Drops in the bucket but no rain in sight
For those living in District One of Riverside County and following the supervisor's race between incumbent Bob Buster and city councilman, Frank Schiavone, you're in incredible luck because the Voters' Registrar's office has sent out those lovely handbooks which include statements provided by both political candidates on what they have done or plan to do if they get elected.
Read them, memorize them and then ask questions of the candidates at the upcoming candidate forums. You can of course also staple them to the collection of political brochures that have been coming in the mail in between angst-ridden computerized phone calls from Frank Schiavone who has apparently been calling from Massachusetts to put in his two-cents about the Buster campaign. The sound quality's not great but every so often in them you can hear the words "development money".
The forums are really where it's at, where the candidates face off on the issues. Until someone is silly enough to start charging money for attendance and/or refreshments, they are still a means of getting to know candidates on the issues that's not costly. And it's one venue where public comment is not yet curtailed, restricted or banned. None of these things have happened in Riverside yet but right now, what's got some politicians so tickled that they've been boasting about it hopefully while they're not alas, pickled, is what's not been happening at city council meetings lately.
Suffice it to say, there are council members on the dais right now in Riverside who not surprisingly are thrilled that people have stopped hassling them with those pesky civic concerns at public meetings. The other thing that has got them caught up in a hyperbole of glee is how short the meetings have been running, which no doubt has people at the local watering holes happy as well. In a sense, shorter meetings might be helpful to the local economy if the decisions that are being made in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it fashion might not be. And if it's true that some elected officials are celebrating what's gone done and any role they might play in it, it's also true that election season Riverside style is just around the bend.
Here's two forums that have been scheduled according to this site.
The League of Woman's Voters is holding a candidate forum
at the La Sierra Library on May 7 at 7 p.m.
Address:
4600 La Sierra Ave.
Riverside, CA 92505
Residents' Association of Greater Lake Mathews are sponsoring a forum at Cajalco Fire Station 17650 Cajalco Road, Perris, CA 92570
May 21, 2008 at: 7:00 PM
A motion to dismiss manslaughter charges against former Riverside Police Department officer, Jose Nazario has been denied.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
The defense argued for the first time in a criminal case that a civilian court should not hear a trial about a service member in combat.
Nazario, who has pleaded not guilty, is being tried in civilian court because he is no longer in the military.
His attorneys requested the case be dismissed, asserting that the law under which he was charged does not apply.
The judge did not agree. The law prevents a discharge from protecting a veteran from prosecution for crimes that occurred during service, Larson wrote.
"I can't say I'm disappointed or surprised, but it could have gone either way," said Kevin McDermott, one of Nazario's attorneys.
And so Nazario may be the first civilian to stand trial in court for criminal charges filed based on allegations of criminal acts during military service. Nazario is being tried for allegedly killing two Iraqi detainees in Fallujah while serving as a Marine sergeant and for ordering the killing of two others, after being told by a supervisor on the radio to get it done. The allegations were investigated after a former Marine provided an account of the incident while undergoing a polygraph test for a job in the United States Secret Service.
At the time he was charged, Nazario worked at the police department as a probational police officer having not had any issues with his own polygraph test where he had been asked questions about whether or not he had been involved in illegal conduct including unlawful killings, by the individual conducting the test. He was arrested by the Navy's version of law enforcement at the station last year.
In the wake of the arrest of a Riverside County Sheriff's Department deputy in Temecula for sexual misconduct, comes the news that a deputy based in Hemet has been sentenced to prison. There are at least four other cases that are at various stages of the prosecution process involving employees of that department. At least four that the public knows about at this point and time, because after all, some of these other cases probably went undisclosed, unreported or undiscovered for a period of time.
The medical complex that is to be built on what once was Chinatown could have detrimental effects, according to the Press Enterprise.
A public hearing will be held on this issue June 5 with the Planning Commission.
The homeless residents in Ontario who haven't been picked for the latest tent city are being forced out.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
Leaving the Ontario homeless encampment, a trespassing citation in her hand, Sonia Smith was matter-of-fact as to where she would go next.
"'I need to find a place to shower and change clothes. ... I have to sell myself," Smith, 51, said. "What else am I going to do?"
Smith was among about two dozen people cited Wednesday for continuing to live near Ontario's homeless encampment, even though they don't have city-issued ID cards.
Homeless people that did not belong in the area were issued citations.
Ontario police Detective Jeff Higbee said the citations are only warnings, but they expect the squatters to move on by early next week. Officers will patrol today and Friday as well.
Last year, the city of Ontario tried to address its homeless problem by creating the encampment off Mission Boulevard and State Street, near Interstate 10. The camp grew exponentially when people from all over the county, state and even some from as far away as Florida heard about it and moved in.
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has declared that he will be doing a wide-spread investigation of police practices in his department. The decision to do so comes in the wake of statements released yesterday that not a single complaint involving racial profiling out of over 300 of them has been sustained. Some people found that assertion hard to swallow, as they did Bratton's assertion that there was no racism and no homophobia in his agency. Notice that Bratton in his blanket sweep statement of what wasn't in the department, didn't include sexism. But there's not much difference between what he mentioned and what he didn't, because it wasn't long ago that there was a Black officer assigned to the 77th Division who found a picture of a noose in the locker room.
His attempts to file a complaint about it through the process that all officers are assured is in place (and in fact, prominently posted) to help them led to an ancient allegation of insubordination against him being reopened by the department's internal affairs division.
It's not long ago that several officers in the LAPD who were gay men complained of homophobia in the ranks and in management to the Los Angeles Times.
Historically, the LAPD has addressed homophobia with emphasis which differs from one chief to the next.
(excerpt, IN Los Angeles Magazine)
For years, police headquarters at Parker Center, 150 N. Los Angeles St., represented lives ruined by harassment and arrest. Sgt. Mitch Grobeson’s lawsuit, alleging interal LAPD homophobia, revealed the venom wasn’t just against gay civilians. In the 1992 Christopher Commission Report, a message about gays read “NHI”—no human involved.
But under Chief Willie Williams, and then Chief Bernard Parks and Mayor Richard Riordan, attitudes started to change. Two open gays were appointed to the Police Commission and Dave Kalish was promoted to deputy chief. Chief William Bratton has had some missteps, but he sent an openly gay recruitment officer to the Gay Games.
There have been these "missteps" even after Los Angeles paid out $770,000 in litigation stemming from homophobia inside the police department. But then maybe Bratton hasn't read back that far in the LAPD's history books.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the District Attorney's office has amended its policy in officer-involved shootings but the Editorial Board of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal stated that what's needed is a citizen review commission.
One of the publication's columnists calls the whole system a joke.
A North Carolina law enforcement sergeant was caught on video kicking his canine.
(excerpt, The News and Observer )
Dog handlers for the State Highway Patrol have stunned dogs with Tasers, swung them by their leashes until they became airborne, and hit them with plastic bottles full of pebbles.
None of that was an issue until a trooper used his cell phone to record a video of a sergeant kicking his police dog repeatedly while it was leashed to a loading dock, its hind legs just touching the ground. The video was made public for the first time Monday, and it shows Sgt. Charles L. Jones kicking Ricoh, 7, a Belgian Malinois, five times, causing the dog to swing as much as two feet under the loading dock.
Jones, a 14-year patrol member, was fired last September after the incident became public. Now he is trying to win back his job at a hearing before a state administrative judge.
If it were California, he'd probably get his job back through arbitration, but in North Carolina, it might be a different situation.
The County of San Diego's Civilian Review Board is hiring.
Job Opportunity in San Diego: Special Investigator
The County of San Diego invites resumes from experienced investigators in the criminal justice field with demonstrated skills and abilities to provide technical, investigative staff support to the Citizens' Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) to include performing independent investigations of complaints within the Board's jurisdiction.
CLERB was established by charter amendment in 1990 to receive and investigate complaints about the conduct of peace officers employed by the County in the Sheriff's or Probation departments. The Review Board has jurisdiction over allegations of excessive force, discrimination or sexual harassment of the public, illegal search or seizure, false arrest, false reporting, criminal conduct, and misconduct. The Review Board also may investigate the death of any person arising out of, or in connection with, the activities of Sheriff's deputies or Probation officers.
Under the direction of the Executive Officer, the individual appointed to this position will be responsible for managing a large investigative caseload, including but not limited to: interviewing complainants, witnesses, and parties; identifying and obtaining evidence pertinent to the peace officer conduct at issue; researching laws, policies, and procedures controlling peace officer conduct; formulating recommendations for policy or procedure changes related to complaints; preparing comprehensive, high-quality, analytical written reports with recommended findings to the Board; meeting regular productivity and performance deadlines; attending monthly evening Board meetings; maintaining automated and manual records related to investigations; participating in periodic evening community meetings; maintaining effective working relationships with other County employees; and providing courteous and professional customer service to the public, Board members, County employees, and representatives of outside agencies.
Depending on qualifications, the annual salary at time of appointment is expected to be $56,558 - $63,212.
To be considered for this recruitment, please e-mail a current resumé to http://us.f305.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Aaron.Morgan%40sdcounty.ca.gov. Resumes can also be mailed to the County of San Diego - Department of Human Resources at 1600 Pacific Highway, Room 207, San Diego, CA92101, or faxed to (619) 685-2458.
It's been a while since he's been heard from, but former Bolingbrook Police Department Sgt. Drew Peterson is offering $25,000 to anyone who can provide information on his missing wife, Stacey.
(excerpt, Chicago Sun-Times)
“Her mom left her and it’s clear that history has repeated itself and that Stacy does not want to be found either,” said Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant. “I don’t know whom she left with or where they are. Maybe the money will prompt someone to come forward with a lead. Her children miss her and people believe I have something to do with her disappearance.”
Stacey Peterson has been missing since last October. The death of Kathleen Savio, Peterson's third wife, has been reclassified as a homicide several years after she was found dead in her bathtub.
Who has the worst air in the country? The Inland Empire, that's who! Anyone surprised?
Read them, memorize them and then ask questions of the candidates at the upcoming candidate forums. You can of course also staple them to the collection of political brochures that have been coming in the mail in between angst-ridden computerized phone calls from Frank Schiavone who has apparently been calling from Massachusetts to put in his two-cents about the Buster campaign. The sound quality's not great but every so often in them you can hear the words "development money".
The forums are really where it's at, where the candidates face off on the issues. Until someone is silly enough to start charging money for attendance and/or refreshments, they are still a means of getting to know candidates on the issues that's not costly. And it's one venue where public comment is not yet curtailed, restricted or banned. None of these things have happened in Riverside yet but right now, what's got some politicians so tickled that they've been boasting about it hopefully while they're not alas, pickled, is what's not been happening at city council meetings lately.
Suffice it to say, there are council members on the dais right now in Riverside who not surprisingly are thrilled that people have stopped hassling them with those pesky civic concerns at public meetings. The other thing that has got them caught up in a hyperbole of glee is how short the meetings have been running, which no doubt has people at the local watering holes happy as well. In a sense, shorter meetings might be helpful to the local economy if the decisions that are being made in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it fashion might not be. And if it's true that some elected officials are celebrating what's gone done and any role they might play in it, it's also true that election season Riverside style is just around the bend.
Here's two forums that have been scheduled according to this site.
The League of Woman's Voters is holding a candidate forum
at the La Sierra Library on May 7 at 7 p.m.
Address:
4600 La Sierra Ave.
Riverside, CA 92505
Residents' Association of Greater Lake Mathews are sponsoring a forum at Cajalco Fire Station 17650 Cajalco Road, Perris, CA 92570
May 21, 2008 at: 7:00 PM
A motion to dismiss manslaughter charges against former Riverside Police Department officer, Jose Nazario has been denied.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
The defense argued for the first time in a criminal case that a civilian court should not hear a trial about a service member in combat.
Nazario, who has pleaded not guilty, is being tried in civilian court because he is no longer in the military.
His attorneys requested the case be dismissed, asserting that the law under which he was charged does not apply.
The judge did not agree. The law prevents a discharge from protecting a veteran from prosecution for crimes that occurred during service, Larson wrote.
"I can't say I'm disappointed or surprised, but it could have gone either way," said Kevin McDermott, one of Nazario's attorneys.
And so Nazario may be the first civilian to stand trial in court for criminal charges filed based on allegations of criminal acts during military service. Nazario is being tried for allegedly killing two Iraqi detainees in Fallujah while serving as a Marine sergeant and for ordering the killing of two others, after being told by a supervisor on the radio to get it done. The allegations were investigated after a former Marine provided an account of the incident while undergoing a polygraph test for a job in the United States Secret Service.
At the time he was charged, Nazario worked at the police department as a probational police officer having not had any issues with his own polygraph test where he had been asked questions about whether or not he had been involved in illegal conduct including unlawful killings, by the individual conducting the test. He was arrested by the Navy's version of law enforcement at the station last year.
In the wake of the arrest of a Riverside County Sheriff's Department deputy in Temecula for sexual misconduct, comes the news that a deputy based in Hemet has been sentenced to prison. There are at least four other cases that are at various stages of the prosecution process involving employees of that department. At least four that the public knows about at this point and time, because after all, some of these other cases probably went undisclosed, unreported or undiscovered for a period of time.
The medical complex that is to be built on what once was Chinatown could have detrimental effects, according to the Press Enterprise.
A public hearing will be held on this issue June 5 with the Planning Commission.
The homeless residents in Ontario who haven't been picked for the latest tent city are being forced out.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
Leaving the Ontario homeless encampment, a trespassing citation in her hand, Sonia Smith was matter-of-fact as to where she would go next.
"'I need to find a place to shower and change clothes. ... I have to sell myself," Smith, 51, said. "What else am I going to do?"
Smith was among about two dozen people cited Wednesday for continuing to live near Ontario's homeless encampment, even though they don't have city-issued ID cards.
Homeless people that did not belong in the area were issued citations.
Ontario police Detective Jeff Higbee said the citations are only warnings, but they expect the squatters to move on by early next week. Officers will patrol today and Friday as well.
Last year, the city of Ontario tried to address its homeless problem by creating the encampment off Mission Boulevard and State Street, near Interstate 10. The camp grew exponentially when people from all over the county, state and even some from as far away as Florida heard about it and moved in.
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has declared that he will be doing a wide-spread investigation of police practices in his department. The decision to do so comes in the wake of statements released yesterday that not a single complaint involving racial profiling out of over 300 of them has been sustained. Some people found that assertion hard to swallow, as they did Bratton's assertion that there was no racism and no homophobia in his agency. Notice that Bratton in his blanket sweep statement of what wasn't in the department, didn't include sexism. But there's not much difference between what he mentioned and what he didn't, because it wasn't long ago that there was a Black officer assigned to the 77th Division who found a picture of a noose in the locker room.
His attempts to file a complaint about it through the process that all officers are assured is in place (and in fact, prominently posted) to help them led to an ancient allegation of insubordination against him being reopened by the department's internal affairs division.
It's not long ago that several officers in the LAPD who were gay men complained of homophobia in the ranks and in management to the Los Angeles Times.
Historically, the LAPD has addressed homophobia with emphasis which differs from one chief to the next.
(excerpt, IN Los Angeles Magazine)
For years, police headquarters at Parker Center, 150 N. Los Angeles St., represented lives ruined by harassment and arrest. Sgt. Mitch Grobeson’s lawsuit, alleging interal LAPD homophobia, revealed the venom wasn’t just against gay civilians. In the 1992 Christopher Commission Report, a message about gays read “NHI”—no human involved.
But under Chief Willie Williams, and then Chief Bernard Parks and Mayor Richard Riordan, attitudes started to change. Two open gays were appointed to the Police Commission and Dave Kalish was promoted to deputy chief. Chief William Bratton has had some missteps, but he sent an openly gay recruitment officer to the Gay Games.
There have been these "missteps" even after Los Angeles paid out $770,000 in litigation stemming from homophobia inside the police department. But then maybe Bratton hasn't read back that far in the LAPD's history books.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the District Attorney's office has amended its policy in officer-involved shootings but the Editorial Board of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal stated that what's needed is a citizen review commission.
One of the publication's columnists calls the whole system a joke.
A North Carolina law enforcement sergeant was caught on video kicking his canine.
(excerpt, The News and Observer )
Dog handlers for the State Highway Patrol have stunned dogs with Tasers, swung them by their leashes until they became airborne, and hit them with plastic bottles full of pebbles.
None of that was an issue until a trooper used his cell phone to record a video of a sergeant kicking his police dog repeatedly while it was leashed to a loading dock, its hind legs just touching the ground. The video was made public for the first time Monday, and it shows Sgt. Charles L. Jones kicking Ricoh, 7, a Belgian Malinois, five times, causing the dog to swing as much as two feet under the loading dock.
Jones, a 14-year patrol member, was fired last September after the incident became public. Now he is trying to win back his job at a hearing before a state administrative judge.
If it were California, he'd probably get his job back through arbitration, but in North Carolina, it might be a different situation.
The County of San Diego's Civilian Review Board is hiring.
Job Opportunity in San Diego: Special Investigator
The County of San Diego invites resumes from experienced investigators in the criminal justice field with demonstrated skills and abilities to provide technical, investigative staff support to the Citizens' Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) to include performing independent investigations of complaints within the Board's jurisdiction.
CLERB was established by charter amendment in 1990 to receive and investigate complaints about the conduct of peace officers employed by the County in the Sheriff's or Probation departments. The Review Board has jurisdiction over allegations of excessive force, discrimination or sexual harassment of the public, illegal search or seizure, false arrest, false reporting, criminal conduct, and misconduct. The Review Board also may investigate the death of any person arising out of, or in connection with, the activities of Sheriff's deputies or Probation officers.
Under the direction of the Executive Officer, the individual appointed to this position will be responsible for managing a large investigative caseload, including but not limited to: interviewing complainants, witnesses, and parties; identifying and obtaining evidence pertinent to the peace officer conduct at issue; researching laws, policies, and procedures controlling peace officer conduct; formulating recommendations for policy or procedure changes related to complaints; preparing comprehensive, high-quality, analytical written reports with recommended findings to the Board; meeting regular productivity and performance deadlines; attending monthly evening Board meetings; maintaining automated and manual records related to investigations; participating in periodic evening community meetings; maintaining effective working relationships with other County employees; and providing courteous and professional customer service to the public, Board members, County employees, and representatives of outside agencies.
Depending on qualifications, the annual salary at time of appointment is expected to be $56,558 - $63,212.
To be considered for this recruitment, please e-mail a current resumé to http://us.f305.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Aaron.Morgan%40sdcounty.ca.gov. Resumes can also be mailed to the County of San Diego - Department of Human Resources at 1600 Pacific Highway, Room 207, San Diego, CA92101, or faxed to (619) 685-2458.
It's been a while since he's been heard from, but former Bolingbrook Police Department Sgt. Drew Peterson is offering $25,000 to anyone who can provide information on his missing wife, Stacey.
(excerpt, Chicago Sun-Times)
“Her mom left her and it’s clear that history has repeated itself and that Stacy does not want to be found either,” said Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant. “I don’t know whom she left with or where they are. Maybe the money will prompt someone to come forward with a lead. Her children miss her and people believe I have something to do with her disappearance.”
Stacey Peterson has been missing since last October. The death of Kathleen Savio, Peterson's third wife, has been reclassified as a homicide several years after she was found dead in her bathtub.
Who has the worst air in the country? The Inland Empire, that's who! Anyone surprised?
Labels: officer-involved shootings, public forums in all places, Video police review
posted by Five Before Midnight | 9:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home