Inhouse investigations; outsourced elections

According to the Press Enterprise, the city of Rancho Mirage might outsource its election process rather than face long lines and even longer vote counts.

The city of Riverside which is going into its second week of the final round of Election 2007 might consider doing the same thing as city council members question the usefulness of the current process which like Rancho Mirage is run through the county.

Even though the election is nearly a week old, there are still hundreds of provisional ballots to tally in Riverside until the winners of the Ward One and Ward Seven elections are announced. It might be ages before anyone knows who's been picked to rule the dais for the next four years.



(excerpt)




The city of Riverside, which is awaiting results from two of this week's four City Council races, also may consider hiring an outside vendor. Councilman Frank Schiavone said he asked the city staff to prepare a report on how Riverside would contract election services from someone other than Riverside County.

"We think we can do a better job, and we think the public deserves better," Schiavone said Friday.





You can't blame Schiavone who after all, may be the only "team player" on the dais to meet and greet Ward Three victor, William "Rusty" Bailey and like all of us out here in Riverside, it's probably been just agony for Schiavone and other sitting elected officials to find out who they will be working with, forging alliances with, or squabbling with during the next few years.


What adds to the problems with the county's handling of Election 2007 is that the city's wards are so divided down the middle that during most of the counting period, candidates in these two wards in particular have been running neck and neck. In Ward One, Councilman Dom Betro leads by one vote. In Ward Seven, Councilman Steve Adams leads by a mere 23. His lead was still shrinking even after the Press Enterprise declared him the winner in its first news coverage after the polls closed. It has continued to shrink in the days since.

Stay tuned. Who will win when the final vote is counted(or recounted)? Who will rule? Will anyone remember past five minutes what this election has taught them? Hopefully, those filling the even-numbered ward seats will remind them because the next round of election, their round, is a scant two years away and it's not likely that they want to face the same splits that likely exist in their own wards. And it's not likely the mood of the city's voters will change much until the city council realizes that there's a host of different opinions out there in terms of how business should be conducted, not just the 7-0 view or the "team players" view. After all, two members of that "team" are sweating out the results of Election 2007 like the rest of us to find out if there will be even be this "team".

With several defeated and still hanging on candidates harboring mayoral ambitions as they related to Inland Empire Magazine several months ago during rosier times, these ambitions will help keep them to the task at hand, because if you want to be mayor of this city, you have to not only win your ward but everybody's ward too. And there's clearly a lot of work to be done for anyone who's thinking of running for that office at this point. Of course, some politicians made promises to some key supporters to help them in their endeavors and most likely, don't want them to inherit an uncertain political future in wards that are split right in half.

The challengers understand that there's no set mandate for them too and should work accordingly.

That should help keep the winners honest. But what happens still lies ahead.


Ageism and sexism have raised their ugly heads with comments about Frizzel being "too old" at 74 to hold office. Yet, she's not much older than Mayor Ron Loveridge and there's no comments made about his age. The comments made about Frizzel's age resembled those made two years ago when Councilwoman Nancy Hart came up for reelection and there was talk of voting "that grandmother" off the dais.

But some people can't handle women in political positions. It's the end of what is right in the world as they know it. Just like there are male police officers who can't handle women in their profession without having a fit about it. After all, they too live in a different world.







"There is no way my sister was not murdered."


---Anna Marie Doman, to CBS2 news.




Bolingbrook Police Department Sgt. Drew Peterson is now an official suspect in the disappearance of his wife according to the Chicago Sun-Times.


(excerpt)


Right now, Drew Peterson has gone from a person of interest to clearly being a suspect," State Police Capt. Carl Dobrich said during a news conference that marked a dramatic shift in two cases involving the suburban cop.

The announcement came hours after a Will County judge ordered the body of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, exhumed so investigators can re-examine her mysterious 2004 bathtub death, which prosecutors said now appears to be a murder, not an accident.

Savio was found dead March 1, 2004, in the bathtub of her Bolingbrook home. Her death initially was labeled an accident, but after Stacy Peterson's Oct. 28 disappearance, authorities reviewed Savio's death.

"There are strong indications it was a homicide," Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said, contending that Savio's body needs to be exhumed for more detailed forensic testing that could help determine whether the accident was staged.



The article mentioned that there may be an internal investigation being launched within the police department that employed Peterson to see whether there was any coverup or mishandling of what was then called the accidental drowning of Kathleen Savio. There was also new evidence uncovered potentially connecting Savio's drowning which has now been determined to probably not be an accident, and Stacey Peterson.

In unrelated news, Drew Peterson was suspended without pay subject to an internal review which could end in his termination. The department claimed this process has nothing to do with the ongoing investigation involving two out of his four wives.




At this site, someone asked what happened with his first two wives. The first one died of "natural causes" and Peterson's second marriage ended in divorce. Someone commented that even his mother-in-law, Stacey's mother, has been unaccounted for.

More explanation of the process which led to Savio's death being ruled accidental and why investigators are rethinking that decision from three years ago.

Drew Peterson took his case to Geraldo Rivera and insisted he was helping the police find his missing wife. Police officers said that Peterson had not assisted their efforts in over a week.


Columnist Susan Murphy-Milano addresses the situation through the perspective of a woman whose father, a Chicago Police Department detective, killed her mother and then himself, leaving her to find the bodies. After that day, she resolved to work against domestic violence.


(excerpt)


Being the daughter of a Chicago Police Detective, my father was very violent. My first memory is that of my father Phillip Murphy beating my mothers head against and iron bed rail, watching the blood slowly run out of her thick brown hair and onto the wooden floor, trailing in a fine line until it made a pattern in between the wooden groves. And I, running to a chair, barely able to dial the O for the opertator, as I placed a call on the rotary telephone in the kitchen for help. When the police arrived, as they had done so often during my young years, they did nothing. Many nights my father would come home drunk and violent, the repeated behavior would become a regular part of our lives. Often my father would tell my mother " You know Roberta, no one will ever listen to you, I'm a cop, who do you think they're gonna believe." As he did so often dragging her about the house by her hair , sometimes to get his point across he'd throw her head up onto the kitchen stove and turn on a burner or two, informing her in his angry tone, "See, I could kill you right now, burn the house down with you and the kids and no one would be the wise." "So, Roberta, dummy up".

My mother finally had the courage to leave in 1988. Then in January of 1989, after they divorced as my father continued to stalk and harass her, his final act of control as in all abusive relationships was to take her life and then kill himself. He use to say, "If I can't have you no one will."

In the marriage of Drew and Stacy Peterson, she faced the same life threatening situation. And she knew it. What she did not know was that he would kill again. She believed he loved her enough not to harm a hair on her head. And that if he did she surely as I write this, had a safety net, wife #3 Kathy Savio would be her protective Armour into remaining alive. But, as most abusers do, Drew was cocky and confident in his plan, certain that no one would figure he would have had anything to do with her disappearance. After all, look at her family background. She grew up in a less than perfect home, as did many of us. And she dreamed of a better life with the first person who showed her kindness and affection. That is appealing to anyone who was read fairy tale stories as a child, wishing their life, would begin, with a prince taking her away from everything that was unpleasant and evil.





In Key West's Blue Paper comes this interesting Q&A session on civilian oversight both in Key West and in general.

(excerpt)


At first, civilian review was a dream few thought would ever be fulfilled. But slow, steady progress has been made. By the year 2000, more than 75 percent of the nation’s largest cities (more than 80 cities across the country) had civilian review systems.

Civilian review advocates in every city have had to overcome substantial resistance from local police departments, but given the sheer volume of unacceptable police practices that have surfaced lately in Key West citizen review of police practices seems to be required into the future.

What is civilian review? First, some are more “civilian” than others. Some are not boards but municipal agencies headed by an executive director (who has been appointed by, and is accountable to, the mayor). The three basic types of civilian review systems are described below.

Type I. This system is most like the system of citizen review adopted by the voters of Key West. Appointed or elected citizens conduct the initial fact-finding. They submit an investigative report to a nonpolice board who then make a recommendation for action to the police chief. This process is the most independent and most “civilian.”

Type II. Sworn officers conduct the initial fact-finding. They submit an investigative report to a non-officer or board of non-officers for a recommendation.

Type III. Sworn officers conduct the initial fact-finding and make a recommendation to the police chief. If the aggrieved citizen is not satisfied with the chief’s action on the complaint, he or she may appeal to a board that includes non-officers. Obviously, this process is the least independent. Although the above are the most common, other types of civilian review systems also exist.




Also, in the Blue Paper asks this question. Is Officer Tom Neary a corrupt officer or a whistle blower?


There's this information on Neary.


(excerpt)


Quoting anonymous sources within the Police Department, the Citizen reported that Neary is being accused of representing himself as a federal officer. The cops won’t make that allegation public because, they say, there is an ongoing investigation and, they say, they never comment on ongoing investigations. But whoever leaked it to the Citizen did not, apparently, explain how or why Neary might want to misrepresent his credentials.

Somebody inside the KWPD also apparently told the Citizen that, when they did a records check on Neary’s personal weapon that he has been carrying for 25 years as a police officer, a report came back that it had been stolen in Arizona in 1978.

That allegation has already been called into question. The cops may have, accidentally or on purpose, run the wrong serial number. And they refuse to let Neary’s attorney look at the gun to check the number. Neary has a bill of sale for the weapon.



And then there's this.


(excerpt)


Now, we’re not sure what’s really going on here, but the real truth may be that Officer Tom Neary is a good, honest cop, disgusted at what he was seeing inside the KWPD— and he may have been ready to blow the whistle on corruption and incompetence at the highest levels within the department.

We have been hearing for weeks that the top brass in the department has been in panic mode, but we didn’t know why.

If command-level officers were fearful that Neary might be able to cause real trouble for them, it is certainly possible that they concocted a scheme to run him out of the department— or, at least, “dirty him up” to destroy his credibility.
Such a scheme would not be a new mode of operation for the KWPD.

Here is how it has worked for years: Trump up some charges, launch an investigation and, then, tell the cop that everything will just “go away” if he will just resign. If the cop claims that he has not done anything wrong and vows to fight the charges, he is told that the department will not only prosecute and convict him, but that they will also smear him in the press and ensure that he will never be able to work in law enforcement again.


So which one is Neary? Stay tuned as this story from Key West, Florida continues.





The St. Cloud Times Editorial Board stated that the civilian review board's number one priority is to handle citizen complaints


(excerpt)


Tuesday's elections certainly brought substantial change to St. Cloud's City Council. Yet we know there is one important issue upon which a majority of the council already agrees.

The city's Citizen Review Board process for handling formal complaints against police needs to be changed.

How do we know that? Because the Times Editorial Board asked eight council candidates that question in its endorsement interview Oct. 22. All eight said "yes." Quickly, we might add.

Four of those sit on the seven-member council, which creates a majority or more, depending on how the other council members feel.

So we now ask the council to waste no time and begin efforts to improve the Citizen Review Board process.

Before we go any further, we would like to stress that our request is rooted largely in our belief that this process is unfair, that it was set up using practices and policies that yield unfair outcomes. Ultimately, it lacks the transparency required to foster more trust, especially between police and people of color.

As our Oct. 19 Our View noted, the review board process essentially relies on police to investigate themselves. They lead the investigation. Neither side gets a chance to directly address the review board. And only when complaints are upheld and discipline finally applied are details provided to the public.

Complaints that are dismissed require only that the police notify the complainant and public of that finding. No explanation is provided. No appeal is available. Indeed, even records about informal complaints are kept (private) for only a year.

Such a system goes a long way toward explaining why many people, regardless of color, can be distrustful of police.




Indeed it does. Not just in St. Cloud, Minnesota, but in many other cities, counties and towns as well, which is why so many of them have implemented some form of civilian review with the number continuing to grow.

The Press Enterprise doesn't think much about the Community Police Review Commission, let alone having asked any elected official or political candidate whether or not he or she endorses it and if so, on what terms.

In 2003, there were four council members on the dais, heavily financed and supported by the Riverside Police Officers' Association who opposed civilian review and the city's commission. Four years later, only one of that quartet, Schiavone, remains and another member, Adams, is fighting to stay in office.

The views of new council members, Bailey and Ward Five Councilman-elect Chris MacArthur are more vague. MacArthur and his supporters have told people that he both supports and opposes it. Chances are, he just doesn't know anything about it.

Bailey served on the Charter Review Committee which was so instrumental with creating the ballot initiative that would put the CPRC in the city's charter supposedly free of political manipulation. Bailey was one of the committee members who wrote language supporting that ballot measure in the Voters' guide for that election. But if he supports the CPRC, in what way? Does he support it as a viable mechanism for independent and transparent civilian review or as a shiny public relations machine?

Of the sitting council members, Andrew Melendrez and Hart have taken the most active role bringing the CPRC for reports and discussion at the Public Safety Committee which Melendrez chairs. Other councilmen have been more quiet, only acting in what they say is support for the beleaguered body by appointing their key supporters on it which happened in several recent cases. Several said they believed their appointments would fix all the "old problems" caused by the CPRC's "past chairs". Well, those problems whatever they might be have been addressed and what remains completely unaddressed and to a large extent either fostered or ignored, are the commission's newer problems involving micromanagement by two of the city council's direct employees during the past 18 months.

But if one person can be stumped to fix problems or is actually equipped to "fix" problems, then what that proves is that the CPRC has become way more politicized by City Hall than anyone thought.

Betro has chastised community members for not yelling at the police union over a law suit filed by one of its members, Officer Ryan Wilson, against the CPRC last year. Yet, he has publicly remained silent on the issue as have many of his key supporters, so what puts him in the position of making demands on individuals that he and they aren't willing to do themselves? His taking people to task for not complaining didn't prevent him from six months later, accepting his first of what would be up to $20,000 from the RPOA. As far as flip-flops go, that's one that's hard to miss.

Gardner, the "weak chair" led the CPRC for three years straight and in fact, the other members voted to amend the bylaws allowing him to do so. He headed the commission during two of its most challenging episodes, when it voted to issue its first subpoena of an officer in 2004 and when it delivered its first finding that an onduty shooting had violated departmental policy in 2005. Obviously, the commissioners had some confidence in his abilities to head the commission during much quieter times. Betro alluded that he had some concerns about Gardner's leadership now, but somehow failed to mention them until 18 months after Gardner had termed out and the two men met up on the election trail. None of Betro's key players publicly expressed any concern about Gardner's leadership either when he was actually on the commission.

It's a given that Gardner cares about the current state of the CPRC and probably isn't about to sell it down the river.


Frizzel is probably a better bet for the CPRC than her rival, Adams who makes no bones about it, he doesn't like the panel at all. He provided that tepid second to Councilman Art Gage's infamous attempts to defund the CPRC so soon after Gage won his election, having said that he hadn't decided either way about loving or hating the commission.





Boston Police Department becomes the latest in a number of law enforcement agencies to conduct corruption probes, according to the Boston Globe.


The cities of Chicago and Atlanta have already been the focus of probes either internally or conducted externally by the United States Department of Justice, stemming from multiple scandals involving both agencies. Now, after some drug dealing scandals, it's Boston's turn to face the heat.


(excerpt)


Hours after Boston police officer Roberto Pulido abruptly pleaded guilty to federal cocaine-trafficking charges yesterday, Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis vowed to investigate other allegations of corruption that emerged during two days of testimony.

"There certainly was information that came out during the course of the trial that we have to review," Davis told reporters after giving a pep talk at the evening roll call of the motorcycle unit to which Pulido had belonged. "There will be a thorough investigation."

Davis, who became commissioner 11 months ago, declined to give specifics, but during Pulido's trial, an FBI agent testified that Pulido told an informant that a police sergeant ran gambling parties and that a patrol officer operated illegal after-hours parties.

Pulido was also heard in secretly recorded phone conversations played at the trial arranging sales of steroids to a former Boston police officer and a current officer who was later indicted in connection with the investigation.

Those disclosures, along with evidence that depicted Pulido as a rogue officer bent on using his badge for illegal profit, raised the specter of a more pervasive culture of corruption in the Boston Police Department.

Seeking to reassure the public and members of his own force, Davis met yesterday with officers in the motorcycle unit that Pulido had belonged to and delivered a stern videotaped message on the Police Department's website last night.

"I will continue to press for the strictest sanctions against police corruption, so that the excellent police work that I see every day from our offices will not be tarnished," Davis said in the message. "We will continue to vigorously and proactively identify and pursue any indications of corruption or mismanagement. . . . I reiterate: Any time misconduct is uncovered, it will be dealt with swiftly, forcefully, and aggressively."


But given that the probe is inhouse, meaning conducted by a member of the same department in which corruption is more widespread than previously believed, it remains to be seen whether there's a fox guarding a hen house.


WDSU posted the story of a Louisana police officer who was fired after displaying a noose in his rear-view mirror of his car. The car which he privately owned also bore Confederate flag license plates.


(excerpt)

Cpl. Michael Rodrigue had the vehicle parked on city property. A dozen black police officers went to the chief of police about the display.

"They're hurt by it. You know, what could he possibly be representing to put something like this up?" Melancon said.

Rodrigue originally was suspended with pay; the termination came, Melancon said, after the officer couldn't come up with a responsible, reasonable explanation for the noose.

"I to this day do not know what that noose meant to him as an individual," Melancon said.


You might not know, but those dozen officers who complained about it do know. Most everyone else knows at this point with Jena 6 and the incident involving the New York City Police Department officer and the incident involving the Columbia University professor.

Interestingly, both the law enforcement agencies in Louisiana and New York City denied that racism was involved with the incidents involving nooses that occurred on their watch, yet the NYPD called the use of a noose in the Columbia University incident, a "hate crime".