Election 2007 and 2008: When elections collide

I follow some of the discussions on Inland Empire Craigslist and today I encountered a critic of this site there. I was pretty amazed at that, not that I have critics but that a posting linking to my site actually lasted long enough at that site to attract some criticism. It seems like most of the time, any posting referring to this site gets removed by an unknown party or parties almost as quickly as they are posted. That's hardly surprising. If there's one thing I've learned since the creation of this blog, is that there are most definitely those out there who dislike and even hate it and me.

On one occasion at Craigslist, an individual, a self-identified Dom Betro supporter, even appeared admitting that they were behind the removal and in fact were quite proud of it and quite good at it as well. Everyone should have at least one thing they can be good at and express pride in doing.



What I found very interesting about this criticism is that it brought up a dichotomy that I've often found confusing and that is the one involving Councilmen Dom Betro and Art Gage. Almost as if they were running against each other rather than against other opponents in their respective wards. Yes, there were critical remarks about Gardner but why so much of a focus on Gage?



The answer to that question requires an examination of politics in River City, particularly those surrounding City Hall and all its players both on the dais and off of it.


First of all, it's fairly clear how tightly the campaigns of Betro and Ward Three challenger, William "Rusty" Bailey are wound together and have been beginning not too long after Gage was ousted by the GASS quartet. Most of the people on the dais are in fact endorsing Bailey to replace Gage including former GASS members. Some people believe that's a sign of progress towards a city council that will work well together. Others see it as a sign of cronyism believing that the decisions and campaigns of candidates should be made by ward residents, not by interests outside those wards and that city council members and mayors should be prepared to work with the person who gets elected rather than playing favorites. This act of trading endorsements on the dais shows a move that was tailored by the GASS quartet towards emphasizing city representation over ward representation as earlier quartets had done. In fact, two of its members, Councilmen Frank Schiavone and Ed Adkison, once bunted around the idea of pushing for ward election runoffs to be voted upon city-wide.



Mercifully, that idea didn't get far. Most city residents think that ward representation should come first, then city representation. Most people currently on the dais and their supporters apparently take the opposite view.


People who moaned and groaned about GASS and for good reason don't seem nearly as hesitant to push for one quartet or another which reflects their own interests. What isn't good for the goose is clearly good for the gander. Is this a bit of a double standard? Yes, but it makes for fascinating politics and it's been around since time began. The obvious problem with bloc formation is that doing this leaves the majority of those in a city or county unrepresented by an elected body because quartets are often pushed and work on behalf of minority viewpoints.


So why the Betro vs Gage dynamic that seems to be strongest in the Betro campaign? It's interesting to watch in action and it rivals both the Betro vs Gardner and Gage vs Bailey dynamics that are also playing out this election season. But why is it there? Why the emphasis on inter-ward politics rather than simply those within the two wards?



Because if these campaigns were truly ward-centered rather than city-centered, there wouldn't be so much concern about putting a black hat on Gage and a white hat on Betro by his supporters. The truth, is they are both politicians who badly want to get back in office who pretty much had their keisters handed back to them on a plate by a voting constituency they had perhaps forgotten about that said, if you want our votes, you have to do much better than this.



This wasn't supposed to be. What was supposed to happen was both of these incumbents were supposed to sail through their elections with few if any political rivals and thus save most of their campaign chests for the mayor's race next year. Of course, things didn't quite turn out the way either expected. Betro remained in denial even after the results were tallied. Gage appeared more humble, but of course he was the more obvious loser in the first round.



I remember reading a recent issue of Inland Empire Magazine where indeed both Betro and Gage complete with large-sized photographs were featured talking about possibly running for the mayor's seat in 2008. The article had zeroed on these two men, giving scant attention to other potential candidates in the wings. They were interesting profiles of two politicians who appeared to be very interested in the mayor's seat. Of course, it's one thing to dream, another to actually get there.



Unfortunately for both of them, the preliminary rounds of Election 2007 quickly put paid to any such dreams including putting a lot of the money which would be needed to launch a competitive campaign for mayor, into this election instead. Both Betro and Gage instead faced runoffs with other candidates, one of them grass-roots mirroring Betro's rise and the other, backed by the same interests working on Betro's reelection. And since the current mayor, Ron Loveridge most likely is running again, the two current councilmen with higher ambitions might take a rain check on them. First they must win back their own seats.



But where's the Community Police Review Commission really in all this mix?



When I look at either Betro or Gage, I don't see an ally or friend to the CPRC though there are clearly others who do with Betro. But what has he done or even said lately? For those who spend time in the trenches of civilian oversight, the answer is not much. The poster at Craigslist is indeed correct. I do spend a lot of time involved advocating for the CPRC and yes, I am critical of how City Hall handled the CPRC particularly the past 18 months as anyone following the situation closely should and would be.



Where are the CPRC's supporters at City Hall?


In fact, when I once asked Pedro Payne, the former executive director of the commission early last autumn whether he felt anyone on the dais supported the commission, he answered in the negative.



The truth is, the CPRC has few to no allies at City Hall. There are few or no individuals at City Hall who are willing to advocate for it and the few who used to will offer excuses as to why they are unable to do so. There are even fewer people who truly have the ear of politicians who are willing to publicly advocate for it either. It's almost as if they think to do so would do damage to themselves or as if to do so would be to break a silence that's meant to be there. After all, the silence from those circles in the past year that the CPRC suffered resignations of both commissioners and an executive director because of micromanagement at City Hall speaks volumes. It's a phenomenon that's actually attracted attention from outside Riverside and even this state from other organizations advocating for civilian review. What happened to Riverside and its activism in this area, they've asked, especially those living in cities facing similar challenges only in this case, they acted.

It's not an easy question to answer. It's difficult enough answering that question when it's been asked by several communities closer to home.

Has there been one word from the Betro campaign for example publicly including as its platform a condemnation of the actions taken against the CPRC in the past year, or any real support of it? Has there been much concern raised about the CPRC? How many people in the Betro campaign even know what the letters stand for? A few, perhaps.



This shouldn't be all that surprising considering that even though Betro and his campaign supporters used to waggle their fingers at city council candidates who received campaign donations from the Riverside Police Officers' Association's Political Action Committee and condemn them for it, apparently their own candidate is excused from being judged in the same manner. In fact, last November Betro publicly castigated individuals who had spoken on the RPOA's behalf at an appearance its members made at City Hall, regarding its contract negotiation process. Only four months later, he accepted the same union's endorsement. When he did, you could hear a pin drop.


It's the candidates' decisions to take the money or not and it's the union's decision on who to support financially and who it believes can best serve it. It's also the leadership's decision is accountable to the membership who entrusts it to make decisions. It's not likely that supporting Gardner's campaign was even an option given his past stint as a commissioner for the CPRC. Betro obviously didn't carry that baggage or any baggage for that matter so between the two, he was the obvious choice. But to point fingers at Gage, Schiavone, Adkison and Steve Adams for taking the endorsements and not at Betro, seems a bit disingenuous.

Neither Betro and Gage really has done much to deserve to be included in the role of ally to the CPRC. And the difference between the two, is an important one. Betro campaigned on this issue and was a staunch supporter of Measure II. However, his outspokenness on the issue ended soon after the day City Manager Brad Hudson was hired. Hudson and Asst. City Manager Tom DeSantis spent the next year implementing changes to the CPRC which ultimately forced Payne out and led to a flood of resignations from the commission. The commission has nearly turned itself over in the past year.



Several elected officials took advantage of this upheaval in the past several months to place their own political choices on it for very different reasons but that's what politicians do in any city or county. So much so it's pretty much a running joke every place among those who watch what's going on with local politics.



As for known adversaries?


The CPRC has plenty of those as well. Gage must be considered one of them, certainly back in 2004 when his actions precipitated the placement of the CPRC in the city's charter.


Gage never had a love affair with the CPRC, except before his election when I had written that he had opposed it and he said that he wasn't for or against it. It became clear within months of his election how much he opposed it through his overt actions despite what he had said. But ironically, it was because his actions were overt that the community could come out and challenge his actions and push their elected officials including Councilmen Frank Schiavone and Ed Adkison not to go along with essentially dissolving the CPRC by removing its budget. Because his actions were fairly predictable and very, very visible, his efforts were unsuccessful.



That's not the case with the "friends" of the CPRC who if they are doing anything at all, it's much more behind the scenes through providing direction to both the city manager's office and the city attorney's office while publicly proclaiming that even if they don't *like* the CPRC, the voters wanted it so they support it. Consequently, these actions because they aren't transparent, are much more difficult to track.



Whether an elected official is a "friend" of the CPRC or an adversary hasn't made much difference in the past year except maybe in the minds of those who support either.


As a result, both Betro and Gage received grades on the CPRC report card in the D range. Gage did slightly better because he's being graded from a slightly lower scale. And in part because as much as he has disliked the CPRC and overtly opposed it, there was one line that he wasn't willing to cross.


The truth is, if anyone's "grandstanding", it's both or neither of the two men. It's up to the residents of both wards whether they want to keep their elected officials or send them packing. Both wards have already sent a loud message to both of them that they'd better do better. It would certainly be nice to see them, especially Betro do nicer by the CPRC and actively support it. Do I expect to see it even after the election? No, because if he was a supporter you'd have seen more evidence of that before and during the election.

Still, the election remains up to the voters in these two wards as well as the other two up for grabs.

In Ward One, one of the key issues was park land, how it should be utilized and whether chunks of it should be sold off to developers to provide cash back to the city to spend elsewhere. Portions of Fairmount Park were going to be developed for commercial use and also low-income housing which only seems to be welcome inside the boundaries of Ward One if it's located on park ground. The poster credits City Hall for the improvements in these parks when in actuality, it was the community residents including Gardner who launched a very impressive letter campaign, spoke out at meetings including the one at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium on Riverside Renaissance and in other venues. They passed out pamphlets educating the public on what the city was planning to do and what they believed should be done instead. They and Gardner pressured Betro to do what Columnist Dan Bernstein called a "retro Betro". It's a credit on his part and that of the city council if they changed their minds on this issue, but the community members who launched the Tequesquite Park and Fairmount Park campaigns is what put them on that road.



It's not the only issue where a reversal by the city council was seen in recent days or weeks. With two more months to go until the election, don't be surprised if you see more such miracles.



In Ward Three, it's development issues, traffic and other quality of life issues, including but not exclusive to the Magnolia Plaza and other business centers. There may be miracles here as well.



The people pushing the incumbents to give cram courses on how to be responsive elected officials are their political rivals who along with other political candidates pushed runoff elections for all four odd-numbered wards in large part because they are dissatisfied with the current leadership, probably across the board. That's something for the incumbents in the even-numbered wards who come up for reelection in two years to seriously think about.

Maybe city residents felt the line was drawn when the city council members began using the city's police officers as their bouncers, rather than as those assigned there to keep them and the public safe from harm. Maybe while people like the idea of Riverside Renaissance, they're more concerned and cautious about the huge financial investment required by the city in a short period of time and how much it's going to cost them down the road and what will happen to the city's infrastructure in the process. There's nothing wrong with that and those on the dais should stop acting as if it's the worst thing in the world.

Still, elections are ultimately the celebration of the voting process.



What's really disheartening is when I stood close to where a person was gathering signatures for a possible ballot initiative. The first question is asking people if they are registered to vote and many people say yes, but some people don't. When these individuals are asked if they want to register, many say no. But your vote is an important voice that you have and more people need to exercise it. Please register if you have not.






Inland Empire's Craigslist is a very useful resource for information, especially links to other sites including many that I didn't know about. It's exciting to read about different Web sites being established addressing anything Riverside.

However, on this site there appears to be a couple of individuals, both self-defined as being pro and anti-Dom Betro, who are what are called cyberbullies. Cyberbullies are hard to avoid if you are online, especially if you are a female and like to blog on just about anything. The Los Angeles Times and Washington Post both did extensive articles on Kathy Sierra, a woman who ran a blog on computers and was terrorized online to the point where she couldn't leave her home.

More on Kathy Sierra's experience here. Further research shows that her experience was hardly an aberration. Many female bloggers have experienced this, including those who have shut their blogs down.

Their targets are usually women who they feel threatened by and/or despise for some reason or another. They may or may not actually know their victims. The thing that's the most difficult is that these individuals are faceless. They might be at some distant place or they might be closer to home. They slander individuals like the unidentified person who wrote on my blog that I had too many DUIs and had lost my driver's license, write posts or send emails that make it clear that they are watching you by describing your clothing or appearance, they threaten to do harm to you. They often write postings that are pornographic especially that explicit with violence or threats of violence. They may commit crimes including stalking or hacking into Web sites, according to the legal definition.



Cyberbullying

More on Cyberbullying

Take Back the Blog



Having been terrorized by what appeared to be a group of them last year, I dislike seeing cyberbullies target individuals for harassment which is something taking place on Craigslist. And reading the comments of one anonymous individual in particular is like having ice water splashed in my face because his or her writing style resembles one of the unknown individuals who stalked me online last year. Yes you, because I'm aware that you are probably still reading this site.



But experts I've read wouldn't be too surprised if it were the same individuals. Cyberbullies may be serial, meaning they move from one victim to the next. Still, it's difficult to tell because these cowards hide behind anonymity and could be anyone with access to the internet. That's the hardest part of dealing with this atrocious and illegal conduct is that you can't put a face or faces to who is doing it.

To those who wonder why comments have been suspended on this site, it's because the cyberbullies refused to stop posting filth. It was a shame because there were interesting comments submitted as well. But Cyberbullying and Cyberstalking here, on the Inland Empire
Craigslist and elsewhere on the internet is definitely not cool and should not be tolerated.

This just in. Salvador Santana, publisher of The Truth newsletter received a letter from City Attorney Gregory Priamos justifying Councilman Ed Adkison's actions towards Santana at a city council meeting on Aug. 14. If you remember, Adkison had said during that meeting that Santana had been evicted from his residence in the past.

Just one more example that if you want to have a truly accountable ethics process with teeth, you need an independent committee to hear and render decisions on ethics complaints filed in accordance with the ethics code implemented after the passage of the ballot initiative in November 2004. Elected officials can't hold each other accountable for their behavior on or off the dais and the members of the BASS quartet has shown that it needs assistance there. And using the city attorney who is a direct employee of Adkison, Dom Betro, Steve Adams who've all received complaints so far and the other city council members as a buffer is in itself a conflict of interest.

An interesting bit of information is how many ethics complaints have been filed in total since the implementation of the process and what has happened to them? Statistics on these complaints and the process they underwent should be available to the public at least annually.



According to Belo Blog, Former Riverside Police Department officer, Jose Luis Nazario plead not guilty to two counts of voluntary manslaughter in U.S. District Court. The charges are in connection with a 2004 fatal shooting of two unarmed Iraqi detainees in Fallujah. His federal complaint is here.

The complaint details a narrative of events that the federal prosecutors believed too place in 2004 in Fallujah involving Nazario and other U.S. Marines.


(excerpt, The United States vs Jose Luis Nazario, Jr. )



This document has numerous spelling errors in it.


NAZARIO say something to the effect that they had detained four military-age males, they had found weapons acd amnition, and they had just taker. fire from the house. After ending his radio conversation, NAZARIO said that he was asked, "Are :hey dead yet?" to which NAZARIO responded "Negative." NAZARIO said he was told to "Make it happen." NAZARIO then grabbed one of the two youngest males and instructed - to grab the other and take him into another room. c. Next, heard a gunshot coming from the room where had taken his prisoner. He related that seconds later, he heard the sound of a gunshot coming from oCe of the home's bedrooms. According to - when he turned toward the sound of the second gunshot, he observed NAZARIO lowering his rifle from an "aimed-in" position to a "low-ready" position and saw one of the four detained males on the floor in front of NAZARIO, lying on his back. concluded that the detained male had been shot dead by NAZARIO.
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d. After NAZARIO shot the detained male, he exited the room and asked, "Who else wants to kill these guys, because I don't want to do it all nyself." e. then observed NAZARIO motion to two other Marines in the house to bring the remaining two males to him. According to , one of the males entered the room occapied by NAZARIO while the second waited at the doorway. At this point, rurned to exit the house. As he turned, he heard a gunshot, followed by about a twenty-second pause and a second gunshor . b e l i e v e d NAZARIO shot and killed the two remaining males f. stated that United States Marine Corps shootings occurred. At the time of the shootings, held6. On December 6, 2006, I interviewed United States Marine with , I learned the foliowing information: a. was present with NAZARIO in an unknown house in Fallujah, Iraq, on November 9, 2004, when United States Marines killed four unarmed males b. Someone saw movement from a nearby house and the house. When they entered the house, they encountered and
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detained four males. After detaining the four males within the house, NAZARIO told other Marines to search the house. The Marines found AK-47s and ammunition. NAZARIO then called an unknown individual on his issued radio and told hidher that four males had been found in the house. c. Following the radio transmission, NAZARIO told both m and-hehad been asked, "Are they dead yet?" NAZARIO then indicated to and-that they had to go, using words to the effect of "We can't be here all day." NAZAXO then said, "You know what has to be done." d. NAZARIO then grabbed one of males and led nlm into a room, believed by kitchen. Shorrly thereafter, =heard the four detained a gunshot come from the direction of the kitchen. When looked into the kitchen, he observed NAZARIO standing above the male, who was laying on the floor. From his observations, b e l i e v e d thar NAZARIO had shot the male in the head. Based on the large pool of blood on the floor surrounding the male's head, - concluded that the male was dead. e. NAZARIO then ordered both and0 ttceach kill one of the three remaining detained males. NAZARIO stated that he would kill the last male himself. f. NAZARIO then shot a second detained male in the head with his rifle. After doing so, noticed brain matte1
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and blood on the muzzle of NAZARIO's rifle and all over NAZARIO's boots g. then observed m shoot the detained male under his ( -IS) control with his pistol. h. Next, NAZARIO asked "Yo, are you done yet? We have to go." then took the detained male under his ( ' s ) control and shot him in the back of the head 7. Based on my investigation, I have also learned that NAZARIO has been discharged from the Marine Corps and now resides in the city of Riverside, Riverside County, within the Central Distzict of California. He is currently employed as a sworn Police Officer with the Riverside Police Department, Riverside, California. CONCLUSION 8. Based on the above information. I believe there is probable cause to believe that NAZARIO, while enlisted on active duty in the service of the United States Marine Corps in Iraq, and who presently resides in Riverside County, in the Central District of California, on or about November 9, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, while in the heat of passion caused by adequate provocation, did conmit voluntary manslaughter by unlawfully and intentionally killing two unarmed male human beings, without malice, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section
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1112, Voluntary Manslaughter, with jurisdiction arising under Title 18, United States Code, Sections 3238 and 3261(a) (2). Mark 0. Fox Special Agent Naval Crirriinal Investigative Service SWORN AND SUBSCRIBED TO BEFORE ME THIS DAYOFAUGUST, 2007 SOKORABLE JOHN C . RAYBURN, JR. UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE


The longer version of the Press Enterprise article is here.






Presiding Riverside County Superior Court Judge Janice McIntyre dismissed two weapons charges against Chandler William Cardwell who appeared in court today, according to the Press Enterprise. Although the charges were dropped, his bail was not and still remains at $1 million.


Speaking of the courts, a bill may bring more judges to the Inland Empire.


(excerpt)


Lawmakers gave final approval to the measure early Wednesday before adjourning their regular session for the year.

Riverside and San Bernardino counties, which have the largest legal caseloads in the state, are expected receive a total of 14 judges under the bill, the largest shares in the state.


Fourteen more judges! With that many, it would be like having a strike force of them all the time.






More information coming in on the controversy from the newly reformed police department Pittsburgh which drew fire after three officers who had histories of domestic violence allegations were promoted to higher positions. It's attracted a lot of attention including from activists committed to addressing domestic violence committed by police officers.

The National Center of Women and Policing has been keeping a close eye on the promotions done by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

Pittsburgh City Council addresses the issue of police-related domestic violence.


Video recording of city council meeting


Pittsburgh residents address the need for changes in how the department addresses inhouse domestic violence.


Video recording of residents' responses on the issue


The chronology of the situation involving the Pittsburgh Police Department, the first law enforcement agency to emerge from a federal consent decree is available at this site.


Some of the articles listed there include the following.



Three Pittsburgh police officers promoted despite criminal charges

Deputy chief defends officers' promotions

Ravenstahl: Officers' promotions were unacceptable

Mayor announces changes to promotional policy




Only 55% of law enforcement agencies in this country have policies dealing with inhouse domestic violence. It's not clear whether or not those agencies include any in Riverside County.





The Office of Professional Standards in Chicago is promising that it will clean up its act under its new leadership, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

Ilana Rosenzweig who now heads the office which has a vacancy rate of 23% said that she plans to do her part to restore the public's confidence in an office which is viewed by it as being too biased towards an increasingly scandal-plagued police department and lenient on its officers.


(excerpt)


It's years of mistrust that have been built up. That's going to be a big challenge to try to overcome those years of mistrust," she said.

Pressed on how she plans to do that, she said, "You do thorough investigations in a timely manner that are fair. You provide transparency. And you hope that, over time, more and more people are able to trust the answers coming out of OPS. I am a new face. I have years of working in this. I have been committed to thorough reviews of law enforcement behavior, doing that in a timely fashion and really effecting change where it's needed. But it will take time."





One of the complaints about the Office of Professional Standards is that complaint investigations took months or even years to complete.

Thousand of miles away in Riverside, California, the police department here has taken nearly as long on average to conduct its investigations of personnel complaints, according to public reports issued by the CPRC for June and August 2007.

Category 1 complaints are more serious allegations including excessive force, criminal conduct and false reporting. According to the department's policy #4.12, category 1 complaints are supposed to be completed within 60 days although that can be extended at the discretion of the Internal Affairs Division.

Category 2 allegations are less serious allegations including improper procedure, poor service and discourtesy. According to the department's policy #4.12, category 2complaints are supposed to be completed within 30 days although that can be extended at the discretion of the Internal Affairs Division.

Clearly some of these complaints have been extended at least several times.



June 2007

Category 1: 390 days(average)

Category 2: 350 days


July 2007(no complaints heard)


August 2007:


Category 1: 290

Category 2: 182


This trend appears to have begun at least last November and continued for the most part since.

Apparently, the department has recently restructured its Internal Affairs Division again. Currently, five sergeants are assigned to that division. However, the vast majority of citizen complaints are investigated by sergeants assigned to the field operations division so it's not clear what measures have been taken here to alleviate these delays on complaint investigations.




The New York Daily News detailed the testimony to the U.S. Congress given by doctors who have treated people exposed to toxic dust at Ground Zero.


(excerpt)


Between April and June of this year, doctors in the 9/11 workers health program overseen by Mount Sinai saw 2,323 patients.

They found:

* Lower respiratory problems in 40 percent of patients. Asthma and asthma-like reactive airways disease were found in 30 percent. Smaller portions of patients had chronic cough - 7 percent - or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - 5 percent.

* Upper respiratory conditions in 59 percent. The most common condition was runny nose, in 51 percent of the workers, and chronic sinusitis, in about a fifth of them.

* Mental health problems, the most common being post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, in 36 percent of patients.

Landrigan said it is still unclear how many of those patients will continue to experience such symptoms, or how many may develop new diseases like cancer many years after their exposure.



Here's an interesting Web site for Back to the Grind. That's a good place to sit and enjoy coffee and some good pastries.

Anniversaries and aftershocks

"We have all heard about "sick building syndrome," but the 9/11 contamination brings this syndrome to a whole new level."


---Ellen Ratner, Talk Radio News Service




"If the government had said we're not sure about the safety of the air and it would be prudent for residents to stay away, I don't think I would have this cancer. I dearly hope that I am in a small minority of people who were so gravely harmed by the aftermath of the WTC attacks, but I fear otherwise."


---The late Etta Wise, who died of lung cancer, in an essay written for the Tribeca Tribune.




Yesterday was 9-11, the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that took place in New York City, Washington, D.C. and in the airspace over Ohio.

Flags were at half-mast and activities were held to commemorate the anniversary of the attacks. Then just as it was in 2001, came the days after. The days, weeks and months that pass between anniversaries and memorials. The days when people die or are struggling for life as a result of having been exposed to 9-11.

Deborah Reeves, who worked as a paramedic at the epicenter of what had been the World Trade Center did not live to see this anniversary. She died in 2006 at the age of 41, after suffering from what was diagnosed as Mesothelioma a form of lung cancer that was directly linked to exposure to toxic substances namely asbestos during her eight months spent working at the site helping the medical examiners identify body parts.


(excerpt)



Despite her heroics at Ground Zero, Paramedic Reeve, who worked at Station 20 at Jacobi Hospital, had to spend a year fighting the city for disability benefits. After her Workers’ Compensation claim was rejected, the New York City Employees’ Retirement System made Reeve the first city worker to get a line-of-duty-injury disability pension under the new 9/11 disability law, but she did not live long enough to receive a check.

“This should not be happening,” said Bahnken. “She should have been treated like the hero that she was. And it’s happening not only to our members, but also to construction workers and everybody that worked down there."



The Public Employees Press wrote this article about her and about other members of the Local 2507, three in all, who died from illnesses suffered as a result of the time spent working at Ground Zero. Two emergency medical technicians also died from lung diseases.


Last week, two New York City Police Department officers died of lung cancer, according to the New York Post.


(excerpt)


Officer Frank Macari, 51, died on Monday, after a five-year battle with the disease.

Macari, a 13-year veteran of the force assigned to Brooklyn, developed a tumor on his leg in December 2001, after working at Ground Zero. He leaves a wife and stepdaughter.

Officer Madeline Caro, 41, a 16-year veteran, succumbed to lung cancer in July. Carlo, assigned to the South Bronx, also spent days at the World Trade Center site. She leaves a son and daughter.



In the wake of these deaths and others, out of the 34,000 police officers who responded to the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks, only about 1/3 of them have been screened for medical problems as a result to exposure to environmental toxins, according to the New York Sun.


This article in the Village Voice tries to sift through all the information about diseases related to exposure to environmental toxins including lead, asbestos, burning jet fuel and other chemicals.


Here's some numbers cited in the article.


Number of primary responders at WTC: 40,000

Number of employees exposed to environmental toxins: 410,000

Deaths attributed to toxic dust cloud: 12 +


Number of FDNY firefighters retired: 600

Percentage of FDNY firefighters with asthma or reactive airway dysfunction: 25%

Number of FDNY firefighters with sarcoidosis: 26(half of these diagnosed within the first year post-9-11)

Number of police officers who have filed disability claims: 3,000 +

Number of those claims approved by NYPD: 116

Deaths according to a WTC Fatality Study: 170



A large study done by Mt. Sinai Medical Center determined that the respiratory illnesses impacting individuals who worked at Ground Zero after 9-11 was much larger than previously believed. About 70% of the 10,000 workers tested suffered respiratory illnesses that either began after 9-11 or worsened.

The New England Journal of Medicine released a study showing that people exposed to toxic dust at Ground Zero could be at a higher risk of getting certain blood cancers.

One of those already sick is Retired firefighter Lee Ielpi who spent months working at the WTC site hoping to find his son, a firefighter who had perished there. He now has a rare blood cancer, and is one of at least 100 workers to have become sick with similar cancers since 2001.

There are believed to be three stages of illnesses after 9-11 found in workers.


1) A chronic cough known as "World Trade Center Cough"

2) Chronic respiratory illnesses which cause permanent and progressive damage.

3) Cancers of the lung, blood and lymphatic systems and possibly other forms.


Other serious medical conditions, some quite rare are manifesting themselves as well.


(excerpt, WCBS-TV article)


Dr. Robin Herbert, the co-director of Mount Sinai's World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program, described the latest findings in an online audio interview.

"We know we have a handful of cases of multiple myeloma in very young individuals. And multiple myelomas usually present later in life. And that's the odd, unusual and troubling finding we're seeing already," Herbert said.




(excerpt)

New York City's health department released guidelines on how to treat respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal diseases and post-traumatic stress disorder.



This article from Columbia Journalism Review details the battles between the New York Daily News and current New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg, to provide assistance for primary responders who were suffering from respiratory illnesses and other medical conditions after exposure to toxins after 9-11.


(excerpt)


According to Arthur Browne, the Daily News’s editorial page editor, the seeds for the campaign were planted back in January when the paper began investigating the issue after several first-responders died from respiratory diseases. Since 9/11 an estimated 12,000 people have reported lung-related health problems and a handful have died as a direct result.


In January, the Daily News published an editorial demanding an investigation into first-responder deaths due to respiratory illness. It followed up in February with another editorial calling for the city’s health department “to report publicly on patterns of illness, to analyze autopsies performed on first-responders who die … and to issue advisories to physicians about the best treatments for various ailments.” Despite these editorials, as well as pieces in the New York Post, the Village Voice, and the New York Times (subscription required), both the city and state governments continued to ignore the issue.


“It was clear that little or nothing was being done,” says Browne. “The more we reported, the more we saw how seriously people’s lives had been affected and how poorly government had responded.”



Democracy Now includes a transcript of a radio show done a year ago addressing illnesses suffered after 9-11 both among first responders and community members in close proximity to Ground Zero.




Firefighter Blog remembers 9-11.

After all, for many it's 9-11 every day of the year especially those suffering from related illnesses. And still, the leaders of this county who put their flags at half-mast and hold events commemorating anniversaries of this tragic moment in our nation's history remain slow to act in the face of another ongoing crisis.





Tasers have been hitting the headlines a lot lately, as the debate over their use continues in many different cities and states.

According to the Appleton Post-Crescent, physicians and police officers are at an impasse when it comes to the issue of "Excited Delirium", which has been labeled the cause of death on quite a few coroners' reports of individuals who died in police custody, often after being shocked by a stun gun.

Police experts believe one way.


(excerpt)



What excited delirium is, is a condition where a person gets a massive dose of adrenaline pumped into their body because their sympathetic nervous system is aroused," said Lt. Dave Nickels of the Appleton Police Department, who trains Fox Valley officers on how to recognize excited delirium.


Those affected quickly become extremely violent and paranoid and often act in bizarre ways, like attacking glass, Nickels said. The condition, which is usually spurred by chronic use of stimulant drugs or a mental illness, also brings "incredible strength and endurance."


"Their body does not seem to have the shut-off mechanism. That adrenaline dump and that superhuman strength just continue. It doesn't stop," Nickels said.


Without medical attention — and a sedative to calm them down — they usually die, Nickels said.


Some physicians interviewed for the article had a different definition.


(excerpt)


"Excited delirium is not a term that is recognized, so (in the case of) nonmedical people who use the term, it's very difficult to determine exactly what they mean," said Dr. William Narrow, associate director of the division of research at the American Psychiatric Association.


The American Medical Association, whose Web site returns no search results for the term excited delirium, defers to Narrow's opinion, said spokeswoman Lisa Bevilacqua.


Excited delirium may well exist but falls short of a medical explanation for a death, said Dr. Michael A. Williams, chairman of the ethics committee for the American Academy of Neurology and medical director of the LifeBridge Brain and Spine Institute in Baltimore.


What police officers and coroners are describing as excited delirium seems to be a syndrome, he said.


"A syndrome is just a collection of symptoms," he said. "A syndrome describes symptoms of behaviors or a typical series of events ... that seem to be consistent among a certain group of people.



Perhaps in part due to the continuing debate about the existence of "Excited Delirium", professional organizations are taking steps to track fatal incidents involving tasers.

The debate over this syndrome as some call it is pretty heated in Maryland which has seen five taser related deaths this year, according to the San Francisco Examiner.


Some people say that more studies are needed to determine the safety of the "non-lethal" device.


(excerpt)



“The Taser may be an excellent tool, but the problem is that there has been no volume of independent research and its effect on people,” said Sheldon Greenberg, associate dean of the Division of Public Safety Leadership at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Education. “All the research about the safety of Tasers has been vendor driven.”

Of particular concern to Greenberg is the use of Tasers not only by officers, but on them.

“I’m very concerned about the fact that police academies allow recruits to shoot one another with a Taser as part of their training,” he said. “I have a brother who is a police officer, and I don’t want 50,000 volts going through him until there is a body of knowledge that tells me they’re safe.”




The San Francisco Examiner published an article about the National Association of Medical Examiners establishing a nationwide database of fatalities related to these incidents. Coroners expressed frustration at what some of them have said is outside pressure not to include taser use as a cause of death in autopsy reports.


(excerpt)


“It’s just an effort to look at case reports, newspaper stories, whatever is out there and try to formulate some opinions as to what we need to do,” said Dr. Randy Hanzlick, chief medical examiner in Fulton County, Ga., and one of the database’s primary architects. “There are so many factors involved in some of these deaths — usually there is another explanation, but to cast off all doubts doesn’t make sense.”

The reluctance of some coroners to rule the devices as either the primary or contributing factor in deaths can be attributed in part to the threat of lawsuits, Hanzlick said.

“There have been direct statements at our meeting by the manufacturers: ‘You put that on the death certificate, and the company will sue you,’ ” he said.

Taser International, the predominant manufacturer of stun guns, did not dispute Hanzlick’s claims.

“We have held and will continue to hold medical examiners responsible for any untrue statements,” company spokesman Steve Tuttle said.



So is the company who sells the devices essentially controlling what the coroners and medical examiners place on their autopsy reports? And would any medical examiner who listed the taser as a primary or secondary factor in an individual's death be slapped with a law suit?



Pittsburgh's city council met to hear testimony given in relation to the issue of domestic violence in the police department. The special meeting took place after a huge outcry on the police chief's decision to promote three officers with histories of domestic violence allegations


(excerpt)


"Do we really want to go on record as being the city that condones, and advances the careers of, police who are domestic batterers?" asked Jeanne Clark, of the National Organization for Women. "You, frankly, are sitting on a time bomb."


Chief Nate Harper announced some changes that would be made within the next 45 days.

These include the following.


Thorough internal investigations of all family violence allegations against officers.

Involvement of his office in the handling of all such charges.

Disciplinary action when warranted.

More thorough background checks and polygraph testing of new recruits.





Better nonviolence training.






Bad news for Detroit's mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, when a jury awarded two fired police officers a $6.5 million verdict because it had determined that the Whistle blower Protection Act was violated, according to the Associated Press.

Yes, sometimes corruption in higher office does cost. Unfortunately, it will be the taxpayers who will be paying the bill, although violating a state law defending whistle blowers from retaliation is a serious offense of public trust.


(excerpt)


Michael Stefani, the plaintiff's attorney, said the jury sent the right message.

"The jury did what I asked - they put the blame on the mayor," he said.

Gary Brown claimed he was fired in 2003 because he was looking into allegations of drunken-driving accidents, falsified overtime records and a possible cover-up of incidents involving members of the security unit. He said he also was investigating claims from two former mayoral bodyguards that the mayor used his bodyguards to facilitate and cover up extramarital affairs.

Harold Nelthrope said he sued after Kilpatrick's administration released a confidential police memo naming him as a source of allegations of misconduct by other bodyguards.

Nelthrope said he was transferred out of the security detail and ultimately couldn't return to work out of fear for his safety and that of his family.

He described escorting the mayor to trysts with Christine Beatty, Kilpatrick's chief of staff, and other women. Kilpatrick, a married father of three, and Beatty denied the allegations in court.




Back home in River City, the city council held a workshop to discuss what the electric rates charged to consumers should be in light of the recent vote to revoke a previously approved multi-tier rate structure.

Most of the people who appeared and spoke at the workshop were business owners who feared the impact that the rate increases would have on them. Still, it looks like the repeal of the rates is but a brief reprieve.


(excerpt)



The best way for Riverside Public Utilities to slash its energy costs is to get the biggest residential users to cut back on their consumption, Wright said.

The council agreed that the concept of a tiered rate structure made sense, but members could not agree on how many tiers would be best.


The higher rates were passed by the city council last December. Don't be surprised say some cynical people if the city government celebrates the anniversary of that raise by voting in another rate hike.




More election forums in Riverside, from Belo Blog.


City Council runoff candidates get forums

The League of Women Voters of Northwest Riverside County is planning candidate forums this month for the four runoff elections for Riverside City Council.

The forums for the races for Wards 1 and 3 will take place on Monday at the Main Library downtown, 3581 Mission Inn Ave.

The Ward 1 forum with incumbent Councilman Dom Betro and challenger Mike Gardner will be at 6:30 p.m. The Ward 3 forum with incumbent Councilman Art Gage and challenger Rusty Bailey will be at 7:30 p.m.

The forums for the races for Wards 5 and 7 will take place on Sept. 19 at the La Sierra Library, 4600 La Sierra Ave.

The Ward 5 forum between Chris MacArthur and Donna Doty Michalka will be at 6:30 p.m. The Ward 7 forum between incumbent Councilman Steve Adams and challenger Terry Frizzel will be at 7:30 p.m.

--Doug Haberman

dhaberman@PE.com



Attend them if you can or at least the one impacting your ward. They are free and can be very educational.

Last night's city council meeting wasn't the shortest on record but they were intent on vacating the building by 7:30 p.m. because one of them had to get somewhere. It checked in at a crisp 45 minutes.

The consent calendar item on the University Avenue Charrette was pulled and will be heard in the discussion calendar in two or three weeks. Individuals including City Councilman Andrew Melendrez were surprised or even shocked at some of the recommendations put forth by the combined efforts of the University of California, Riverside and the city's Development Department.

Here is the city's report on that agenda item.

Some residents of the Eastside said that the plan presented differs greatly from what was presented to the community and the only aspect of it which appears to address the Eastside's residents is the component that has its children cleaning up the area. Besides the obvious issue of having Eastside children do that work for a project that largely benefits UCR students, there was some concern that labor laws might be violated.



Councilman Art Gage said that his voting process in the latest appointment of a commissioner to the Community Police Review Commission. He said that he admired latest appointment, Chani Beeman's knowledge and experiences, but that he was adament in his opposition of voting people on the CPRC with ties to law enforcement in general and the Riverside Police Department in particular. He said he hadn't even known that Beeman's son was a police officer in Riverside until near the end of her first interview back in March. He added that he might not be a fan of the CPRC and he's certainly shown that, but he did say that as long as it existed, there needed to be commissioners on there that the community could see as truly unbiased and not tied to law enforcement or the police department.

He was also concerned about how her son would be treated by other officers because of decisions his mother had made or that her appointment would make things difficult for him, even as he admires the police officers in the department a great deal.



More intrigue on As the County Turns here. Never a dull moment. And given that Riverside, the city is morphing into the mini-me of Riverside County, several sobering moments as well.


More aftershocks of the Lake Elsinore 4.7 earthquake continue to shake the region. In terms of the "big one", seismologists had this to say.


(excerpt)


"With all of these large faults in that region, you can't say when a major earthquake will happen. It could happen tomorrow."

Is the Mission Inn haunted and other happenings

This just in from the Press Enterprise Belo Blog:


(excerpt)


Police used electric shock on pit bull
Police had to use an electric shock Sunday to stop an aggressive pit bull that tried to attack several people in Riverside.

The dog attempted to attack a pedestrian about 7 a.m. at Canyon Crest Drive and Mission Grove Parkway, according to a Riverside police report. A passing driver stopped to help the pedestrian, prompting the dog to jump in the back of his truck.

When police arrived, the dog jumped from the truck and tried to attack several other bystanders, according to the report. Police used a Taser to shock the dog before it was picked up by Riverside County Animal Control.

-John Asbury
jasbury@PE.com


Posted by PE.com at 10:39 AM



As this breaking story continues to develop, any news that comes out of it will be brought here.



The Riverside City Council is back on its regular schedule and hidden on the hefty consent calendar for tonight's meeting is the gentrification plan, or as it's officially called the University Avenue Charrette Project. Not that there aren't good projects included in this plan but apparently it looks quite a bit different in this "progress" report than it did when it was presented to community groups in the Eastside some time ago.

Since it's on the consent calendar, only an elected official or city staff person can pull it and that's not likely to happen. Not until a city council is elected that remembers it represents the residents who live in the city, not the development firms from Orange County and other places.

It's not said often enough that Marjorie Von Pohle is the heroine of free speech at city council meetings. This woman although nearly 90, was willing to risk being removed from the council chambers by police officers to stand for this principle. She's had people go up to the microphone at city council meetings and ridicule her and her mission to restore the consent calendar to the people yet she's remained fearless.

Hopefully, there will be people in the next generation to pick up where she leaves off.




Riverside's Mission Inn, otherwise known as the center of the downtown universe needs your help. Yes you, a mere mortal, can greatly assist the hotel by returning the "artifacts" which have allegedly been removed from the premises over the years. Thousands of items which have historic value need to find their way back home.


(excerpt)


Buoyed by the return of 400 artifacts to the Inn last year, the restoration group agreed to make the initiative official.

"It requires awareness and good will," said John Worden, executive director of the foundation and museum. "We're laying the ground work."

On Thursday, an exhibit featuring about 50 rescued objects will kick off the Mission Inn Museum's "Bring it Home" campaign. The eclectic collection includes a 1906 piano; the original Anton clock face carved in Germany in 1709; a 4-foot wooden eagle from the early 1900s; rare photographs; documents; and the 1887 hotel registry graced with legendary owner Frank Miller's signature.



One woman was sufficiently moved enough by the plea to return some bells she stole in the 1960s when she was a teenager. That is truly awesome. Learn from her example.


The current owners of the Mission Inn might not want you to know this, but it's allegedly haunted by a host of spirits walking its halls and apparently singing in the hotel as well.

More information about Inland Empire hauntings can be found here.


It seems like many people who work or have worked at the Mission Inn have a tale or two to tell about alleged bumps in the night or ghosts they have encountered from one end of the massive hotel to the other.

It's not known whether or not any investigations have been conducted to determine one way or the other whether or not the Mission Inn is haunted. Perhaps, while the city council is busy putting together task forces, it should put one together to address this issue. If the Mission Inn could be marketed as a haunted house, think of what that could do for Riverside Renaissance receipts. After all, at some point there should be at least as much money coming out of it as going into it.

If you think this is a necessary investment to ensure the future evolution of the new and improved Riverside we've been hearing and reading so much about, by all means contact your elected official about it.



Hunter Hobby Park will be renovated said Ralph Nunez who directs the Park and Recreation Department, but one city council candidate said that he wished he had a chance to review the project plans before it was brought to a vote, according to an article in the Press Enterprise.


(excerpt)


Mike Gardner, the club's president, said the city's plans will not hurt the park's railroad following, but he wishes he had seen the final plan before it went to the commission for approval.

The city staff worked closely with the club to come up with a plan for the park that would not take away from the railroad, but the final plan was not shown to the club, he said.

At Monday's meeting, Gardner asked the commission to delay the vote so he could take the plan to the club's board for review.

"It's something I believe the club will be pleased with," he told the commission. "I just haven't had the opportunity to take the document to the board."

The commission still voted 5-1, with Commissioner Victor Sainz dissenting, to move the project forward. Commissioner Angel Sanchez Jr. was absent.

"We want to make sure we are respectful (of the club), but my concern is moving this forward in a timely manner," Nuñez said at the meeting.




Gardner's facing off against incumbent Dom Betro in Ward One this November. Gardner's presence in the race and his concern about the city's parks has served as a catalyst for a lot of the improvements that have been proposed for them.




The workers from Windsor Food Factory are now on strike with over 400 employees pushing for better pay.


(excerpt)


We kind of saw it coming," said maintenance worker Adolfo Melcher. Nonetheless, the 25-year-old Riverside resident who has three young children said he hasn't built up any savings to tide him over during the strike.

He was outside the Windsor factory Monday afternoon with other workers during one of three shifts that will have strikers outside the facility all day.

Christina Martinez, 34, a maintenance worker with the company for eight years, picketed alongside fellow workers Monday afternoon. The mother of five from Hesperia said she expects that she'll eventually be forced to pay for some of her health coverage, but she wants enough of a wage increase to cover the costs.

She's told her children they're on a budget.

"They know it's going to be hard," she said.





The people of Yonkers are calling for stronger civilian review according to the Lower Hudson Online.

Not surprisingly, this news comes after the announcement last month that the Department of Justice is going to do an investigation into civil rights violations allegedly committed by the Yonkers Police Department.

Of course, the city government wants its own version of civilian oversight as well.



(excerpt)


Republican Larry Sykes, who is challenging Councilwoman Patricia McDow, D-1st District, is calling for a civilian complaint review board independent from the city's Police Department. Last year McDow introduced legislation in the City Council for a similarly independent board.


"It would have subpoena powers and it would have representatives from the Police Department sitting on the board," Sykes said of his proposal, which would resemble the civilian review board in New York City.


McDow's council proposal went nowhere last year, so last week she issued an appeal for volunteers to join the current police-civilian oversight committee. Still, she said that the city should consider an independent civilian review board.


"Maybe I need to revisit it," McDow said of her proposal for a civilian complaint board. "It wasn't completely independent, because I knew I couldn't get that passed."




That statement isn't surprising, given how many local governments want to water down civilian review or ignore it altogether until their communities speak out loud enough and long enough for them to finally decide they can't. Then they step forward and come out with their own version just as the Riverside city council did in 2000.


One of the reasons why writing about the fate of the Community Police Review Commission is so interesting is because it's a clear-cut example of something that is supported by the majority of this city's residents. In fact, the majority of the city's residents in every precinct in every ward voted it into the city's charter in 2004. They did so in response to all the publicity about the many attempts by the city government to politicize it, to undermine it and even to strip it of its operating budget. After watching the city council have its way, the residents of the city took their feelings on the matter to the polls.

Contrast the feelings of the residents with those expressed by the city council, the majority of which opposes both civilian oversight and the CPRC. Watch what's taken place during the history of the CPRC both before and after the passage of the charter amendment that put it a bit more out of their reach. But only a little bit.

So what's here is an example of something supported by the people which isn't being supported enough or at all by those elected to represent those people.





A traffic stop study being done in Massachusetts has been delayed due to problems receiving data from the state's law enforcement agencies, according to the Boston Globe. The heads of these agencies who had opposed the ambitious studies don't seem too surprised. The politicians of course aren't too happy with the embarrassment that this setback has caused them.


(excerpt)


The issue is particularly sensitive for Governor Deval Patrick, the state's first black governor and the former assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton Justice Department. In an interview, Patrick's public safety secretary, Kevin M. Burke, said the program, launched under the Romney administration, has been a "step along the way."

Patrick, he said, now plans to ask police departments to voluntarily share their traffic data with the state. If he is not satisfied with their response, Patrick may require them to do so, Burke said.

"He won't wait forever," Burke said. "If our next step doesn't seem to be bearing fruit, then we'll look to move in another direction."

According to a review conducted by the Patrick administration, only 140 of the 247 police departments that had been targeted for special scrutiny followed the guidelines, which call for officers to fill out detailed reports every time they stop a driver. These reports include space to note the race and gender of the driver, the duration and reason for the stop, what type of road it happened on, and whether the car was searched and if so, what was found.

Another 104 police departments noted the race and gender of the driver and the reason for the stop, but rejected the more detailed aspects. Three departments told the state they did not record racial or gender data, and 12 departments never indicated what action, if any, they took, despite repeated promptings by the state. The numbers in the state's analysis added up to more than 247 because some departments used more than one method; for example, some might have used the detailed reports briefly and then switched to a different method.



Riverside's police department conducted similar study annually under its five-year stipulated judgment with the state attorney general's office. However, in the past several years no study has been released and the last one conducted was completed in March 2006 but was never released to the public.

The police department has said that it will use data compiled from 2006-07 to conduct a study which will be released to the public next March. The $25,000 allocated for the study has been in the department's budget since 2006.





In Houston, a police officer working for a school district was suspended because he was distributing copies of a "Ghetto" Handbook titled, "Wucha dun did now"


(excerpt)


This publication was completely reprehensible and HISD condemns it in the strongest possible terms," Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said in a written statement Thursday.

He said he has "mounted a very aggressive investigation."

District Police Chief Charles Wiley had no comment, Abbott said.

The booklet billed itself as a guide to Ebonics, teaching the reader to speak "as if you just came out of the hood." It included definitions such as "foty: a 40-ounce bottle of beer"; "aks: to ask a question"; and "hoodrat: scummy girl."

The booklet names six district officers "and the entire day shift patrol" as contributors. Abbott said a preliminary investigation has cleared those officers of involvement.








Only several years after the dissolution of its federal consent decree, the Pittsburgh Police Department is under the microscope for how it addresses domestic violence within its ranks, according to a detailed article by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

After perusing court records, the newspaper discovered that at least 34 police officers have been investigated for stalking, harassment, making threats and for physical and emotional abuse. Even more significant, having been investigated for any of this behavior, much of which is illegal, some of them still have been getting promoted.


(excerpt)


Council held a June 28 public hearing on the promotions. Today's 1:30 p.m. meeting will be open to the public, but the only people allowed to comment will be invited guests, including Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., Mr. Malloy, Citizen Police Review Board Executive Director Elizabeth Pittinger, and representatives of women's shelters and advocacy organizations.

"This is not a police-bashing thing," said council President Doug Shields, who set up the meeting. "We want to take a look at this to better understand the dynamic of domestic violence and the policy piece, and what we can do to make this better."

Police "take an oath to serve and protect," said Diane Wetendorf, a Chicago-based expert on officer-involved domestic violence who will not be at today's hearing. "It's different with cops because they have a position of public trust, because they respond to victims of domestic violence crimes."

New Cmdr. George T. Trosky was arrested in 1997 for breaking the nose of his then-wife, whose failure to appear in court led to charges being dropped. Also promoted were Lt. Charles Rodriguez, who saw his daughter drop simple assault charges against him in July, and Sgt. Eugene F. Hlavac, whose arguments with his girlfriend prompted two police calls to his home and anger management counseling this year.

None of the three officers promoted in June has had a PFA filed against him.





About 4% of the police department has been the subjects of allegations of domestic violence or restraining orders. Four officers had allegations of domestic violence made against them before joining the department.

Too often inhouse domestic violence in law enforcement agencies is treated as a "private matter" but many experts say that it's a serious problem that isn't treated as such.

One of the best series on police domestic violence was published by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and is located here.





A man tased by police officers in Anaheim during a domestic violence incident died in police custody, according to the Los Angeles Times. The cause of death hasn't been decided upon at this time and toxicology tests are pending.





In New York City, one officer injured another in what is known as a "friendly fire" shooting, according to this article in the New York Daily News but things could have been worse.



(excerpt)


"The shooting appears to be within department guidelines," NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said.

Annamarie Marchiondo, a 17-year veteran, was recovering in the hospital today with the foot injury and bullet wounds in her left side and right ankle, family members said.

The fusillade was sparked Friday when she and two other plainclothes cops stopped parolee Juan Calves, 51, and two other men who were riding between train cars at the 176th St. station in Mount Hope, cops said.

Riding outside subway cars is a violation of MTA rules.

Marchiondo, 40, was behind Calves preparing to search or handcuff him, when Calves suddenly spun around and grabbed her, pulling out a 44-mm pistol, Browne said.

The two other officers yelled, "Stop! Don't do it! Put it down!," Browne said.

Then Marchiondo broke free from Calves' grip, and he opened fire - shooting six bullets in all.

Marchiondo's female partner - a 26-year-old officer with three years on the job - fired nine times with her 9-mm Glock, and hit Calves fatally in the abdomen.

Her male partner - a rookie with a year and a few days on the job - hit Marchiondo in the left foot with his 9-mm Smith & Wesson, Browne said.






Riverside County will be holding classes on the Brown Act which governs public participation at governmental meetings, in various cities.


Riverside on Oct. 4 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Riverside County Administrative Center, 4080 Lemon St.

Call the county ahead of time at (951) 955-5400

I (heart) the CPRC: The report card, part one

(Part of a continuing series)



Several months ago, I wrote a posting titled, “I (heart) the CPRC” which detailed among other things, the ongoing relationships between the Community Police Review Commission and the city of Riverside.

What’s been interesting is that this article in particular has been linked to Inland Empire Craigslist quite a bit. Of course, it never remains posted for very long nor do any postings linked to this site because an unknown individual or individuals keep ensuring their removal because for whatever reason, he, she or they don't want anyone to read them. The individual or individuals have actually bragged about it on that site. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Anyway, it's probably time for a sequel to that posting, especially with all the changes that have been taking place at City Hall in regards to the Community Police Review Commission in recent weeks.



There's a lot of talk about report cards and assigning quantitative or better yet, letter grades to the performances of various players in regard to their interactions with the CPRC. It's interesting how people seem to feel more comfortable with and even gravitate to the assignment of such grades or scores as if that's what is necessary for them to understand or relate to any evaluation of the performance of a person or an entity.



However, often it's hard to assign a quantitative process to one that's inherently addressing qualitative analysis. Even in terms of assigning quantitative scores, it's difficult to do so by separating an entity such as the CPRC from all the people and the city employees, city officials and community members including leaders who interface with it.



The CPRC probably should be assigned a grade as well, but it can't be graded until these other entities around it are graded first. So it will be receiving its score last.


This edition of the report card will address the grades assigned to the city government, past and present.





City Hall





The City Council: D+



Some people might blame it on the fact that the majority of the current city council members were endorsed by the Riverside Police Officers Association when they first ran for their seats. This majority, formerly known as the GASS quartet was united in its opposition to the CPRC as a mechanism for civilian oversight of the police department. In a conversation I had with Dr. Samuel Walker, from the University of Nebraska, Omaha in 2004, he discussed how the labor unions of law enforcement agencies were playing larger roles in the political process of elections in cities and counties where there were civilian mechanisms installed.





Walker attributed that in part to the failure of the labor unions to thwart the process of civilian mechanisms in state courts. Many attempted, and in most cases whether it was addressing the legality of subpoena powers to the legality of civilian review, period, they didn't succeed. As a result, many of them began turning to politics in general and local governmental elections in particular in the early years of this century.



In Riverside, the campaign to put city council members who opposed civilian review began in 1999 before the birth of the CPRC, with the election of Ed Adkison, who had volunteered as a reserve deputy in San Bernardino County and not only opposed the idea of civilian review, he had voted against the implementation of the stipulated judgment as well.



Years later, Adkison admitted he might have erred in his opposition to the stipulated judgment imposed by former State Attorney General Bill Locker. He still remained firm against civilian review, picking up where his predecessor, Alex Clifford(who also opposed civilian review) left off and voting against it in the crucial second vote that it needed to be adopted as an ordinance.



In 2001, along came Councilman Frank Schiavone, a former Riverside Police Department reserve officer who surprise, also opposed civilian review. He received the firm endorsement of the RPOA in the Ward Four elections over previously endorsed Maureen Kane who attracted the union's ire with her votes in favor of the stipulated judgment and civilian review. If the union had known first, that civilian review was inevitable at that point and second, the efforts Kane and other council members made to ensure the implementation of the weakest model possible, perhaps it would have been more forgiving.



The turning point for the RPOA's strategy in the city council elections took place in 2003, when it dumped much larger campaign contributions in the coffers of candidates, Paul Fick, Art Gage and Steve Adams. Gage and Adams, both strong opponents of the CPRC and civilian review rode to victory, producing a majority of elected officials who opposed the CPRC on the dais. However, Fick lost narrowly in a runoff election in Ward One to Councilman Dom Betro who pledged to support the CPRC.



Betro initially stuck to his pledge with his decision along with Councilwoman Nancy Hart and Councilman Ameal Moore's to endorse Measure II, which would place the CPRC in the city's charter if voters passed it at the polls, which they did when 60% of them voted in support of the measure in November 2004.



Before that, the majority didn't wait for very long to act against the CPRC. The only problem was, the GASS(comprised of Gage, Adams, Schiavone and Adkison) quartet as they were called were divided in terms of how exactly to go about doing this. Gage and Adams supported blatant actions such as defunding the commission of up to 95% of its annual budget. Adkison and Schiavone both said they opposed the commission but as long as it existed, it should be properly funded.

Many in the community felt that the CPRC was living on borrowed time, beginning the day that the GASS quartet began its reign from the dais.

In reality, the only reason why the CPRC survived the GASS quartet was because the four members realized that if they did vote to get rid of it, then Mayor Ron Loveridge would do what he had never done and that would be to exercise his veto power. Because Fick didn't get elected, the GASS quartet lacked the crucial fifth vote needed to override a threatened veto by Loveridge.



And Loveridge did threaten to use his veto power at least twice during the budget reconciliation hearings held in June 2004 when Gage tried to strip the CPRC of most of its budget and failed to get anything other than one tepid second from Adams.



FRED(as Adkison and Schiavone used to be called) supposedly never forgave Gage for acting out so blatantly against the CPRC in the summer of 2004 and blamed its installation in the city's charter on Gage, something that Adkison admitted in a Press Enterprise article last spring, though officially at least, he was coming from the perspective that he blamed Gage for threatening to harm the CPRC.



Anyway, Schiavone said recently, FRED's dead and that's pretty much something everybody's known since Schiavone switched his BFF and started hanging out with Betro last year. This new quirky relationship that is the talk of those who follow the soap suds at City Hall would have tremendous implications for the CPRC especially in 2007 and not in the best of ways. That, and the deflation of GASS in favor of its replacement, BASS continue to have implications on many issues, not the least of which is the CPRC.

If GASS made active efforts to sabotage the CPRC or eliminate it, BASS has nearly killed it through at the very least, neglect, and at most, another campaign to keep it in a weakened state. The difference between the two majority blocs is that GASS appeared to want to eliminate civilian review in Riverside while BASS appears okay with having it around as long as it didn't exercise any real power.

If you notice, all of the elected officials save a couple have earned below satisfactory grades, because despite the fact that Measure II passed in all of their wards, they still act on interests that are outside of those expressed by their ward residents. This goes both for those who actively oppose the CPRC as well as those who kind of say they support it because their constituents do then clearly act against it or have nothing to say when it nearly gets run aground by City Hall.

It's also no accident that this occurred beginning a short time after the passage of Measure II. The city council no longer could overtly eliminate the CPRC off of the city's fabric yet after the celebration over its inclusion in the charter died down, the most difficult era in the history of the CPRC was about to begin. It's almost impossible to view the two factors as entirely exclusive entities as well as the timing of the challenges faced by the CPRC taking place relatively quickly after the dissolution of the stipulated judgment with the state in 2006 and the CPRC's sustained finding of excessive force on the Summer Marie Lane shooting before that in late 2005.


Here are the elected players and their grades.



Mayor Ron Loveridge: C





Loveridge deserves some accolades for comprising the Mayor's Use of Force Panel in 1999 which included among its final recommendations the creation of a civilian review mechanism. Although not a huge fan of civilian review(having once called it a "symbolic gesture"), Loveridge did push for it, albeit in a weaker form than most community residents wanted.



But Loveridge did support Measure II and has pushed for more candidates to be interviewed during the past Mayor's Nomination and Screening Commission while the other members of that committee appeared to be too busy trading votes.



If Loveridge hadn't threatened to veto several votes in 2004, there might not be a CPRC today so his contributions on that level were absolutely critical to its surviving until it was voted into the city's charter. The two threatened vetos are those that the public knows about and don't take into account any behind the scene intrigue among members of the GASS quartet.


Still, many mayors have spoken out in favor of civilian review including in cities where it's been challenged or marginalized and Loveridge's silence is such that you can hear a pin drop.



Dom Betro(Ward One): D



Some people believe that you should push for accountability in elected officials equally, but others believe that you should push hardest in the ones whose ideals you support. Betro is probably the biggest disappointment on the dais when it comes to the issue of civilian oversight, hands down.



He campaigned in large part on this issue. He endorsed Measure II. Initially, he appeared to support not just the idea of civilian review but its actuality as a functioning commission. There's little evidence to back that contention based on his actions or rather lack of actions during the past two years. Despite the city management's attempts to "hollow out" the CPRC as Press Enterprise columnist, Dan Bernstein put it, Betro has endorsed a huge pay raise for City Manager Brad Hudson.

Despite the recent events surrounding the CPRC in the past year including the abrupt resignation of an executive director and five commissioners, Betro has remained silent publicly on the issue. There's many questions still surrounding the sudden resignation of Commissioner Steve Simpson that came weeks after Betro and Schiavone allegedly had discussions in June about his mental competency. It's not clear what these concerns were based on given how little time either elected official had spent with Simpson, though Schiavone had mentioned outside and for the most part, unnamed individuals who had expressed these concerns to him.



The only interest Betro seems to have in the CPRC lately is to ensure that one of his major campaigners, Chani Beeman, gets appointed to it, an exercise of power that is commonplace in many local governments today. No one looks twice at the barter and reward system that takes place among elected officials and their supporters and many accept it as part of what governments do.

No city council member had ever worked so hard to get that job done as Betro did. His excuse for his silence appears to be that he believes that as a minority view point on a city council, he can't say anything about it. Tell that to many other elected officials across the country in the same position who are absolutely fearless when it comes to stumping for civilian review mechanisms in their cities and counties. As an excuse, this one doesn't make the grade. The truth is, civilian review is simply an issue that's pretty far down on his list of concerns and if its interests conflict with something that is of higher priority to him and his camp, the CPRC loses.





Now endorsed by the RPOA for his reelection bid, it's not likely you'll see him speaking out in favor of civilian review in general and the CPRC in particular any time soon. What's to be expected is more excuses as to why he won't. It would be nice instead to see Betro return to his roots and lobby for the CPRC to regain its footing again, but at this point, it's just not expected.





Andrew Melendrez(Ward Two): B+





Melendrez was elected in a grass-roots campaign in 2005, pretty much the same one that put Betro on the dais. However, Melendrez has not deviated away from his roots nearly as much during his tenure on the city council and has established a reputation as one of the most independent thinking and voting city council members. One of Melendrez's strengths is how flexible he's proven to be when it comes to scheduling or rescheduling the agendas of his meetings around concerns expressed by the community. His colleagues on the dais should sit back, watch and learn.

Although sometimes he votes alongside with BASS, he's not afraid to vote against them when he believes that to do so is the right decision.

The committee he chairs, which is the Public Safety Committee holds quarterly reports on the health of the CPRC which has led to some interesting and necessary dialogue on the CPRC between elected officials and community members in a public forum. What would be better is if the meetings were at times when more people could participate in these discussions. He keeps the discussions of the CPRC on track despite having one of the members of both GASS and BASS, Adams, on the committee. Adams, clearly no fan of the CPRC tosses out accusations against it. His immediate hiring of former CPRC commissioner, Frank Arreola after the latter had submitted his resignation letter caused some consternation among both commissioners and community members.



Art Gage(Ward Three): D+





Gage clearly dislikes the CPRC intently, even once referring to it as a "piece of junk" or "piece of trash" at a city council meeting. When asked to apologize for that statement, he refused to do so and kind of dug himself deeper in that h0le. He led several attempts to defund it in 2004, an action that members of BASS believe catalyzed its placement in the city's charter.


But Gage is pretty much upfront about his opposition to the CPRC, while some of his colleagues are less than that.

With Gage, what you see is what you get. This is much different considering that some of those on the dais who cheerfully proclaim they support the CPRC now that it's in place can't be as oblivious as they appear to what's going on around it. In addition, Gage's refusal to participate in the recent events surrounding some apparent back scratching that took place in the selection process, came because he said that he refused to select candidates who had received political donations from police unions because of the perception that would send out to the city's residents. If that's true, then it bodes well about his opinions on the selection processes for the city's boards and commissions which are becoming increasingly politicized for some of them, if not directly for the CPRC.

Whereas Betro's comments about "compromising" during the appointment process at one meeting would be far more telling than anyone would ever have predicted.



When it comes to the CPRC, Gage is exactly what he said he was, at least after he was elected to office. When he first ran, he tried to make it appear as if he was in the middle of the road but given his strong opposition to it, it's likely that those sentiments didn't formulate over night. Still, he's not trying to be something he's not. He strongly dislikes civilian review and acts on it. That is why he and his cohort Adams are graded beginning at a baseline that's somewhat lower than the other elected officials. You don't expect much from either though Gage is capable of throwing out a curve ball every once in a blue moon.

That's why he earns the "plus" even though he's clearly no friend of civilian review in the city of Riverside. But then again, he doesn't try to say that he is through advertising that is becoming less and less convincing to the public.





Frank Schiavone(Ward Four) D



Schiavone is another opponent of civilian review who woke up one morning and saw that the CPRC was no longer in easy reach of the city council to play with, but in the city's charter. In fact, if you want to irritate him, remind him again about the passage of Measure II or just say a few words which leads him to believe that's what you're about to do and he'll jump in as if that was exactly what you were going to do.


But Schiavone deserves a few kudos for one reason. That is the decision of him and former BBF, Adkison to push for the passage of all of the Charter Review Committee's proposed amendments and the inclusion of all of them on the November 2004 ballot. This included initiatives that Schiavone disagreed with. It was a bold, possibly impulsive act and it turned out to be as instrumental for the placement of the CPRC in the city's charter as anything else. Still, it was the right thing to do, and it didn't come from the CPRC's allies, but its opponents. Something worth remembering.



Still, the antics which appear to surround several appointments to the CPRC and allegations raised recently that he might have pressured former CPRC commissioner, Steve Simpson out of his position in July may if true, serve as a reminder that to some of the city council members, the CPRC has been reduced as merely a mechanism to manipulate politically through back-scratching exchanges between them.



Ed Adkison(Ward Five): D



Adkison is another opponant of the CPRC, in line with Schiavone's views more than Gage's. He is the only individual on the city council to have actually voted in opposition to the ordinance that created the CPRC in February 2000, not long after he was sworn into service as a city councilman. It's not exactly been a lovefest between him and the commission ever since.



Although he deserves the same points as Schiavone receives for their historic decision to not pick and choose which recommendations to put on the November 2004 ballot but to approve all of them and to let the voters decide. In fact, he proposed the motion to do so. He also gave a tongue lashing to Gage in the press recently for his attempts to defund the CPRC three years after the fact. Although if he expects people to believe that GASS ousted Gage from its membership because of Gage's oppposition ot the CPRC, then there's some beachfront property that's up for sale in Idaho.



As far as voting for CPRC appointments, his have most often been in line with Schiavone's even though the two of them apparently broke up a while ago.



Nancy Hart(Ward Six) B-



Hart's grade stands mostly in light not as much as what she's done for the CPRC but the fact that at least she's done little that negatively impacts its operations, nor has she engaged in the politicking which has surrounded it especially as of late. She earns a bonus point for calling the men on the dais on their rude behavior in a Press Enterprise article published not too long ago.

In 2004, she endorsed Measure II, to put the CPRC in the city's charter.


A member of the Public Safety Committee meeting, she participates in discussions and once raised the ire of Adams when probing into possible reasons why there was a dearth of complaints in several neighborhoods last year.



Steve Adams(Ward Seven) D-

Adams is fairly one-dimensional in his opposition to the CPRC and the depth of it is often played to hilarious effect at the Public Safety Committee meetings whenever he claims to have done so much for the commission. One of his appointments to the CPRC remained on it for about a year before abruptly departing and becoming not only his legislative aide but heavily involved in his reelection campaign. His second appointment, John Brandriff, was pulled off the Human Relations Commission(a spring board for the CPRC which is increasing in popularity), some say because Adams didn't spend enough time in his ward to get to know anyone else to recommend for the position.

He weakly seconded Gage's motion to defund the CPRC in 2004.

Next up, will be the grades assigned to the city employees including the city manager's office, the city attorney's office and the police department. Still to be decided is what exactly to grade them on, because depending on what side of the issue you are on, they are either doing very well or not as well in terms of their performance levels.

The man arrested for allegedly placing an advertisement in the classifieds threatening Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco speaks out from jail, claiming he's innocent, according to the Press Enterprise.

Chandler William Cardwell faces several felony counts in relation to the incident.


(excerpt)


I didn't do it, man. I didn't do it," Cardwell said into a jail telephone behind a glass partition. "I'm not a gang member. For them to say that is wrong. They're just doing that because they want to massacre me and hang me for this. Those are some serious accusations. I have no gang affiliations. I don't know anyone at that level."




In the Press Enterprise, there's a charming story about Art's Bar and Grill, which is located near the 91 freeway on University Avenue.

Lots of folks hit the establishment after city council meetings which also coincides nicely with "Taco Tuesday" to sit back, eat some fairly decent cuisine and relax. Political candidates often make the rounds of the different tables there to meet and greet while others hold strategy sessions over chips and salsa and drinks.






It's illegal to twirl signs on city streets in Riverside. Some say the activity distracts drivers, although how does one distract a driver who's already chatting away on his or her cellphone?

Election 2007: Last year's follies, this year's issues

Good news is here.

Next Tuesday, city residents will get to voice their views about the city's electric rates at a workshop being conducted by the city council on Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 3 p.m.

Public hearings that will be held on evenings will be scheduled for later this year to give more people an opportunity to provide input into the process before any final decisions are made.

These hearings and workshops come after the city council minus Andrew Melendrez pulled a reversal and voted to revoke a decision they had reached last December to raise electric rates and to create a multi-tier system for rate increases based on the amount of electricity used by customers. As a result of that and a lack of an educational campaign to the public, electric bills soared during July, leading to a near revolt by angry city residents.

Being an election year, which is the best of all possible times to push issues, ask for project approval and to implore your elected officials to undo votes, the utility rate increases are now a memory, at least for now. What system replaces them will be anyone's bet but at the very least, it will be one where the wealthier residents probably won't have to pay the higher rates. It remains to be seen whether those in lower income brackets will join them. Not to mention how the new power plants needed to provide electricity to a burgeoning city population will be built so during times of peak usage in this city, its residents won't be spending time in the dark.

That's the truth. I think this is one of those situations where they make it up as they move on along.






Candidate forums centering on the local elections will be coming up, so get out your calendars and set the dates. Get your favorite snacks, get ready to take notes and get on down to the forums that will be sponsored by organizations including the League of Women Voters.



This organization will be holding a forum at the La Sierra University featuring Ward Seven candidates, Councilman Steve Adams and challenger, Terry Frizzel.



It takes place on Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m.



Things have been quiet on the campaign trail during the summer months as candidates and city residents alike took vacations and restored their physical and mental resources after the arduous preliminary rounds of Election 2007. However, things should heat up with the final rounds of this political process less than two months away.



At stake, are four council seats which were left undecided during the preliminary rounds in June. Three of the seats are currently held by incumbents while the fourth goes to the candidate who can get the most votes to replace the departing(for now) Ed Adkison.


One of the campaign issues clearly was SmartPark, the ill-advised program that the city implemented downtown which has thoroughly alienated many of its small business owners and their customers.

Salvador Santana, publisher of The Truth had gathered signatures of business owners who opposed the program and sent them to city council. I guess some members of the dais weren't too happy with that, because one of them, Councilman Ed Adkison, allegedly made comments that Santana felt slandered him. In response, Santana submitted a grievance, one that City Hall is apparently trying hard to get mediated, probably before it has to come up with some type of excuse of why it's ineligible to be heard as an ethics complaint. You can almost hear the grumbles of several councilmen from here, including several who sit on the all-important Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee which doubles as the kangaroo court which handles these complaints.



The performance of this committee and the handling of ethics complaints in general is one reason why recommendations have been made to create a panel that at least includes city residents to hear these complaints. Until that happens, filing them under the current process is a waste of time and energy.

But SmartPark is still a topic of discussion here.



In related news, DHL has announced that it is retiring two more of its noisy DC-9s in the hopes that Riverside's residents can sleep through the night, something many people in the southern part of the city haven't been able to do for months.


The current aircraft on the block to be replaced on the nightly schedule is the notorious noise maker that takes off at 2:55 a.m., the first of the early morning flights. Many people said that of all the flights, that is the one that's the most difficult to miss, given that it sounds like a rocket blasting off in several neighborhoods including Orange Crest and Mission Grove.

And of course you know, the DHL debacle has been addressed by many elected officials, including Councilman Frank Schiavone who tried to spearhead an effort to sue the March Joint Powers Authority and Global Port.


(excerpt)


Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster said, "We need to continue to press to get DHL out of the nighttime flights."

Buster was the only member of the March Joint Powers Commission to oppose a zoning change that paved the way for the DHL distribution center in 2004.

Frank Schiavone, a Riverside councilman and a March commissioner, said his city is holding off on its threat of litigation against DHL.

"DHL is moving in the right direction and we want to see what their goals are," he said.

"This is a good start, but it's not the ending," Schiavone said. "Ultimately, the DC-9s need to be replaced with more modern and quieter planes."


What was not explained was how this could potentially lead to some individuals who are part of both MJPA, through its commission and the city government of Riverside being treated as both plaintiffs and defendants.

It's also confusing as to how DHL will be urged to drop night flights given that the contract they signed with the MJPA allows them to operate flights 24 hours a day, and 24 hours a day means at night. It means that DHL can start its nightly concert at 3 a.m.

If there are plaintiffs in this case, it shouldn't be Riverside's city government which botched this whole thing while ignoring pleas from those concerned about sleepless nights who were right all along. It should be all the individuals who were negatively impacted by not having a good night's sleep in nearly a year. The individuals who were written off as being crazy party poopers with nothing better to do than harass elected officials in order to delay progress in this region.





If you have an honorary law enforcement badge from one of the local agencies, you might have to give it back, according to this article in the Press Enterprise.

Being hit especially hard is the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, where outgoing Sheriff Bob Doyle had given out quite a few of them including to one individual who was later prosecuted for impersonating a police officer.

Indeed, the act of handing out such badges to politicians, campaign donors and governmental employees may in itself be illegal.


(excerpt)


California law could be violated if the badge falsely appears to be authorized or "would deceive an ordinary reasonable person into believing that it was authorized, for use by a peace officer," the opinion said.

Sworn peace officers are authorized to carry guns while other peace officers, such as jail deputies, often are not.

Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco this week said the practice of providing badges or possessing one has largely been unregulated in the past.

"It is my intention and obligation to enforce this law," said Pacheco. "If you are not a sworn peace officer, you do not have a right to carry a badge."

Pacheco said the law also applies to private security firms whose guards sometimes are asked to wear badges. Violating the law is a misdemeanor which could lead to a fine of up to $15,000.



At least one Riverside County supervisor, John Tavaglione believed that the practice of removing badges even from other governmental employees including code enforcement and animal control personnel might be excessive.


(excerpt)


If the law is as draconian as Pacheco interprets it to be, then Tavaglione said cities and counties up and down the state have been in violation for years.

"There's no doubt that the issuance of badges to civilians for ceremonial reasons ... is a problem. And, there's no question that in the hands of the wrong person they can be abused," he said.

But Tavaglione said a number of county employees who are authorized to enforce county rules, such as code enforcement, wear badges as a symbol of authority.

"They put their lives on the line," Tavaglione said.



I think there's a huge distinction between fire fighters, code enforcement officer and animal control workers having badges and campaign donors and politicians being given badges by law enforcement officers as some sort of status symbol.


Also in Riverside County, a former deputy in the Sheriff's Department, Danny Miller, is the focus of a campaign to have him removed from his current position with the FBI, according to this article in the Los Angeles Times.

The National Innocence Network said that Miller had fabricated evidence on a rape and robbery case in Lake Elsinore that resulted in an innocent man spending over a decade in state prison. Herman Atkins was ultimately cleared of the crime through DNA testing. A jury during his federal civil rights trial later awarded him $2 million.


(excerpt)


A federal jury found in April that Miller had helped wrongly convict Herman Atkins on robbery and rape charges 19 years ago.

The jury, seated in Los Angeles to hear Atkins' civil rights claim over the wrongful conviction, unanimously concluded that Miller had "intentionally attributed a statement" to a witness that the man did not make.

The jury also unanimously concluded that Miller had "failed to disclose" that he had "fabricated" the statement and that there was a "reasonable probability" that if he had told the truth the outcome of Atkins' trial "would have been different."




More claims for damages have been filed against the city of Los Angeles in connection with the infamous May Day incident that took place when over 60 Los Angeles Police Department officers stormed MacArthur Park, according to the Los Angeles Times.


(excerpt)


Lawyer Carol Sobel, speaking for scores of people who were in or near the park on the day when police fired rubber bullets into the crowd, said she and other lawyers would pursue a class- action lawsuit against the city and the Los Angeles Police Department.

Sobel said the move was designed to buy lawyers more time to identify all of the potential plaintiffs and to encourage people to come forward, regardless of their immigration status.

"We think that there literally are hundreds, if not thousands, of people whose rights were violated that day," said Sobel, who submitted the claims along with lawyers from the National Lawyers Guild and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

The city has 45 days to respond to the claims before a lawsuit can be filed. So far, 10 lawsuits have been filed over the incident and 258 legal claims have been submitted -- nine of them by journalists who covered the event that day.



Multiple investigations were initiated after video-taped footage of the incident where police officers struck individuals with batons and fired over 150 less lethal projectiles at a peaceful crowd inside the park.



In San Bernardino County, it happened again. A deputy was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting five women he had arrested and of taking bribes, according to the Press Enterprise.

Now, Matthew Linderman is in jail on $500,000 awaiting his arraignment on these charges. He no longer works for the San Bernardino County Sheriff Department, with its representative adding that they do not tolerate that kind of conduct in their agency.


(excerpt)


According to the criminal complaint filed in court, Linderman is accused of soliciting four bribes on April 18, May 2 and July 30, soliciting another to engage in lewd conduct on April 18, oral copulation under the color of authority on May 2 and sexual battery by restraint on July 30.
Six of the eight counts are felonies.
The five women named as victims in the complaint are identified only by their first name and last initial.
The complaint against Linderman says one woman was touched while unlawfully restrained, two were forced to commit lewd acts with each other, and one was made to perform oral sex on Linderman by threat of arrest.



The Sheriff's Department appeared certain that all of Linderman's victims have come forward, so much so that the agency has declined to release his booking photograph. Sounds like they're more upset that there might be more than five women involved. After all, Linderman had been with the agency several years and it's not clear that if he is a rapist under the color of authority, exactly when it began.



More judges might be coming to the Inland Empire if a bill passes approval up in Sacramento.


That's good news for Riverside County which is currently in the middle of a judicial crisis with over a 1,000 trials backed up and record numbers of jurors being called into service as a 12-member strike force of judges from elsewhere spend the next several months in town hearing some of these trials.

While the presence of the extra judges will alleviate some of the backlog, unless more permanent solutions are implemented, the backlog will just build back up again soon enough.







What do a librarian, a publication and a mysterious man in a blue shirt have in common? And why should the American Library Association be paying attention?