LAPD May Day: An argument for A.B. 1648?
Federal Express in Bloomington, California was fined by the FCC after its employees used radio channels to communicate that were registered by the Riverside Police Department.
At the time, police officers were conducting search warrants of people's houses and instead listened to employees for the delivery system talking back and forth about their own business.
(excerpt)
"It was squawk all morning long and stuff that shouldn't be on a police channel," said Steven Frasher, Riverside police spokesman.
Kind of reminds you of the days when anyone with a television set living in certain neighborhoods could capture the law enforcement chatter on it while watching a show.
Technology has clearly improved since those days. But more needs to be done, although the Federal Express people blamed this incident on two-way radios which were not programmed properly.
Being revised downtown is Smart Park, the program that merchants particularly those owning small businesses have complained about since its implementation, according to the Press Enterprise.
Book store owner Nadia Lee, a heroine to many but demonized by some led the fight to get rid of a program that she and other business owners believe was set up by the city to drive the small businesses out of their spaces which would then either be leased or sold to big-chain companies. She said the problems still remain despite the proposed changes.
(excerpt)
"It still feels like a gaping wound," said Lee, who has organized opposition to SmartPark. "They're putting little bandages around the edges."
But then Riverside is a city known for its investment in band-aids to address its pressing issues. An election year just amplifies it.
Asst. City Manager Michael Beck says sales tax revenues haven't gone down in the area impacted by Smart Park, but business owner after business owner have made regular trips to city council members complaining about it.
And since this is an election year and the race is especially fierce in the downtown area, I guess the city's going to do something about it, even if it's just to put a band-aid on it.
The Sun-Sentinal in Florida has published an article about a law suit filed by a Boca Raton man whose mentally ill wife was shot and killed by police officers after she had retreated into a bathroom with a knife.
One officer tased her with a stun gun and the other shot her. The law suit filed by Richard Furtado asked that there be more training given to police officers in that city regarding how they interact with the mentally ill. His wife, Marilou Forrest, suffered from depression most of her life.
But according to the lawsuit, a properly trained deputy would have understood that Forrest had the knives as a defensive measure because of her delusional paranoia.
The complaint also alleges that the deputies used aggressive tactics that would have frightened a mentally ill person and escalate a situation. When deputies entered the bathroom, they cornered Forrest and she moved toward Law with the knife in her hand, according to the lawsuit.
One deputy fired his Taser stun gun and Law fired his handgun, shooting Forrest in the chest. An autopsy showed no signs that Forrest was struck with a Taser.
The lawsuit goes on to state that deputies handcuffed Forrest rather than begin CPR, and that the handcuffs were not removed until paramedics arrived.
The brief period between the time deputies entered the home and the time of the shooting show that the deputies' actions "constituted an abject failure to comprehend the nature, and abominable mishandling of the situation," according to the lawsuit.
Lift the veil of secrecy on police misconduct was the order of an opinion piece by Merrick Bobb that was published in the Los Angeles Times.
Bobb used the actions of the Los Angeles Police Department during the infamous May Day incident to bolster his position that more transparency will reduce police misconduct. And part of that he wrote, remains in the hands of elected officials serving in both the state houses up in Sacramento.
Both the Senate and the Assembly are hearing separate bills on providing more transparency in the area of personnel proceedings involving law enforcement officers.
The problem, according to Bobb:
(excerpt)
The irony is that California law, in the wake of the California Supreme Court's misguided 2006 Copley Press vs. Superior Court decision, will tie the chief's hands as he attempts to be open and transparent about MacArthur Park and its consequences. In that case, the court ruled that opening the disciplinary file of a San Diego County sheriff's deputy violated his rights. The L.A. Police Commission, based on the city attorney's interpretation of the ruling, closed all disciplinary hearings.
California law is among the most restrictive in the country concerning the release of information about police misconduct. Florida, Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas have had "sunshine" laws for many years without adverse consequences to police officers. These laws require public records to be open. California law, by contrast, keeps the media and the public in the dark.
Bobb's solution:
(excerpt)
Nonetheless, there is something that can be done. SB 1019, introduced by state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), would override the Copley decision. Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa support such an outcome. Backers of Romero's legislation include the National Black Police Assn., San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey and other key law enforcement authorities.
Bernard C. Parks, former Los Angeles police chief and current city councilman, put it best in a letter to Romero: "Ultimately … the public should have a right to know about how their government works and functions. Secrecy around citizen complaints and police misconduct will only result in greater mistrust of the police, poor police-community relations and ultimately less responsive and accountable police agencies. SB 1019 presents a step in the right direction toward addressing the problems caused by the Copley Press decision."
I guess Parks the councilman supports something that Parks the police chief probably would not, given his actions to block the implementation of the LAPD's federal consent decree not to mention is actions to limit the scope of the investigation into the goings on of the Rampart CRASH unit to only that division.
These bills(which are A.B. 1648 and S.B. 1019) may not pass this time around, but future incidents of police misconduct which embarrass law enforcement agencies and further the public's mistrust in them will guarantee that this discussion will be coming around again again and again.
As long as there are May Day incidents, Maywood Police Departments, Rampart scandals, videogates in both Los Angeles and San Francisco and well, the list is growing. All reasons why the state is actually growing closer to promoting more public accountability in law enforcement and not less.
Police chiefs may embrace this reality or they may resist it. The law enforcement unions will surely fight it more vigorously the closer to it they come. But as long as law enforcement agencies continue to have the problems that they've been happening, they will move step by step closer to "sunshine" laws closer to those implemented in other states.
The more these unions advocate for the continued veil of secrecy that surrounds their profession, the more they themselves will serve to produce the best argument against what they want.
Recent events that have occurred and some that still await on the horizon, will probably promote further discussion of this issue in Riverside. Especially given the bombshell that Chair Brian Pearcy backed by City Attorney Gregory Priamos just dropped on the Community Police Review Commission the other day. Stay tuned!
Also in the Times, was a column written by Celeste Fremon praising LAPD Chief William Bratton's decision to replace the bureau commander, Deputy Chief Cayler "Lee" Carter, who had been in charge of the officers involved in the May Day incident with Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz.
(excerpt)
But it was the chief's subsequent announcement naming Cmdr. Sergio Diaz to replace Carter that may have been the best news of the week. Many LAPD watchers likely missed the significance though, because, until Tuesday, few people outside the department had heard of Diaz.
"Sergio is extremely highly educated, well respected and has a command presence," Bratton said when I asked him Tuesday evening why he promoted Diaz to deputy chief. "But he isn't the first guy in the class to raise his hand just to draw attention to himself."
More to the point: "He has a very thoughtful and deliberative demeanor" and isn't prone "to making rash decisions." (In other words, he's not the type to send his troops chasing after reporters and immigrant mothers.)
It didn't hurt that Diaz, a Cuban American, is the highest-ranking Spanish speaker in the department, or that he has held various high-level jobs since he joined the LAPD in 1977, including head of the training division.
"His academy background is particularly helpful," Bratton said, "because we're going to be involved in a lot of retraining throughout the department in terms of the issues that got identified at MacArthur Park. Those things aren't going away anytime soon."
Neither will the community's call for closer scrutiny and better transparency into this very public incident.
At the time, police officers were conducting search warrants of people's houses and instead listened to employees for the delivery system talking back and forth about their own business.
(excerpt)
"It was squawk all morning long and stuff that shouldn't be on a police channel," said Steven Frasher, Riverside police spokesman.
Kind of reminds you of the days when anyone with a television set living in certain neighborhoods could capture the law enforcement chatter on it while watching a show.
Technology has clearly improved since those days. But more needs to be done, although the Federal Express people blamed this incident on two-way radios which were not programmed properly.
Being revised downtown is Smart Park, the program that merchants particularly those owning small businesses have complained about since its implementation, according to the Press Enterprise.
Book store owner Nadia Lee, a heroine to many but demonized by some led the fight to get rid of a program that she and other business owners believe was set up by the city to drive the small businesses out of their spaces which would then either be leased or sold to big-chain companies. She said the problems still remain despite the proposed changes.
(excerpt)
"It still feels like a gaping wound," said Lee, who has organized opposition to SmartPark. "They're putting little bandages around the edges."
But then Riverside is a city known for its investment in band-aids to address its pressing issues. An election year just amplifies it.
Asst. City Manager Michael Beck says sales tax revenues haven't gone down in the area impacted by Smart Park, but business owner after business owner have made regular trips to city council members complaining about it.
And since this is an election year and the race is especially fierce in the downtown area, I guess the city's going to do something about it, even if it's just to put a band-aid on it.
The Sun-Sentinal in Florida has published an article about a law suit filed by a Boca Raton man whose mentally ill wife was shot and killed by police officers after she had retreated into a bathroom with a knife.
One officer tased her with a stun gun and the other shot her. The law suit filed by Richard Furtado asked that there be more training given to police officers in that city regarding how they interact with the mentally ill. His wife, Marilou Forrest, suffered from depression most of her life.
But according to the lawsuit, a properly trained deputy would have understood that Forrest had the knives as a defensive measure because of her delusional paranoia.
The complaint also alleges that the deputies used aggressive tactics that would have frightened a mentally ill person and escalate a situation. When deputies entered the bathroom, they cornered Forrest and she moved toward Law with the knife in her hand, according to the lawsuit.
One deputy fired his Taser stun gun and Law fired his handgun, shooting Forrest in the chest. An autopsy showed no signs that Forrest was struck with a Taser.
The lawsuit goes on to state that deputies handcuffed Forrest rather than begin CPR, and that the handcuffs were not removed until paramedics arrived.
The brief period between the time deputies entered the home and the time of the shooting show that the deputies' actions "constituted an abject failure to comprehend the nature, and abominable mishandling of the situation," according to the lawsuit.
Lift the veil of secrecy on police misconduct was the order of an opinion piece by Merrick Bobb that was published in the Los Angeles Times.
Bobb used the actions of the Los Angeles Police Department during the infamous May Day incident to bolster his position that more transparency will reduce police misconduct. And part of that he wrote, remains in the hands of elected officials serving in both the state houses up in Sacramento.
Both the Senate and the Assembly are hearing separate bills on providing more transparency in the area of personnel proceedings involving law enforcement officers.
The problem, according to Bobb:
(excerpt)
The irony is that California law, in the wake of the California Supreme Court's misguided 2006 Copley Press vs. Superior Court decision, will tie the chief's hands as he attempts to be open and transparent about MacArthur Park and its consequences. In that case, the court ruled that opening the disciplinary file of a San Diego County sheriff's deputy violated his rights. The L.A. Police Commission, based on the city attorney's interpretation of the ruling, closed all disciplinary hearings.
California law is among the most restrictive in the country concerning the release of information about police misconduct. Florida, Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas have had "sunshine" laws for many years without adverse consequences to police officers. These laws require public records to be open. California law, by contrast, keeps the media and the public in the dark.
Bobb's solution:
(excerpt)
Nonetheless, there is something that can be done. SB 1019, introduced by state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), would override the Copley decision. Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa support such an outcome. Backers of Romero's legislation include the National Black Police Assn., San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey and other key law enforcement authorities.
Bernard C. Parks, former Los Angeles police chief and current city councilman, put it best in a letter to Romero: "Ultimately … the public should have a right to know about how their government works and functions. Secrecy around citizen complaints and police misconduct will only result in greater mistrust of the police, poor police-community relations and ultimately less responsive and accountable police agencies. SB 1019 presents a step in the right direction toward addressing the problems caused by the Copley Press decision."
I guess Parks the councilman supports something that Parks the police chief probably would not, given his actions to block the implementation of the LAPD's federal consent decree not to mention is actions to limit the scope of the investigation into the goings on of the Rampart CRASH unit to only that division.
These bills(which are A.B. 1648 and S.B. 1019) may not pass this time around, but future incidents of police misconduct which embarrass law enforcement agencies and further the public's mistrust in them will guarantee that this discussion will be coming around again again and again.
As long as there are May Day incidents, Maywood Police Departments, Rampart scandals, videogates in both Los Angeles and San Francisco and well, the list is growing. All reasons why the state is actually growing closer to promoting more public accountability in law enforcement and not less.
Police chiefs may embrace this reality or they may resist it. The law enforcement unions will surely fight it more vigorously the closer to it they come. But as long as law enforcement agencies continue to have the problems that they've been happening, they will move step by step closer to "sunshine" laws closer to those implemented in other states.
The more these unions advocate for the continued veil of secrecy that surrounds their profession, the more they themselves will serve to produce the best argument against what they want.
Recent events that have occurred and some that still await on the horizon, will probably promote further discussion of this issue in Riverside. Especially given the bombshell that Chair Brian Pearcy backed by City Attorney Gregory Priamos just dropped on the Community Police Review Commission the other day. Stay tuned!
Also in the Times, was a column written by Celeste Fremon praising LAPD Chief William Bratton's decision to replace the bureau commander, Deputy Chief Cayler "Lee" Carter, who had been in charge of the officers involved in the May Day incident with Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz.
(excerpt)
But it was the chief's subsequent announcement naming Cmdr. Sergio Diaz to replace Carter that may have been the best news of the week. Many LAPD watchers likely missed the significance though, because, until Tuesday, few people outside the department had heard of Diaz.
"Sergio is extremely highly educated, well respected and has a command presence," Bratton said when I asked him Tuesday evening why he promoted Diaz to deputy chief. "But he isn't the first guy in the class to raise his hand just to draw attention to himself."
More to the point: "He has a very thoughtful and deliberative demeanor" and isn't prone "to making rash decisions." (In other words, he's not the type to send his troops chasing after reporters and immigrant mothers.)
It didn't hurt that Diaz, a Cuban American, is the highest-ranking Spanish speaker in the department, or that he has held various high-level jobs since he joined the LAPD in 1977, including head of the training division.
"His academy background is particularly helpful," Bratton said, "because we're going to be involved in a lot of retraining throughout the department in terms of the issues that got identified at MacArthur Park. Those things aren't going away anytime soon."
Neither will the community's call for closer scrutiny and better transparency into this very public incident.
Labels: business as usual, City elections, officer-involved shootings
posted by Five Before Midnight | 8:24 AM
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