"As safe as weapons can be" and other musings
****Breaking News: By a 3-2 vote, Sandra Hutchens is the new Orange County sheriff. ****
Will Riverside's Mayor Ron Loveridge be censured by the local committee of the Democratic Party for urging Democrats to support Councilman Frank Schiavone's run for supervisor?
If you recall, he recorded an advertisement to be phoned in on the auto dialer urging voters to do just that and to join him and other Democrats.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
Earlier Monday before the meeting, Loveridge said he was unaware that he faced possible censure.
"No one's told me," he said. "I have not chosen to be active in the apparatus of the Democratic Party."
Asked why he would record a partisan call to "fellow Democrats" for a nonpartisan seat on behalf of a Republican, Loveridge did not respond directly.
The mayor said he has supported Buster in the past but Buster did not ask him for his endorsement this year while Schiavone, a fellow city elected official, did ask him.
"We make choices based on what we feel is best for our city and for Riverside County," Loveridge said.
Schiavone refused to discuss the phone calls.
Now the two main parties aren't that much different each other but speaking up for that "apparatus" and urging other voters to vote along with you and other Democrats? What was funny about it was that other Democrats on the dais apparently thought differently than Loveridge in endorsing candidates. They endorsed the Democrat candidate.
Democrats Andrew Melendrez from Ward Two and Nancy Hart from Ward Six backed Bob Buster, who's a Democrat. Although former councilman Dom Betro apparently backed his former councilman, Schiavone, putting paid to the insistence by some that the two men didn't get along. Which is all ironic considering how the party's local committee reacted when Democrats supported Ward One Councilman Mike Gardner in Election 2007. Gardner's a Republican; Betro's a Democrat but one thing they both have in common now was backing Schiavone's bid for supervisor.
It will be interesting to see how this situation develops.
Should the Stalder building in downtown Riverside be saved?
It's in the midst of controversy over whether the city should bulldoze yet another reminant of its history or not. Two relatives of Stalder speak up.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
Rich Stalder, a retired teacher, coach and athletic director at North High School, is distantly related to Gordon Stalder.
He said he believes the city should preserve the Stalder Building.
"I think they've demolished what the city of Riverside was when I grew up," said Stalder, who is in his late 60s. "It's becoming like any big, metropolitan city now. It's not unique."
Another distant relative of Gordon Stalder, Sandy Krivanek, 71, agreed that the city has lost too much of its architectural heritage to let the Stalder Building fall to the wrecking ball.
"I think we should keep it," she said.
And from the it can only happen here chapter, Riverside actually required the developer to put in a replica of the building. Destroy the real thing and put up an imitation. Stalder's relative is right, in that Riverside is turning into just another metropolitan area in its fervor to be anything but Riverside.
If you are in Riverside and have a few minutes to spare, you might want to pop in to check out the weekly meeting of the city council and most often, all you'll need is a few minutes as most meetings check in at about 90 minutes in duration for the evening sessions. Blink and the meeting's almost over. Sit down and you might find yourself having to get up again soon enough.
However, this week there is a public hearing at 2 p.m. in the chambers involving the city's 2008-09 annual budget. The city officials will take public comment and then vote on the budget as part of the consent calendar at the evening session. So if you can't attend the afternoon hearing on the budget, your other opportunity is to speak during public comment just before the consent calendar is voted upon. Not much time to talk about it but then again, public participation isn't what it used to be, because less than three years ago before the BASS quartet, people could pull items on the consent calendar off of it for discussion until a vote taken on July 12, 2005 barred them from being able to do so.
This is the pdf version of the proposed budget. As expected, every city department is getting cut except for two, police and fire.
The police department's budget is increasing by 5.11% and the fire department's by 3.01% , not shabby considering every other department's getting cut. Several city departments are getting hit a bit harder than the 5-10% across the board budget cuts recommended earlier this year. They include the following.
General Services: 21.88%
Library: 14.17%
Museum: 16.15%
Human Resources: 21.21%
City Manager's office/Finance: 12.38%
So if you have anything to say about what's happening with any of these departments, you'll have three minutes to do so at the afternoon or evening session.
Here's the rest of the meeting agenda. There are no discussion items this week because there are no reports to announce this week and the majority of discussion items on the weekly agendas are reports, either oral or written.
But there is a public hearing centering around the appeal filed by Greyhound Bus Lines against the proposed location for its new terminal. If you recall, the bus station's relocation has been tossed about back and forth like a hot potato primarily between Ward One which wasn't keen on the placement of the new terminal in its Northside and Ward Two which wasn't keen about it sitting in its Eastside. In most cases, the Eastside would naturally have its wishes come second as happened when the Wood Streets neighborhood being a "special neighborhood" was able to nix a proposed site for a homeless shelter a mile away. Relocating Greyhound to the proposed transit center which will stand where the downtown Metrolink Station is, wasn't a popular option because the responsibility for paying security costs sat on the other tenants.
Some people have noted that it's mostly people in the lower economic brackets who use Greyhound for transportation and moving the station from downtown is a way to also move poor people, given that the crime in the terminal should also be laid at the door of other tenants using the station including the RTA. But where's the RTA going?
Into the Eastside. Not suprising at all either.
Press Enterprise Columnist Dan Bernstein takes the mayor's challenge on comparing outgoing Riverside County CEO Larry Parrish and his possible replacement, current City Manager Brad Hudson.
(excerpt)
Since hizzoner raised the subject, what has CM Hudson accomplished? Van Buren Blvd. & Arlington Library redos. And much more. I bet he's also learned Riversiders are smarter and more interested in their city than he (or his enabling elected) suspected.
A citizen committee just rejected City Hall's scheme to merge the museum and library into a combo expansion that would've cheated both downtown institutions. Riversiders refused to let City Hall get away with it. (So far.)
Same with high-level City Hall tampering with Tequesquite Park -- they thought it'd be a nice place to plant houses. Once again, citizens intervened. Ill-named SmartPark smothered downtown with meters, and so offended rank-and-filers it was rolled back from the moment it was rolled out.
Riversiders won't be bullied. Not an easy lesson for a first-time manager -- especially when hot-to-trot electeds turn him loose. If Hudson's figured this out, it'll make him a better CM. Big accomplishment -- though Larry Parrish's triumph over waterless urinals tops it.
Will Hudson leave for the county job? That's not known right now but what's most likely a given is that the Riverside City Council will likely vote to give him a huge pay raise during a recession not to mention the keys to the kingdom to try and prevent that.
One politician, Neil Derry, who was elected to be a San Bernardino County supervisor said his campaign supporters don't own him and he's his own guy. That's reassuring to hear from a politician after he or she has won election but whether or not they actually mean it, that remains to be seen.
While on the San Bernardino City Council, controversy rose about some comments he made about gays and lesbians.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
In May 2005, the Gay and Lesbian Center of the Inland Empire applied to the council for a Community Development Block Grant subsidy for a crisis line. McGinnis said he asked Derry to support the request.
"He said to me, 'Gordon, there's no way I can vote for this gay stuff. My constituents are old, white Christians,' " McGinnis said.
McGinnis said he was taken aback and pointed out that Christianity calls on believers to show compassion.
"He said, 'Gordon, I care, it's just that I have a group of old, white Christians in my area, and they don't take too kindly to this homosexual stuff.' " McGinnis said.
Derry said he remembers the conversation and saying that he was voting as his constituents would want. But he denied some of the language, including "this homosexual stuff."
"I would never have said 'old, white Christians,' " he said. "I probably have the most diverse ward in the city."
It's interesting and dismaying both how Derry managed in one comment to be bigoted towards one group of individuals and then assigns his own bigotry onto another group of individuals. Bigotry by proxy. If he's homophobic, he should own it and not label it elsewhere as someone else's wishes. Because McGinnis is right, Christianity is about showing compassion.
Could Santa Ana, a city which is mostly Latino finally see its first Latino police chief?
(excerpt, Los Angeles Times)
Paul Walters, who has led the city's Police Department for two decades, is one of two finalists in the search for a new Orange County sheriff. And it has left some to wonder if the time has finally arrived when a Latino will head a department in which Latinos make up nearly half the 390 sworn officers and 67% of the police staff.
"I think it's important to consider a Latino. We should seek a replacement based on our demographics," said Councilwoman Michele Martinez. "But we're an equal opportunity employer, and we need to find the best of the best."
Martinez and other council members interviewed said they would not lobby specifically for a Latino but agreed that one would bring a unique cultural awareness to the job. A Latino could start the job with "instant credibility in the community," one councilman said.
The selection process for what's usually an elected position is down to two candidates which are Walters and Sandra Hutchens who had worked as a division chief in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The one appointed will serve until an election is called in 2010.
Walters should be considered the favorite in this contest. Right administrative experience (having been a police chief), right gender (in a profession which still prefers males), the only caveat is whether or not he's serious about taking the position or is angling himself another pay raise from home base. Hutchens brings a lot to the plate but also has to contend with the glass ceiling.
A company which CALPERs invests in has filed for bankruptcy. Not surprising, but what does the future hold?
A lot going on in the world of tasers, during the past week or so. Taser International Inc. had always been able to boast that it never lost a lawsuit filed against one of its products. But those days are over, now it has lost a case against it that went to trial in Salinas.
Taser International lost a federal civil trial after a jury awarded the plaintiffs suing the company over $6 million in damages, according to The Herald.
(excerpt)
An attorney for the family called the verdict a “landmark decision,” and indicated that it was the first time Taser International had been held responsible for a death or injury linked to its product.
But the jury exonerated Salinas police, including four officers, in the death of 40-year-old Robert Heston Jr. on Feb. 20, 2005. Heston died a day after being shocked repeatedly by officers using Tasers. An autopsy found that Heston died from a combination of methamphetamine intoxication, an enlarged heart due to long-term drug abuse, and Taser shocks.
Heston’s parents, Betty Lou and Robert Sr., and their daughter sued Taser International. They alleged the company failed to properly warn users that its product could be dangerous, and even lethal, when used repeatedly in conjunction with chest compressions and on people under the influence of drugs.
The family alleged wrongful death, assault and battery, and negligence in their suit against the Salinas Police Department and officers Juan Ruiz, James Godwin, Lek Livingston and Michael Dominici.
The six-person jury found that Arizona-based stun-gun manufacturer Taser International should have more effectively warned police that Taser shocks were potentially dangerous. Salinas police testified during the trial that they were not warned that the shocks could be dangerous.
Taser International has not issued a response to the decision. It's a safe bet that after it confers with its attorneys, it will probably appeal the verdict. But even if it overturns it, it will be victory with an asterick, as lawyers have already said a legal precedent may have been set.
"As safe as weapons can be", is how a new study described tasers according to Force Safety News. It insists it will be the definitive analysis and at least it's apparently not sponsored by the company which makes the product. But it's ironic that the study emerged around the same time as the $6 million verdict by a federal jury that believed the company didn't adequately warn its customers about dangers involved with its product.
(excerpt)
These include the following highlights:
Early generation fatalities. The first 42 of Williams’ case studies represent deaths that occurred before 2000 and followed the use of first- and second-generation TASER weapons (the TASER TF-76, the Tasertron and the Air TASER 34000, which “relied mainly on pain compliance”) against aggressive or resistive subjects.
A TASER device cannot be confirmed as a cause of death or even as a significant contributing factor in any of these “Group 1” cases, Williams reports.
By the study’s definition, TASER can be “confirmed” as a direct cause of death only in instances where the subject likely would have survived had the weapon not been used.
Later generation fatalities. The other 171 deaths, considered “Group 2” events, followed the application of third- and fourth-generation weapons (Advanced TASER M26 and the TASER X26, which depend on “electromuscular disruption technology”).
In this category, TASER can be confirmed as a cause of death in only 1 case and confirmed as a significant contributing factor in only 1 other, Williams concludes.
“The evidence makes the case that TASER devices are not instruments of death,” Williams asserts. “The only conclusion the evidence supports is that they are safe weapons.”
Another man who was tased died in Phoenix while this latest debate was taking place, in academia and inside a courtroom.
Meanwhile, the New York City Police Department may be equipping its officers with tasers after studying them as part of an analysis of their use of force tactics after the 2006 fatal shooting of Sean Bell.
(excerpt, Associated Press)
Starting Wednesday, thousands of police sergeants will begin carrying electronic stun guns on their belts. The NYPD has used Tasers since 1984, but policy called for sergeants to store the stun guns in their trunks while patrolling, rather than strapping the weapons to their hips.
"They were a little too cumbersome," Browne explained. He said older Tasers were about the size and weight of a large flashlight and were less essential than other items police carry.
About 3,500 uniformed sergeants and other supervisors on patrol duty will be issued Tasers, costing about $500 each. The NYPD has 36,000 officers.
How San Jose Police Department officers handled the vehicle crash of a former officer has caught the attention and scrutiny of the State Attorney General's office.
(excerpt, San Jose Mercury)
The Cadillac Escalade rammed into the rear of a car, jumped the median, then hit another car head-on. But San Jose police officers failed to order a sobriety test or even cite the Escalade's driver, a former police officer.
Now the state attorney general is investigating whether the responding officers acted improperly in their low-key handling of the case.
The case might simply have disappeared had not an outraged victim called top police officials to complain that nothing was being done.
The officials then reviewed the case and recognized the name of the former officer, who is now an investigator for the district attorney's office. They called the DA's office, which - fearing a conflict of interest - forwarded the matter to the state attorney general's office.
Assistant Police Chief Dan Katz said: "We have full faith in the attorney general's office to thoroughly review this matter."
The attorney general's office did not return calls Tuesday.
Police declined to name the former officer. But the Mercury News has learned that she is Sandra Woodall, 39.
Woodall's husband, Jason, is a sergeant at the department; her father-in-law is Jack Woodall, a former lieutenant at the police department and also a district attorney's investigator.
In New York City, there may be a protest during baseball's all-star game by the Reverend Al Sharpton and others in protest of the acquittal of three detectives who shot and killed Sean Bell in 2006, according to the New York Daily News.
(excerpt)
"We have plans to do the same at the All-Star Game," Sharpton said. "We will seriously consider suspending our civil disobedience if we can see some legislative action."
Sharpton would not reveal the nature of the planned protests at the game, which is being held in theBronx to mark the final season at Yankee Stadium. He would not say whether the protesters would demonstrate inside or outside the Stadium.
"It's the time the whole world will be looking at New York," said Sharpton. "It would be very dramatic."
The activist noted that Bell was a budding baseball star before he died on his wedding day in a hail of 50 police bullets.
"Sean Bell may have been an All Star if he hadn't been killed," he said.
The new protest threat came as elected officials unveiled a series of proposed new laws they believe will reduce police misconduct.
The package of laws would reform the Civilian Complaint Review Board, require drug testing when cops fire their guns and ban arrest quotas, according to a 28-page report.
"We must enact laws that will restore the public's faith in our law enforcement officials," said state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens), co-chairman of the New York State Tri-Level Legislative Task Force. "[We must] bridge the divide between our communities and our police departments."
In related news, a study released today stated that New York City Police Department officers needed more firearms training to avoid contagion fire. The study was commissioned earlier this year in light of the Bell shooting where special investigations unit officers fired over 50 shots at Bell and his two friends.
(excerpt, New York Times blog)
Rand researchers tried to tackle the phenomenon known as “reflexive shooting” or contagious shooting in which one officers’ gunshots spur a fusillade of bullets by others.
The study recommended that the department add “reflexive shooting scenarios that include a stimulus or the sound of gunfire, to sensitize officers to cues that may no be reliable and to teach them that such cues may generate unwanted responses,” among other things.
The study also looked at the possibility of using more less-lethal devices including tasers.
In That Moment is a play that examines policing from the perspective of Black officers.
(excerpt, New York Times blog)
The play opens with a prison guard, played by Todd Davis, and a defendant, played by Mr. Butler, who are both black men. Given the taunting of the older prison guard, the dialogue initially hints that the defendant is imprisoned for another episode of black-on-black violent crime until the audience discovers that he is actually a police officer who had confronted a young black man in a hallway in a shooting.
The two men probe the dual experience of being a black police officer in uniform and just a black man without the uniform.
“You could be a college graduate, you could be a college president, you could be walking up them stairs to receive the Nobel Prize — but as you’re walking up those steps you catch sight of a cop looking at you? And just like that! Like magic” — you’re nothing, the defendant rants (City Room is paraphrasing a bit here for a family-friendly audience).
At the same time, the children in the black communities view police officers — no matter what race — with suspicion.
A Chicago Police Department narcotics officer said he was encouraged to lie by their unit's supervisors. This isn't long after an Atlanta Police Department narcotics officer testified at trial that he was encouraged or forced to lie on warrants.
(excerpt, Chicago Tribune)
Keith Herrera, who was interviewed by CBS anchor Katie Couric for a story set to air Sunday, said supervisors encouraged falsifying reports to make cases appear more solid in court.
" 'Creative writing' was a certain term that bosses used to make sure that the job got done," he said. "I didn't just pick up a pen and just learn how to [lie on reports]. Bosses, guys that I work with who were older than I was ... It's taught to you."
Herrera faces as many as 30 years in prison if convicted of armed violence, home invasion, robbery and other charges brought in 2006.
Herrera described lying as a means to get criminals off the street, even if officers did not have solid evidence.
"Do you want that guy ... that just shot somebody to not go to jail because he threw the gun?" Herrera said in the interview. "Or do you want him to go to jail because he never let the gun out of his hand? ... I know what I've got to do."
The Riverside Police Department Police Chief Russ Leach will be holding a community forum for the NPC-West area of the city. The area commander there is Lt. Bob Williams.
The date and time of the forum is June 11, from 7-9 p.m., The location is at Loma Vista Middle School on 11050 Arlington.
More information on the forum is here.
Will Riverside's Mayor Ron Loveridge be censured by the local committee of the Democratic Party for urging Democrats to support Councilman Frank Schiavone's run for supervisor?
If you recall, he recorded an advertisement to be phoned in on the auto dialer urging voters to do just that and to join him and other Democrats.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
Earlier Monday before the meeting, Loveridge said he was unaware that he faced possible censure.
"No one's told me," he said. "I have not chosen to be active in the apparatus of the Democratic Party."
Asked why he would record a partisan call to "fellow Democrats" for a nonpartisan seat on behalf of a Republican, Loveridge did not respond directly.
The mayor said he has supported Buster in the past but Buster did not ask him for his endorsement this year while Schiavone, a fellow city elected official, did ask him.
"We make choices based on what we feel is best for our city and for Riverside County," Loveridge said.
Schiavone refused to discuss the phone calls.
Now the two main parties aren't that much different each other but speaking up for that "apparatus" and urging other voters to vote along with you and other Democrats? What was funny about it was that other Democrats on the dais apparently thought differently than Loveridge in endorsing candidates. They endorsed the Democrat candidate.
Democrats Andrew Melendrez from Ward Two and Nancy Hart from Ward Six backed Bob Buster, who's a Democrat. Although former councilman Dom Betro apparently backed his former councilman, Schiavone, putting paid to the insistence by some that the two men didn't get along. Which is all ironic considering how the party's local committee reacted when Democrats supported Ward One Councilman Mike Gardner in Election 2007. Gardner's a Republican; Betro's a Democrat but one thing they both have in common now was backing Schiavone's bid for supervisor.
It will be interesting to see how this situation develops.
Should the Stalder building in downtown Riverside be saved?
It's in the midst of controversy over whether the city should bulldoze yet another reminant of its history or not. Two relatives of Stalder speak up.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
Rich Stalder, a retired teacher, coach and athletic director at North High School, is distantly related to Gordon Stalder.
He said he believes the city should preserve the Stalder Building.
"I think they've demolished what the city of Riverside was when I grew up," said Stalder, who is in his late 60s. "It's becoming like any big, metropolitan city now. It's not unique."
Another distant relative of Gordon Stalder, Sandy Krivanek, 71, agreed that the city has lost too much of its architectural heritage to let the Stalder Building fall to the wrecking ball.
"I think we should keep it," she said.
And from the it can only happen here chapter, Riverside actually required the developer to put in a replica of the building. Destroy the real thing and put up an imitation. Stalder's relative is right, in that Riverside is turning into just another metropolitan area in its fervor to be anything but Riverside.
If you are in Riverside and have a few minutes to spare, you might want to pop in to check out the weekly meeting of the city council and most often, all you'll need is a few minutes as most meetings check in at about 90 minutes in duration for the evening sessions. Blink and the meeting's almost over. Sit down and you might find yourself having to get up again soon enough.
However, this week there is a public hearing at 2 p.m. in the chambers involving the city's 2008-09 annual budget. The city officials will take public comment and then vote on the budget as part of the consent calendar at the evening session. So if you can't attend the afternoon hearing on the budget, your other opportunity is to speak during public comment just before the consent calendar is voted upon. Not much time to talk about it but then again, public participation isn't what it used to be, because less than three years ago before the BASS quartet, people could pull items on the consent calendar off of it for discussion until a vote taken on July 12, 2005 barred them from being able to do so.
This is the pdf version of the proposed budget. As expected, every city department is getting cut except for two, police and fire.
The police department's budget is increasing by 5.11% and the fire department's by 3.01% , not shabby considering every other department's getting cut. Several city departments are getting hit a bit harder than the 5-10% across the board budget cuts recommended earlier this year. They include the following.
General Services: 21.88%
Library: 14.17%
Museum: 16.15%
Human Resources: 21.21%
City Manager's office/Finance: 12.38%
So if you have anything to say about what's happening with any of these departments, you'll have three minutes to do so at the afternoon or evening session.
Here's the rest of the meeting agenda. There are no discussion items this week because there are no reports to announce this week and the majority of discussion items on the weekly agendas are reports, either oral or written.
But there is a public hearing centering around the appeal filed by Greyhound Bus Lines against the proposed location for its new terminal. If you recall, the bus station's relocation has been tossed about back and forth like a hot potato primarily between Ward One which wasn't keen on the placement of the new terminal in its Northside and Ward Two which wasn't keen about it sitting in its Eastside. In most cases, the Eastside would naturally have its wishes come second as happened when the Wood Streets neighborhood being a "special neighborhood" was able to nix a proposed site for a homeless shelter a mile away. Relocating Greyhound to the proposed transit center which will stand where the downtown Metrolink Station is, wasn't a popular option because the responsibility for paying security costs sat on the other tenants.
Some people have noted that it's mostly people in the lower economic brackets who use Greyhound for transportation and moving the station from downtown is a way to also move poor people, given that the crime in the terminal should also be laid at the door of other tenants using the station including the RTA. But where's the RTA going?
Into the Eastside. Not suprising at all either.
Press Enterprise Columnist Dan Bernstein takes the mayor's challenge on comparing outgoing Riverside County CEO Larry Parrish and his possible replacement, current City Manager Brad Hudson.
(excerpt)
Since hizzoner raised the subject, what has CM Hudson accomplished? Van Buren Blvd. & Arlington Library redos. And much more. I bet he's also learned Riversiders are smarter and more interested in their city than he (or his enabling elected) suspected.
A citizen committee just rejected City Hall's scheme to merge the museum and library into a combo expansion that would've cheated both downtown institutions. Riversiders refused to let City Hall get away with it. (So far.)
Same with high-level City Hall tampering with Tequesquite Park -- they thought it'd be a nice place to plant houses. Once again, citizens intervened. Ill-named SmartPark smothered downtown with meters, and so offended rank-and-filers it was rolled back from the moment it was rolled out.
Riversiders won't be bullied. Not an easy lesson for a first-time manager -- especially when hot-to-trot electeds turn him loose. If Hudson's figured this out, it'll make him a better CM. Big accomplishment -- though Larry Parrish's triumph over waterless urinals tops it.
Will Hudson leave for the county job? That's not known right now but what's most likely a given is that the Riverside City Council will likely vote to give him a huge pay raise during a recession not to mention the keys to the kingdom to try and prevent that.
One politician, Neil Derry, who was elected to be a San Bernardino County supervisor said his campaign supporters don't own him and he's his own guy. That's reassuring to hear from a politician after he or she has won election but whether or not they actually mean it, that remains to be seen.
While on the San Bernardino City Council, controversy rose about some comments he made about gays and lesbians.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
In May 2005, the Gay and Lesbian Center of the Inland Empire applied to the council for a Community Development Block Grant subsidy for a crisis line. McGinnis said he asked Derry to support the request.
"He said to me, 'Gordon, there's no way I can vote for this gay stuff. My constituents are old, white Christians,' " McGinnis said.
McGinnis said he was taken aback and pointed out that Christianity calls on believers to show compassion.
"He said, 'Gordon, I care, it's just that I have a group of old, white Christians in my area, and they don't take too kindly to this homosexual stuff.' " McGinnis said.
Derry said he remembers the conversation and saying that he was voting as his constituents would want. But he denied some of the language, including "this homosexual stuff."
"I would never have said 'old, white Christians,' " he said. "I probably have the most diverse ward in the city."
It's interesting and dismaying both how Derry managed in one comment to be bigoted towards one group of individuals and then assigns his own bigotry onto another group of individuals. Bigotry by proxy. If he's homophobic, he should own it and not label it elsewhere as someone else's wishes. Because McGinnis is right, Christianity is about showing compassion.
Could Santa Ana, a city which is mostly Latino finally see its first Latino police chief?
(excerpt, Los Angeles Times)
Paul Walters, who has led the city's Police Department for two decades, is one of two finalists in the search for a new Orange County sheriff. And it has left some to wonder if the time has finally arrived when a Latino will head a department in which Latinos make up nearly half the 390 sworn officers and 67% of the police staff.
"I think it's important to consider a Latino. We should seek a replacement based on our demographics," said Councilwoman Michele Martinez. "But we're an equal opportunity employer, and we need to find the best of the best."
Martinez and other council members interviewed said they would not lobby specifically for a Latino but agreed that one would bring a unique cultural awareness to the job. A Latino could start the job with "instant credibility in the community," one councilman said.
The selection process for what's usually an elected position is down to two candidates which are Walters and Sandra Hutchens who had worked as a division chief in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The one appointed will serve until an election is called in 2010.
Walters should be considered the favorite in this contest. Right administrative experience (having been a police chief), right gender (in a profession which still prefers males), the only caveat is whether or not he's serious about taking the position or is angling himself another pay raise from home base. Hutchens brings a lot to the plate but also has to contend with the glass ceiling.
A company which CALPERs invests in has filed for bankruptcy. Not surprising, but what does the future hold?
A lot going on in the world of tasers, during the past week or so. Taser International Inc. had always been able to boast that it never lost a lawsuit filed against one of its products. But those days are over, now it has lost a case against it that went to trial in Salinas.
Taser International lost a federal civil trial after a jury awarded the plaintiffs suing the company over $6 million in damages, according to The Herald.
(excerpt)
An attorney for the family called the verdict a “landmark decision,” and indicated that it was the first time Taser International had been held responsible for a death or injury linked to its product.
But the jury exonerated Salinas police, including four officers, in the death of 40-year-old Robert Heston Jr. on Feb. 20, 2005. Heston died a day after being shocked repeatedly by officers using Tasers. An autopsy found that Heston died from a combination of methamphetamine intoxication, an enlarged heart due to long-term drug abuse, and Taser shocks.
Heston’s parents, Betty Lou and Robert Sr., and their daughter sued Taser International. They alleged the company failed to properly warn users that its product could be dangerous, and even lethal, when used repeatedly in conjunction with chest compressions and on people under the influence of drugs.
The family alleged wrongful death, assault and battery, and negligence in their suit against the Salinas Police Department and officers Juan Ruiz, James Godwin, Lek Livingston and Michael Dominici.
The six-person jury found that Arizona-based stun-gun manufacturer Taser International should have more effectively warned police that Taser shocks were potentially dangerous. Salinas police testified during the trial that they were not warned that the shocks could be dangerous.
Taser International has not issued a response to the decision. It's a safe bet that after it confers with its attorneys, it will probably appeal the verdict. But even if it overturns it, it will be victory with an asterick, as lawyers have already said a legal precedent may have been set.
"As safe as weapons can be", is how a new study described tasers according to Force Safety News. It insists it will be the definitive analysis and at least it's apparently not sponsored by the company which makes the product. But it's ironic that the study emerged around the same time as the $6 million verdict by a federal jury that believed the company didn't adequately warn its customers about dangers involved with its product.
(excerpt)
These include the following highlights:
Early generation fatalities. The first 42 of Williams’ case studies represent deaths that occurred before 2000 and followed the use of first- and second-generation TASER weapons (the TASER TF-76, the Tasertron and the Air TASER 34000, which “relied mainly on pain compliance”) against aggressive or resistive subjects.
A TASER device cannot be confirmed as a cause of death or even as a significant contributing factor in any of these “Group 1” cases, Williams reports.
By the study’s definition, TASER can be “confirmed” as a direct cause of death only in instances where the subject likely would have survived had the weapon not been used.
Later generation fatalities. The other 171 deaths, considered “Group 2” events, followed the application of third- and fourth-generation weapons (Advanced TASER M26 and the TASER X26, which depend on “electromuscular disruption technology”).
In this category, TASER can be confirmed as a cause of death in only 1 case and confirmed as a significant contributing factor in only 1 other, Williams concludes.
“The evidence makes the case that TASER devices are not instruments of death,” Williams asserts. “The only conclusion the evidence supports is that they are safe weapons.”
Another man who was tased died in Phoenix while this latest debate was taking place, in academia and inside a courtroom.
Meanwhile, the New York City Police Department may be equipping its officers with tasers after studying them as part of an analysis of their use of force tactics after the 2006 fatal shooting of Sean Bell.
(excerpt, Associated Press)
Starting Wednesday, thousands of police sergeants will begin carrying electronic stun guns on their belts. The NYPD has used Tasers since 1984, but policy called for sergeants to store the stun guns in their trunks while patrolling, rather than strapping the weapons to their hips.
"They were a little too cumbersome," Browne explained. He said older Tasers were about the size and weight of a large flashlight and were less essential than other items police carry.
About 3,500 uniformed sergeants and other supervisors on patrol duty will be issued Tasers, costing about $500 each. The NYPD has 36,000 officers.
How San Jose Police Department officers handled the vehicle crash of a former officer has caught the attention and scrutiny of the State Attorney General's office.
(excerpt, San Jose Mercury)
The Cadillac Escalade rammed into the rear of a car, jumped the median, then hit another car head-on. But San Jose police officers failed to order a sobriety test or even cite the Escalade's driver, a former police officer.
Now the state attorney general is investigating whether the responding officers acted improperly in their low-key handling of the case.
The case might simply have disappeared had not an outraged victim called top police officials to complain that nothing was being done.
The officials then reviewed the case and recognized the name of the former officer, who is now an investigator for the district attorney's office. They called the DA's office, which - fearing a conflict of interest - forwarded the matter to the state attorney general's office.
Assistant Police Chief Dan Katz said: "We have full faith in the attorney general's office to thoroughly review this matter."
The attorney general's office did not return calls Tuesday.
Police declined to name the former officer. But the Mercury News has learned that she is Sandra Woodall, 39.
Woodall's husband, Jason, is a sergeant at the department; her father-in-law is Jack Woodall, a former lieutenant at the police department and also a district attorney's investigator.
In New York City, there may be a protest during baseball's all-star game by the Reverend Al Sharpton and others in protest of the acquittal of three detectives who shot and killed Sean Bell in 2006, according to the New York Daily News.
(excerpt)
"We have plans to do the same at the All-Star Game," Sharpton said. "We will seriously consider suspending our civil disobedience if we can see some legislative action."
Sharpton would not reveal the nature of the planned protests at the game, which is being held in theBronx to mark the final season at Yankee Stadium. He would not say whether the protesters would demonstrate inside or outside the Stadium.
"It's the time the whole world will be looking at New York," said Sharpton. "It would be very dramatic."
The activist noted that Bell was a budding baseball star before he died on his wedding day in a hail of 50 police bullets.
"Sean Bell may have been an All Star if he hadn't been killed," he said.
The new protest threat came as elected officials unveiled a series of proposed new laws they believe will reduce police misconduct.
The package of laws would reform the Civilian Complaint Review Board, require drug testing when cops fire their guns and ban arrest quotas, according to a 28-page report.
"We must enact laws that will restore the public's faith in our law enforcement officials," said state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens), co-chairman of the New York State Tri-Level Legislative Task Force. "[We must] bridge the divide between our communities and our police departments."
In related news, a study released today stated that New York City Police Department officers needed more firearms training to avoid contagion fire. The study was commissioned earlier this year in light of the Bell shooting where special investigations unit officers fired over 50 shots at Bell and his two friends.
(excerpt, New York Times blog)
Rand researchers tried to tackle the phenomenon known as “reflexive shooting” or contagious shooting in which one officers’ gunshots spur a fusillade of bullets by others.
The study recommended that the department add “reflexive shooting scenarios that include a stimulus or the sound of gunfire, to sensitize officers to cues that may no be reliable and to teach them that such cues may generate unwanted responses,” among other things.
The study also looked at the possibility of using more less-lethal devices including tasers.
In That Moment is a play that examines policing from the perspective of Black officers.
(excerpt, New York Times blog)
The play opens with a prison guard, played by Todd Davis, and a defendant, played by Mr. Butler, who are both black men. Given the taunting of the older prison guard, the dialogue initially hints that the defendant is imprisoned for another episode of black-on-black violent crime until the audience discovers that he is actually a police officer who had confronted a young black man in a hallway in a shooting.
The two men probe the dual experience of being a black police officer in uniform and just a black man without the uniform.
“You could be a college graduate, you could be a college president, you could be walking up them stairs to receive the Nobel Prize — but as you’re walking up those steps you catch sight of a cop looking at you? And just like that! Like magic” — you’re nothing, the defendant rants (City Room is paraphrasing a bit here for a family-friendly audience).
At the same time, the children in the black communities view police officers — no matter what race — with suspicion.
A Chicago Police Department narcotics officer said he was encouraged to lie by their unit's supervisors. This isn't long after an Atlanta Police Department narcotics officer testified at trial that he was encouraged or forced to lie on warrants.
(excerpt, Chicago Tribune)
Keith Herrera, who was interviewed by CBS anchor Katie Couric for a story set to air Sunday, said supervisors encouraged falsifying reports to make cases appear more solid in court.
" 'Creative writing' was a certain term that bosses used to make sure that the job got done," he said. "I didn't just pick up a pen and just learn how to [lie on reports]. Bosses, guys that I work with who were older than I was ... It's taught to you."
Herrera faces as many as 30 years in prison if convicted of armed violence, home invasion, robbery and other charges brought in 2006.
Herrera described lying as a means to get criminals off the street, even if officers did not have solid evidence.
"Do you want that guy ... that just shot somebody to not go to jail because he threw the gun?" Herrera said in the interview. "Or do you want him to go to jail because he never let the gun out of his hand? ... I know what I've got to do."
The Riverside Police Department Police Chief Russ Leach will be holding a community forum for the NPC-West area of the city. The area commander there is Lt. Bob Williams.
The date and time of the forum is June 11, from 7-9 p.m., The location is at Loma Vista Middle School on 11050 Arlington.
More information on the forum is here.
Labels: Budget 2008 Watch, corruption 101, Election 2008, judicial watch, Making the grade, officer-involved shootings
posted by Five Before Midnight | 7:25 AM
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