Replacements and reviews
Mother Nature brought a cooler day to Riverside, with most of the humidity brushed aside to the east and the thermometer inching downwards. Unfortunately, at least a dozen individuals have died from heat-related illnesses and thousands have been without electrical power in both Corona and Murrieta since late last week.
So, now that the temperatures are out of the stratosphere(for now, as summer lasts until November in these parts) and the weather is closer to normal for this time of year, the city can get back to its normal activities more or less.
Inside Riverside, a blog about the business of Riverside County in general and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department in particular has returned from its prolonged sabbatical with several postings here and here about the recent announcement that Sheriff Bob Doyle would be stepping down to take a job with the state's parole board.
Speaking of Doyle, he's departing on Oct. 12 and the Riverside County Board of Supervisors have until Friday to come up with a potential list of replacements, according to the Press Enterprise.
There will be a special workshop on Sept. 17 to address this issue. Prospective candidates and members of the public are invited to provide input in the process.
(excerpt)
Supervisor John Tavaglione, chairman of the board, said Tuesday he would have preferred to hold a special election for sheriff instead of selecting an appointee to complete Doyle's term, which runs through 2010. But the law requires that a special election coincide with the next gubernatorial election, which is not scheduled again until 2010.
With the decision in the hands of the board, Tavaglione has said he would like to see supervisors in unanimous agreement on who the county's next sheriff should be.
However, that unanimity may be hard to come by.
Supervisors Bob Buster and Roy Wilson have been vocal in their desire to see Undersheriff Neil Lingle replace Doyle, while supervisors Ashley and Jeff Stone have said they want to consider a number of applicants, including former Assistant Sheriff Stan Sniff, whom Doyle fired last year.
Retired Assistant Sheriff John Boyd said last week he would be seeking the appointment.
This is going to be very interesting to follow in the days and weeks to come.
Not too fond of Doyle, the "Inside Riverside" blogger relates the turmoil between Doyle's management and the leadership of the Riverside Sheriffs' Association which was under investigation by both the county and FBI although no criminal charges were filed.
Rumors exist that the Riverside County Sheriff's Department is under investigation by the federal or state agencies not to mention the ACLU, but nothing has turned up to sustain them. Then again, rumors have continuously circulated that there are multiple federal probes involving the city of Riverside, but those haven't been sustained either. With all of the rumors floating around, you would think the federal agencies were all housed in the basement at City Hall. Oh wait, that's only for private corporations only.
Former Human Relations Commissioner and active campaign supporter for Councilman Dom Betro, Chani Beeman was appointed to the Community Police Review Commission, by a vote of 5-2. Dissenting votes were cast by Councilmen Art Gage and Steve Adams. As had been said, this was a done deal for several months now.
Betro was heard saying to some unknown party, possibly Gage, that this process had righted a wrong, though it's not clear which "wrong" that Betro was referring to when he made that statement. Did the "wrong" involve the appointment of former political candidate, Linda Soubirous several months ago that Betro didn't contest even knowing her background of running for political office backed largely by campaign donations from law enforcement unions including the Riverside Police Officers' Association? Or was the "wrong", the votes cast in favor of appointing Steve Simpson last March? Was that "wrong" righted by the appointment of Beeman or by the ouster of Simpson several weeks ago? Sometimes it's hard to keep up with all the intrigue, unless you are an insider at City Hall which most of us aren't as it's by invitation only. It's very educational and enlightening just to watch it. Much more of an education than could be provided in any political science curriculum at a college or university and at least it's free.
It wouldn't be at all surprising if Simpson's days began to be numbered after Soubirous' appointment but it would be disappointing.
And by the way, when did the political appointment process for this very important commission turn into a chess match? But Betro just does what most politicians do when they are in office. He rewards his supporters who put him there. That hardly makes him unique as there's always a bit of that behavior seen in every elected official. That's the way politics works now as it always has worked and the system might just come to a grinding halt without it. It's such an accepted practice that no one really gives it much thought.
There's plenty to actually be happy about with Beeman on the commission, certainly among those in her circle. She's very intelligent, dedicated and has certainly shown how much she wants to serve on the commission. In fact, she's certainly worked harder and done more to ensure that she does get seated than any other candidate in the panel's history.
Perhaps it is good news, but the appointment process that put her on it was fraught with problems, and one casualty, a commissioner whose only problem was that he got in the way of a political process larger than one person. That tempers any good that she can and most likely will do in the eyes of anyone who truly values the importance of accountability and transparency in a process. There is no such thing, at this point and time which shouldn't be surprising considering the restrictions placed on public participation at City Hall including at city council meetings by the current city government. Changes which began as Marjorie Von Pohle often put it, July 2005. Changes that were proposed by the same elected officials people had elected, hoping that these individuals would balance out what would become the GASS quartet.
Simpson, if you remember, was the commissioner who resigned amidst turmoil originating from "concerns" raised by several city council members that he may have been mentally incompetent. So much so, one council member stopped me on the street at the end of June to ask me about it. He mentioned the name of one other councilman and maybe one other individual who had expressed these concerns in discussions with him. The funny thing is that with at least two individuals, they didn't spend much time talking or listening to Simpson on the CPRC, let alone evaluating him or his alleged mental state. Yet, they were trying to make a diagnosis that even a trained mental health expert would have difficulty making and not providing enough of an argument why it was necessary to do so.
I've gotten use to Schiavone, the councilman who made the impromptu stop, changing his mind on a dime on some issues, sometimes out of genuine concern and principles and admission that he might have erred but sometimes also clearly for other reasons. On a good day, he can go on a righteous crusade better than anyone on the dais. Those are good qualities for an elected official to have on a good day and Schiavone definitely has had his good days.
But this was not to be one of those days.
His concern for Simpson's mental competency was probably no more real than his enthusiasm for Beeman's appointment. But it provides an eye's view of the reality of serving as an elected official in a system where bartering and trading is its form of currency.
What was troubling about this episode is how many different reasons were given to justify Simpson's departure or possible eviction from the commission. It seems no one could find just one rationale and stick to that for any meaningful period of time.
First, there were concerns of his mental competency by the trio. Then the problem was that he needed to tone down his rhetoric or face being ousted. This was an allegation raised by Simpson at the last CPRC meeting regarding an alleged meeting he had with CPRC Chair Brian Pearcy. Then another "concern" floating around in some circles was that he came on the CPRC with an agenda. This one is a source of humor given that everyone at City Hall has an agenda and given the politicization of the board and commission selection process due to the passage of Measure GG as well as other reasons, it's hard to find someone who doesn't have one. It's also quite possible that those who were concerned about Simpson's agenda had one or more of their own.
Most of what makes up civic politics is about agendas. What goes down in River City on a daily basis is no exception to that rule. In fact, this is another reason why this city is an interesting case study for any political scientist.
These situations like that involving Simpson are inevitable when an appointment process is politicized to the point where it's essentially meaningless. If it takes working on a political campaign or planning to run for an office against a current council member to get appointed, then that puts about 99.999999% people out of luck. Most definitely, those individuals from communities where most of the complaints as well as contacts with police officers, both positive and negative, come from. Communities essentially unrepresented on the CPRC, which is mostly a body of White middle-class or wealthier individuals making decisions about a process that disproportionately impacts people of color who are poor.
In related news, Mayor Ron Loveridge is most definitely likely to run for that seat again. You can take that one to the bank and back again. No doubt his campaign chest will be quite impressive before the time comes to file campaign papers next year. Why, will be the topic of a future posting here.
Hopefully, there won't be any more resignations from the CPRC. There's now an opening for a partial term on the Human Relations Commission. It's too bad that this commission has seen two of its members jump ship for the CPRC in the past nine months, but if you are interested in applying for the spot, hopefully at least on this one, it's truly open city-wide and that all people who apply have an equal opportunity. It deserves to have people who can stick out the terms that they have committed themselves to serving. Anyone interested in seeing what the process is, give City Clerk Colleen Nichols a call at City Hall.
Bad news around for anyone interested in developing the infamous Ag Park, according to the latest installment on the drama surrounding what began as a land swap, according to the Press Enterprise.
Friends of Riverside's Hills has kept Chuck Cox, his employer Ed Adkison(who also sits on the dais) and the rest of the city council on its toes when it comes to the placement of high-density housing on this land. This group of activists has filed a law suit against this project.
(excerpt)
In particular, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Craig Riemer ruled that the city needed further study on whether 167 houses belong on the 59-acre site given the proximity to the airport. Cox would have to pay for that report.
At the time the council gave planning approvals for the 167 houses, the Riverside County Airport Land Use Commission had determined that the houses would be inconsistent with the commission's plan for the Riverside airport.
The Airport Land Use Commission approves plans for each airport in the county to make sure people and buildings are not concentrated in areas susceptible to aircraft accidents and to make sure no structures or activities adversely affect the use of airspace.
The council overrode the commission's finding in its planning approvals for the houses.
But Riemer ruled that, since the 167 houses don't fit in with the commission's plan for the Riverside airport, the city needs to analyze the issue further, Supervising Deputy City Attorney Kristi Smith said.
Riemer also ruled that the council should have held two public hearings on its proposal to override the commission's finding. Only one hearing was held.
Oops. Looks like there needs to be better care when it comes to ensuring that the public is properly notified and given ample opportunities to provide its input on important projects, public or private, within its midst. Unfortunately, the current regime at City Hall still needs to work on its public outreach a little bit. Maybe next time they'll do it before a judge admonishes them to do so. Practice makes perfect.
Bad news for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department came in the form of a law suit filed in the 1990s alleging that there were elite gangs of rogue police officers, one of which was called the Vikings.
Now, in 2007, another law suit has been filed alleging that a new gang, the Regulators, is picking up where its alleged predecessors left off, according to the Los Angeles Times.
(excerpt)
They call themselves the Regulators.
They wear tattoos of a skull-faced man holding a shotgun, fire screaming from its barrels. They refuse to testify against their buddies. They've been accused of extorting and intimidating those outside their ranks.
No, they're not members of a street gang. They're Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies at the Century station in Lynwood. And their "club" is part of a culture that's dogged the nation's largest sheriff's department for years.
A decade after the county paid $9 million to resolve a series of brutality lawsuits involving a different group of Lynwood deputies known as the Vikings, the Regulators are the focus of litigation alleging racism in the department and involving accusations that a group of deputies is behaving like a gang.
However, the plaintiff in the latest law suit who is a deputy claims that there is no such gang but members of this elite group have been unfairly accused of being a police gang by police management. However, other deputies who sent anonymous letters which claimed that this gang preyed on other deputies.
It's bad news for the LASD at any rate, given that at least $10 million in settlements was paid out in law suits tied to allegations that the Lynwood Vikings and other alleged gangs in the department had been involved in police misconduct and excessive force incidents.
Still, there seems to be some secrecy in who's a member of the Regulators and who is not.
(excerpt)
But many of the group's activities and members remain cloaked in secrecy. Deputy James Grubb, a longtime member of the Regulators, refused under questioning from Los Angeles County attorneys to confirm whether some deputies were members of the group.
"You want me to talk to you about somebody else that may not want their business known. I can't do that for you," Grubb said while under oath in a deposition for Jaimes' lawsuit. "It's not up to me to bring somebody else out."
Grubb would not answer many questions from Christy L. O'Donnell, a lawyer representing the county in the lawsuit:
"Are you the leader of the Regulators?"
"There's no such thing as the leader," Grubb replied.
"How do decisions get made, then, by the Regulators?"
"I won't discuss that. It's not something that's public knowledge," Grubb said.
"You do understand, though, that when you refuse to answer questions . . . it has the negative inference of the code of silence?"
"As does a lot of things in general life," Grubb said.
Ex-United States Attorney and current head of the division which oversees the Sheriff's Department's internal investigations, Michael Gennaco, didn't sound too thrilled with news that yet another police gang was alleged to be in the mix. He did say in the article that it would hurt the morale of the department. You think?
For one thing, having a group of police officers running around with a shared tattoo can sure be expensive, as the litigation paid out by Los Angeles County which holds the purse strings for the Sheriff's Department has shown.
Getting assigned to a desk job will be Columbus(OH)Police Department officer,who created and circulated racist videos disparaging African-Americans, Cubans, Jews and others, according to the Associated Press.
Susan Purtee and her sister posted their videos on a YouTube site.
(excerpt)
The videos refer to blacks, Jews, Cubans and illegal immigrants as "filthy" and "scumbags" and accuse Jews of abusing their positions at the top of the nation's media and entertainment industries, including Disney, Viacom Inc. and The Associated Press.Mayor Michael Coleman called the videos offensive, and the police division started an internal investigation.
Purtee, a 15-year veteran, wears civilian clothes in the videos and never mentions her job. A description of the videos on the sisters' Web site says she is a law enforcement officer.
Corruption has eroded the performance and public confidence in the Elbert County Sheriff's Department in Colorado, according to the Rocky Mountain News. A deputy who had been fired made allegations that male deputies searched female inmates while making derogatory comments and there was drinking on the job.
(excerpt)
Sherman, 38, claims he was fired because he notified his supervisors of the misconduct he saw and he refused to go along with it.
"Basically, they just told me, 'Deal with it,' " Sherman, 38, said of the reaction he go when he complained about the behavior of his co-workers.
Frangis on Wednesday denied Sherman's claims, saying, "I consider them all to be ridiculous, absolutely false. I would like to further comment, but because of the pending litigation, I really can't."
During his two years in the sheriff's office, Sherman said, he saw Sgt. Don Heald wait outside a bar for people to leave and then arrest them.
"That has not happened," Heald said Wednesday night when asked about the allegation.
A civilian review mechanism will be coming to Springfield, Massachusetts, according to the Republican. The nine-member board will be appointed by Sept. 15.
The creation of this board was a long time coming for this city, which has struggled since the dissolution of a prior review mechanism several years ago.
Congratulations are due the city of Springfield and its residents. May you keep your review process on a straight course and free of politicization.
The conflict between San Bernardino's mayor, Patrick Morris and City Attorney Jim Penman has reached the letters page of the Press Enterprise with Penman's peeps supporting him 2 to 0 so far.
Visitors to this site this week included the following.
The City of Riverside
The County of Riverside
The State of California
Pepperdine University
The Press Enterprise
AAPT Limited(Australia)
Earlham College
University of California, Riverside
Search terms:
(excerpt)
Five Before Midnight
Olmo Paper
Brian Gossh
derogatory emails
Bill Lockyer
Coming soon:
So, now that the temperatures are out of the stratosphere(for now, as summer lasts until November in these parts) and the weather is closer to normal for this time of year, the city can get back to its normal activities more or less.
Inside Riverside, a blog about the business of Riverside County in general and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department in particular has returned from its prolonged sabbatical with several postings here and here about the recent announcement that Sheriff Bob Doyle would be stepping down to take a job with the state's parole board.
Speaking of Doyle, he's departing on Oct. 12 and the Riverside County Board of Supervisors have until Friday to come up with a potential list of replacements, according to the Press Enterprise.
There will be a special workshop on Sept. 17 to address this issue. Prospective candidates and members of the public are invited to provide input in the process.
(excerpt)
Supervisor John Tavaglione, chairman of the board, said Tuesday he would have preferred to hold a special election for sheriff instead of selecting an appointee to complete Doyle's term, which runs through 2010. But the law requires that a special election coincide with the next gubernatorial election, which is not scheduled again until 2010.
With the decision in the hands of the board, Tavaglione has said he would like to see supervisors in unanimous agreement on who the county's next sheriff should be.
However, that unanimity may be hard to come by.
Supervisors Bob Buster and Roy Wilson have been vocal in their desire to see Undersheriff Neil Lingle replace Doyle, while supervisors Ashley and Jeff Stone have said they want to consider a number of applicants, including former Assistant Sheriff Stan Sniff, whom Doyle fired last year.
Retired Assistant Sheriff John Boyd said last week he would be seeking the appointment.
This is going to be very interesting to follow in the days and weeks to come.
Not too fond of Doyle, the "Inside Riverside" blogger relates the turmoil between Doyle's management and the leadership of the Riverside Sheriffs' Association which was under investigation by both the county and FBI although no criminal charges were filed.
Rumors exist that the Riverside County Sheriff's Department is under investigation by the federal or state agencies not to mention the ACLU, but nothing has turned up to sustain them. Then again, rumors have continuously circulated that there are multiple federal probes involving the city of Riverside, but those haven't been sustained either. With all of the rumors floating around, you would think the federal agencies were all housed in the basement at City Hall. Oh wait, that's only for private corporations only.
Former Human Relations Commissioner and active campaign supporter for Councilman Dom Betro, Chani Beeman was appointed to the Community Police Review Commission, by a vote of 5-2. Dissenting votes were cast by Councilmen Art Gage and Steve Adams. As had been said, this was a done deal for several months now.
Betro was heard saying to some unknown party, possibly Gage, that this process had righted a wrong, though it's not clear which "wrong" that Betro was referring to when he made that statement. Did the "wrong" involve the appointment of former political candidate, Linda Soubirous several months ago that Betro didn't contest even knowing her background of running for political office backed largely by campaign donations from law enforcement unions including the Riverside Police Officers' Association? Or was the "wrong", the votes cast in favor of appointing Steve Simpson last March? Was that "wrong" righted by the appointment of Beeman or by the ouster of Simpson several weeks ago? Sometimes it's hard to keep up with all the intrigue, unless you are an insider at City Hall which most of us aren't as it's by invitation only. It's very educational and enlightening just to watch it. Much more of an education than could be provided in any political science curriculum at a college or university and at least it's free.
It wouldn't be at all surprising if Simpson's days began to be numbered after Soubirous' appointment but it would be disappointing.
And by the way, when did the political appointment process for this very important commission turn into a chess match? But Betro just does what most politicians do when they are in office. He rewards his supporters who put him there. That hardly makes him unique as there's always a bit of that behavior seen in every elected official. That's the way politics works now as it always has worked and the system might just come to a grinding halt without it. It's such an accepted practice that no one really gives it much thought.
There's plenty to actually be happy about with Beeman on the commission, certainly among those in her circle. She's very intelligent, dedicated and has certainly shown how much she wants to serve on the commission. In fact, she's certainly worked harder and done more to ensure that she does get seated than any other candidate in the panel's history.
Perhaps it is good news, but the appointment process that put her on it was fraught with problems, and one casualty, a commissioner whose only problem was that he got in the way of a political process larger than one person. That tempers any good that she can and most likely will do in the eyes of anyone who truly values the importance of accountability and transparency in a process. There is no such thing, at this point and time which shouldn't be surprising considering the restrictions placed on public participation at City Hall including at city council meetings by the current city government. Changes which began as Marjorie Von Pohle often put it, July 2005. Changes that were proposed by the same elected officials people had elected, hoping that these individuals would balance out what would become the GASS quartet.
Simpson, if you remember, was the commissioner who resigned amidst turmoil originating from "concerns" raised by several city council members that he may have been mentally incompetent. So much so, one council member stopped me on the street at the end of June to ask me about it. He mentioned the name of one other councilman and maybe one other individual who had expressed these concerns in discussions with him. The funny thing is that with at least two individuals, they didn't spend much time talking or listening to Simpson on the CPRC, let alone evaluating him or his alleged mental state. Yet, they were trying to make a diagnosis that even a trained mental health expert would have difficulty making and not providing enough of an argument why it was necessary to do so.
I've gotten use to Schiavone, the councilman who made the impromptu stop, changing his mind on a dime on some issues, sometimes out of genuine concern and principles and admission that he might have erred but sometimes also clearly for other reasons. On a good day, he can go on a righteous crusade better than anyone on the dais. Those are good qualities for an elected official to have on a good day and Schiavone definitely has had his good days.
But this was not to be one of those days.
His concern for Simpson's mental competency was probably no more real than his enthusiasm for Beeman's appointment. But it provides an eye's view of the reality of serving as an elected official in a system where bartering and trading is its form of currency.
What was troubling about this episode is how many different reasons were given to justify Simpson's departure or possible eviction from the commission. It seems no one could find just one rationale and stick to that for any meaningful period of time.
First, there were concerns of his mental competency by the trio. Then the problem was that he needed to tone down his rhetoric or face being ousted. This was an allegation raised by Simpson at the last CPRC meeting regarding an alleged meeting he had with CPRC Chair Brian Pearcy. Then another "concern" floating around in some circles was that he came on the CPRC with an agenda. This one is a source of humor given that everyone at City Hall has an agenda and given the politicization of the board and commission selection process due to the passage of Measure GG as well as other reasons, it's hard to find someone who doesn't have one. It's also quite possible that those who were concerned about Simpson's agenda had one or more of their own.
Most of what makes up civic politics is about agendas. What goes down in River City on a daily basis is no exception to that rule. In fact, this is another reason why this city is an interesting case study for any political scientist.
These situations like that involving Simpson are inevitable when an appointment process is politicized to the point where it's essentially meaningless. If it takes working on a political campaign or planning to run for an office against a current council member to get appointed, then that puts about 99.999999% people out of luck. Most definitely, those individuals from communities where most of the complaints as well as contacts with police officers, both positive and negative, come from. Communities essentially unrepresented on the CPRC, which is mostly a body of White middle-class or wealthier individuals making decisions about a process that disproportionately impacts people of color who are poor.
In related news, Mayor Ron Loveridge is most definitely likely to run for that seat again. You can take that one to the bank and back again. No doubt his campaign chest will be quite impressive before the time comes to file campaign papers next year. Why, will be the topic of a future posting here.
Hopefully, there won't be any more resignations from the CPRC. There's now an opening for a partial term on the Human Relations Commission. It's too bad that this commission has seen two of its members jump ship for the CPRC in the past nine months, but if you are interested in applying for the spot, hopefully at least on this one, it's truly open city-wide and that all people who apply have an equal opportunity. It deserves to have people who can stick out the terms that they have committed themselves to serving. Anyone interested in seeing what the process is, give City Clerk Colleen Nichols a call at City Hall.
Bad news around for anyone interested in developing the infamous Ag Park, according to the latest installment on the drama surrounding what began as a land swap, according to the Press Enterprise.
Friends of Riverside's Hills has kept Chuck Cox, his employer Ed Adkison(who also sits on the dais) and the rest of the city council on its toes when it comes to the placement of high-density housing on this land. This group of activists has filed a law suit against this project.
(excerpt)
In particular, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Craig Riemer ruled that the city needed further study on whether 167 houses belong on the 59-acre site given the proximity to the airport. Cox would have to pay for that report.
At the time the council gave planning approvals for the 167 houses, the Riverside County Airport Land Use Commission had determined that the houses would be inconsistent with the commission's plan for the Riverside airport.
The Airport Land Use Commission approves plans for each airport in the county to make sure people and buildings are not concentrated in areas susceptible to aircraft accidents and to make sure no structures or activities adversely affect the use of airspace.
The council overrode the commission's finding in its planning approvals for the houses.
But Riemer ruled that, since the 167 houses don't fit in with the commission's plan for the Riverside airport, the city needs to analyze the issue further, Supervising Deputy City Attorney Kristi Smith said.
Riemer also ruled that the council should have held two public hearings on its proposal to override the commission's finding. Only one hearing was held.
Oops. Looks like there needs to be better care when it comes to ensuring that the public is properly notified and given ample opportunities to provide its input on important projects, public or private, within its midst. Unfortunately, the current regime at City Hall still needs to work on its public outreach a little bit. Maybe next time they'll do it before a judge admonishes them to do so. Practice makes perfect.
Bad news for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department came in the form of a law suit filed in the 1990s alleging that there were elite gangs of rogue police officers, one of which was called the Vikings.
Now, in 2007, another law suit has been filed alleging that a new gang, the Regulators, is picking up where its alleged predecessors left off, according to the Los Angeles Times.
(excerpt)
They call themselves the Regulators.
They wear tattoos of a skull-faced man holding a shotgun, fire screaming from its barrels. They refuse to testify against their buddies. They've been accused of extorting and intimidating those outside their ranks.
No, they're not members of a street gang. They're Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies at the Century station in Lynwood. And their "club" is part of a culture that's dogged the nation's largest sheriff's department for years.
A decade after the county paid $9 million to resolve a series of brutality lawsuits involving a different group of Lynwood deputies known as the Vikings, the Regulators are the focus of litigation alleging racism in the department and involving accusations that a group of deputies is behaving like a gang.
However, the plaintiff in the latest law suit who is a deputy claims that there is no such gang but members of this elite group have been unfairly accused of being a police gang by police management. However, other deputies who sent anonymous letters which claimed that this gang preyed on other deputies.
It's bad news for the LASD at any rate, given that at least $10 million in settlements was paid out in law suits tied to allegations that the Lynwood Vikings and other alleged gangs in the department had been involved in police misconduct and excessive force incidents.
Still, there seems to be some secrecy in who's a member of the Regulators and who is not.
(excerpt)
But many of the group's activities and members remain cloaked in secrecy. Deputy James Grubb, a longtime member of the Regulators, refused under questioning from Los Angeles County attorneys to confirm whether some deputies were members of the group.
"You want me to talk to you about somebody else that may not want their business known. I can't do that for you," Grubb said while under oath in a deposition for Jaimes' lawsuit. "It's not up to me to bring somebody else out."
Grubb would not answer many questions from Christy L. O'Donnell, a lawyer representing the county in the lawsuit:
"Are you the leader of the Regulators?"
"There's no such thing as the leader," Grubb replied.
"How do decisions get made, then, by the Regulators?"
"I won't discuss that. It's not something that's public knowledge," Grubb said.
"You do understand, though, that when you refuse to answer questions . . . it has the negative inference of the code of silence?"
"As does a lot of things in general life," Grubb said.
Ex-United States Attorney and current head of the division which oversees the Sheriff's Department's internal investigations, Michael Gennaco, didn't sound too thrilled with news that yet another police gang was alleged to be in the mix. He did say in the article that it would hurt the morale of the department. You think?
For one thing, having a group of police officers running around with a shared tattoo can sure be expensive, as the litigation paid out by Los Angeles County which holds the purse strings for the Sheriff's Department has shown.
Getting assigned to a desk job will be Columbus(OH)Police Department officer,who created and circulated racist videos disparaging African-Americans, Cubans, Jews and others, according to the Associated Press.
Susan Purtee and her sister posted their videos on a YouTube site.
(excerpt)
The videos refer to blacks, Jews, Cubans and illegal immigrants as "filthy" and "scumbags" and accuse Jews of abusing their positions at the top of the nation's media and entertainment industries, including Disney, Viacom Inc. and The Associated Press.Mayor Michael Coleman called the videos offensive, and the police division started an internal investigation.
Purtee, a 15-year veteran, wears civilian clothes in the videos and never mentions her job. A description of the videos on the sisters' Web site says she is a law enforcement officer.
Corruption has eroded the performance and public confidence in the Elbert County Sheriff's Department in Colorado, according to the Rocky Mountain News. A deputy who had been fired made allegations that male deputies searched female inmates while making derogatory comments and there was drinking on the job.
(excerpt)
Sherman, 38, claims he was fired because he notified his supervisors of the misconduct he saw and he refused to go along with it.
"Basically, they just told me, 'Deal with it,' " Sherman, 38, said of the reaction he go when he complained about the behavior of his co-workers.
Frangis on Wednesday denied Sherman's claims, saying, "I consider them all to be ridiculous, absolutely false. I would like to further comment, but because of the pending litigation, I really can't."
During his two years in the sheriff's office, Sherman said, he saw Sgt. Don Heald wait outside a bar for people to leave and then arrest them.
"That has not happened," Heald said Wednesday night when asked about the allegation.
A civilian review mechanism will be coming to Springfield, Massachusetts, according to the Republican. The nine-member board will be appointed by Sept. 15.
The creation of this board was a long time coming for this city, which has struggled since the dissolution of a prior review mechanism several years ago.
Congratulations are due the city of Springfield and its residents. May you keep your review process on a straight course and free of politicization.
The conflict between San Bernardino's mayor, Patrick Morris and City Attorney Jim Penman has reached the letters page of the Press Enterprise with Penman's peeps supporting him 2 to 0 so far.
Visitors to this site this week included the following.
The City of Riverside
The County of Riverside
The State of California
Pepperdine University
The Press Enterprise
AAPT Limited(Australia)
Earlham College
University of California, Riverside
Search terms:
(excerpt)
Five Before Midnight
Olmo Paper
Brian Gossh
derogatory emails
Bill Lockyer
Coming soon:
The Neophyte's Guide to River City
Labels: business as usual, civilian review spreads, corruption 101
posted by Five Before Midnight | 3:17 PM
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