Community forums here and there
Here is more information about a community meeting being held by Chief Russ Leach on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. to 9 a.m. from the Yeager Center, California Baptist University, 8432 Magnolia Ave. Included in the presentation is an accounting of the progress of the Strategic Plan as it hits the halfway point of its five-year period. This forum is being presented as the first of its kind as most other reports on the Strategic Plan and the stipulated judgment that preceded it have taken place at City Hall.
The Strategic Plan for the police department is here if you want to review it.
This event hasn't received much publicity so far from the city so far, with a press release being sent out by the police department in the past several days. I heard about the event from Lt. Larry Gonzalez who is one of the presenters at this forum as an area commander. Gonzalez will be leaving Riverside for several months spent at a training course back East. Filling in for him during his absence will be Sgt. Val Graham.
The Central Neighborhood Policing Area which includes Casa Blanca will be assigned a new area commander after the transfer of the current one, Lt. Bob Meier to an assignment in the department's investigations division. The new area commander has not been announced yet but likely will be Lt. Bruce Loftus.
It's not clear what the communities' role to play in this forum process is even though the "community" is included in the title. Whether we are there to listen, ask appropriate questions or whether we'll be allowed to let our hair down and get down to the issues of a police department trying to push itself forward through an ambitious and arduous Strategic Plan process. Often there's this assumption made that the communities of this city know nothing or very little about the police and other city departments and that we're misguided as a whole which doesn't exactly do much to encourage participation.
However, it should be an interesting event at any rate and how it plays out depends a lot on community involvement and participation.
I've been thinking about the role of "community", its definition and its expectations for the city, which will be the topic of future postings especially after last night's Community Police Review Commission meeting where a report submitted by consultant Joe Brann was discussed. I was thinking of that while reading the application for the candidate from Ward Five who's the odds on favorite to win the seat vacated by Jack Brewer who terms out in March. This candidate over and over referred to the body as the "police review commission" but then there's several signs at its current home at City Hall which read the same. I was thinking while talking to a woman who filed a complaint throught the commission that's sitting in the backlog somewhere and is expected to take many months more before it even reaches the CPRC.
The Cops and Clergy had its quarterly meeting at the Boathouse in Fairmount Park, with a lunch served that included chicken and potato salad, baked beans and tortillas. The topics involved the police department's chaplain program and its volunteer program which has changed coordinators. The representation from the clergy, City Hall and the police department was pretty strong.
As for the company at my table, it was interesting.
The latest news on the six law suits filed against the police department involving fatal officer-involved deaths is the following.
The law suit filed in response to the fatal officer-involved shooting on April 3, 2006 of Lee Deante Brown has settled. But what is a bit surprising is that the law suit filed in connection with the Oct. 8, 2006 fatal officer involved shooting of Douglas Steven Cloud is in final settlement talks. This is before this case has even reached the Community Police Review Commission for discussion, deliberation and decisions.
While the settling of the Brown case was expected, the apparent decision of the city to settle the Cloud case before it hits the CPRC is more surprising. The amounts of the settlements for these cases is not known nor is the status on law suits filed in connection with the 2005 incustody death of Terry Rabb which are currently progressing through the U.S. District Court. It wouldn't be at all surprising if those twin cases are settling as well.
The CPRC is expected to be briefed by its investigator, Butch Warnberg on its investigation into the Cloud shooting later this month or next month. It will be the first incustody death addressed by the CPRC after the city has decided to settle.
In Moreno Valley, peace activists worked to keep major fights breaking out in the city's schools. Some say this has always been a problem. Others say it's a natural course of the injunction placed by the Riverside County District Attorney's office against the Eastside Riva which has caused violence to increase in areas outside the so-called "safe zone" including other neighboring cities.
The homeless living in the bottom of the Santa Ana river were kicked out of their encampment, this time by Riverside County Code Enforcement.
The governor's budget cuts for education have those who work in the field including teachers steamed.
(excerpt)
Inland district officials have said the cuts would result in larger class sizes, layoffs and the possible elimination of programs such as elementary music. Rialto Unified School District officials are making plans to send layoff notices to more than 300 teachers.
Last month, the governor also called for midyear cuts of $400 million to schools and community colleges during the current fiscal year. But legislative budget negotiators do not expect the current-year cuts to affect schools directly, Assemblyman Gene Mullin, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, said by phone.
Still, educators are worried about next year. The budget cuts Schwarzenegger proposed would require suspending Prop. 98, the minimum-funding guarantee for schools.
Barbara Tooker, a board member in the Temecula Valley Unified School District and regional director of the California School Boards Association, acknowledged flaws in Prop. 98. But she said the governor should respect voters' will.
"We know people went to the polls and said, 'We want to have a floor,' " Tooker said at the news conference at the Riverside County Office of Education. "This is a floor, not a ceiling, for funding public education."
The governor and the legislators in Sacramento probably don't send their own kids to public schools. They need to hear from people who do.
A Baltimore Police Department officer was suspended after being caught on a YouTube recording assaulting a young man.
(excerpt)
On the video, the officer, Salvatore Rivieri, puts the boy in a headlock, pushes him to the ground, questions his upbringing, threatens to "smack" him and repeatedly accuses the youngster of showing disrespect because the youth refers to the officer as "man" and "dude."
At one point, Rivieri, a 17-year veteran of the force, says:
"Obviously, your parents don't put a foot in your butt quite enough, because you don't understand the meaning of respect. First of all, you better learn how to speak. I'm not `man.' I'm not `dude,' I am Officer Rivieri. The sooner you learn that, the longer you are going to live in this world. Because you go around doing this kind of stuff and somebody is going to kill you."
Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department and the mayor's office, said authorities have begun an internal-affairs investigation.
"The entire incident raised red flags for all of the members of the command staff who watched the video," Clifford said.
Former Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona urged the court to drop four felony counts because they were outside of federal jurisdiction.
Here's an older opinion piece about the trading of jabs between two police departments in Los Angeles County about how they handle rallies.
LAPD vs Maywood
I don't think either department wants to go there right now. Maywood is in more dire straits but it's hard to believe that a department which is soon to enter into the eighth year of its five-year federal consent decree is in a position to lecture Maywood to go with the program.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department sheriff apologized to a disabled man who was pushed out of his wheelchair by a deputy.
(excerpt, CNN)
"I am personally embarrassed and shocked by the horrific treatment Mr. Sterner received," Sheriff David Gee says in a statement on the department's Web site.
A video now making the rounds on television networks and various Web sites shows a deputy tipping Brian Sterner, 32, out of a wheelchair at the county's booking center in Tampa on January 29.
"I cannot and will not even try to offer an explanation for what is seen on the video, other than to say, that once it was brought to my attention, I immediately initiated an internal investigation," Gee said.
The Strategic Plan for the police department is here if you want to review it.
This event hasn't received much publicity so far from the city so far, with a press release being sent out by the police department in the past several days. I heard about the event from Lt. Larry Gonzalez who is one of the presenters at this forum as an area commander. Gonzalez will be leaving Riverside for several months spent at a training course back East. Filling in for him during his absence will be Sgt. Val Graham.
The Central Neighborhood Policing Area which includes Casa Blanca will be assigned a new area commander after the transfer of the current one, Lt. Bob Meier to an assignment in the department's investigations division. The new area commander has not been announced yet but likely will be Lt. Bruce Loftus.
It's not clear what the communities' role to play in this forum process is even though the "community" is included in the title. Whether we are there to listen, ask appropriate questions or whether we'll be allowed to let our hair down and get down to the issues of a police department trying to push itself forward through an ambitious and arduous Strategic Plan process. Often there's this assumption made that the communities of this city know nothing or very little about the police and other city departments and that we're misguided as a whole which doesn't exactly do much to encourage participation.
However, it should be an interesting event at any rate and how it plays out depends a lot on community involvement and participation.
I've been thinking about the role of "community", its definition and its expectations for the city, which will be the topic of future postings especially after last night's Community Police Review Commission meeting where a report submitted by consultant Joe Brann was discussed. I was thinking of that while reading the application for the candidate from Ward Five who's the odds on favorite to win the seat vacated by Jack Brewer who terms out in March. This candidate over and over referred to the body as the "police review commission" but then there's several signs at its current home at City Hall which read the same. I was thinking while talking to a woman who filed a complaint throught the commission that's sitting in the backlog somewhere and is expected to take many months more before it even reaches the CPRC.
The Cops and Clergy had its quarterly meeting at the Boathouse in Fairmount Park, with a lunch served that included chicken and potato salad, baked beans and tortillas. The topics involved the police department's chaplain program and its volunteer program which has changed coordinators. The representation from the clergy, City Hall and the police department was pretty strong.
As for the company at my table, it was interesting.
The latest news on the six law suits filed against the police department involving fatal officer-involved deaths is the following.
The law suit filed in response to the fatal officer-involved shooting on April 3, 2006 of Lee Deante Brown has settled. But what is a bit surprising is that the law suit filed in connection with the Oct. 8, 2006 fatal officer involved shooting of Douglas Steven Cloud is in final settlement talks. This is before this case has even reached the Community Police Review Commission for discussion, deliberation and decisions.
While the settling of the Brown case was expected, the apparent decision of the city to settle the Cloud case before it hits the CPRC is more surprising. The amounts of the settlements for these cases is not known nor is the status on law suits filed in connection with the 2005 incustody death of Terry Rabb which are currently progressing through the U.S. District Court. It wouldn't be at all surprising if those twin cases are settling as well.
The CPRC is expected to be briefed by its investigator, Butch Warnberg on its investigation into the Cloud shooting later this month or next month. It will be the first incustody death addressed by the CPRC after the city has decided to settle.
In Moreno Valley, peace activists worked to keep major fights breaking out in the city's schools. Some say this has always been a problem. Others say it's a natural course of the injunction placed by the Riverside County District Attorney's office against the Eastside Riva which has caused violence to increase in areas outside the so-called "safe zone" including other neighboring cities.
The homeless living in the bottom of the Santa Ana river were kicked out of their encampment, this time by Riverside County Code Enforcement.
The governor's budget cuts for education have those who work in the field including teachers steamed.
(excerpt)
Inland district officials have said the cuts would result in larger class sizes, layoffs and the possible elimination of programs such as elementary music. Rialto Unified School District officials are making plans to send layoff notices to more than 300 teachers.
Last month, the governor also called for midyear cuts of $400 million to schools and community colleges during the current fiscal year. But legislative budget negotiators do not expect the current-year cuts to affect schools directly, Assemblyman Gene Mullin, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, said by phone.
Still, educators are worried about next year. The budget cuts Schwarzenegger proposed would require suspending Prop. 98, the minimum-funding guarantee for schools.
Barbara Tooker, a board member in the Temecula Valley Unified School District and regional director of the California School Boards Association, acknowledged flaws in Prop. 98. But she said the governor should respect voters' will.
"We know people went to the polls and said, 'We want to have a floor,' " Tooker said at the news conference at the Riverside County Office of Education. "This is a floor, not a ceiling, for funding public education."
The governor and the legislators in Sacramento probably don't send their own kids to public schools. They need to hear from people who do.
A Baltimore Police Department officer was suspended after being caught on a YouTube recording assaulting a young man.
(excerpt)
On the video, the officer, Salvatore Rivieri, puts the boy in a headlock, pushes him to the ground, questions his upbringing, threatens to "smack" him and repeatedly accuses the youngster of showing disrespect because the youth refers to the officer as "man" and "dude."
At one point, Rivieri, a 17-year veteran of the force, says:
"Obviously, your parents don't put a foot in your butt quite enough, because you don't understand the meaning of respect. First of all, you better learn how to speak. I'm not `man.' I'm not `dude,' I am Officer Rivieri. The sooner you learn that, the longer you are going to live in this world. Because you go around doing this kind of stuff and somebody is going to kill you."
Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department and the mayor's office, said authorities have begun an internal-affairs investigation.
"The entire incident raised red flags for all of the members of the command staff who watched the video," Clifford said.
Former Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona urged the court to drop four felony counts because they were outside of federal jurisdiction.
Here's an older opinion piece about the trading of jabs between two police departments in Los Angeles County about how they handle rallies.
LAPD vs Maywood
I don't think either department wants to go there right now. Maywood is in more dire straits but it's hard to believe that a department which is soon to enter into the eighth year of its five-year federal consent decree is in a position to lecture Maywood to go with the program.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department sheriff apologized to a disabled man who was pushed out of his wheelchair by a deputy.
(excerpt, CNN)
"I am personally embarrassed and shocked by the horrific treatment Mr. Sterner received," Sheriff David Gee says in a statement on the department's Web site.
A video now making the rounds on television networks and various Web sites shows a deputy tipping Brian Sterner, 32, out of a wheelchair at the county's booking center in Tampa on January 29.
"I cannot and will not even try to offer an explanation for what is seen on the video, other than to say, that once it was brought to my attention, I immediately initiated an internal investigation," Gee said.
Happy Valentines Day!
Labels: corruption 101, public forums in all places, unkindest cuts, Video police review
posted by Five Before Midnight | 8:57 PM
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