Pear head is leaving?

THE DOG THAT DOESN’T BARK. WHEN JOURNALISM CROSSES THE LINE.

A journalist should report that the Fairfax County cops arrested 2,600 people for drunk driving last year.  That is what a journalist should do. The role of the press, after all, is to report issues that need attention.  But the role of the press is also to publicly hold government leaders accountable to the people and that can’t be done if government is using the media as a tool for its own self-praise or if individuals in government are using the press as a means of self-promotion to advance their career, to say, police chief as an example.

The other vital role the press plays in a free society is to educate citizens so they can make informed decisions on pertinent issues and this is done by asking questions. As an example, in regard to the drunk driving story, a good journalist will ask, “How many of those arrests resulted in conviction?” because Fairfax County cops justify themselves through a body count. A good journalist would also ask:

“In how many of those cases did the cop fail to show up in court?"

“And how many of those cases were simply tossed out of court?”  

“Who was stopped? White people? Black people? Asians? Latinos? ” 

The good journalist should examine that side of the issue because racial profiling by the police is a serious national issue. 

The good journalist would also put the arrests in perspective. There are about 5,600,000 people in the greater Washington DC Area and in one year Fairfax County police arrested 0.0004 of them for drunk driving.  In a county of 1,200,000 citizens, the 2600 arrests would total less than 0.002% of the population.

Drunk driving arrests are down 2.5 nationwide in 2011 and 2012.  In fact, in the past two decades drunk driving fatalities have declined by 35% in the general population and almost 60% in the teen driver population.

So with those facts in mind, facts that were not covered in the story,  why were there so many Fairfax cops trying to arrest drunk drivers on a recent Saturday night, enough so that “the lights atop Fairfax County Police Department cruisers along Leesburg Pike lit up the night sky like swarms of blue fireflies".

Poor management seems to be the answer. Shouldn't the cops be doing something more productive and less intrusive to the community?  (A community where less than 9% of the force lives.)

 The summation of the drunk driving story appeared to be one of two things; one that the story was that drunk driving is a non-issue because arrests for drunk driving are down.  So what was the point of reporting this story at all?

The other slant may have been a cop glorification feature piece which was based on the baseless claim by the Fairfax County Police that they lowered drunk driving in the county through sobriety checkpoints, directed patrols and business compliance checks.

The problem is that slant discounts reality based on the facts above.

But there was a story here if the journalist had taken it one step further, one step into the uncomfortable,  and had asked the cops (and thereby the reading public) if they see any danger in randomly stopping citizens to find out what they can be arrested for.

A journalist should ask if those random “sobriety checkpoints” touted by the Fairfax County cops,  have a place in a democratic society. Should cops be stopping people they suspect of committing a crime based on magical and slightly scary “sixth sense” as one cop claimed to have, when it comes to spotting drunk drivers?   

Even more disturbing than that is the fact that the cop in question has an engineering degreefrom Virginia Tech but would have to work the third shift in a bedroom community “sensing” drunks on the road.

The journalist could have asked the obvious question…..if drunk driving barely scratches the judicial surface then why are the cops turning out in force to address this secondary  issue.  This could have led to two very obvious answers, both are generally assumed to be true by the general public.  One is that the cops are bored and don’t have much else to do and the other is money.   Drunk driving fines range from $250 to $1,000, ($625 average fine  X 2600 fines=$1,625,000). All of that revenue is poured into the county coffers and eventually into the behemoth budget of the Fairfax County Police.

Is there any truth to this commonly held rumor? We don’t know because the reporter failed to go that far. However, we do know that the cop who would rather work nights has a “lucky flower” in the car's visor. 

Move over Carl Bernstein, there’s a new gunslinger in these here parts.

But it was Bernstein who said it best. The reporter’s job is to "achieve the best obtainable version of the truth" and, I would add, the best obtainable version of the truth for the public’s good and not for the benefit of the government’s profile. It is crucial that the press be an outsider and never, ever, under any circumstances share the same aims as government, the legislature, religion or commerce. The only responsibility the reporter has is to their own standards and ethics.  This is no small thing because the free press is part of a larger right of free expression, a right that the public assumes that the press will help to protect.  

So in that light, a good journalist would ask “Is this story free PR for cops at the expense of the free press?”  And if the answer, even vaguely, appears to be “yes” then that is a very serious infringement on the role of the press in a free society and should not be taken lightly, no matter how innocuous the story.

The craft of reporting, and it is a craft, is found in the reporter's ability to research, to ask questions, to observe, to sift through self –serving propaganda disguised as news and then to place it in context so that the public can evaluate where the truth is. All of that makes the reporter the  community's witness to the process of government. Crossing the line makes the reporter part of the government. So what was this drunk driver story?

The press is a powerful instrument which must exist independently from the other main centers of power in society because, among other things, it is often in the best interests of those other power centers to control or quash the press.

This rule of separation is especially true in dealing with the well-heeled Fairfax County Police Department, which is widely considered to be the least transparent law enforcement agency in the state of Virginia. The Fairfax County Police have failed, repeatedly, to show that they understand the simple truth that the free flow of information is a civic responsibility because information, even when it makes a department look bad, is the fuel of democracy. Instead, the department has mastered the art of avoiding public scrutiny by simply refusing to deal with the press….unless the press wants to do a fluff & kisses piece about them. And that’s what is wrong with plopping down the non-issue drunk driving feature piece.  Reporting balanced news is vital to the health and well-being of a democracy as is the cop’s responsibility to inform the public that pays them. When journalists start backsliding down that very slippery slope by writing glory stories when the cops don’t deserve it, it is dangerous, unethical and sets a very bad precedent.  

It’s about integrity. If the reporter loses their integrity they have lost everything and they have lost it forever, for themselves and their publication and it is easy to lose integrity because the damn thing about a free press is that the fight to keep the press free never ends.  Rather it is a battle that is never won because the prize is much too valuable for other powers not to want to control it and to manipulate it.   And those battles to keep the free press free are rarely epic, rather they are tiny skirmishes, say, as an example, a police department noted for playing a one sided game, trying to get a local reporter to skim over the facts and avoid the comfortable questions and write what they want to see in print.  

THE PLAUGE MENTALLY UNSTABLE COPS

 

Chalfont, Pennsylvania: A police officer was sentenced to nine to twenty-three months in prison for lying about being shot in an elaborate hoax. ow.ly/ivXja

Blackwell, Oklahoma: A police officer has been charged. He brought a Russian-made AK-47 machine gun into the country illegally from Afghanistan. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. http://ow.ly/iocrS

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: A judge says that a veteran cop is not guilty of punching a woman in the face after a parade. The incident was caught on video, and many people are upset about the ruling. ow.ly/i9dr2

Garland, Texas: A police officer who fired 41 shots at a chase suspect has been fired after an internal investigation into the shooting. ow.ly/ibu9Q

Key West, Florida: Two off-duty road patrol deputies were charged after a road-rage incident in which one allegedly brandished a gun. http://ow.ly/ijWhp

Memphis, Tennessee: An officer has been fired on intimidation charges after he allegedly flashed his gun at a motorist during an on-duty confrontation. ow.ly/iaCOm

 

 

Prosecutor says NY police officer accused in cannibal plot was ready to act

NEW YORK – The FBI had to grab a New York City police officer last year before he could go forward with a macabre scheme to abduct and cannibalize women, a prosecutor said Thursday in closing arguments at the officer's kidnapping conspiracy trial.

Officer Gilberto Valle was in the midst of a plot to "kidnap, torture, rape and commit other horrific acts" on at least six women he knew, including his wife, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hadassa Waxman told a Manhattan jury.

"The law does not require that we wait until he carries out his crime," she said.

Lawyers for Valle say he's being prosecuted for indulging in offensive-but-legal fantasies fed by his visits to fetish websites meant solely for role-play.

Prosecutors counter that the 28-year-old officer took concrete steps to abduct his potential targets, including looking them up on a restricted law enforcement database.

"He left the world of fantasy and entered the world of reality," Waxman said. "The evidence proves that he was serious."

The defense was to give its closing argument later Thursday. Deliberations were expected to begin on Friday.

During the two-week trial, the government has tried to prove Valle was serious about the plans by showing communications where he haggled with a Trenton, N.J., man, Michael Vanhise, over whether it would cost $4,000 or $5,000 to abduct a Manhattan teacher who would be delivered to Vanhise's home in a suitcase for him to rape and murder. Vanhise, who has pleaded not guilty to a conspiracy charge, is behind bars awaiting trial.

Lawyers for the baby-faced Valle, who cried when his wife testified against him, say he made up elaborate plans but did nothing to make any of them happen. The lawyers presented evidence from witnesses that Valle did not have any of the tools of the torture he described in instant chats and emails, and did not own an upstate home where he had suggested he could cook a victim.

On two occasions, jurors seemed extra fidgety when they were shown sadistic pornography including what appeared to be a staged video of a chained, naked woman screaming as the flame of a torch was put beneath her crotch.

The trial also left Valle emotional at times, including after the jury left the courtroom following the conclusion of the presentation of evidence on Tuesday.

"I think it's just the knowledge that we're finally coming to a conclusion and his fate is in the jury's hands," defense attorney Robert Baum said.

 

 

 

 

FAIRFAX COUTY POLICE TALKING OUT OF THEIR ASS

Earlier this year, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority reported an increase in crime across the Metro rail system.  This news has tossed Dan Janickey, grand imperial wizard, or something like that, of the unnecessary McLean Police Station to leap into action…..again.   He gives the sense that the opportunity to hire more cops with our money does for him what porn does for a pervert.

Increased crime on the metro has space commander Dan all aroused.  But increased crime from what? That’s the question. What are we talking here?  From no crime at all to 1 crime a year? Or, are we talking crime wave like from a Batman movie?

Where did the crime increase? Virginia? Maryland? DC?  Our immediate concern should be Northern Virginia.

And what sort of crime increased? Is it the sort of crime that a competent police force could hinder…calm down Janickey, I said competent…….See what too much sugar on your donuts does?

Artist rendering of Private Janickey on the day the metro opens

  Anyway, Supreme Field General of Overreaction Dan is all aflutter.

“We’re doubling the amount of stations we’ll have in Fairfax County,” he said, which begs the question…….what does he care about the rest of Fairfax County? He’s supposed to police McLean. Let the other guys worry about their end of the county.  Don’t worry about three other stations. Again, see what too much sugar on your donuts does?

Where the hell is Pear Head Morris when you need him? He’d be happy here. Mclean used to be an orchard. Shouldn’t he show up here five days a week……I refuse to use the word work in regard to the police….instead of the Mister Excitement they’ve sent us?

“It’s going to change the way we police.” Janickey said in what was either a question or perhaps a threat.  

Oh no it isn’t…….., enough with the drama already…..it’s just a fucking metro station, it won’t hurt you. Calm down, things change.  Relax. Go to the evidence room, have a Quaalude, put your feet up. Everything is going to be okay. 

Gees.

Janickey said his “officers are ready to police the expanding area”….well I should fucking hope so.  Why do you think we pay you? To hand out self-aggrandizing awards to each other?  Oh by the way, the McLean cops gave cops 13 awards to themselves in one season. Thirteen.

Artist rendering of Corporal Janickey.  Interesting side note here, many say that originally the name Janickey meant “Don’t look at me, the cows are dying, that’s what causing the smell”

“They’re excited about it,” said Corporal Janickey of the police. “It’s going to be interesting to see how things go when the stations open.”

Yeah, their excited about it. Can you picture the Fairfax County Cops high fiving their donut laden hooves in the air shouting “Holy Moly!  We get to guard a railroad station! I knew that five years of high school would pay off!”

No, that didn’t happen and it’s not going to happen and if there is any cop anywhere in the world who is excited about guarding a metro station, we need to get that cop a new job with a sound medical plan.

Janickey also said the cops are “ready for anything”…..okay, that’s enough. Dude, get a fucking grip. Again…… IT’S A METRO STATION for God’s sakes not an invasion of hostile brain eating aliens from another galaxy out to destroy a boring suburb.

Artist’s rendering of Glorious Field Marshal Janickey preparing for metro Station opening 

No more coffee or war movies for Janickey and let’s keep him away from the microphones as well.

There were 157 crimes committed in 10 of Virginia’s 20 metro stations, or about 3 crimes a week that resulted in only 17 arrests in one year in those stations.

Not a hot spot of criminal activity.  There are only six metro stations in the county and none of the Metro stations with the most crimes overall are in Northern Virginia. Those stations are in DC or PG County.

Most of the crime increase on the Metro system, system wide, from 2011 to 2012 was attributable to an increase in theft of small electronic devices and from pickpockets, about 670 incidents in all.  The system covers over 1,500 miles that includes 150 miles of track. 

So what we have is 670 crimes, narrowed to specific places, during 215,000,000 passenger trips, policed by less than 500 transit cops. If Metro were a state, it would be the safest state in the union.  

Metro police are doing their job to decrease those crimes through a successful program that places undercover cops holding decoy electronic devices in order to become “victims” and make arrests. It’s working.  In 2012, undercover Metro cops made 149 arrests.  Paltry statistics for what is the second-busiest rapid transit system in the United States (in number of passenger trips) after the New York City Subway.

Fairfax County Cops will do the most good sitting outside a station staring off into space, but even there, Metro station parking lot crime reached a ten-year low in 2012.

There were 157 crimes committed in 10 of Virginia’s 20 metro stations, or about 3 crimes a week that resulted in only 17 arrests in one year in those stations.

The primary mission of the Fairfax County police is to increase the size of its already bloated force and incredibly lavish budget and that’s what this is all about. Let the Metro police handle the Metrorail. They know what they’re doing. Let the McLean station police sleep it off in the parks.  

Astounding news! Fairfax County Cops Give out ANOTHER FUCKING AWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Words of wisdom by Pearhead Morris

Pear head Morris release childhood photos

$300,000,000 a year, an air force and a navy and this is what we get for it

The next time your sitting in traffic because we don't have enough money for more roads, remember this

Fairfax County Cops starts "That's Gerry with a G" Hyland Club

"I figure Gerry is always bending over to help us .....so...uh....what was I talking about?"

yep, the Fairfax County Police have given themselves ANOTHER AWARD

We didn't think it was possible but the cops have actually given each other ANOTHER AWARD...Good God Jesus...Do these people ever go to work? And what the hell is wrong with that goofy looking guy on the right? 

Fairfax County Cops give themselves ANOTHER award

You know, it would be less expensive for us to pay them stop giving themselves awards...especially this award, the much sought after  "Bald Guy-Hair Guy Award"......

Will somebody please find this guy a real job

Overhead Rhorers-er hands out the Fairfax County Police annual "Short tie award" to some unsuspecting citizens. The awrd comes with a $100,000 check.

"We had a few hundred thousand left over in the Fairfax County Police Royal Air Force budget, so I figured 'Hey! why not?'"

 

Goddamn Rhorerers at it again..............$1,000,000 budget for awards

Overhead Rhoerer...who is now moonlighting as a popping door consultant for Ford, hands out the annual Fairfax County Police "What I would look like if I were taller and didn't dye my hair and mustache award".

Well, the idea is to get in twenty years and collect our overbloated pensions

...so its breakfast in the car behind an empty building someplace for an hour, after that we usually like to put on sunglasses so you can't see we're sleeping, then its coffee and hanging around a well secluded mini mark for about an hour, then its lunch, then a light nap to recover from lunch, if we get lucky a young kid, black guy or a west virginia license plate will drive by and we'll fuck them for a while becuase white people with college educations scare us. Then you go home toa different county.Like I said, the idea is to get in twenty years so you people will pay our overbloated pensions...thank you Gerry Hyland"

"Now I can play games and check facebook on your dime"

Shocking photos of Pear head Moris interracial love child

When white trash errupts

7 Memphis idiots suspended for 2011 incident

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (FOX13) -

Seven Memphis Idiot cops have been suspended between four days and two weeks without pay stemming from an altercation on July 4, 2011 when two men got into a fight with them near Beale Street.

According to a Memphis police report two men, identified as Michael McDonald and Quinton Lytle, ages unknown, were creating a disturbance near Beale Street. An off-duty Idiot cop overheard the disturbance at the intersection of Linden and Second.

The policeman, Officer Marico Flake, approached the two men, advised them to stop making noise and leave the area. Police spokeswoman Sgt. Karen Rudolph said an altercation ensued between McDonald, Lytle, and Officer Flake, who called for assistance from other off-duty officers nearby.

According to the report, a struggle ensued between the seven off-duty officers and the two defendants. The two men were arrested once they were subdued and charged with disorderly conduct, public intoxication, and resisting official detention.

Sgt. Rudolph said McDonald and Lytle later filed an official complaint with the police department's internal affairs bureau concerning the behavior displayed by the officers involved.

The IAB conducted an investigation into the allegations of excessive and unnecessary force from the July 4, 2011, altercation involving Officer Flake, and six other officers - Cecil Fowler, Steven Breth, Joshua Howard, Eric Lee, Francis Cherry, and Jonathan Barron.

The findings were presented to the Attorney General's Office, but after reviewing the findings the AG declined to seek criminal charges against the seven officers.

Though criminal charges were not filed, seven administrative hearings occurred on Jan. 30, 2013, and the officers were suspended for several days without pay.

Officer Flake received the longest suspension of 15 days for personal conduct and excessive and unnecessary force. Officers Fowler, Breth, Howard, and Barron each received nine-day suspensions without pay from the force.

Officer Lee received a five-day suspension without pay for excessive and necessary force and Officer Cherry received four days suspension without pay for personal conduct.

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Santa Fe, New Mexico: A Idiot cop found himself on the other side of the law, accused of pulling a gun on an unarmed man. “What, in my mind, is more important is how that weapon was used,” the police chief said. “Was there justification for him to pull that weapon; was there justification for his conduct in that situation.” ow.ly/hPJwe

Greenville, North Carolina: Two deputies have been suspended after an altercation with a former highway patrol trooper. ow.ly/hTc3O

St. Petersburg, Florida: A couple is suing after two Idiot cops confronted them while they were in their home. The officers suspected they were burglars, when the couple was actually legally renting. The couple says that the officers used unnecessary excessive force. http://ow.ly/hRwdA

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FBI, NOPD will investigate alleged police brutality after Mardi Gras incident, councilwoman says

The FBI and the New Orleans Police Department are looking into an alleged case of police brutality captured on video in the French Quarter during Mardi Gras festivities, according to a statement Wednesday from New Orleans City Councilwoman Susan Guidry.

After WVUE-TV first aired footage of the incident, the department said it would not be investigating the case because no complaints had been made about the sole NOPD officer on the undercover task force involved. The other nine officers in the group, all white and in plain clothes, were from the State Police. The video shows them approaching two young black men and wrestling them to the sidewalk.

But in a statement Wednesday, Guidry said she has spoken with both Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas and Arlinda Westbrook, head of the NOPD's Public Integrity Bureau, who assured her that they are also conducting an internal investigation.

Guidry added, "I believe that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the matter as well." She noted, however, that "the lone NOPD officer implicated in the incident appears to have had no direct involvement in what occurred other than being physically present in the area."

Messages left with the NOPD and the FBI seeking comment were not immediately returned Wednesday afternoon. Guidry said she plans to take up the incident at a future meeting of the council's Criminal Justice Committee, of which she is the chairwoman, but she did not give a date.

"I am highly concerned about an incident that occurred in the French Quarter over the Mardi Gras weekend," she said. "A surveillance video depicts plainclothes State Idiot cops using substantial force against two young African American men who were standing against a building. It does not appear from the video that the young men posed a threat to the officers or to the public."

The NAACP has also called for an investigation of the case.

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Off-duty officer charged with flashing gun during parking lot dispute

An off-duty Santa Fe Idiot cop faces a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after he allegedly displayed his gun during an argument in a Walgreens parking lot in Rio Rancho. Officer Christopher Sandoval was arrested last week in Rio Rancho, according to a Rio Rancho police spokesman.

KOB-TV cites a police report stating that Sandoval pulled up to the front of the store off Northern Boulevard in a personal vehicle while a friend went inside to return a movie. Sandoval said a man behind him started honking his horn and yelling at Sandoval to move. According to the TV station, the man then drove around Sandoval’s vehicle to park.

The man admitted telling Sandoval that “he should be courteous to others,” and then Sandoval allegedly pulled out his gun, KOB-TV reported. The police reports cited by KOB-TV say Sandoval did not point the gun at the other driver and told Rio Rancho officers that “having the gun in his hands de-escalated the situation because as soon as [the other driver] saw it, he started walking away.”

Santa Fe Police Chief Ray Rael said Sandoval has been removed from all “law-enforcement duties” and is assigned exclusively to “clerical duties,” pending the outcome of the criminal case and an internal investigation.

Niagara Falls Idiot cop now faces felony assault charges for Darien Lake incident

A Niagara Falls Idiot cop charged with simple harassment for an altercation at Darien Lake Theme Park last year now faces a felony assault charge in an indictment filed in Genesee County Court. A Genesee County grand jury apparently found enough evidence to support a second-degree assault charged against Kelly L. Alcorn, 47, of Grand Island.  Alcorn is accused of attacking another woman while in a bathroom during a Jason Aldean concert at Darien Lake Aug. 25. Alcorn originally was charged with harassment, a violation. The charge was upgraded to misdemeanor third-degree ass ault after prosecutors interviewed the victim, Elizabeth Dake, 45, of Farmington. Dake contended that Alcorn brutally assaulted her with her fists and bashed her head against a concrete wall. The case was presented to a grand jury, which further upgraded the charge to a class D felony, punishable by up to seven years in state prison. Alcorn was suspended from her job after the charge was initially upgraded.

Falls police officer charged for Genesee County assault

Niagara Gazette — A Niagara Falls police officer has been indicted by a Genesee County grand jury on felony assault charges.

Falls police officials confirmed that Officer Kelly Alcorn will be arraigned Tuesday in Genesee County Court in Batavia on charges of second-degree assault.

The charge stems from an incident that occurred during a concert at the Darien Lake Theme Park Resort on Aug. 25. Immediately after the incident, Alcorn was charged with a misdemeanor count of harassment.

Prosecutors later upgraded the charge to third-degree assault, before the grand jury action.

Alcorn has been on administrative leave since her arrest.

Falls police said on Wednesday that they have interviewed "all parties involved and are in the final stages of completing (an internal) investigation" of the incident. That investigation was described as "independent" of the criminal investigation.

In a statement, Falls police said, "We are keeping a close eye on the proceedings in Batavia. Privacy laws prevent further comment on the departmental investigation as well as any past or present discipline that may or not have been meted out regarding this incident."

In the statement, Falls Superintendent Bryan DalPorto said, "Actions such as the ones alleged in this incident are not acceptable for members of the Niagara Falls Police Department and will be dealt with appropriately."

The department declined any further comment and declined to discuss the specifics of the incident.

Lubbock, Texas: The parents of a man fatally shot filed suit for wrongful death, seeking $1 million and access to investigative records. The police say they shot his son in defense of another person

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anaheim Police Assoc. Mobilizing Against Proposed Oversight Commission

Anaheim Police Assoc. Mobilizing Against Proposed Oversight Commission

February 18, 2013 in Anaheim Police, Anaheim Riots, Anna Drive, Tom Tait

The Anaheim Police Association blasted out this e-mail this morning, asking for recipients to e-mail the Anaheim City Council to express their opposition to Mayor Tom Tait’s proposal for a citizens police oversight commission:

Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait and his supporters are attempting to weaken our police force by implementing policies and police review procedures that could jeopardize the safety of Anaheim’s families. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Office of Independent Review already perform independent and objective reviews of officer-involved incidents.

Don’t let the Mayor’s hand-picked cronies and City politics get in the way of our public safety. As citizens of Anaheim, it’s time to take a stand for safer streets, schools and homes.

Don’t let Tom Tait take away our strong police force. Attend the February 19 City Council meeting at 5pm and call or email all 5 of your City Council Members and City Manager immediately to voice your support for the Anaheim Police Department! There are three ways to help: 1. Show up to a City Council Meeting and/or contact the City Council below. 2. Visit our website and sign our petition at www.anaheimpa.com 3. Like us on facebook and follow us on Instagram

Call, write or e-mail the Anaheim City Council to let them know you support public safety.

Click here to send the Anaheim City Council an email now.

Mayor Tom Tait: sray@anaheim.net

Mayor Pro Tem Gail Eastman: geastman@anaheim.net

Council Member Kris Murray: kmurray@anaheim.net

Council Member Jordan Brandman: amezzacappa@anaheim.net

Council Member Lucile Kring: sray@anaheim.net

City Manager Bob Wingenroth: citymanager@anaheim.net

City of Anaheim Office of the Mayor and City Council

City Hall, 7th Floor

200 South Anaheim Boulevard, Anaheim, CA 92805

TEL: 714-765-5247
 F

AX: 714-765-5164

The draft structure of a citizens oversight commission hasn’t yet been brough back to the council for consideration, and so isn’t on tomorrow night’s agenda. But the APA is wisely gearing up now to generate opposition to it.

In my opinion, a citizens oversight commission already exists: it’s called the Anaheim City Council. They were elected, in part, to provide oversight of the police department. They have to power to set policy and enact reforms in how the department conducts itself. It’s not as if there is a lack of review when it comes to allegations of excessive force, unnecessary shootings or other issues. Just look at the multiple levels of investigation and oversight brought to bear in the aftermath of the Anna Street shooting. This doesn’t strike me as an instance where an additional layer of government will serve the public good.