From sea to shining sea: Civilian review expands
A 26-year-old man died in the custody of California Highway Patrol officers in south-west Riverside County. An investigation is being conducted to determine the cause of death, which occurred within 45 minutes of his arrest. The details of the arrest were not given in the article published by the Press Enterprise on the incident.
Man dies in the custody of the CHP
A night in the life of Santa Cruz Inn was related in today's Press Enterprise as an offshoot of the longer article it ran yesterday on the development projects taking place in Riverside's downtown. It provided a glimpse of the hotel's history but focused more on its present and presence as a magnet of crime, according to the police department.
Police officer, Eric Meier, whose father is the area commander of Casa Blanca, gave the reporter a tour of the bus terminal where he said, few people actually wait to take the bus these days. The bus terminal which houses Greyhound and the city's transit lines not to mention a fire station, will be eventually moved to the lot that houses the current Metrolink train station in the Eastside, because after all, if you have a population of people that you don't want downtown, whether it's the homeless, the poor, the parolees, you just push them on in to the Eastside because while it might not be okay to have these populations in areas surrounding neighborhoods inhabited by White middle-class or affluent(including those who will purchase condos on Market Street some day), it's perfectly fine to push them into a neighborhood populated by Black and Latino working class families.
It's getting harder to even navigate through the streets of downtown Riverside if you're Black or Latino without having police officers stop you whether you're in a vehicle, bicycle or on foot and asking you the golden question, are you on probation or parole?
Even when they have no criminal records at all, are on their way to and from work or school or are actually waiting for the bus at the downtown terminal.
It's a pretty good bet that most of the complaints made to the Community Police Review Commission representing the downtown area are complaints of this nature.
Lt. Roy, actually his name is Larry, Gonzalez speaks out the mission of the city to rid itself of the motels that once defined the strip known as University Avenue back in the day when people coming out to watch auto races at the former race track(and now shopping mall) in Moreno Valley. Actually, as more and more people are shut out of the rental units in the Eastside in the face of the rising rents which will accompany the face lift taking place on University Avenue, the motels will probably see more of these individuals as long-term tenants while they are still standing.
Why is this? Because none of these plans offered up by the city or its satellite, the University of California, Riverside have provided room for affordable housing for low income individuals or families, most of whom are Black and Latino.
The interesting thing about the article is the assertion that yes, the city council did use eminent domain to pick up the properties including car dealerships on Market Street which refutes what Councilman Dom Betro claimed at a city council meeting on April 3, in that he said that the only time the city used eminent domain in the downtown area was against the family who owned the Fox theater.
Civilian review is spreading across the nation and that's because community members are demanding its implementation in their cities, counties and towns and not allowing the hostility of the police departments or the reluctance of the local governments to stand in their paths.
In Ft. Myers, Florida that is exactly what city residents are doing and they're circulating a petition to make it clear that's what they want in their city. The ACLU and other local organizations are leading the drive.
The city council like those in other cities rejected a proposal to create and implement a form of civilian oversight so now the issue is going to be sent to the voters where it's been more successful in other places.
ABC7 in Chicago has covered community activists' efforts to "overhaul" police complaint review process in that city in the wake of several assaults by off duty police officers of patrons inside bars that were captured on surveillance video. After the third assault was reported, the department's superintendent resigned.
Activists want overhaul of police review process
Actually, local ministers came out to try to save Superintendent Phil Kline's job by saying that he's not really the problem. The department needed to be completely overhauled, they said.
First on the list is to abolish the Office of Professional Standards or what is derisively referred to as the OPS, which is the department's internal process to investigate complaints against officers and engage in the disciplinary process. They want that system to be replaced by a civilian run agency that can investigate complaints and subpoena witnesses.
(excerpt)
Another anti-police brutality group, Citizens Alert, also held a news conference Thursday at which they cited a University of Chicago study showing that accused abusive officers are rarely disciplined.
"The odds in Chicago are just two in a thousand that a Chicago police officer will receive any meaningful disciple as a result of being charged with abusing a civilian," said Craig Futterman, University of Chicago.
The New Haven Register published an article about how a group of consultants from the Police Executive Research Forum will meet behind closed doors with city officials in New Haven, Connecticut to address issues on how that city's police department can improve its practices.
A panel of individuals was established to work with the consultants but most of the people on it are from law enforcement backgrounds, not the best way to do what the city calls, restore trust back in the police department. City officials raised concerns about the process as well.
(excerpt)
Citing changes made to a consultant's report after reviewing a separate city department, Hill Alderman Jorge Perez, D-5, said he wanted assurances that the board and the public would hear PERF's true findings.
"I want to make sure we have a transparent process or this process is a waste of money," Perez said. "I don't want to find out we told the consultant what to say."Smuts said the administration would be having discussions with the outside team throughout the assessment and may make changes before the end of the contract.
"We don't change recommendations. That's part of our core value as an organization. If we start doing that, we're a hired gun," Fraser said.
If you are wondering why New Haven's police department has attracted this kind of scrutiny, it's for the usual reasons. It's because the department was the subject of high profile incidents involving its operations.
NBC30 stated in a recent article that a corruption scandal which resulted in the arrests of two detectives in the agency's narcotics division is what caused people to become concerned that something was terribly wrong in New Haven.
More on what the department's police chief called the department's "darkest days" can be found here.
Det. Justen Kasperzkyk and Lt. William White who headed the unit were arrested by the FBI and charged with stealing thousands of dollars including in an incident that was videotaped. Three bail bondsmen were also arrested. White was working with a state police officer while committing and planning these alleged crimes but unknown to him that officer was working undercover for the FBI.
(excerpt)
Ring said the evidence against White is overwhelming.
"Mr. White is going to jail for this," Ring said.
Mayor John DeStefano, who just returned Tuesday night from a trip to Washington, D.C., called the arrests of the two detectives a betrayal of trust.
"It is a disservice to justice and fairness and to our cities," DeStefano said. "What it is not is a reflection of the hard work of the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of men and women of this department who work hard each and every day to protect the people of this city."
In Riverside, the shooting of Lee Deante Brown comes back for discussion as the CPRC prepares to draft its public report on its investigation. A question gets answered. Another one gets asked.
(excerpt, transcript of the belt recording of Officer Terry Ellefson)
Unidentified male: Okay. How many rounds?
Officer Paul Stucker: Two down.
Man dies in the custody of the CHP
A night in the life of Santa Cruz Inn was related in today's Press Enterprise as an offshoot of the longer article it ran yesterday on the development projects taking place in Riverside's downtown. It provided a glimpse of the hotel's history but focused more on its present and presence as a magnet of crime, according to the police department.
Police officer, Eric Meier, whose father is the area commander of Casa Blanca, gave the reporter a tour of the bus terminal where he said, few people actually wait to take the bus these days. The bus terminal which houses Greyhound and the city's transit lines not to mention a fire station, will be eventually moved to the lot that houses the current Metrolink train station in the Eastside, because after all, if you have a population of people that you don't want downtown, whether it's the homeless, the poor, the parolees, you just push them on in to the Eastside because while it might not be okay to have these populations in areas surrounding neighborhoods inhabited by White middle-class or affluent(including those who will purchase condos on Market Street some day), it's perfectly fine to push them into a neighborhood populated by Black and Latino working class families.
It's getting harder to even navigate through the streets of downtown Riverside if you're Black or Latino without having police officers stop you whether you're in a vehicle, bicycle or on foot and asking you the golden question, are you on probation or parole?
Even when they have no criminal records at all, are on their way to and from work or school or are actually waiting for the bus at the downtown terminal.
It's a pretty good bet that most of the complaints made to the Community Police Review Commission representing the downtown area are complaints of this nature.
Lt. Roy, actually his name is Larry, Gonzalez speaks out the mission of the city to rid itself of the motels that once defined the strip known as University Avenue back in the day when people coming out to watch auto races at the former race track(and now shopping mall) in Moreno Valley. Actually, as more and more people are shut out of the rental units in the Eastside in the face of the rising rents which will accompany the face lift taking place on University Avenue, the motels will probably see more of these individuals as long-term tenants while they are still standing.
Why is this? Because none of these plans offered up by the city or its satellite, the University of California, Riverside have provided room for affordable housing for low income individuals or families, most of whom are Black and Latino.
The interesting thing about the article is the assertion that yes, the city council did use eminent domain to pick up the properties including car dealerships on Market Street which refutes what Councilman Dom Betro claimed at a city council meeting on April 3, in that he said that the only time the city used eminent domain in the downtown area was against the family who owned the Fox theater.
Civilian review is spreading across the nation and that's because community members are demanding its implementation in their cities, counties and towns and not allowing the hostility of the police departments or the reluctance of the local governments to stand in their paths.
In Ft. Myers, Florida that is exactly what city residents are doing and they're circulating a petition to make it clear that's what they want in their city. The ACLU and other local organizations are leading the drive.
The city council like those in other cities rejected a proposal to create and implement a form of civilian oversight so now the issue is going to be sent to the voters where it's been more successful in other places.
ABC7 in Chicago has covered community activists' efforts to "overhaul" police complaint review process in that city in the wake of several assaults by off duty police officers of patrons inside bars that were captured on surveillance video. After the third assault was reported, the department's superintendent resigned.
Activists want overhaul of police review process
Actually, local ministers came out to try to save Superintendent Phil Kline's job by saying that he's not really the problem. The department needed to be completely overhauled, they said.
First on the list is to abolish the Office of Professional Standards or what is derisively referred to as the OPS, which is the department's internal process to investigate complaints against officers and engage in the disciplinary process. They want that system to be replaced by a civilian run agency that can investigate complaints and subpoena witnesses.
(excerpt)
Another anti-police brutality group, Citizens Alert, also held a news conference Thursday at which they cited a University of Chicago study showing that accused abusive officers are rarely disciplined.
"The odds in Chicago are just two in a thousand that a Chicago police officer will receive any meaningful disciple as a result of being charged with abusing a civilian," said Craig Futterman, University of Chicago.
The New Haven Register published an article about how a group of consultants from the Police Executive Research Forum will meet behind closed doors with city officials in New Haven, Connecticut to address issues on how that city's police department can improve its practices.
A panel of individuals was established to work with the consultants but most of the people on it are from law enforcement backgrounds, not the best way to do what the city calls, restore trust back in the police department. City officials raised concerns about the process as well.
(excerpt)
Citing changes made to a consultant's report after reviewing a separate city department, Hill Alderman Jorge Perez, D-5, said he wanted assurances that the board and the public would hear PERF's true findings.
"I want to make sure we have a transparent process or this process is a waste of money," Perez said. "I don't want to find out we told the consultant what to say."Smuts said the administration would be having discussions with the outside team throughout the assessment and may make changes before the end of the contract.
"We don't change recommendations. That's part of our core value as an organization. If we start doing that, we're a hired gun," Fraser said.
If you are wondering why New Haven's police department has attracted this kind of scrutiny, it's for the usual reasons. It's because the department was the subject of high profile incidents involving its operations.
NBC30 stated in a recent article that a corruption scandal which resulted in the arrests of two detectives in the agency's narcotics division is what caused people to become concerned that something was terribly wrong in New Haven.
More on what the department's police chief called the department's "darkest days" can be found here.
Det. Justen Kasperzkyk and Lt. William White who headed the unit were arrested by the FBI and charged with stealing thousands of dollars including in an incident that was videotaped. Three bail bondsmen were also arrested. White was working with a state police officer while committing and planning these alleged crimes but unknown to him that officer was working undercover for the FBI.
(excerpt)
Ring said the evidence against White is overwhelming.
"Mr. White is going to jail for this," Ring said.
Mayor John DeStefano, who just returned Tuesday night from a trip to Washington, D.C., called the arrests of the two detectives a betrayal of trust.
"It is a disservice to justice and fairness and to our cities," DeStefano said. "What it is not is a reflection of the hard work of the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of men and women of this department who work hard each and every day to protect the people of this city."
In Riverside, the shooting of Lee Deante Brown comes back for discussion as the CPRC prepares to draft its public report on its investigation. A question gets answered. Another one gets asked.
(excerpt, transcript of the belt recording of Officer Terry Ellefson)
Unidentified male: Okay. How many rounds?
Officer Paul Stucker: Two down.
Labels: Backlash against civilian oversight, civilian review spreads, public forums in all places
posted by Five Before Midnight | 10:49 AM
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