Links and things here to there
Breaking News: Will Mayor Ron Loveridge be running for another term next year?
Hell yes!
"I have already asked for forgiveness from God and everybody I can,"
---Former Atlanta Police Department detective, Gregg Junnier while testifying in his partner's criminal trial. Junnier was one of the officers who shot and killed Kathryn Johnston, 92, after breaking into her house on a falsified warrant.
Riverside City Council meetings have gotten brief these days but the city is planning to hold another one this Tuesday. You'll probably have barely enough time to sit down and relax before the mayor will adjourn it for the evening but there are actually three discussion items on the calendar including this one exploring a marriage of convenience between Riverside and HUD regarding the development of the University Village, a project which as you know has been plagued by problems (ranging from the incarceration of the vice-president of one of its management companies to difficulties finding tenants and keeping them) and broken promises (involving promises made to local youth groups that they'd actually have an opportunity to get jobs) not to mention several former businesses who banned Eastside residents from special events held there. It will be intersting to see how this story turns out, but the latest chapter will be brought to you on Tuesday night. Be there or be elsewhere having fun.
If you have some time, check out Dennis Quaid's tour de force performance in Smart People, much better than the pyrotechnics of Speed Racer, with the film achieving the goal of elevating the 1960s anime series to new heights even if that wasn't the intention.
Human Resources is on the block with this interesting item for a consultant to advise the top-heavy City Hall on employee benefits counseling.
The panel addressing fire hazards will present its proposal to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. The public is invited.
Tuesday, May 13, at 1:30 p.m. at the Riverside County Administrative Headquarters on Lemon Street in Riverside.
A former Los Angeles Police Department officer alleged that he was assaulted and handcuffed by his former colleagues while on the job, according to KNBC. He was a probational officer at the time the incident happened. Between the police department and the fire department in that city, some of the employees have a really warped idea of what is "fun". And mostly, it's men of color and women who *don't* get that it's all supposed to be fun. At least that's one of the defenses raised by those who are promoting such fun, when complaints are filed and the city or county's legal counsel starts sweating.
This is the latest episode of fun and games in the LAPD.
(excerpt)
Former officer Karim Saafir graduated from the police academy in August 2007, but instead of fighting crime, he claims he was victimized by fellow officers.
"I cried on a few occasions, trying to really figure out what'd I do, why'd you do this and why am I being treated like this?" Saafir said.
Saafir said that the incident occurred while he was serving as a probation officer at the LAPD Wilshire Division station.
Ranking officers told him his probation work was not satisfactory and he should resign or be terminated, Saafir alleges.
Saafir said then, without provocation, he was jumped from behind, slammed to the floor injuring his lip and shoulder, handcuffed for two hours and detained for eight hours.
"I said, 'This is unnecessary. Please, this is unnecessary,'" said Saafir, whose brother, aunt and uncle were LAPD officers.
"He had done nothing wrong, nothing to justify the mistreatment that he suffered," said his attorney, Carl Douglas.
The Press Enterprise Editorial Board has told the Minutemen to stop protesting the mobile consulates in San Bernardino.
Two Inglewood Police Department officers shot and killed an unarmed man.
"I am not a snitch," said the man who allegedly tipped off the three detectives on Johnston's house, but only after the three narcotics detectives had threatened to plant marijuana on him and bust him if he didn't help them.
In Atlanta, the trial of one of its narcotics detectives who's being prosecuted in connection with the fatal officer-involved shooting of Kathryn Johnston continued last week.
More testimony about narcotics detectives lying on search warrants abounded, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
(excerpt)
Former Detective Gregg Junnier told a Fulton County jury that detectives would tell judges that they had verified their informants had bought cocaine from dealers by searching them for drugs before the buy took place.
"I have never seen anyone searched before they go into the house —- I've never seen that done —- even though officers always swear to it," Junnier said. "It's done that way in 90 percent of the warrants that are written."
But it wasn't just lies to get the warrant to search Kathryn Johnston's home that made Junnier uneasy, he said. He had an inkling something was wrong when he and Officer Jason R. Smith were leading the narcotics team to the front door. He said the northwest Atlanta house differed from the informant's description.
"I said, 'Man, this doesn't look right,' and he said, 'I know,' " Junnier testified. " 'I said what do you want to do.' He said, 'Hit it.'"
A minute later, Johnston was lying on her floor, dying.
Junnier testified at the Superior Court trial of one of his former partners, Arthur Tesler, who was guarding the back of Johnston's Neal Street home on that day, Nov. 21, 2006.
Junnier and Smith pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and face up to 10 and 12 years in prison, respectively, depending on their cooperation. Tesler faces 15 years on charges of lying in an official investigation, violating his oath as an officer and false imprisonment, a charge stemming from illegally surrounding Johnston's house.
Junnier, whose confession unraveled the case, is to testify again today.
"I have already asked for forgiveness from God and everybody I can," he said.
Speaking of Atlanta's beleaguered police department, the second in command is leaving for a job in Charlotte, North Carolina.
(excerpt, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Atlanta police Chief Richard Pennington's right-hand man, assistant Chief Alan Dreher, was named Tuesday a finalist for the position of police chief in Charlotte.
Dreher and two other finalists were chosen from a pool of 47 applicants to lead the Police Department, which has a $174 million budget and 2,100 employees, Charlotte City Manager Curt Walton announced.
"I think it's just a good opportunity," Dreher said in an interview. "I think I'm ready to elevate to the next level and become police chief."
Dreher said he did not seek out the job but was contacted by recruiters seeking to replace Charlotte's police chief, who is retiring. The opportunity fit in line with his career goal: to run his own police department.
In the wake of a controversial incident which led to the removal of over a dozen of Philadelphia's police officers from the streets, the Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board urges the city's civilian review board to monitor the investigation.
(excerpt)
Yet the advisory commission - created by then-Councilman Michael Nutter, with a mandate to improve the relationship between the community and police and to investigate, hold hearings and make recommendations to the department about police conduct - has only five people on staff (and one on loan from the managing-director's office).
It has a budget of just $300,000. Since January, the PAC has been promising a report on police-involved shootings since 2005 and why it takes so long to complete the investigations of them.
We're still waiting - now we hear it's probably not coming out for another few weeks. And a former watchdog, the Police Department's integrity officer, whose office was disbanded under the last administration, needs to reopened - and the sooner the better.
With the death of a fallen police officer still heavy on our hearts and the video of out-of-control cops fresh in our minds, Mayor Nutter- who did an admirable job representing the public's concern, sorrow and frustration in the days following Liczbinski's murder- should find at least $1 million so the advisory commission can double its staff and be more efficient.
But more to the point: The more transparency to investigations of police shootings and misconduct, the better. The advisory commission was created to represent the interests of the community and to improve its relationship with the police. That relationship can only grow with a strong and vibrant watchdog.
A police chief heading a law enforcement agency in Massachusetts has been put under investigation and fired.
While awaiting the outcome of an inquiry being done of their agency by the Department of Justice, Austin's police department has already made changes with how it handles uses of force.
(excerpt, American Statesman)
Austin police officials will soon begin requiring officers to document more actions, including when they point their weapons at suspects, and making front-line supervisors do a more immediate, thorough investigation in nearly all cases when force is used.
The changes are scheduled to take effect June 1. They come after years of community criticism about how Austin officers use force and during an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which is looking into whether the department routinely violates the rights of minorities.
Police officials said they will spend the next three weeks training officers and supervisors on the new "response to resistance" standards. They will no longer refer to the rules as their "use of force" policies and said the name change more accurately reflects why they take certain actions to subdue suspects.
"We want to bring in the very best practices for Austin," Police Chief Art Acevedo said last week. "Our officers deserve to have the best policies, procedures and practices, and the community deserves the same. Having that brings trust and a spirit of cooperation between the Austin Police Department and the community we are sworn to keep safe."
The new chief, Jody Weis, of the Chicago Police Department is also making some serious changes, according to Newsvine.
(excerpt)
Weis marked 100 days on the job Saturday and he hasn't just ruffled feathers. He's plucked them.
He replaced 21 of the department's 25 district commanders. He announced that desk jockeys would start hitting the streets. And he wants officers to lose those beer bellies.
J-Fed, as the former head of the FBI's Philadelphia office is called by more than a few street cops, brought in his own command staff, including another former FBI agent hired specifically to make officers more accountable for their actions.
Then he asked federal officials to investigate an officer who'd already pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and was serving a two-year suspension.
At the same time, Weis, a weight lifter, has been willing to flex the department's muscles.
After three dozen shootings, many gang related, left nine people dead in a single weekend last month, he deployed SWAT teams in full battle gear. And to match the firepower of the city's street gangs, he's proposed that every one of his 13,500 officers be armed with semiautomatic assault rifles.
"I've been on the job 31 years and I've never seen the type of changes taking place in such a short time span," said Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue.
It all has observers — some who say they're pleased and others, like Donahue, who aren't — shaking their heads.
Alderman Howard Brookins Jr. particularly likes how Weis brought in so many new district commanders.
"It appears he put those commanders in place without regard to political affiliation, lineage or cliques that have plagued the police ... department for years," said Brookins.
In New York City, Governor David Paterson favored testing police officers for alcohol and drug use after critical incidents such as shootings.
(excerpt, Newsday)
At a news conference after the half-hour meeting, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who led the widespread protests following the April 25 not-guilty verdict in the justifiable homicide trial of three New York City police detectives, said it was "important that the governor set the tone."
"No one should be insensitive to the loss this family has had to endure," he said. More than 220 people were arrested during the protests, including Sharpton and Paultre Bell.
A sergeant testified during the detectives' trial in March that none appeared to be drunk just after the shooting, and all appeared fit for duty.
Paterson said yesterday he would support legislation that would require officers involved in shootings to be tested for alcohol or drug consumption.
Paterson stopped short of fully endorsing another reform initiative sought by Sharpton and a state senator: a permanent, statewide special prosecutor to investigate police corruption and misconduct.
On Wednesday, demonstrators acted "in a way that certainly demonstrated a lot of values in terms of putting the issue above momentary exultation and excitement of that kind of event," Paterson said.
According to Fox News video, the attorneys representing former Bolingbrook sergeant, Drew Peterson are upset at fundraisers being held by his missing wife's family.
Hell yes!
"I have already asked for forgiveness from God and everybody I can,"
---Former Atlanta Police Department detective, Gregg Junnier while testifying in his partner's criminal trial. Junnier was one of the officers who shot and killed Kathryn Johnston, 92, after breaking into her house on a falsified warrant.
Riverside City Council meetings have gotten brief these days but the city is planning to hold another one this Tuesday. You'll probably have barely enough time to sit down and relax before the mayor will adjourn it for the evening but there are actually three discussion items on the calendar including this one exploring a marriage of convenience between Riverside and HUD regarding the development of the University Village, a project which as you know has been plagued by problems (ranging from the incarceration of the vice-president of one of its management companies to difficulties finding tenants and keeping them) and broken promises (involving promises made to local youth groups that they'd actually have an opportunity to get jobs) not to mention several former businesses who banned Eastside residents from special events held there. It will be intersting to see how this story turns out, but the latest chapter will be brought to you on Tuesday night. Be there or be elsewhere having fun.
If you have some time, check out Dennis Quaid's tour de force performance in Smart People, much better than the pyrotechnics of Speed Racer, with the film achieving the goal of elevating the 1960s anime series to new heights even if that wasn't the intention.
Human Resources is on the block with this interesting item for a consultant to advise the top-heavy City Hall on employee benefits counseling.
The panel addressing fire hazards will present its proposal to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. The public is invited.
Tuesday, May 13, at 1:30 p.m. at the Riverside County Administrative Headquarters on Lemon Street in Riverside.
A former Los Angeles Police Department officer alleged that he was assaulted and handcuffed by his former colleagues while on the job, according to KNBC. He was a probational officer at the time the incident happened. Between the police department and the fire department in that city, some of the employees have a really warped idea of what is "fun". And mostly, it's men of color and women who *don't* get that it's all supposed to be fun. At least that's one of the defenses raised by those who are promoting such fun, when complaints are filed and the city or county's legal counsel starts sweating.
This is the latest episode of fun and games in the LAPD.
(excerpt)
Former officer Karim Saafir graduated from the police academy in August 2007, but instead of fighting crime, he claims he was victimized by fellow officers.
"I cried on a few occasions, trying to really figure out what'd I do, why'd you do this and why am I being treated like this?" Saafir said.
Saafir said that the incident occurred while he was serving as a probation officer at the LAPD Wilshire Division station.
Ranking officers told him his probation work was not satisfactory and he should resign or be terminated, Saafir alleges.
Saafir said then, without provocation, he was jumped from behind, slammed to the floor injuring his lip and shoulder, handcuffed for two hours and detained for eight hours.
"I said, 'This is unnecessary. Please, this is unnecessary,'" said Saafir, whose brother, aunt and uncle were LAPD officers.
"He had done nothing wrong, nothing to justify the mistreatment that he suffered," said his attorney, Carl Douglas.
The Press Enterprise Editorial Board has told the Minutemen to stop protesting the mobile consulates in San Bernardino.
Two Inglewood Police Department officers shot and killed an unarmed man.
"I am not a snitch," said the man who allegedly tipped off the three detectives on Johnston's house, but only after the three narcotics detectives had threatened to plant marijuana on him and bust him if he didn't help them.
In Atlanta, the trial of one of its narcotics detectives who's being prosecuted in connection with the fatal officer-involved shooting of Kathryn Johnston continued last week.
More testimony about narcotics detectives lying on search warrants abounded, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
(excerpt)
Former Detective Gregg Junnier told a Fulton County jury that detectives would tell judges that they had verified their informants had bought cocaine from dealers by searching them for drugs before the buy took place.
"I have never seen anyone searched before they go into the house —- I've never seen that done —- even though officers always swear to it," Junnier said. "It's done that way in 90 percent of the warrants that are written."
But it wasn't just lies to get the warrant to search Kathryn Johnston's home that made Junnier uneasy, he said. He had an inkling something was wrong when he and Officer Jason R. Smith were leading the narcotics team to the front door. He said the northwest Atlanta house differed from the informant's description.
"I said, 'Man, this doesn't look right,' and he said, 'I know,' " Junnier testified. " 'I said what do you want to do.' He said, 'Hit it.'"
A minute later, Johnston was lying on her floor, dying.
Junnier testified at the Superior Court trial of one of his former partners, Arthur Tesler, who was guarding the back of Johnston's Neal Street home on that day, Nov. 21, 2006.
Junnier and Smith pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and face up to 10 and 12 years in prison, respectively, depending on their cooperation. Tesler faces 15 years on charges of lying in an official investigation, violating his oath as an officer and false imprisonment, a charge stemming from illegally surrounding Johnston's house.
Junnier, whose confession unraveled the case, is to testify again today.
"I have already asked for forgiveness from God and everybody I can," he said.
Speaking of Atlanta's beleaguered police department, the second in command is leaving for a job in Charlotte, North Carolina.
(excerpt, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Atlanta police Chief Richard Pennington's right-hand man, assistant Chief Alan Dreher, was named Tuesday a finalist for the position of police chief in Charlotte.
Dreher and two other finalists were chosen from a pool of 47 applicants to lead the Police Department, which has a $174 million budget and 2,100 employees, Charlotte City Manager Curt Walton announced.
"I think it's just a good opportunity," Dreher said in an interview. "I think I'm ready to elevate to the next level and become police chief."
Dreher said he did not seek out the job but was contacted by recruiters seeking to replace Charlotte's police chief, who is retiring. The opportunity fit in line with his career goal: to run his own police department.
In the wake of a controversial incident which led to the removal of over a dozen of Philadelphia's police officers from the streets, the Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board urges the city's civilian review board to monitor the investigation.
(excerpt)
Yet the advisory commission - created by then-Councilman Michael Nutter, with a mandate to improve the relationship between the community and police and to investigate, hold hearings and make recommendations to the department about police conduct - has only five people on staff (and one on loan from the managing-director's office).
It has a budget of just $300,000. Since January, the PAC has been promising a report on police-involved shootings since 2005 and why it takes so long to complete the investigations of them.
We're still waiting - now we hear it's probably not coming out for another few weeks. And a former watchdog, the Police Department's integrity officer, whose office was disbanded under the last administration, needs to reopened - and the sooner the better.
With the death of a fallen police officer still heavy on our hearts and the video of out-of-control cops fresh in our minds, Mayor Nutter- who did an admirable job representing the public's concern, sorrow and frustration in the days following Liczbinski's murder- should find at least $1 million so the advisory commission can double its staff and be more efficient.
But more to the point: The more transparency to investigations of police shootings and misconduct, the better. The advisory commission was created to represent the interests of the community and to improve its relationship with the police. That relationship can only grow with a strong and vibrant watchdog.
A police chief heading a law enforcement agency in Massachusetts has been put under investigation and fired.
While awaiting the outcome of an inquiry being done of their agency by the Department of Justice, Austin's police department has already made changes with how it handles uses of force.
(excerpt, American Statesman)
Austin police officials will soon begin requiring officers to document more actions, including when they point their weapons at suspects, and making front-line supervisors do a more immediate, thorough investigation in nearly all cases when force is used.
The changes are scheduled to take effect June 1. They come after years of community criticism about how Austin officers use force and during an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which is looking into whether the department routinely violates the rights of minorities.
Police officials said they will spend the next three weeks training officers and supervisors on the new "response to resistance" standards. They will no longer refer to the rules as their "use of force" policies and said the name change more accurately reflects why they take certain actions to subdue suspects.
"We want to bring in the very best practices for Austin," Police Chief Art Acevedo said last week. "Our officers deserve to have the best policies, procedures and practices, and the community deserves the same. Having that brings trust and a spirit of cooperation between the Austin Police Department and the community we are sworn to keep safe."
The new chief, Jody Weis, of the Chicago Police Department is also making some serious changes, according to Newsvine.
(excerpt)
Weis marked 100 days on the job Saturday and he hasn't just ruffled feathers. He's plucked them.
He replaced 21 of the department's 25 district commanders. He announced that desk jockeys would start hitting the streets. And he wants officers to lose those beer bellies.
J-Fed, as the former head of the FBI's Philadelphia office is called by more than a few street cops, brought in his own command staff, including another former FBI agent hired specifically to make officers more accountable for their actions.
Then he asked federal officials to investigate an officer who'd already pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and was serving a two-year suspension.
At the same time, Weis, a weight lifter, has been willing to flex the department's muscles.
After three dozen shootings, many gang related, left nine people dead in a single weekend last month, he deployed SWAT teams in full battle gear. And to match the firepower of the city's street gangs, he's proposed that every one of his 13,500 officers be armed with semiautomatic assault rifles.
"I've been on the job 31 years and I've never seen the type of changes taking place in such a short time span," said Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue.
It all has observers — some who say they're pleased and others, like Donahue, who aren't — shaking their heads.
Alderman Howard Brookins Jr. particularly likes how Weis brought in so many new district commanders.
"It appears he put those commanders in place without regard to political affiliation, lineage or cliques that have plagued the police ... department for years," said Brookins.
In New York City, Governor David Paterson favored testing police officers for alcohol and drug use after critical incidents such as shootings.
(excerpt, Newsday)
At a news conference after the half-hour meeting, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who led the widespread protests following the April 25 not-guilty verdict in the justifiable homicide trial of three New York City police detectives, said it was "important that the governor set the tone."
"No one should be insensitive to the loss this family has had to endure," he said. More than 220 people were arrested during the protests, including Sharpton and Paultre Bell.
A sergeant testified during the detectives' trial in March that none appeared to be drunk just after the shooting, and all appeared fit for duty.
Paterson said yesterday he would support legislation that would require officers involved in shootings to be tested for alcohol or drug consumption.
Paterson stopped short of fully endorsing another reform initiative sought by Sharpton and a state senator: a permanent, statewide special prosecutor to investigate police corruption and misconduct.
On Wednesday, demonstrators acted "in a way that certainly demonstrated a lot of values in terms of putting the issue above momentary exultation and excitement of that kind of event," Paterson said.
According to Fox News video, the attorneys representing former Bolingbrook sergeant, Drew Peterson are upset at fundraisers being held by his missing wife's family.
Labels: corruption 101, Making the grade, officer-involved shootings
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