Election 2008: What's good in Riverside County
The Riverside City Council meeting was a done deal in more ways than one, but for one thing it clocked in at less than 90 minutes in length last night. Some meetings have clocked in at under an hour in recent months. Remember when the city council actually held meetings?
Now, instead of discussion items, there's simply reports including those with no written backup material like Mayor Ron Loveridge's oral report on the 10th anniversary of the All-American City award. And while the consent calendar is smaller, that's mainly because the entire agenda is smaller. It's truncated public sessions like the past ones which feed rumors of business taking place outside the council chambers whether that's true or not and it's almost certain to be an election issue next year.
In the mail today, was the latest exciting installment of Election 2008: The miniseries. A brochure neatly trimmed in orange, honoring the citrus heritage of this portion of the Inland Empire put out by the Bob Buster for Supervisor Committee appeared, to highlight the positive developments in the county under his watch. And there have been quite a few ranging from having a county with the highest number of fire fighters per 1,000 residents than the rest of the neighboring counties and 450 new sheriff deputies, the latter being stated by former Sheriff Cois Byrd.
When he's not a supervisor, Buster and his wife, Mary Jeanne are citrus tree farmers of a grove that's about 75 years old and has been in the family during that time. One of the biggest topics of this year is the state of the budgets in many of the region's cities and the two counties as well. According to the Buster campaign, the county's budget is balanced and the reserve fund, "healthy". This has ensured that the county can survive dips in the economy while avoiding major service cuts and not raising taxes. Like most political candidates including his rival, Buster focuses the impetus on group decisions on himself, but he did author a bill to require developers to pay for road improvements before constructing their projects.
This has led to infrastructure construction that rivals that produced under the Riverside Renaissance banner, the program that's a form of welfare for developers through the city's acquisition of properties in the downtown area to hand off for private development and far from paying the infrastructure improvement bills, the city's residents and their children and grand children will be paying all that off.
Buster outlines his endorsements which consist of a lot of political officials from cities across the county including from the Riverside City Council, Andrew Melendrez, Nancy Hart and Chris MacArthur. MacArthur's predecessor, Ed Adkison also has thrown his hat in Buster's ring which is a bit surprising considering he and his former colleague on the council, Frank Schiavone (who is running against Buster), comprised the duo, "FRED".
The other sitting councilmen on Riverside's dais are endorsing Schiavone as is former Ward One Councilman Dom Betro.
Oh and actually Adkison must be hedging his bets because he's appeared on brochures put out by both candidates as endorsing them.
Two Riverside County supervisors, Jeff Stone (who's also running for reelection) and Roy Wilson also have endorsed Buster. The political endorsements including on Buster's partial list contrast sharply with those included on Schiavone's own partial list which consist primarily of law enforcement labor unions and individuals including several police chiefs. But Schiavone is also endorsed by one Riverside County supervisor, Marion Ashley and other politicians in the county including Perris and Moreno Valley.
But the interesting thing is how the bulk of Schiavone's support and most of the speakers on his paid announcements are law enforcement officers which is mindful of what happened during the last District One election four years ago, when Linda Soubirous (currently a member of the Community Police Review Commission who endorses Schiavone) ran against Buster and the race was fueled by a dispute that's still ongoing between the Riverside Sheriffs' Association and Buster over a measure involving their contract that had been before the board. The appointment process to pick the new sheriff also added fuel to that situation making it appear in a sense that although the face of the challenger has changed, the dynamic of the 2005 election has picked up where it's left off.
It remains to be seen how the election on June 3 will play out.
And another nice thing is that although I have been critical of the Buster campaign, no anonymous cowards from that campaign thus far have crawled out from beneath their rocks upset at the blogging on the supervisor's race. Unfortunately, the same apparently can't be said for some of the Schiavone supporters.
Here on Riverside's Human Resources page is a listing for a job opening inside the police department. Well, kind of. What is actually being asked for officially are applicants from inside the department who are lieutenants who possess a Bachelor's degree and interested in adding themselves into the mix of qualified candidates for future openings at the rank of captain.
Included in the job description is the process that will be used to pick a future captain.
Applications accompanied by a resume, not to exceed three (3) pages, will be screened and qualified candidates shall be interviewed by inside interview board consisting of two (2) sworn command staff members of the rank of Commander or above. This interview board will review each candidate's personnel file and resume, and then discuss the qualifications of each candidate with the Chief of Police. The Chief of Police will interview as many candidates as he deems necessary in selecting from the list of eligible candidates for promotion to Police Captain.
Qualified candidates may apply anytime up to six (6) months before the expiration date of the initially certified eligibility list. The eligibility list will remain in effect for a two (2) year period from the date of initial certification which is December 12, 2007.
The City of Riverside does not reimburse any expenses incurred as a result of this recruitment.
The closing date for applications is May 28, 2008. So there's still time to get the application in under the wire.
The one thing that's interesting in the posted job description is that this is a position within the police department where the importance of considerable independent judgment is stressed. That's an important quality to be exercised by anyone in a management position including in law enforcement, but what's ironic is that this has been an issue that has been on the forefront of concern in Riverside's own labor pool and it reemerged again through a claim for damages that was recently filed by two lieutenants who had hoped to be captains.
At this point, there's no openings for captains and given that for the most part, the members of this rank skew on the fairly young side, no retirements anticipated. Nor has it been announced whether the deputy chief position that was frozen due to budget cuts after Dave Dominguez' departure for Palm Springs will be thawed.
The Cultural Heritage Board and Planning Commission will hold meeting this week to discuss the environmental impact report on the mixed use project, which looks fairly ugly on paper but maybe its three-dimensional appearance will enhance its appearance. But first it has to overcome some negative points in its report including increased traffic (but not much parking built into the project), more air pollution and other problems including the demolition of historic buildings and a nearby church.
Some residents especially those in DANA may be keen on it but some of the other residents of downtown are leery of the project in part because of the traffic problems it will create and the push for a pedestrian culture in downtown without any infrastruture accommodations for that culture. Concerns backed by the environmental report but before you get too focused on the report, remember that for the most part environmental impact reports are a formality in Riverside's projects.
Cultural Heritage Board meets: Today, May 21 at 3:30 p.m. at City Hall
Planning Commission meets: Tomorrow, May 22 at 9 a.m. at City Hall
The Riverside County Sheriff's Department wants to improve relations with Soboba Reservation.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
The Sheriff's Department expects to recruit 1,500 deputies over the next three years, many of whom will provide staffing for the county's jail expansion.
"This would essentially be setting the stage for tribes to police themselves," Sniff said of the recruitment campaign.
Supervisors voiced tentative support for Sniff's initiatives.
"I don't see any issue that is any more difficult than this emerging issue with our tribes as they grow and the casinos expand," Supervisor Bob Buster said.
Buster said the Soboba reservation, northeast of Hemet, is geographically isolated from the rest of the county, and he speculated that isolation has contributed to some of the frustration and escalating tension.
"Especially now, with the heady mix of newfound riches pouring into the casinos and the great sense of trying to regain pride in tribal history. You can see how disconnects can occur," Buster said.
Out of Portland, Oregon comes reaction to the hiring of the Independent Police Review's new executive director.
For Immediate Release Monday, May 16, 2008
New Director of Police Review Board Faces Objectivity Challenges
Police Accountability Group Raises Concerns of Former District Attorney
"Investigating" Police Misconduct
The new person selected to head up Portland's civilian police review
agency, Mary-Beth Baptista, is likely to face great public skepticism
about her objectivity as she tries to oversee cases of police
misconduct after working for seven years in the local District Attorney's office.
Dan Handelman of the local police accountability group Portland Copwatch
(PCW) today stated that "Ms. Baptista is going to have to work hard to
convince the community that she is not biased toward the police after working
for so long side by side with police to prosecute crime."
Portland Copwatch has always been concerned that the District Attorney
has a conflict of interest when prosecuting police because of their close
relationship with the police, whom they rely on to prosecute crime.
This conflict of interest was noted in two letters the group sent to the DA
in the past 9 months asking for indictments or grand jury hearings--one
for an officer who shot an unarmed African American suspect in August,
2007, and the other for a corrections deputy who hit an inmate in the eye in
2005 and bragged about it on line. The DA declined to pursue charges
against either officer.
PCW contends that so far as they know, no Portland Police officer has
been prosecuted for on-duty use of force by the DA's office, even though
there have been prosecutions for lying, stealing and cheating, and sexual
misconduct.
Handelman pointed out that the Independent Police Review Division
(IPR), the oversight agency Baptista will be heading, was called out by
consultant Eileen Luna-Firebaugh's report in January for having a
similar too-close relationship with the police. In fact, the previous IPR
Director was so close to the Bureau, she took a job on the inside in early
March, abandoning her position after just 2.5 years.
PCW also expressed concern for how Baptista was chosen. City Auditor
Gary Blackmer, who oversees the IPR, put out a job notice that did not
mention the prospect of the IPR conducting independent investigations--another
recommendation from the consultant that was echoed by members of City
Council in a March 19 hearing. Blackmer's statement announcing
Baptista's hiring says that Baptista "knows investigations," but his statement
does not mention whether or not she will be capable of conducting them
without police assistance.
Furthermore, both in Auditor Blackmer's posted job description and in
his announcement, he made no mention of the IPR's Citizen Review Committee
(CRC), consisting of 9 community members and generally thought of as
the "police review board" in Portland. Many of the suggestions in the
consultant's report had to do with empowering and raising the
visibility of the CRC, yet their contribution to the IPR--including the
participation of two members in selecting Ms. Baptista--go without mention.
It is possible that Baptista will be attending the upcoming CRC meeting
on Tuesday, May 20 at 5:30 PM at City Hall.
The Luna-Firebaugh report pointed out that the IPR needs to do business
more transparently and not "behind the scenes," and that the IPR needs
to do credible outreach. The fact that the whole selection process, in
which over two dozen applicants were narrowed down to a field of finalists,
who were then interviewed and ranked by a group of citizens all happened
out of the public eye only goes to further this "behind the scenes"
perception.
While Ms. Baptista's background includes time as outreach coordinator
for the Sierra Club, overall it is not clear whether her background
demonstrates the ability, which is crucial at this time, to connect
with the various communities in Portland who are most vulnerable to police
misconduct. Since she already lives and works in the Portland area,
perhaps she will spend some of her time before her job begins on May 29
contacting some of the groups whose constituents are most vulnerable to
police misconduct.
It is particularly important for Ms. Baptista to show a serious
commitment to community concerns in the wake of two police shootings this week--as
many as Portland Police were involved in during all of 2007--and the
action taken by police against people protesting laws that target the
poor and homeless at City Hall.
Auditor Blackmer's announcement about hiring Baptista, and the job
description as posted, are pasted in below.
About 102 years in prison was the sentence a federal judge gave to former Los Angeles Police Department officer William Ferguson.
Ferguson's arrest for his involvement in the robbery ring wasn't even his first one. Before being hired by the LAPD, he'd been arrested five times, for both felonies and misdemeanors charges involving burglary and theft. His lawyer tried to use the LAPD's hiring of him anyway as a reason for a lighter sentence. Two other officers including the ringleader, Ruben Palomeres received eight and 13 years in prison respectively. Palomeres is in prison and looking for pen pals.
(excerpt, statement)
My name is Ruben Palomares, I'm a former Los Angeles police officer who was assigned to rampart division. I started as a good productive cop, really enjoying what I did by helping bring order and peace to our gang and drug infested communities. I loved my job and helping others.
I enjoyed the fact that I could now mentor our youth and encourage them in to the right path. Then I got shot while working undercover, buying narcotics. I sustained two gun shot wounds to both thighs and after that event things changed for me starting emotionally. I held so much resentment and allowed my anger to turn into bitterness.
I began to do my job different and started to do what they call vigilantly police work. Unknowingly I was trying to make gangs and drug dealers my victims just the way they made those communities they terrorized. As you can see crime doesn't pay. Ha Ha.
Since my arrest six years ago I have dedicated my life to our risen lord and savior Jesus Christ, I'm now pursuing the ministry as a Pastor. I think it's God's sense of humor, I have experienced his transformations and have been changed by his love and grace, funny as it sounds, I now preach to those I once terrorized. I'm pursuing open, honest friends.
The judge treated Ferguson a tad bit harsher.
(excerpt, Los Angeles Times)
At one point, while trying to cite mitigating factors that might persuade Feess to impose a lesser sentence, Deitch told the judge that the incidents were not sufficiently serious to prevent him from being hired by the Police Department.
The judge shot back:"To which I can only say, 'Why?'
"Feess added that he found it "stunning to me" that a prospective officer could be hired with even one criminal conviction.
Even though Long Beach's police department had one of the first mental health crisis intervention programs, it was not deployed in the case of the mentally ill man who was shot to death by two police officers.
The criminal cases might be over, but today the New York City Police Department administratively charged its officers who were involved in the November 2006 fatal shooting of Sean Bell. Eight of them face potential discipline, including at least two of those who were prosecuted by the county and acquitted by a judge at trial weeks ago.
The department is delaying further administrative action including its investigation until the federal agencies finish conducting their civil rights probe of the shooting that killed Bell and injured two of his friends outside a night club in Queens.
The charges and those charged include the following, according to the New York Daily News.
Michael Oliver: Firing a gun outside of departmental policy
Gesgard Isnora: Firing a gun outside of departmental policy,Violating vice protocols by taking action while undercover
Marc Cooper: Firing a gun outside of departmental policy
Michael Carey: Firing a gun outside of departmental policy
Paul Headley: Firing a gun outside of departmental policy
Lt. Gary Napoli (supervisor): Incompetence
Sgt. Huey McNeil (crime scene) Unknown although CSI Unit alleged to have violated crime scene
Det. Robin Knapp (crime scene) Unknown although CSI Unit alleged to have violated crime scene
The Vice Division of the NYPD which was involved in the shooting incident has undergone about 19 changes to its operations which were directed by a panel which reviewed its practices after the shooting.
In Atlanta, Georgia former police officer Arthur Testler was acquitted of two criminal charges but convicted of a charge of lying to investigators. Some saw it as justice. Some saw it as a wrist slap.
The jury had deliberated most of four days before reaching its verdict even telling the judge at one point on the third day, they might not be able to reach a consensus.
Atlanta's police department still faces multiple probes into misconduct involving its special units including narcotics. A federal prosecutor had publicly said that the department was "rife with corruption".
Now, instead of discussion items, there's simply reports including those with no written backup material like Mayor Ron Loveridge's oral report on the 10th anniversary of the All-American City award. And while the consent calendar is smaller, that's mainly because the entire agenda is smaller. It's truncated public sessions like the past ones which feed rumors of business taking place outside the council chambers whether that's true or not and it's almost certain to be an election issue next year.
In the mail today, was the latest exciting installment of Election 2008: The miniseries. A brochure neatly trimmed in orange, honoring the citrus heritage of this portion of the Inland Empire put out by the Bob Buster for Supervisor Committee appeared, to highlight the positive developments in the county under his watch. And there have been quite a few ranging from having a county with the highest number of fire fighters per 1,000 residents than the rest of the neighboring counties and 450 new sheriff deputies, the latter being stated by former Sheriff Cois Byrd.
When he's not a supervisor, Buster and his wife, Mary Jeanne are citrus tree farmers of a grove that's about 75 years old and has been in the family during that time. One of the biggest topics of this year is the state of the budgets in many of the region's cities and the two counties as well. According to the Buster campaign, the county's budget is balanced and the reserve fund, "healthy". This has ensured that the county can survive dips in the economy while avoiding major service cuts and not raising taxes. Like most political candidates including his rival, Buster focuses the impetus on group decisions on himself, but he did author a bill to require developers to pay for road improvements before constructing their projects.
This has led to infrastructure construction that rivals that produced under the Riverside Renaissance banner, the program that's a form of welfare for developers through the city's acquisition of properties in the downtown area to hand off for private development and far from paying the infrastructure improvement bills, the city's residents and their children and grand children will be paying all that off.
Buster outlines his endorsements which consist of a lot of political officials from cities across the county including from the Riverside City Council, Andrew Melendrez, Nancy Hart and Chris MacArthur. MacArthur's predecessor, Ed Adkison also has thrown his hat in Buster's ring which is a bit surprising considering he and his former colleague on the council, Frank Schiavone (who is running against Buster), comprised the duo, "FRED".
The other sitting councilmen on Riverside's dais are endorsing Schiavone as is former Ward One Councilman Dom Betro.
Oh and actually Adkison must be hedging his bets because he's appeared on brochures put out by both candidates as endorsing them.
Two Riverside County supervisors, Jeff Stone (who's also running for reelection) and Roy Wilson also have endorsed Buster. The political endorsements including on Buster's partial list contrast sharply with those included on Schiavone's own partial list which consist primarily of law enforcement labor unions and individuals including several police chiefs. But Schiavone is also endorsed by one Riverside County supervisor, Marion Ashley and other politicians in the county including Perris and Moreno Valley.
But the interesting thing is how the bulk of Schiavone's support and most of the speakers on his paid announcements are law enforcement officers which is mindful of what happened during the last District One election four years ago, when Linda Soubirous (currently a member of the Community Police Review Commission who endorses Schiavone) ran against Buster and the race was fueled by a dispute that's still ongoing between the Riverside Sheriffs' Association and Buster over a measure involving their contract that had been before the board. The appointment process to pick the new sheriff also added fuel to that situation making it appear in a sense that although the face of the challenger has changed, the dynamic of the 2005 election has picked up where it's left off.
It remains to be seen how the election on June 3 will play out.
And another nice thing is that although I have been critical of the Buster campaign, no anonymous cowards from that campaign thus far have crawled out from beneath their rocks upset at the blogging on the supervisor's race. Unfortunately, the same apparently can't be said for some of the Schiavone supporters.
Here on Riverside's Human Resources page is a listing for a job opening inside the police department. Well, kind of. What is actually being asked for officially are applicants from inside the department who are lieutenants who possess a Bachelor's degree and interested in adding themselves into the mix of qualified candidates for future openings at the rank of captain.
Included in the job description is the process that will be used to pick a future captain.
Applications accompanied by a resume, not to exceed three (3) pages, will be screened and qualified candidates shall be interviewed by inside interview board consisting of two (2) sworn command staff members of the rank of Commander or above. This interview board will review each candidate's personnel file and resume, and then discuss the qualifications of each candidate with the Chief of Police. The Chief of Police will interview as many candidates as he deems necessary in selecting from the list of eligible candidates for promotion to Police Captain.
Qualified candidates may apply anytime up to six (6) months before the expiration date of the initially certified eligibility list. The eligibility list will remain in effect for a two (2) year period from the date of initial certification which is December 12, 2007.
The City of Riverside does not reimburse any expenses incurred as a result of this recruitment.
The closing date for applications is May 28, 2008. So there's still time to get the application in under the wire.
The one thing that's interesting in the posted job description is that this is a position within the police department where the importance of considerable independent judgment is stressed. That's an important quality to be exercised by anyone in a management position including in law enforcement, but what's ironic is that this has been an issue that has been on the forefront of concern in Riverside's own labor pool and it reemerged again through a claim for damages that was recently filed by two lieutenants who had hoped to be captains.
At this point, there's no openings for captains and given that for the most part, the members of this rank skew on the fairly young side, no retirements anticipated. Nor has it been announced whether the deputy chief position that was frozen due to budget cuts after Dave Dominguez' departure for Palm Springs will be thawed.
The Cultural Heritage Board and Planning Commission will hold meeting this week to discuss the environmental impact report on the mixed use project, which looks fairly ugly on paper but maybe its three-dimensional appearance will enhance its appearance. But first it has to overcome some negative points in its report including increased traffic (but not much parking built into the project), more air pollution and other problems including the demolition of historic buildings and a nearby church.
Some residents especially those in DANA may be keen on it but some of the other residents of downtown are leery of the project in part because of the traffic problems it will create and the push for a pedestrian culture in downtown without any infrastruture accommodations for that culture. Concerns backed by the environmental report but before you get too focused on the report, remember that for the most part environmental impact reports are a formality in Riverside's projects.
Cultural Heritage Board meets: Today, May 21 at 3:30 p.m. at City Hall
Planning Commission meets: Tomorrow, May 22 at 9 a.m. at City Hall
The Riverside County Sheriff's Department wants to improve relations with Soboba Reservation.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
The Sheriff's Department expects to recruit 1,500 deputies over the next three years, many of whom will provide staffing for the county's jail expansion.
"This would essentially be setting the stage for tribes to police themselves," Sniff said of the recruitment campaign.
Supervisors voiced tentative support for Sniff's initiatives.
"I don't see any issue that is any more difficult than this emerging issue with our tribes as they grow and the casinos expand," Supervisor Bob Buster said.
Buster said the Soboba reservation, northeast of Hemet, is geographically isolated from the rest of the county, and he speculated that isolation has contributed to some of the frustration and escalating tension.
"Especially now, with the heady mix of newfound riches pouring into the casinos and the great sense of trying to regain pride in tribal history. You can see how disconnects can occur," Buster said.
Out of Portland, Oregon comes reaction to the hiring of the Independent Police Review's new executive director.
For Immediate Release Monday, May 16, 2008
New Director of Police Review Board Faces Objectivity Challenges
Police Accountability Group Raises Concerns of Former District Attorney
"Investigating" Police Misconduct
The new person selected to head up Portland's civilian police review
agency, Mary-Beth Baptista, is likely to face great public skepticism
about her objectivity as she tries to oversee cases of police
misconduct after working for seven years in the local District Attorney's office.
Dan Handelman of the local police accountability group Portland Copwatch
(PCW) today stated that "Ms. Baptista is going to have to work hard to
convince the community that she is not biased toward the police after working
for so long side by side with police to prosecute crime."
Portland Copwatch has always been concerned that the District Attorney
has a conflict of interest when prosecuting police because of their close
relationship with the police, whom they rely on to prosecute crime.
This conflict of interest was noted in two letters the group sent to the DA
in the past 9 months asking for indictments or grand jury hearings--one
for an officer who shot an unarmed African American suspect in August,
2007, and the other for a corrections deputy who hit an inmate in the eye in
2005 and bragged about it on line. The DA declined to pursue charges
against either officer.
PCW contends that so far as they know, no Portland Police officer has
been prosecuted for on-duty use of force by the DA's office, even though
there have been prosecutions for lying, stealing and cheating, and sexual
misconduct.
Handelman pointed out that the Independent Police Review Division
(IPR), the oversight agency Baptista will be heading, was called out by
consultant Eileen Luna-Firebaugh's report in January for having a
similar too-close relationship with the police. In fact, the previous IPR
Director was so close to the Bureau, she took a job on the inside in early
March, abandoning her position after just 2.5 years.
PCW also expressed concern for how Baptista was chosen. City Auditor
Gary Blackmer, who oversees the IPR, put out a job notice that did not
mention the prospect of the IPR conducting independent investigations--another
recommendation from the consultant that was echoed by members of City
Council in a March 19 hearing. Blackmer's statement announcing
Baptista's hiring says that Baptista "knows investigations," but his statement
does not mention whether or not she will be capable of conducting them
without police assistance.
Furthermore, both in Auditor Blackmer's posted job description and in
his announcement, he made no mention of the IPR's Citizen Review Committee
(CRC), consisting of 9 community members and generally thought of as
the "police review board" in Portland. Many of the suggestions in the
consultant's report had to do with empowering and raising the
visibility of the CRC, yet their contribution to the IPR--including the
participation of two members in selecting Ms. Baptista--go without mention.
It is possible that Baptista will be attending the upcoming CRC meeting
on Tuesday, May 20 at 5:30 PM at City Hall.
The Luna-Firebaugh report pointed out that the IPR needs to do business
more transparently and not "behind the scenes," and that the IPR needs
to do credible outreach. The fact that the whole selection process, in
which over two dozen applicants were narrowed down to a field of finalists,
who were then interviewed and ranked by a group of citizens all happened
out of the public eye only goes to further this "behind the scenes"
perception.
While Ms. Baptista's background includes time as outreach coordinator
for the Sierra Club, overall it is not clear whether her background
demonstrates the ability, which is crucial at this time, to connect
with the various communities in Portland who are most vulnerable to police
misconduct. Since she already lives and works in the Portland area,
perhaps she will spend some of her time before her job begins on May 29
contacting some of the groups whose constituents are most vulnerable to
police misconduct.
It is particularly important for Ms. Baptista to show a serious
commitment to community concerns in the wake of two police shootings this week--as
many as Portland Police were involved in during all of 2007--and the
action taken by police against people protesting laws that target the
poor and homeless at City Hall.
Auditor Blackmer's announcement about hiring Baptista, and the job
description as posted, are pasted in below.
About 102 years in prison was the sentence a federal judge gave to former Los Angeles Police Department officer William Ferguson.
Ferguson's arrest for his involvement in the robbery ring wasn't even his first one. Before being hired by the LAPD, he'd been arrested five times, for both felonies and misdemeanors charges involving burglary and theft. His lawyer tried to use the LAPD's hiring of him anyway as a reason for a lighter sentence. Two other officers including the ringleader, Ruben Palomeres received eight and 13 years in prison respectively. Palomeres is in prison and looking for pen pals.
(excerpt, statement)
My name is Ruben Palomares, I'm a former Los Angeles police officer who was assigned to rampart division. I started as a good productive cop, really enjoying what I did by helping bring order and peace to our gang and drug infested communities. I loved my job and helping others.
I enjoyed the fact that I could now mentor our youth and encourage them in to the right path. Then I got shot while working undercover, buying narcotics. I sustained two gun shot wounds to both thighs and after that event things changed for me starting emotionally. I held so much resentment and allowed my anger to turn into bitterness.
I began to do my job different and started to do what they call vigilantly police work. Unknowingly I was trying to make gangs and drug dealers my victims just the way they made those communities they terrorized. As you can see crime doesn't pay. Ha Ha.
Since my arrest six years ago I have dedicated my life to our risen lord and savior Jesus Christ, I'm now pursuing the ministry as a Pastor. I think it's God's sense of humor, I have experienced his transformations and have been changed by his love and grace, funny as it sounds, I now preach to those I once terrorized. I'm pursuing open, honest friends.
The judge treated Ferguson a tad bit harsher.
(excerpt, Los Angeles Times)
At one point, while trying to cite mitigating factors that might persuade Feess to impose a lesser sentence, Deitch told the judge that the incidents were not sufficiently serious to prevent him from being hired by the Police Department.
The judge shot back:"To which I can only say, 'Why?'
"Feess added that he found it "stunning to me" that a prospective officer could be hired with even one criminal conviction.
Even though Long Beach's police department had one of the first mental health crisis intervention programs, it was not deployed in the case of the mentally ill man who was shot to death by two police officers.
The criminal cases might be over, but today the New York City Police Department administratively charged its officers who were involved in the November 2006 fatal shooting of Sean Bell. Eight of them face potential discipline, including at least two of those who were prosecuted by the county and acquitted by a judge at trial weeks ago.
The department is delaying further administrative action including its investigation until the federal agencies finish conducting their civil rights probe of the shooting that killed Bell and injured two of his friends outside a night club in Queens.
The charges and those charged include the following, according to the New York Daily News.
Michael Oliver: Firing a gun outside of departmental policy
Gesgard Isnora: Firing a gun outside of departmental policy,Violating vice protocols by taking action while undercover
Marc Cooper: Firing a gun outside of departmental policy
Michael Carey: Firing a gun outside of departmental policy
Paul Headley: Firing a gun outside of departmental policy
Lt. Gary Napoli (supervisor): Incompetence
Sgt. Huey McNeil (crime scene) Unknown although CSI Unit alleged to have violated crime scene
Det. Robin Knapp (crime scene) Unknown although CSI Unit alleged to have violated crime scene
The Vice Division of the NYPD which was involved in the shooting incident has undergone about 19 changes to its operations which were directed by a panel which reviewed its practices after the shooting.
In Atlanta, Georgia former police officer Arthur Testler was acquitted of two criminal charges but convicted of a charge of lying to investigators. Some saw it as justice. Some saw it as a wrist slap.
The jury had deliberated most of four days before reaching its verdict even telling the judge at one point on the third day, they might not be able to reach a consensus.
Atlanta's police department still faces multiple probes into misconduct involving its special units including narcotics. A federal prosecutor had publicly said that the department was "rife with corruption".
Labels: downtown business watch, Election 2008, labor pains, officer-involved shootings, public forums in all places
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