The Santa Anas are back again
The Santa Anas paid another visit to the Inland Empire yesterday, leaving clear blue skies and an impressive view but causing power outages and knocking over big rig trucks and trees from one end of the region to another.
At Zacatecas in the heart of the Eastside of Riverside, community leaders and members threw a party and said farewell but not goodbye yesterday to former Riverside Police Department Deputy Chief and current Palm Springs Police Department Chief Dave Dominguez.
Attending from City Hall were Mayor Ron Loveridge, Ward Two Councilman Andrew Melendrez and Ward Four Councilman Frank Schiavone as well as representatives from the Riverside Unified School Board, Latino Network, Riverside Community College District Board of Trustees and other organizations.
Representatives from the police department who attended were Lt. Darryl Hurt, Lt. Tim Bacon and Det. Steve Shumway.
Dominguez said he was overwhelmed by the gathering and that he was at a loss for words, which isn't a common state for him to be in. In 1994, he had arrived in Riverside's "closed shop" as a lieutenant. His former boss from the Sheriff's Department offered to keep a job open for him if he wanted to return.
And about two months and 28 days into his job, he asked his wife, what the hell have I gotten myself into. Not long after he was hired, he was at a meeting in Casa Blanca with 100 people in attendance not long after one of the police helicopters had been shot down while flying over the neighborhood. People who attended that meeting said that it was very emotional.
The meeting was contentious, and Dominguez said that he had been scared. However, he was going to hold to the adage of treating everyone with dignity and respect and to work very hard in the community. It was about being out in the community when people didn't want you to be there. And the city's always sent a mixed message in how it expects its police officers to engage with community and whether it really supports community oriented policing or not. One of the ironies will always be that what separated Dominguez out from other candidates who wanted to lead the police department in the popular desert city was his record in his relationships with the community. A quality never really appreciated by some of those in positions of power as it was in the communities.
Others spoke, illuminating chapters in Dominguez' history with the Riverside Police Department.
Former Asst. Chief Mike Smith, who now head the investigations division in the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office, told the audience that he remembered when Dominguez had been hired as a lieutenant from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
In 1998, when Smith was a captain, Dominguez had worked under him as an administrative lieutenant during one of the most turbulent times in the city's history after the fatal shooting of Tyisha Miller by four police officers. Structurally, the department was very different with only one captain overseeing 300 officers, most of them in the field division. But Dominguez was an asset to dealing with implementing change including the hours spent meeting with representatives from the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, the United States Attorney's office and the State Attorney General's office.
"It certainly has changed the city. It certainly has changed the community. It certainly has changed the police department," Smith said.
When Smith left for San Bernardino, Dominguez moved up in the ranks. Smith wished Dominguez luck with his new job.
"Those four stars on your collar look very good being there," Smith said.
Mayor Ron Loveridge said that in 1994, it had been very rare for higher ranking officers to be hired from outside the department. Former Chief Ken Fortier had only brought in two of them and one was Dominguez.
"What we've seen in the past 14 years is change," Loveridge said.
When Dominguez had applied to be the next Palm Springs Police Department chief, he faced competition from 80 applicants. What gave him the edge was the same thing that wasn't always appreciated in Riverside, and that was dedication to community service. The quality which city leaders praise even as behind the scenes it's made cuts to the department's community policing and services division consolidating it under the Special Operations Division. When it came to making budget cuts, this office was apparently one of the first things to go.
Not much different than life only one decade and a few years ago when community policing was also a quick casualty in fiscally difficult budget years.
Woodie Rucker-Hughes, who is president of the Riverside chapter of the NAACP, said that Dominguez was a person who lead by example even in difficult times.
"We have lost a good police officer in Riverside, not that there aren't other, " Rucker-Hughes said, "But these will be tough shoes to fill."
Melendrez said that it's unlikely that different people would define leadership in the same way but that they would recognize leadership qualities when they saw them. He praised Dominguez' work with Latino youth.
"He's a community leader who empowers other people to lead as well," Melendrez said.
Sue Rainey, the superintendent of the Riverside Unified School District said that Dominguez had instituted a "brownbag with cop" lunch program while working with the school district. He had wanted students to get to know police officers so they wouldn't be afraid of police cars. Rainey said that initially the officers appeared to be more apprehensive at lunching with the students than vice versa.
So Dominguez leaves, taking a piece of the police department's soul with him. And Rucker-Hughes is right, these will be big shoes to fill in a city that often sends mixed messages in its commitment to community policing.
Former Riverside Police Department Officer Jose Luis Nazario has his preliminary hearing today in U.S. District Court in connection with his indictment on manslaughter charges in connection with the killings of two Iraqi detainees in Fallujah several years ago.
The trial of the three New York City Police officers in connection with the Sean Bell shooting resumes today, with the following question awaiting further answers as to whether or not the officers identified themselves before shooting.
(excerpt, Newsday)
Though the detectives have long maintained that they opened fire only after one of them identified himself as a police officer, their commanding officer testified that he never heard his men yell "Police!" or "Stop!"
On Monday, when the trial is scheduled to resume, it is likely that the question of whether the officers identified themselves will lie heavily on the court proceedings
Lt. Gary Napoli's testimony was the first from a police officer to echo what other witnesses had said _ that on a confused Nov. 25, 2006, when 23-year-old Sean Bell was killed in a 50-bullet barrage, the detectives who opened fire outside the Kalua Cabaret never identified themselves.
Det. Hispolito Sanchez, who participated in the undercover activity at the Kalua Night Club in Queens is set to testify today.
(excerpt, New York Daily News)
Sanchez told investigators he was one of the two detectives close enough to overhear Joseph Guzman threaten the SUV driver in an angry faceoff, saying, "Yo, get my gun," according to a police report written the day of the shooting.
The detective was steps behind Isnora as he tailed Bell's group from the club, down Liverpool St., and to their car just before the 23-year-old groom-to-be fell in a 50-bullet barrage.
Sanchez was the first undercover to enter Kalua, about 1 a.m. It was his job to scout out patrons who might recognize Isnora from his prostitution bust at Kalua the week before, a police report said.
Sanchez fired no shots that night, because he had left behind his gun, his badge and his bulletproof vest in order to enter Kalua undetected, his commanding officer testified last week. He faces no charges.
The New York Times also addresses the significance of Lt. Gary Napoli's surprising testimony.
In Orange County, its former sheriff, Michael Carona wants the judge to suppress the tapes
(excerpt, Los Angeles Times)
Taped conversations between Carona and Don Haidl, a wealthy businessman who was once a member of Carona's top command, support two witness-tampering charges in a 10-count corruption indictment against Carona, his wife, Deborah Carona and attorney Debra Hoffman, Carona's long-time mistress.
Prosecutors have released transcripts of about 20 minutes of conversation between the men at the Bayside Restaurant in Newport Beach on Aug. 13, about two months before a federal grand jury issued the indictment.
Carona and Haidl discuss the need for both of them to stick to a single story while talking to federal prosecutors. They also assure each other that their dealings left no money or paper trails.
In one exchange, Haidl says, "... whatever we did, as long as our stories are straight, I'm OK, as long as I know there's no trail anywhere."
Carona responds, "No trail anywhere ... period. In fact, not even close to being a trail."
Oh but there was, straight to the federal courthouse where Carona finds himself now.
At Zacatecas in the heart of the Eastside of Riverside, community leaders and members threw a party and said farewell but not goodbye yesterday to former Riverside Police Department Deputy Chief and current Palm Springs Police Department Chief Dave Dominguez.
Attending from City Hall were Mayor Ron Loveridge, Ward Two Councilman Andrew Melendrez and Ward Four Councilman Frank Schiavone as well as representatives from the Riverside Unified School Board, Latino Network, Riverside Community College District Board of Trustees and other organizations.
Representatives from the police department who attended were Lt. Darryl Hurt, Lt. Tim Bacon and Det. Steve Shumway.
Dominguez said he was overwhelmed by the gathering and that he was at a loss for words, which isn't a common state for him to be in. In 1994, he had arrived in Riverside's "closed shop" as a lieutenant. His former boss from the Sheriff's Department offered to keep a job open for him if he wanted to return.
And about two months and 28 days into his job, he asked his wife, what the hell have I gotten myself into. Not long after he was hired, he was at a meeting in Casa Blanca with 100 people in attendance not long after one of the police helicopters had been shot down while flying over the neighborhood. People who attended that meeting said that it was very emotional.
The meeting was contentious, and Dominguez said that he had been scared. However, he was going to hold to the adage of treating everyone with dignity and respect and to work very hard in the community. It was about being out in the community when people didn't want you to be there. And the city's always sent a mixed message in how it expects its police officers to engage with community and whether it really supports community oriented policing or not. One of the ironies will always be that what separated Dominguez out from other candidates who wanted to lead the police department in the popular desert city was his record in his relationships with the community. A quality never really appreciated by some of those in positions of power as it was in the communities.
Others spoke, illuminating chapters in Dominguez' history with the Riverside Police Department.
Former Asst. Chief Mike Smith, who now head the investigations division in the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office, told the audience that he remembered when Dominguez had been hired as a lieutenant from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
In 1998, when Smith was a captain, Dominguez had worked under him as an administrative lieutenant during one of the most turbulent times in the city's history after the fatal shooting of Tyisha Miller by four police officers. Structurally, the department was very different with only one captain overseeing 300 officers, most of them in the field division. But Dominguez was an asset to dealing with implementing change including the hours spent meeting with representatives from the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, the United States Attorney's office and the State Attorney General's office.
"It certainly has changed the city. It certainly has changed the community. It certainly has changed the police department," Smith said.
When Smith left for San Bernardino, Dominguez moved up in the ranks. Smith wished Dominguez luck with his new job.
"Those four stars on your collar look very good being there," Smith said.
Mayor Ron Loveridge said that in 1994, it had been very rare for higher ranking officers to be hired from outside the department. Former Chief Ken Fortier had only brought in two of them and one was Dominguez.
"What we've seen in the past 14 years is change," Loveridge said.
When Dominguez had applied to be the next Palm Springs Police Department chief, he faced competition from 80 applicants. What gave him the edge was the same thing that wasn't always appreciated in Riverside, and that was dedication to community service. The quality which city leaders praise even as behind the scenes it's made cuts to the department's community policing and services division consolidating it under the Special Operations Division. When it came to making budget cuts, this office was apparently one of the first things to go.
Not much different than life only one decade and a few years ago when community policing was also a quick casualty in fiscally difficult budget years.
Woodie Rucker-Hughes, who is president of the Riverside chapter of the NAACP, said that Dominguez was a person who lead by example even in difficult times.
"We have lost a good police officer in Riverside, not that there aren't other, " Rucker-Hughes said, "But these will be tough shoes to fill."
Melendrez said that it's unlikely that different people would define leadership in the same way but that they would recognize leadership qualities when they saw them. He praised Dominguez' work with Latino youth.
"He's a community leader who empowers other people to lead as well," Melendrez said.
Sue Rainey, the superintendent of the Riverside Unified School District said that Dominguez had instituted a "brownbag with cop" lunch program while working with the school district. He had wanted students to get to know police officers so they wouldn't be afraid of police cars. Rainey said that initially the officers appeared to be more apprehensive at lunching with the students than vice versa.
So Dominguez leaves, taking a piece of the police department's soul with him. And Rucker-Hughes is right, these will be big shoes to fill in a city that often sends mixed messages in its commitment to community policing.
Former Riverside Police Department Officer Jose Luis Nazario has his preliminary hearing today in U.S. District Court in connection with his indictment on manslaughter charges in connection with the killings of two Iraqi detainees in Fallujah several years ago.
The trial of the three New York City Police officers in connection with the Sean Bell shooting resumes today, with the following question awaiting further answers as to whether or not the officers identified themselves before shooting.
(excerpt, Newsday)
Though the detectives have long maintained that they opened fire only after one of them identified himself as a police officer, their commanding officer testified that he never heard his men yell "Police!" or "Stop!"
On Monday, when the trial is scheduled to resume, it is likely that the question of whether the officers identified themselves will lie heavily on the court proceedings
Lt. Gary Napoli's testimony was the first from a police officer to echo what other witnesses had said _ that on a confused Nov. 25, 2006, when 23-year-old Sean Bell was killed in a 50-bullet barrage, the detectives who opened fire outside the Kalua Cabaret never identified themselves.
Det. Hispolito Sanchez, who participated in the undercover activity at the Kalua Night Club in Queens is set to testify today.
(excerpt, New York Daily News)
Sanchez told investigators he was one of the two detectives close enough to overhear Joseph Guzman threaten the SUV driver in an angry faceoff, saying, "Yo, get my gun," according to a police report written the day of the shooting.
The detective was steps behind Isnora as he tailed Bell's group from the club, down Liverpool St., and to their car just before the 23-year-old groom-to-be fell in a 50-bullet barrage.
Sanchez was the first undercover to enter Kalua, about 1 a.m. It was his job to scout out patrons who might recognize Isnora from his prostitution bust at Kalua the week before, a police report said.
Sanchez fired no shots that night, because he had left behind his gun, his badge and his bulletproof vest in order to enter Kalua undetected, his commanding officer testified last week. He faces no charges.
The New York Times also addresses the significance of Lt. Gary Napoli's surprising testimony.
In Orange County, its former sheriff, Michael Carona wants the judge to suppress the tapes
(excerpt, Los Angeles Times)
Taped conversations between Carona and Don Haidl, a wealthy businessman who was once a member of Carona's top command, support two witness-tampering charges in a 10-count corruption indictment against Carona, his wife, Deborah Carona and attorney Debra Hoffman, Carona's long-time mistress.
Prosecutors have released transcripts of about 20 minutes of conversation between the men at the Bayside Restaurant in Newport Beach on Aug. 13, about two months before a federal grand jury issued the indictment.
Carona and Haidl discuss the need for both of them to stick to a single story while talking to federal prosecutors. They also assure each other that their dealings left no money or paper trails.
In one exchange, Haidl says, "... whatever we did, as long as our stories are straight, I'm OK, as long as I know there's no trail anywhere."
Carona responds, "No trail anywhere ... period. In fact, not even close to being a trail."
Oh but there was, straight to the federal courthouse where Carona finds himself now.
Labels: corruption 101, officer-involved shootings, public forums in all places
posted by Five Before Midnight | 6:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home