Just another brick in the Blue Wall coming your way

The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Officers met recently in Philadelphia and in a press conference said that racism inside law enforcement agencies was increasing. Some of the racist incidents reported were taking place in that city's department but others as well.


Whether it's racist (among other things) videos or racist (among other things) emails, the recent incidents have attracted a lot of concern.



The response to VideoGate is interesting and in many ways, disheartening as many of the respondants appear to think any investigation of racism, sexism and homophobia in a law enforcement agency is overkill and that it's management going after rank and file officers. The thing is that there's definitely merit to the point that management needs to be held accountable as well, because if you have rampant racism, sexism and/or corruption and other serious problems in a law enforcement agency, it's hard to believe that it can be done without the blessing of the management level. And if you want to look for the epicenter of many of these problems, that is where you look first, not last or not at all.

But those engaging in the behavior that creates a hostile workplace as well as impacts how the officers interface with communities, need to be investigated and held accountable for their conduct as well.

Hardly surprising from some responses that it's all about protesting that people can't take a joke and should lighten up, nothing's meant by it.

And the officials in Seattle appeared shocked at the extent of the racism and sexism in those emails. If this is indeed true, it's only because they weren't paying attention to what was definitely not hiding in plain sight. Maybe their own behavior encourages it.


But NOBLE has pledged to dedicate itself to addressing racism within wherever it is. Its action plan on how to do so has yet to be unveiled.


(excerpt, NBC-10 News)


The National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers cited allegations of racism in Philadelphia as examples of just a few incidents, of what's been happening across the country.

NBC 10 first reported that Philadelphia police officers accused one of their own of having a racist sticker in his locker referring to the Ku Klux Klan.

The officer said he never put the sticker in his locker.

But after a two month investigation, the department suspended the officer without pay.

"A heightened level of racial and cultural bias and indifference has integrated law enforcement agencies across the nation," Wilson said.

The organization also cited allegations of officers hanging nooses at a police department in upstate New York, along with other allegations in the Midwest.

"On duty, in uniform, cops posing as Ku Klux Klan members in Sandusky, Ohio," Wilson said.

The organization says fighting the don't-snitch attitude on the streets is what police also need to do inside their police departments.

"If you see something that offends you and attempts to intimidate you, being a person of color in this institution you need to report it," Rochelle Bilal, of the Philadelphia Police Guardian Civic League, said.


The sticker on the locker was that of a KKK member and stated, "blue by day; white by night".



Other police officers spoke out on the incident.




Elsewhere, racism inside departments has been in the news.


In Baltimore, 21 African-Americans in that city's police department have filed a racial discrimination lawsuit, according to the Baltimore Sun.


(excerpt)


The lawsuit, filed at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, accuses the department of condoning a hostile workplace, blocking black officers from promotion, levying uneven discipline and retaliating against officers who spoke out against discrimination. It also alleges that racism led to the firing last month of former police Commissioner Kevin P. Clark.

The group of officers seeks the appointment of an independent monitor over department discipline, reinstatement of fired officers, expunging of black marks from the disciplinary records of certain officers, payment of lost wages to plaintiffs who were suspended without pay or fired because of racism, and punitive damages and compensation.

The lawsuit names as its defendants Mayor Martin O'Malley, acting police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm, former Police Commissioners Edward T. Norris and Thomas C. Frazier, Labor Commissioner Sean R. Malone and other city lawyers.

City Solicitor Ralph S. Tyler called the allegations "untrue" and said many - even if they were true - are barred by statutes of limitations.

"People who have serious issues to raise come in to present them, they don't issue press releases," he said. "What I know in the short time I've had to look at it is that a large number of plaintiffs are people who have had what we call 'troubled' histories in the Police Department."



The lawsuit also alleges that racist harassment took place in the workplace.


(excerpt)



The lawsuit, in describing the alleged hostile work environment, states that black officers have found dog feces wrapped in an African-American newspaper and placed on their desks, endured racial epithets, had hangman's nooses placed in their lockers and had zebra stripes painted on pictures of their mixed-race children.




This lawsuit shouldn't be surprising if you remember that the Baltimore Police Department banned its employees from wearing several hairstyles, the majority of which are favored by African-Americans. Why? Because the department was afraid its officers would be blending in with criminals. You think they racially profile much?








Another day, another Riverside Police Department community policing program is packed away for the time being. A budget deficit has led to cuts in the city's vital services and now the citizen academy is the latest casualty. About 80 people had applied for the 40 spots but because most of those instructing the class do so on overtime, the academy has been suspended until the end of the summer.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



The neighborhood watch and business watch programs will not be affected, she said.

"Unfortunately, our citizens academy, we weren't able to do," Cunningham said.




The decision to cut the citizen academy comes on the wake of the recent consolidation of the department's community services operations which had been supervised by Lt. Tim Bacon with a portion of the special operations division. Even though elected officials are claiming that no part of "vital city services" has been cut, it's probably about time for these elected officials to advocate for the police department's mental health crisis training program, which because of possible cuts in the county's budget impacting mental health services, could be detrimentally impacted.



Riverside's Marcy Branch Library is might be facing a move.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



The idea of finding a larger home for the library came from Councilman Rusty Bailey, who said the branch was a topic that arose during his campaign last year.

One advantage of the Magnolia building is that it's next to Low Park, which could be used for outdoor library programs, Bailey said.

"The site that they found looks to be perfect to me," he said by phone.




Reject the recall!


So recommends the Press Enterprise Editorial Board in response to the June 3 vote to recall Colton Mayor Kelly Chastain.



(excerpt)



No matter. Colton taxpayers will spend about $22,000 to decide whether to recall a mayor elected less than 18 months ago.

Voters concerned about the quality of Colton government should be looking for ways to build civic consensus and public cooperation on city issues, not widening Colton's already bitter political divides.

Personal clashes and political disagreements do not justify removing the mayor. Colton voters should just say no to the recall of Mayor Kelly Chastain, and to the politics behind it.




City residents in Greenville, New York want to bring civilian review to their city.





In Spokane, the conflict over civilian review there continues. Flawed oversight, is the question asked by Columnist Kevin Taylor of the Pacific Northwest Inlander.


(excerpt)



The city announced two weeks ago that a tentative agreement on the authority of a civilian ombudsman had been hashed out in negotiations with the Police Guild.


Since then there has been a growing chorus of dismay that characterizes the agreement as "ombudsman lite," as the Center for Justice calls it in a Web posting, with powers that are less than those recommended by a consultant last year.


Attorneys Jeffry Finer and Breean Beggs of the Center for Justice contend the Police Guild gained too much influence over the ombudsman office during negotiations, citing the evaporation of independent investigative authority, and a new detail that the ombudsman be hired by a five-person committee that would include two slots for police.


Police oversight professionals in other cities give the tentative agreement mixed reviews questioning the lack of independent investigative authority.


But others — notably Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, who has advocated for civilian oversight of her department — say, whoa, take a deep breath.


The tentative agreement is just that — tentative. The first test towards a permanent working model comes at an April 30 meeting of the Police Guild, called so that union leadership can present details of the negotiation.



In Shreveport, Louisiana, the struggle for civilian review in the wake of a study which showed that excessive force complaints to that city's police department have increased but the sustained rate for those complaints remains very low.

The Shreveport Times Editorial Board stated that people need an opportunity to be heard on the issue.



(excerpt)



In an e-mail to The Times, Burrell didn't appear to drop the matter because of a lack of concern about police operations but rather the lack of encouragement he received from the mayor and the City Council. He also cited the lack of an increased "level of concern for a Citizen Review Committee" over the Garbarino case.

Burrell reported three of five council members who responded to his request for feedback offered unequivocal rejection of the citizen review proposal. They were Bryan Wooley, Monty Walford and Michael Long. Burrell wasn't sufficiently swayed by two others — Council members Calvin Lester and Joyce Bowman — whose response he took to be "not a bad idea" but stopping short of an "unequivocal 'yes.'" Bowman did write: "The minute that something starts up — we will wish that we had this." We agree.

While we credit Burrell for at least considering the measure, we would suggest that it's his job to introduce and push the legislation his conscience and/or need dictate. Let the City Council fret with their own consciences and the political consequences about whether to implement a citizen review process. Burrell's additional desire to give new police Chief Henry Whitehorn "an opportunity to clean up any possible issues 'in house' that may contribute to needing a Citizen Review Committee" seems to make its own point for the need for such a panel. And wouldn't an independent review process assure system integrity regardless of who is police chief?

Statistics can't tell the whole story whether the topic is baseball or police conduct. A low batting average, like an increase in complaints, can call attention to areas that need scrutiny. But absent a citizen review process, the team owners — the taxpaying public — not only are kept behind a thin blue foul line, they aren't even allowed in the ballpark.


A representative from the Fraternal Order of Police speaks out on civilian oversight. Not suprisingly he didn't like it much.






In New York City, people marched on Sunday in protest of the verdict in the trial of three of the city's police officers who shot and killed Sean Bell and wounded two of his friends.

The Reverend Al Sharpton planned to bring the head of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee to the city.


(excerpt, New York Daily News)



The Rev. Al Sharpton vows to ratchet up the pressure on federal prosecutors on Monday by bringing a powerful congressman to the Queens street where Sean Bell was shot dead by city cops.

Sharpton said Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, will meet Bell's family on Monday afternoon and walk from the Kalua Cabaret strip joint to the spot where Bell was killed and two friends were wounded in a fusillade of 50 shots from three detectives.

"We are going to take him to the scene," Sharpton told a cheering crowd at his National Action Network headquarters in Harlem as Bell's father and fiancée sat grimly nearby.

"We are going to walk the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to show him how far the scene of the shooting was from the club," Sharpton said.



Meanwhile, Gov. David Paterson has disagreed with Sharpton's planned protests.


(excerpt, New York Daily News)


Paterson told the Daily News yesterday that he would not approve if the Rev. Al Sharpton, who organized the Diallo days of rage, follows through on his vow to "close this city down" with mass demonstrations in response to the Sean Bell verdict.

"I certainly would not be in favor of that," Paterson said of any shutdown - even if the protests are peaceful, as vowed. "People are trying to go to work. We're trying to conduct commerce here."

"From the perspective of management of government, you never want your city shut down," he added.

The governor, who admits to being "surprised" that, given the number of shots fired, the three officers charged in the Bell shooting were cleared, insists things are different in this case.

"I understand the historical significance of civil disobedience, and too many times that was the only way to effect change," he said. "However, in this case, there is a continuing federal investigation and interdepartmental investigation. ... We know a judge determined there was no crime. We accept that."


At the rally on Sunday, people participating or watching expressed their opinions.


Legal experts stated that the officers decision to opt out of a jury trial was a strategically wise one.



Meet Assembly Bill 2377. The latest attempts by law enforcement unions to keep people from finding out about police misconduct. They've got the money, the power, the legislators so it will pass but about 10 years from now, give or take a couple, it's probably the police officers who will be gnashing their teeth over supporting such a bill when they have seen the impact it will have on the integrity of law enforcement agencies because what the push for further secrecy in the state which already has in place the most rigid restraints on information on police officers in the entire country does is further the erosion of public trust in law enforcement. Especially since every day there's reminders of how unequipped the law enforcement agencies are to keep their own misconduct in check.


AB 2377? Just as some might say, another brick in the wall. And the wall has a name, it's called the Code of Silence.