson headed before coming to Riverside?
The only other common denominator involving the BASS quartet is that its members frown on public expression. Between the four of them, they are responsible for 100% of all the "point of orders", expulsions and calls for reluctant police officers to either arrest their critics, eject them, ban them from future meetings or in the case of Marjorie Von Pohle carry them out. Those are pretty good numbers.
As is always the cases, this election year has shown how fascinating this whole process is and will continue to be in the months ahead.
The award for the most confusing commentary of the night went to Councilman Frank Schiavone who criticized the comments made by Yolanda Garland, but when doing so, he misappropriated her words, saying basically that he had an alibi for his whereabouts during the recent controversy involving City Manager Brad Hudson's decision to convert three management positions in the police department to serving "at will". I was on vacation for two weeks outside of the country, Schiavone said. All of that is well and good for the situation involving the "at will" employees because Schiavone did apparently play a pivotal role in the outcome of that situation, but Garland's criticism of him had been about a different situation entirely. Garland does research her material before she speaks on it, which didn't help Schiavone much because he wasn't paying close enough attention to what she was actually saying.
What Schiavone failed to do was prove that he had listened carefully to what Garland had actually said. She wasn't criticizing his conduct in relation to the situation that involved Hudson's attempts to manage the highest level of the police department, but his comments and resultant actions he had made at a city council meeting one month earlier, which led to the expulsion of Garland and two other city residents by police officers.
So if Schiavone was wondering why he was receiving some confused looks while he spoke on how he felt Garland's comments had been the ultimate compliment to him in terms of attributing power to him he didn't have, his misstatement of what Garland said is why.
Councilman Dom Betro took his cue from his BFF Schiavone and also made comments to criticize David Fisher who made comments about all the eminent domain that had taken place to literally reshape downtown. Even though quite a few businesses were purchased either through eminent domain or threat of eminent domain on several blocks on Market Street, Betro appears to be under the impression that the only building seized through eminent domain was the Fox theater several years ago. How quickly they forget. Hopefully, the voters won't and will pose some serious questions to all the candidates who are currently running.
Including those who have a serious eye on the mayor's competition next year. Both Betro and Gage have expressed interest in seeking this higher-paying position and lame duck Adkison is being pretty coy when asked whether or not he plans to toss his hat in the ring. The blog, Riverside Land Grab, wrote an introspective piece on a series of meetings between Adkison and "contentious" city residents that have taken place at City Hall.
But Adkison insists that there won't be any mayoral run in his future. As for Betro and Gage, they've been throwing verbal jabs including through intermediaries since the beginning of the year.
In San Jose, controversy has erupted as to how that city's police department has been treating the Latino residents, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Problems arose within that community after it was revealed that Latinos were disproportionately represented in cases where force was used to get arrests. Similar trends were noted with African-Americans in San Jose as well. According to the 2006 Use of Force Report, about 5% of arrests involve the use of force including the use of less lethal options.
There's been a series of articles in the San Jose Mercury News about allegations of misconduct by officers in the city's police department involving Black and Latino individuals.
San Jose police take steps to sooth Latino leaders concerns
Improving the department's complaint system and adding cultural sensitivity training for its officers were two of the steps recommended for implementation.
Mexican Consul Bruno Figueroa has added his voice among those who have expressed concern involving these issues.
(excerpt)
A day after the report, Figueroa released a statement urging police to respect Latinos while citing the July 30 arrests of Asencsion Calderon, a San Jose tire store owner, and his nephew, Samuel Santana, as a case of excessive force.
According to Figueroa, Calderson had merely stopped and asked an officer what was going on with Santana, who was being questioned about a traffic violation on Alum Rock Avenue, when he was allegedly attacked by officers, including one who reportedly called Santana, a U.S. citizen, a "wetback."
Both Calderon and Santana were arrested on a misdemeanor charge of resisting or obstructing a police officer.
Calderon and Santana eventually had charges against them dismissed after a Superior Court judge declared a mistrial.
On March 31, Chief Rob Davis responded to the growing controversy stemming from the report released showing the disparities in the arrests where force was used.
(excerpt)
"Rest assured that we take each and every complaint seriously, and that we are committed to ensuring that all of our officers live up to the professional standards and reputation of our organization," Davis told a crowd gathered for an unusual news conference about the police-Latino relationship at the local headquarters of La Raza Roundtable, a Hispanic activist group.
The Mercury News editorial board also voiced in on the issue, by stating that there needed to be full disclosure from the police department in terms
(excerpt)
Credit Davis for taking the initiative. It was 10 days ago that Mexican Consul General Bruno Figueroa, in an extraordinary public statement, cited the alleged roughing up of an Alum Rock business owner in July as part of a pattern or mistreatment of Latinos in San Jose. The police still are investigating that incident.
But Davis will need to do more to disprove critics. He could start by releasing police records he has chosen to withhold: use of officer force reports (even if names are redacted) and more police reports. And if he's not willing, then Mayor Chuck Reed and the city council should force it, as part of a proposed city "sunshine law." Only then will the public know if allegations of abuse of minorities are exaggerated or understated.
Wikipedia: San Jose's demographics
More links from San Jose Mercury News:
Columnist Scott Herhold: Chief's PR slick but more action needed
San Jose police more likely to use force against Blacks, Latinos
(excerpt)
African-Americans: 3% of the population, 10% of the arrests, 17% of the arrests where force is used.
Controversy arises over treatment of Latinos
Latinos: 32% of the population, 43% of complaints filed, over half of those arrested where force is used.
Racial profiling is a huge topic in San Francisco as well as allegations that this city's department racially profiles against African-Americans and Latinos led to the city hiring a criminologist to study whether or not there was a problem.
San Francisco Police Department urged to prevent racial profiling
Consultant Lorie Fridell, an associate professor from the University of Southern Florida decided in her investigation that there was, and provided steps that the department should take to address it. Fridell said that she couldn't be sure whether or not the statistics that African-Americans were more likely to be stopped by police proved racial bias against them by the city's police officers. However, she then said the following.
(excerpt)
All the same, she said, "San Francisco needs to implement reforms in this realm on its own initiative to reduce the risk of outside intervention, such as an investigation or lawsuit by the Department of Justice."
Statistics such as those reported in The Chronicle's article have been sufficient to trigger Justice Department action in the past, she said.
Those are some pretty strong words, because usually the threat of a lawsuit or investigation by the Justice Department causes law enforcement agencies some degree of concern as is the case most recently with the Maywood Police Department. And the 28 recommendations produced by Fridell mirrored many that would be found in a federal consent decree.
It should come to the surprise of no one that officers of San Francisco Police Department are alleged to be engaging in racial profiling given the recent incidents that have plagued that agency now under the leadership of Chief Heather Fong since the FajitaGate scandal broke which led to the former police chief and assistant chief being indicted though later cleared of obstruction charges.
Then of course came the scandal involving at least a dozen police officers engaged in making and circulating videos that demeaned African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Arab-Americans, Latinos, gays and women.
How some San Francisco Police Department officers amused themselves
So San Francisco has its work cut out for it in terms of creating an environment of trust among its communities towards the police department.
Fridell recommended among other things that the department improve its recruitment and hiring practices, create anti-bias training programs for its officers and conduct annual audits of traffic stops conducted by its officers.
Other reforms that were on her list.
(excerpt)
-- Implement state-of-the-art practices aimed at "producing fully fair and impartial policing.''
-- Revamp police training to include material to help officers be aware of unconscious biases.
-- Develop new training for sergeants, lieutenants and field-training officers to give them tools to promote fair and impartial policing by those they supervise.
-- Revise background checks of police applicants to include exploration of the candidates' attitudes toward and interactions with members of other racial or cultural groups.
-- Set up department-conducted focus groups around the city "with resident stakeholders'' to discuss topics of mutual concern, including racially biased policing and perceptions of how it is practiced.
-- Create an advisory board to help Chief Heather Fong implement the reforms and hire a consultant to help push needed changes.
-- Have the chief regularly report to the Police Commission on the progress of the reforms.
Speaking of annual traffic stop studies, the Riverside Police Department released similar public reports every March while it was serving out its stipulated judgement with the state attorney general's office. The police department had decided that it would continue to do those reports but instead of contracting with California State University San Bernardino Professor Larry Gaines, they would explore the use of different experts to provide analysis.
The reports have been valuable to the public in terms of providing information on what the police department was doing for it to scrutinize and in 2005, the city went one step further by having the Human Relations Commission conduct a public forum on the issue of racial profiling which included an appearance by Gaines. One that was well attended and fostered some serious discussion at the downtown library.
But as of yet, the department has not released its annual report on traffic stops even though according to some documents received under a CPRA request last summer, it had allocated at least $25,000 in city funds to conduct its study. March 2007 came and went just like March 2006 did without the public receiving a current report. Maybe they've forgotten about it.
However, Hudson didn't seem too concerned to hear that the city of Beaumont has purchased video recording devices to equip its department's squad cars, a task that the city of Riverside is still struggling to do. Hudson's latest update is that they're still exploring options which means that the installation forecast provided by Asst. City Manager(and apparently, new head librarian) Tom DeSantis of them being installed in "several months" is probably a bit off.
An update on the department's planned program for how its officers will be interfacing with mentally ill people goes back to the public safety committee headed by Melendrez later this month as promised back in January when DeSantis had unveiled a new proposal as part of his power point presentation about changes that had been proposed to the CPRC.
Hudson seemed fairly upbeat when he was explaining how more doctors and psychiatric technicians were needed and that police officers go into every situation wanting to wrap it up in under two minutes. He also referred to the case involving the fatal shooting of Lee Deante Brown several times and said that there wouldn't be a final program on the mental health issues until after the Community Police Review Commission reaches a decision on the Brown case. The commission will begin its drafting of the public report on the Brown shooting later this month.
There were some fireworks in the council chambers as well. The Press Enterprise most often doesn't report on city council meetings until Thursday's edition at the earliest which given that its parent company is based in Texas makes some sense. The weekly meeting did take place as scheduled.
Ward seven incumbent, Steve Adams has decided he's serious about winning this election and retaining his seat in the La Sierra Area. At least as serious as he was when he tried out for the Republican Party candidate for state assembly. He's apparently decided as councilman, not a political candidate to sponsor a meet-and-greet for his constituents April 4 beginning at 6:30 pm at the La Sierra Park Gymnasium.
How much support does Adams have even from his main base?
Something that was really surprising took place when former city mayor and current ward seven candidate Terry Frizzel sharply criticized Adams at the March 27 city council meeting. Many of the individuals in the audience who were employed by the Riverside Police Department applauded her speech. That shocked some, because only four years ago, Adams had not only been endorsed by the Riverside Police Officers' Association but its members did a lot of precinct walking door to door on his behalf.
He might get that union's endorsement this time around, but it doesn't sound like he'll get all their votes.
At this week's meeting, Adams was castigated by another ward seven candidate, veterinarian Roy Saldanha who said that he had never claimed that Adams latest flier was illegal as both City Manager Brad Hudson and City Attorney Gregory Priamos seemed to imply, just corrupt and unethical. Other candidates and residents in ward seven had criticized the timely newsletter financed by city funds which advertised what Adams called his accomplishments in his ward and they said it smacked of a campaign brochure.
Adams didn't look too pleased at the criticism but said nothing, opting not to do what the "From"( Frank and Dom) duo often do which is to wait until the end of public comment and then either call a speaker who criticized them a liar or to completely misstate what they said through the creation of a straw man argument. Adams did stay in his chair for most of this meeting as did the other council members as Mayor Ron Loveridge kept the breaks to a minimum.
Saldanha, who some city residents have said may be a spoiler in the ward seven race has been regularly attending city council meetings since announcing his candidacy.
Still, it's difficult to unseat an incumbent even one that decides halfway through his term that he'd rather be off searching for greener pastures in the political arena which Adams did last year when he tried and failed to obtain a seat in the state assembly. But four candidates will be trying their best to do so and several of them have been showing up recently at city council meetings to speak, one reason why Mayor Ron Loveridge has been pushing the public comment agenda item further into the meeting.
It's interesting how protective the current elected officials sitting in the dais are during an election year of their political allies and their collective power base on the dais. One speaker commented last night on the actions taken by many of them to endorse one another in the upcoming elections. Of course, there's also the intriguing fact that in one case, the incumbent isn't getting the vote of approval from others sitting alongside him. But let's begin with the ones who did.
Betro who is running for election and already picking up funding from major developers like Doug Jacobs and Mark Rubin, has picked up the blessings of other city council members including two who belonged to the much ballyhooed GASS quartet.
According to his last two campaign brochures, Betro is endorsed by council members, Andrew Melendrez, Nancy Hart, Ed Adkison and Frank Schiavone. Adams is sending feelers out in Betro's direction as well, by attending Betro's fundraiser last month at the Marriott Hotel. With all the development projects on the horizon that will arise due to the "Riverside Renaissance", it's clear that the city council wants to keep its voting bloc intact.
Well, almost.
The lone exception is Councilman Art Gage who was pretty much ousted from the current party by the decision of Melendrez, Betro, Schiavone, Adkison and then Loveridge to endorse his political rival, William "Rusty" Bailey, Jr. in the ward three election. Gage, a former member of GASS was obviously not going to be part of the new quartet, which community activists particularly those in the La Sierra area have called BASS, for Betro, Adams, Schiavone and Adkison.
Whatever is the cause of the banishment of Gage from GASS on its way to becoming BASS is up for much debate. Some have said it's a matter of politicians eating their own. Some say the rest of the quartet got fed up with Gage either not going with the program or with their assertion that he leaks confidential information from City Hall to members of the public as was alleged in a meeting several months ago.
The preference that members of BASS have shown a young political neophyte like Bailey bears watching. Could it be that the members believe it is much easier to mold someone like Bailey into their own image or maybe this new development-oriented quartet just likes the fact that Bailey once worked for the Economic Development Agency, the same department that Hudson headed before coming to Riverside?
The only other common denominator involving the BASS quartet is that its members frown on public expression. Between the four of them, they are responsible for 100% of all the "point of orders", expulsions and calls for reluctant police officers to either arrest their critics, eject them, ban them from future meetings or in the case of Marjorie Von Pohle carry them out. Those are pretty good numbers.
As is always the cases, this election year has shown how fascinating this whole process is and will continue to be in the months ahead.
The award for the most confusing commentary of the night went to Councilman Frank Schiavone who criticized the comments made by Yolanda Garland, but when doing so, he misappropriated her words, saying basically that he had an alibi for his whereabouts during the recent controversy involving City Manager Brad Hudson's decision to convert three management positions in the police department to serving "at will". I was on vacation for two weeks outside of the country, Schiavone said. All of that is well and good for the situation involving the "at will" employees because Schiavone did apparently play a pivotal role in the outcome of that situation, but Garland's criticism of him had been about a different situation entirely. Garland does research her material before she speaks on it, which didn't help Schiavone much because he wasn't paying close enough attention to what she was actually saying.
What Schiavone failed to do was prove that he had listened carefully to what Garland had actually said. She wasn't criticizing his conduct in relation to the situation that involved Hudson's attempts to manage the highest level of the police department, but his comments and resultant actions he had made at a city council meeting one month earlier, which led to the expulsion of Garland and two other city residents by police officers.
So if Schiavone was wondering why he was receiving some confused looks while he spoke on how he felt Garland's comments had been the ultimate compliment to him in terms of attributing power to him he didn't have, his misstatement of what Garland said is why.
Councilman Dom Betro took his cue from his BFF Schiavone and also made comments to criticize David Fisher who made comments about all the eminent domain that had taken place to literally reshape downtown. Even though quite a few businesses were purchased either through eminent domain or threat of eminent domain on several blocks on Market Street, Betro appears to be under the impression that the only building seized through eminent domain was the Fox theater several years ago. How quickly they forget. Hopefully, the voters won't and will pose some serious questions to all the candidates who are currently running.
Including those who have a serious eye on the mayor's competition next year. Both Betro and Gage have expressed interest in seeking this higher-paying position and lame duck Adkison is being pretty coy when asked whether or not he plans to toss his hat in the ring. The blog, Riverside Land Grab, wrote an introspective piece on a series of meetings between Adkison and "contentious" city residents that have taken place at City Hall.
But Adkison insists that there won't be any mayoral run in his future. As for Betro and Gage, they've been throwing verbal jabs including through intermediaries since the beginning of the year.
In San Jose, controversy has erupted as to how that city's police department has been treating the Latino residents, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Problems arose within that community after it was revealed that Latinos were disproportionately represented in cases where force was used to get arrests. Similar trends were noted with African-Americans in San Jose as well. According to the 2006 Use of Force Report, about 5% of arrests involve the use of force including the use of less lethal options.
There's been a series of articles in the San Jose Mercury News about allegations of misconduct by officers in the city's police department involving Black and Latino individuals.
San Jose police take steps to sooth Latino leaders concerns
Improving the department's complaint system and adding cultural sensitivity training for its officers were two of the steps recommended for implementation.
Mexican Consul Bruno Figueroa has added his voice among those who have expressed concern involving these issues.
(excerpt)
A day after the report, Figueroa released a statement urging police to respect Latinos while citing the July 30 arrests of Asencsion Calderon, a San Jose tire store owner, and his nephew, Samuel Santana, as a case of excessive force.
According to Figueroa, Calderson had merely stopped and asked an officer what was going on with Santana, who was being questioned about a traffic violation on Alum Rock Avenue, when he was allegedly attacked by officers, including one who reportedly called Santana, a U.S. citizen, a "wetback."
Both Calderon and Santana were arrested on a misdemeanor charge of resisting or obstructing a police officer.
Calderon and Santana eventually had charges against them dismissed after a Superior Court judge declared a mistrial.
On March 31, Chief Rob Davis responded to the growing controversy stemming from the report released showing the disparities in the arrests where force was used.
(excerpt)
"Rest assured that we take each and every complaint seriously, and that we are committed to ensuring that all of our officers live up to the professional standards and reputation of our organization," Davis told a crowd gathered for an unusual news conference about the police-Latino relationship at the local headquarters of La Raza Roundtable, a Hispanic activist group.
The Mercury News editorial board also voiced in on the issue, by stating that there needed to be full disclosure from the police department in terms
(excerpt)
Credit Davis for taking the initiative. It was 10 days ago that Mexican Consul General Bruno Figueroa, in an extraordinary public statement, cited the alleged roughing up of an Alum Rock business owner in July as part of a pattern or mistreatment of Latinos in San Jose. The police still are investigating that incident.
But Davis will need to do more to disprove critics. He could start by releasing police records he has chosen to withhold: use of officer force reports (even if names are redacted) and more police reports. And if he's not willing, then Mayor Chuck Reed and the city council should force it, as part of a proposed city "sunshine law." Only then will the public know if allegations of abuse of minorities are exaggerated or understated.
Wikipedia: San Jose's demographics
More links from San Jose Mercury News:
Columnist Scott Herhold: Chief's PR slick but more action needed
San Jose police more likely to use force against Blacks, Latinos
(excerpt)
African-Americans: 3% of the population, 10% of the arrests, 17% of the arrests where force is used.
Controversy arises over treatment of Latinos
Latinos: 32% of the population, 43% of complaints filed, over half of those arrested where force is used.
Racial profiling is a huge topic in San Francisco as well as allegations that this city's department racially profiles against African-Americans and Latinos led to the city hiring a criminologist to study whether or not there was a problem.
San Francisco Police Department urged to prevent racial profiling
Consultant Lorie Fridell, an associate professor from the University of Southern Florida decided in her investigation that there was, and provided steps that the department should take to address it. Fridell said that she couldn't be sure whether or not the statistics that African-Americans were more likely to be stopped by police proved racial bias against them by the city's police officers. However, she then said the following.
(excerpt)
All the same, she said, "San Francisco needs to implement reforms in this realm on its own initiative to reduce the risk of outside intervention, such as an investigation or lawsuit by the Department of Justice."
Statistics such as those reported in The Chronicle's article have been sufficient to trigger Justice Department action in the past, she said.
Those are some pretty strong words, because usually the threat of a lawsuit or investigation by the Justice Department causes law enforcement agencies some degree of concern as is the case most recently with the Maywood Police Department. And the 28 recommendations produced by Fridell mirrored many that would be found in a federal consent decree.
It should come to the surprise of no one that officers of San Francisco Police Department are alleged to be engaging in racial profiling given the recent incidents that have plagued that agency now under the leadership of Chief Heather Fong since the FajitaGate scandal broke which led to the former police chief and assistant chief being indicted though later cleared of obstruction charges.
Then of course came the scandal involving at least a dozen police officers engaged in making and circulating videos that demeaned African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Arab-Americans, Latinos, gays and women.
How some San Francisco Police Department officers amused themselves
So San Francisco has its work cut out for it in terms of creating an environment of trust among its communities towards the police department.
Fridell recommended among other things that the department improve its recruitment and hiring practices, create anti-bias training programs for its officers and conduct annual audits of traffic stops conducted by its officers.
Other reforms that were on her list.
(excerpt)
-- Implement state-of-the-art practices aimed at "producing fully fair and impartial policing.''
-- Revamp police training to include material to help officers be aware of unconscious biases.
-- Develop new training for sergeants, lieutenants and field-training officers to give them tools to promote fair and impartial policing by those they supervise.
-- Revise background checks of police applicants to include exploration of the candidates' attitudes toward and interactions with members of other racial or cultural groups.
-- Set up department-conducted focus groups around the city "with resident stakeholders'' to discuss topics of mutual concern, including racially biased policing and perceptions of how it is practiced.
-- Create an advisory board to help Chief Heather Fong implement the reforms and hire a consultant to help push needed changes.
-- Have the chief regularly report to the Police Commission on the progress of the reforms.
Speaking of annual traffic stop studies, the Riverside Police Department released similar public reports every March while it was serving out its stipulated judgement with the state attorney general's office. The police department had decided that it would continue to do those reports but instead of contracting with California State University San Bernardino Professor Larry Gaines, they would explore the use of different experts to provide analysis.
The reports have been valuable to the public in terms of providing information on what the police department was doing for it to scrutinize and in 2005, the city went one step further by having the Human Relations Commission conduct a public forum on the issue of racial profiling which included an appearance by Gaines. One that was well attended and fostered some serious discussion at the downtown library.
But as of yet, the department has not released its annual report on traffic stops even though according to some documents received under a CPRA request last summer, it had allocated at least $25,000 in city funds to conduct its study. March 2007 came and went just like March 2006 did without the public receiving a current report. Maybe they've forgotten about it.
However, Hudson didn't seem too concerned to hear that the city of Beaumont has purchased video recording devices to equip its department's squad cars, a task that the city of Riverside is still struggling to do. Hudson's latest update is that they're still exploring options which means that the installation forecast provided by Asst. City Manager(and apparently, new head librarian) Tom DeSantis of them being installed in "several months" is probably a bit off.
An update on the department's planned program for how its officers will be interfacing with mentally ill people goes back to the public safety committee headed by Melendrez later this month as promised back in January when DeSantis had unveiled a new proposal as part of his power point presentation about changes that had been proposed to the CPRC.
Hudson seemed fairly upbeat when he was explaining how more doctors and psychiatric technicians were needed and that police officers go into every situation wanting to wrap it up in under two minutes. He also referred to the case involving the fatal shooting of Lee Deante Brown several times and said that there wouldn't be a final program on the mental health issues until after the Community Police Review Commission reaches a decision on the Brown case. The commission will begin its drafting of the public report on the Brown shooting later this month.
posted by Five Before Midnight | 5:07 PM
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