KARE 11 Investigates: The get out of jail free card

A.J. Lagoe and Steven Eckert, KARE 9:45 AM. CST March 01, 2016

BLAINE, Minn. -  “Without fear or favor.”  That’s the way the law should be enforced, according to the official Code of Ethics adopted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

An investigation by KARE 11 News has uncovered evidence that, instead of following that code, some Minnesota police officers follow the unwritten rule known as “Professional Courtesy.”  It’s the notion that cops shouldn’t ticket other cops.

Police dash cam video obtained by KARE 11 after a public records request shows what can happen.

On November 7, 2015, Blaine police officers responded to an alarm call at the Lexington Avenue Fleet Farm.  They found a running car in the parking lot.  The man in the driver’s seat appeared to be passed out.  Police reports would later say there were “open containers of silver Coors Light cans in the passenger seat …”

The police video shows the Blaine officers repeatedly banging on the car roof and door.  You can hear them yelling, “Wake up!”

When they finally get the driver’s attention, the video shows he seems incapable of following basic requests.  He had to be asked nine times just to open his door.

Blaine Police Officer Brad Nordby can be heard saying to the driver, “Can you open it? Ok, open the door.”  He then says to his partner, “Oh, great. His penis is out of his pants.”

“Why don’t you zip up for me,” he tells the driver.

Instead of opening his car door, the driver revs the engine.  Fortunately, the car was not in gear.

When the driver eventually get out of the car, the Blaine officers ask him to perform tests to determine whether he’s able to drive.

Once again, basic requests don’t seem to be understood. After repeatedly being asked to remove his hat, the driver tells an officer, “I don’t understand what you want me to do.”

Dash camera footage shows the driver, who would later be identified as William Monberg, 28, incapable of walking a straight line without stumbling.

The video shows a breathalyzer test being administered.  Police records say it registered .202 – more than two and a half times the legal limit.

“William, right now I’m going to place you under arrest for DWI,” said Officer Nordby, as he handcuffs Monberg and places him in the back seat of the patrol car.

It seems to be a by-the-books DWI arrest.  But moments later, things change.

The police dash camera captures the moment when Officer Norby and his partner, Officer Brandon Fettig, examine Monberg’s wallet.

“Oh crap!” one of them exclaims.

Then, without saying a word, both pull out and turn off their body microphones and step out of view of the patrol car cameras.

In the back seat of the squad car, though, another police camera is still recording video and audio of what happened next.

The video shows William Monberg, already handcuffed and under arrest, being let out of the car.  Moments later he climbs back in.  The handcuffs have been removed.  And, instead of taking him to jail, the Blaine police officers can be heard trying to arrange a ride home for him.

Turns out, the man they originally arrested is not an ordinary citizen.  He, too, wears a badge.

William Monberg is an investigator for the Columbia Heights Police Department. “I don’t condone their behavior,” said Duane Wolfe. “I wish they’d made a different decision, but cops are human.”

Wolfe, a retired officer, is a law enforcement instructor at Alexandria Technical and Community College.

He also writes for PoliceOne.com, a popular police blog.  In 2009, he wrote an article about so-called “Professional Courtesy,” arguing that the badge shouldn’t be a “get out of jail free card.”

Wolfe says that article sparked more comments than any other he has even written, many of them critical.

In police circles, Wolfe says the notion that cops shouldn’t ticket other cops is contentious and fiercely debated.  “A lot of police officers feel that pressure to take care of their brethren,” he said.

But Wolfe argues that officers giving other officers special treatment “doesn’t serve the profession, doesn’t serve the department and quite honestly it doesn’t serve the officer.”  He adds, “They just get the attitude that there are no consequences for my actions.”

For Officer William Monberg there were no immediate consequences.

He was not taken into custody.  No mugshots were taken.  His car was not towed.  Instead, the Blaine officers helped him arrange a ride home.

No official police reports were filed at the time.  On the video from the back seat of the squad car, Monberg can even be heard asking if anything about the incident was being entered into the police department’s Computer Aided Dispatch system.

“You know what’s in the CAD notes on that?” Monberg asks.  “Nothing,” answers one of the Blaine officers.

The cover-up of the incident almost worked.

However a month later, Blaine Police Chief Chris Olson assigned an investigator to look into what happened that night.  As a result, Officer Monberg was officially charged with DWI in December.

Chief Olson would not do an on-camera interview, citing the pending DWI case.  But he told KARE 11, “In this case inexperienced officers made a mistake. It’s not acceptable.”

“My expectation is fair and impartial policing and that didn’t happen,” he continued. “We need to treat people fairly and it shouldn’t matter what they do for a living.”

Chief Olson said he addressed what happened and his expectations going forward in a department wide roll-call.

Officer Monberg has pleaded not guilty to the DWI charges and has a court date scheduled March 2.  The Columbia Heights Police Department says it suspended Monberg for 30 days on the eve of his first court date back in January.

Officer Monberg released a statement to KARE 11:

I am profoundly ashamed, embarrassed, and disappointed in myself for the incident that occurred on November 7, 2015. I extend my most genuine apologies to my agency and community, the Blaine Police Department, and the officers who were placed in an incredibly difficult position because of my actions. I accept full responsibility for those actions but insist they do not represent an accurate reflection of my personal or professional character. I have been working diligently over the past four months to ensure that a similar situation will not occur again.

Not a hate crime? WTF?

  Oak Forest Cop Arrested in Attack on 2 Teens in California

The teens told police they were targeted because they were speaking Arabic.

Oak Forest, IL

By LAUREN TRAUT (Patch Staff) -  March 1, 2016 11:26 am ET

An Oak Forest police officer has been arrested in connection with the attack and stabbing of two teenagers in California.

Arthur Roman, 28, of Tinley Park, was arrested along with his 25-year-old brother Martin, and his brother's wife, Jessica, after attacking two teenagers who allege they were targeted because they were speaking Arabic, ABC-7 reports.

Karam Jarrah, 17, was stabbed twice on Sunday afternoon in the parking lot of a fitness center in Huntington Beach. He and his brother-in-law, Asem Dghem, were walking by a car in which the three suspects were sitting, when one commented, "What's up Obama bam?'" Jarrah told police.

Jarrah told police the confrontation escalated to violence, and Martin Roman pulled a knife and stabbed him.

Police are not able to confirm the attack was racially motivated. 

It is not being treated as a hate crime.

Cop Fired For Flipping Driver Off

By Sheena Vasani, Tue, March 1, 2016

A North Carolina Sheriff’s Deputy was fired after a camera caught him flashing the middle finger at a driver Feb. 26.

Van Anthony, 52, gave the rude gesture to civilian driver Scott Lipe, who was filming Anthony from another car after catching him speeding, Fox News reports.

"I could see him coming up in the rear view mirror, and I was like, 'This car is flying.' So my phone was sitting beside me in the seat," Lipe said, WLOS reports.

The driver explained after he pulled out his camera, the officer waved and gave him the finger.

"He's a deputy. He's in a patrol car in a uniform with a badge, and there's people all over the place. And he's just waving his finger around like he doesn't care," Lipe said. "I mean if you look at the picture, he's just smiling and having a good time."

The sheriff later apologized to Lipe and, after being their employee for nearly two years, was fired by Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

"They hold us accountable, and sometimes they have to be held accountable," Lipe explained.

Indeed, there have been many instances where civilians have gotten into trouble with law enforcement for holding up the same gesture.

William Martin received a disorderly conduct summons after flipping off an aggressive driver who turned out to be a police officer, the Bergendis Patch reports.

“When I received a summons, I felt that my free speech rights were under attack for nothing more than expressing my frustration with someone whose driving had put people at risk,” Martin said.

The ACLU agreed and defended Martin, whose charges were later dismissed. ACLU-NJ Deputy Legal Director Jeanne LoCicero, Martin’s representative, said:

Enforcing manners rather than public safety is a poor use of police resources.  Our client expressed his frustration using a peaceful, silent gesture that is protected by the First Amendment. In this case, an officer chose to initiate and escalate an encounter instead of just ignoring it. It might be rude to flip off a police officer, but it isn’t a crime.”

Martin was grateful when the charges against him were dismissed.

“I’m relieved to know that the town of New Milford recognized it wasn’t worth prosecuting me for expressing my frustration,” he explained.

Sources: Fox News, WLOS, Bergendis Patch / Photo credit: Office of the Sheriff Jackson County

Criminal investigation launched after video shows school police officer slapping young man

A Baltimore City schools police officer is shown in a cellphone video slapping a young man Tuesday at REACH Partnership School in East Baltimore.

Liz Bowie and Kevin Rector

Law enforcement officials investigating video that appears to show officer slapping a young man.

Law enforcement officials launched a criminal investigation Wednesday after video surfaced of a Baltimore school police officer slapping and kicking a teenage youth while a second officer watches.

The incident occurred Tuesday afternoon on the steps outside a city high school. School Police Chief Marshall Goodwin and the two officers in the video were placed on administrative leave, and activists renewed calls for the Department of Justice to investigate the school police.

School officials have released few details of the incident, and there is disagreement about whether the youth is a student.

On Wednesday, acting School Police Chief Akil Hamm said the two officers responded to REACH Partnership School in Clifton Park after two "intruders" were reported inside. He said their presence was considered a threat.

The officers moved the two young men outside, Hamm said. He said school officials had determined that the two were not students by consulting with school administrators, who could not identify them. He said police wanted the community's help identifying them.

Attorney Lauren Geisser, who said she represents the 16-year-old youth and his parents, said he does attend the school. Geisser said the youth, whom she declined to identify because he is a minor, went to the hospital for injuries to his ribs and face.

Geisser said she, the youth and his parents went to the school Wednesday to speak to Principal James Gresham but were told he was in a meeting. Geisser said the parents wanted assurances that their child would be safe if he walked into the school.

"We waited for a significant period of time," Geisser said. "You would think the principal would want an open line of communication on this issue."

She said she was able to get a copy of the rolls that showed the youth's name on the list of students.

In a statement, Baltimore Schools CEO Gregory Thornton said, "I am completely appalled and disappointed by what is depicted in the video."

Schools spokeswoman Edie House Foster said school officials are investigating the case "vigorously."

Hamm said the school system is taking the incident "extremely seriously." He declined to identify the officers, citing the investigation and rules on personnel matters.

The Baltimore Police Department's Special Investigation Response Team will handle the criminal investigation at Hamm's request, police said. The team will work closely with the State's Attorney's Office. Police will also provide a liaison for the internal investigation that is be handled by the Baltimore City School Police.

"This is the right thing to do in a case like this," said Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Kevin Davis.

Foster said the officer who slapped and kicked the boy was part of a "multi-campus" assignment patrolling an area that includes several schools, and not assigned specifically to REACH.

The video was filmed by a friend of the youth, Geisser said, and posted on Facebook.

Karl Perry, the district's chief schools support officer, said he was "appalled" by the video as a man and an educator. He said most school police officers would never act in such a way.

"This type of behavior is not indicative of our schools police officers," Perry said. "This is unacceptable. It's not behavior that will ever be tolerated by any city employee."

The reaction to the video came quickly, with students and public officials calling for greater transparency and scrutiny of school police.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake described the scene in the video as "appalling," and said the officer's actions could further harm the relationship between the community and the police.

"Any time there is a law enforcement officer with that level of authority that seems to be abusing that authority, it impacts all of us across the country," she said. "It certainly is not helpful as we work to build bridges of trust to see that level of mistreatment."

Jenny Egan, a public defender who represents juveniles, said that while all the facts are not yet known, the video is "a vivid example of the criminalization of children and of treating misbehavior like crime."

She said it would be particularly unjust if young black students who come from high-crime neighborhoods in the city can't feel safe at school.

If there is "violence at the hands of people who are supposed to be there to protect you," she said, "then there is no place safe for our kids, and that is not right."

Karen Webber, director of the Education and Youth Development program at the Open Society Institute-Baltimore, called for better training of school police officers in de-escalation and conflict resolution.

City students and advocates have been calling for change for more than a year, after an altercation between a female school officer and three female students at a middle school was caught on film. The officer in that case pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and resigned.

Last month, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund called on the Department of Justice to expand its investigation of the Baltimore Police Department to include the city school police department. The two police departments operate independently.

"The video was distressing," said Monique Dixon, the fund's deputy director of policy. "It is an example of persistent police violence against young men of color."

Dixon, Webber and Egan called for greater oversight of the school police department, and said the district needs to develop guidelines for the officers.

Dixon said information the school system released to the Legal Defense Fund showed incidents in which school officers used batons and pepper spray against students. She said the use of force against students is not consistently reported.

The video is four seconds in length. It's unclear what occurred before the officer began slapping the boy.

"We are waiting for the department to conduct a full and complete investigation," said Sgt. Clyde Boatwright, president of the school police union.

When David Pontious saw the video, his first thought was "Not again."

Pontious, a 17-year-old senior at Baltimore City College High School and a core member of the student-led activist group City Bloc, said the school system has not been transparent about its efforts to improve police.

"Even though we've had a lot of meetings, a lot of input, a lot of discussions with the school system, we've still seen very little training that school police get, and very little accountability," he said.

He said the U.S. Department of Justice should be investigating school police, not just the city police.

City Councilman Brandon Scott, vice chair of the public safety committee, said that "no one's child should be treated like that."

Scott said he knows school police officers who mentor kids, coach sports teams and go out of their way to contribute to their school communities. "All of that stuff just gets forgotten" when reports surface of officers misbehaving, he said.

"It just goes to break down all the good will and all the good work that police officers, and schools police officers especially, do every day," Scott said. "That just adds to my level of disgust."

Baltimore Sun reporters Luke Broadwater, Erica L. Green and Colin Campbell contributed to this article. 

Activist group releases report alleging 57 incidents of police misconduct in West Baltimore

Mallory Sofastaii

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A new report alleges a pattern of police misconduct in West Baltimore. The group No Boundaries Coalition presented the initial findings of their report in Annapolis on Tuesday.

They wanted the release their report to coincide with the Senate hearings on a bill to restore accountability to policing.

According to the report summary, 453 of 1500 West Baltimore residents surveyed following the death of Freddie Gray had stories of police misconduct.  However, only 39 people were willing to speak on record. The group attributed that to a high level of fear of police retaliation. That's why organizers said they want to see legislators hold police accountable by implementing new laws that rebuild trust.

“Years ago, we were a community, but now we're so far off from one another. I don't know my officers, I don't know their names, they don't know me and that creates a great problem in our community, it needs to change,” said Elder Rev. Clyde William Harris, a co-founder of the No Boundaries Coalition.

The group is asking for anti-racism and de-escalation training, a community policing model, and regular meetings between local leaders, neighbors, and officers.

“We have a force together to bring people out to vote and we're looking for actions, people to represent us, lawmakers to represent us and give us what we want,” said Elder Harris.

The Senate bill would change the way officers are trained and set new requirements for people who file complaints against officers.

The No Boundaries Coalition full report on police misconduct in West Baltimore is expected to be released next Tuesday.

Baltimore City Police Commissioner Kevin Davis released a statement on the police reform bills. “I support many of the reforms contained within these bills and believe such measures are important steps in improving the relationship between police and the community,” he said.

He added that he would be happy to talk to reform advocates and lawmakers for solutions that increase transparency within the department while still allowing officers to do their jobs effectively.

Police reform in Hawaii

A handful of bills that aim to improve police oversight and accountability in Hawaii still have legs in the Legislature after passing key committee votes in the Senate this week.

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary and Ways and Means committees held a joint hearing and approved Senate Bill 2411, which would provide funding for body cameras and set the guidelines on how the technology should be used.

The committee also passed Senate Bill 2755, which would create a statewide training and standards board to set minimum requirements for those seeking to work in law enforcement.

Each bill has it detractors, particularly in law enforcement.

Hawaii has struggled for years to enact meaningful police reform.

Police officials worry that the body camera legislation doesn’t allow for more input from the agencies that would actually use the technology.

Government transparency groups, on the other hand, worry that the bill goes too far in keeping footage confidential.

The Honolulu Police Department — the state’s largest law enforcement agency — has also expressed concern about creating a statewide training ad standards board.

Hawaii is currently the only state without such an agency.

HPD officials say that having minimum requirements for law enforcement officers could result in the department lowering its own standards, which they say are some of the most stringent in the U.S.

Supporters of the bill say that would not be the case, since the board would only set the low end of the training spectrum. Any agencies that already exceeded those requirements would not have to change course.

The measure, however, would not address police officer certification and licensing, which many experts believe is the true means of keeping tabs on troublesome officers. At least 44 states license police officers.

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 2196, which would create an independent review board for police killings and cases involving serious bodily injury, also passed through its final Senate committee hearing this week.

The three bills are now slated to go to the Senate floor for a full vote.

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Cops finally pay for murdering a dog

Detroit police to pay $100,000 for shooting a dog

John Wisely, Detroit Free Press

The City of Detroit will pay a pet owner $100,000 after a police officer shot his dog dead while it was chained up beside his home.

Babycakes, a Dogue de Bordeaux, was on a 10-foot leash beside Darryl Lindsay's home in the 11600 block of Strathmoor in January 2015 when Detroit police surrounded the house. They were there to question Lindsay, though he was never charged with a crime, according to his lawsuit filed last year in U.S. District Court.

Officer Darrell Dawson killed the dog in a shooting captured on police video, according to the lawsuit.

"Dash camera video shows Defendant Dawson walk toward Babycakes in her driveway to a position just beyond the reach of Babycakes’ steel cable leash, pause, aim and shoot her twice with his department-issued ... 40-caliber handgun, striking Babycakes in the chest area," according to the suit.

The dog died of the injuries. Dawson also can be heard on audio recordings notifying dispatchers that he was going to "take the dog down."

Dawson was attempting to enter the back yard of the home when he encountered the dog, but other officers were able to get there by simply hopping the fence on the other side of the house, according to the suit. Lindsay asked officers if it he could bring the dog inside before it was shot.

"Defendant’s dash cam audio recordings reflect a female police officer remarking that 'that dog got shot and had nothing to do with it!'" the suit said.

"On top of that, police never saw or could even describe the person that they were looking for that day," said Lindsay's lawyer, Chris Olsen of Royal Oak.

It's unclear if Dawson was disciplined by the department for the shooting, though records Olsen obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show Dawson described seeing a "large brown dog" and that he "was verbally counseled ... regarding other avenues of approach one can take when entering private property for exterior searches.”

The city agreed to the settlement in November. Olsen said he expects his client to get paid in the next month to six weeks.

The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the settlement.

Contact John Wisely: 313-222-6825 or jwisely@freepress.com. On Twitter @jwisely.

wait for it....wait for it ...............

Isn't the Washington Post Board just adorable?

They actually believe Fairfax County is going to enact police reform.......I mean, you just kind of want to hug em you know?

Want Police reform Washington Post?

Police reform begins at home,so to speak.  Stop treating cops differently than the way you treat cop victims........if a victim is named a suspected police abuse action then the cop should be named as well.  Do that and watch how quickly the cops fall into line.

A group called Justice for John Geer pickets on Jan. 8, 2015, in Fairfax.

(Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

By Editorial Board

EVEN NOW, nearly three years after the fact, Fairfax County officials seem slow to absorb the lessons from the coverup, foot-dragging, reflexive secrecy and mulish unaccountability occasioned by the unwarranted death of John Geer, the father of two who was shot and killed in his own doorway by a county police officer in Springfield.

Even now, after that public disgrace, the county’s elected leaders are hemming and hawing over establishing an all-civilian oversight panel that could render a clear-eyed judgment on allegations of abuse in Fairfax’s 1,400-officer police department, Virginia’s biggest local law enforcement agency.

Even now, after withering criticism of Fairfax’s inertia by a U.S. senator, a judge, citizens groups and the media, county politicians appear loath to confront police brass and rank-and-file representatives, who remain intent on subverting the oversight panel’s independence by stacking it with current and/or former police officers.

And even now, no sense of urgency impels the formation of such an oversight body, which, though it was recommended by a police reform commission last fall, seems unlikely to exist and exercise actual oversight before sometime next year — with luck.

That reform commission was formed after the shame of the Geer episode assumed such dimensions that the county’s Board of Supervisors could no longer look the other way. When it finally delivered its report, in October, after six months of deliberations, it pulled no punches and minced no words.

Among its voluminous recommendations, in addition to establishing real independent oversight of the police, was an overhaul of the department’s use-of-force policies and the setting up of an auditor, under the Board of Supervisors, who would review the integrity of internal police investigations.

The heart of the commission’s recommendations is the establishment of an oversight panel — independent, staffed by civilians and accountable only to the public. Such bodies, with varying compositions, exist in cities and other localities around the country, including New York, Philadelphia and the District. In Fairfax, officials resisted for years, insisting the elected supervisors themselves could exercise effective oversight.

The fallacy of that stance was laid bare by the Geer case, in which the Board of Supervisors appeared paralyzed, befuddled and tongue-tied as police went mum and prosecutors and the board’s own lawyers played dodge-the-blame games for the better part of two years.

Now that there is consensus on an oversight panel, some supervisors are insisting it include current or former police officers or county officials, in accord with the department’s wishes. But what is the point of an oversight panel if the oversight it exercises is tainted from the get-go by the specter of bias? Do the county’s elected representatives really think anyone will regard the oversight panel as meaningfully independent if the police themselves — or their allies or advocates — are doing the overseeing?

The takeaway from the Geer case, in which the officer who pulled the trigger now faces murder charges, could hardly be clearer. Despite many dedicated and fine officers, public trust in the department is broken in Fairfax. The county must rectify that, and not by half-steps.

Bernie Sanders Calls for a Mandatory National Database of Police Killings

BY TRACE WILLIAM COWEN

I'd be happy to waste more of your time here: @TraceCowen

FEB 25, 2016

As the election spotlight remains firmly focused on the troubling state of police brutality in the United States for many voters, the issue is inspiring refreshingly direct responses from some candidates. Bernie Sanders, a very public proponent of drastic police reform, told theGuardian earlier this week that he not only supported such reform but also the implementation of a mandatory national database for allpolice-related deaths.

"When individuals die under police apprehension or police custody, should [reporting that] be mandatory?" Sanders posited during a press conference on Wednesday. "Yes. I do believe that." Sanders added, after being questioned by the Guardian, that he would also support any legislation seeking to make this a reality:

Of course, the Vermont Senator's stance on combating the prevalence of American police brutality has been a crucial component of his campaign platform since he first announced his White House intentions. "At the federal level we need to establish a new model police training program that reorients the way we do law enforcement in this country," Sanders said in August when revealing his own plan for reform. "With input from a broad segment of the community including activists and leaders from organizations like Black Lives Matter, we will reinvent how we police America."

Though this proposed national database has continued to garner a baffling number of opponents, publications like the Guardian have already implemented their own tracking method for police-related deaths in America. At the time of publication, the Guardian's The Counted project reports that 158 people have been killed by police in 2016 alone.

Battle for Police Reform, Handgun Penalties Begins

by: Sean Yoes Senior AFRO Contributor

Sean Yoes

We’re roughly a third of the way through the 2016 legislative session in Annapolis and there is growing dissension among activists and legislators who seek law enforcement reform in the state.

On Feb. 23, divergent groups including family members of people killed by police officers, heads of police unions, police chiefs and children protesters (draped in crime scene tape) descended upon the state capital, as debate began over 27 bills aimed at some measure of law enforcement reform. Even William Porter, the first officer to stand trial connected to the death of Freddie Gray attended the hearings.

The focus of many is on House Bill 1016, which was crafted to amend Maryland’s Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (LEOBOR), the first and many argue, the strongest set of protections for law enforcement officers in the nation. The bill is the product of a legislative task force known as the Public Safety and Policing Work Group.

“The problem is that they got most of that information…from folks who are affiliated with law enforcement. A lot of folks did a lot of good work, came up with some okay ideas, but also came up with some problematic ideas,” said Lawrence Grandpre, director of research for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS), a Baltimore-based grassroots think tank. Grandpre made his comments during, “First Edition,” Tuesday evening.

“The biggest example of this is a provision which basically means that if you have a police officer accused of doing something wrong when they go through…the internal trial board…and there is only police officers who serve on that trial board,” Grandpre added. “So, it’s literally the police policing the police.” As of now, HB 1016 has the full support of Speaker of the House Mike Bush.

LBS supports legislation that will be introduced by Del. Jill Carter (D-41st), which LBS said will include a provision that would require at least one civilian member of the internal trial board that would determine discipline for officers accused of misconduct.

Baltimore City Police Commissioner Kevin Davis is wearing a couple of different lobbying hats during this legislative session. He is against pending legislation that would increase the influence of police unions in the disciplinary process. But, Davis is supporting legislation brought forward by Sen. Catherine Pugh (D-40th), which would require anybody caught with a loaded handgun to be locked up for at least a year.

Davis laid out his argument for the handgun legislation on First Edition, Feb. 23.

“The choice a person makes to arm himself with a firearm before he leaves his house, whether it’s sticking that gun in your waistband or sticking that gun under the front seat of your car is problematic for our community because young people whether it’s in Baltimore or any other major city or major county in the country really don’t possess the conflict resolution skills that we need them to possess in the first place,” said Davis, who characterized himself as one of the more progressive police chiefs in the nation during the interview.

“And the immediate availability of a firearm I think really takes some occasions that should, maybe in days gone by, should be a fist fight at most, it takes it to a gun battle,” Davis added. “And we have so many acts of violence in the city that are just spontaneous eruptions of emotion that without that immediate accessibility to a firearm, I think that conflict is otherwise resolved.”

Also during the show, Natasha Pratt Harris, associate professor and Criminal Justice Program coordinator at Morgan State University, argued the handgun legislation may be necessary, but preventative measures are more vital.

“I consistently say that we need to see this as an absolute emergency…saying, `How do we make sure children who are going back and forth to school, how to we make sure elderly siblings — like just happened yesterday, who were going to the bus stop– aren’t injured and really looking at that piece to protect our communities,” she added.

“Not so much focusing on punishing and punishing and punishing, when we know that hasn’t worked.”

Sean Yoes is a senior contributor for the AFRO and host and executive producer of First Edition, which airs Monday through Friday, 5-7 p.m. on WEAA 88.9.

- See more at: http://www.afro.com/battle-for-police-reform-handgun-penalties-begins/#sthash.I0FeGyTj.dpuf

Secret police? Virginia considers bill to withhold all officers' names

Tom JackmanThe Washington Post

It started with a reporter's attempt to learn whether problem police officers were moving from department to department. It resulted in legislation that is again bringing national scrutiny to the Virginia General Assembly: a bill that could keep all Virginia police officers' names secret.

In a climate where the actions of police nationwide are being watched as never before, supporters say the bill is needed to keep officers safe from people who may harass or harm them. But the effort has drawn the attention of civil rights groups and others who say police should be moving toward more transparency - not less - to ensure that troubled officers are found and removed.

If it is made law, experts say the restriction would be unprecedented nationwide.

The Virginia Senate has already approved Senate Bill 552, which would classify the names of all police officers and fire marshals as "personnel records," exempting them from mandatory disclosure under the state's freedom of information law. The Republican-dominated Virginia House will consider the bill in hearings starting Thursday. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) has not taken a position on the bill yet, his spokesman said.

State Sen. John A. Cosgrove Jr., R-Chesapeake, - citing that he knew many police officers and their families - said: "The culture is not one of respect for law enforcement anymore. It's really, 'How, how can we get these guys? What can we do?' . . . Police officers are much more in jeopardy. There's no nefarious intent behind the bill."

Pushback has been strong. "To say every officer's name ought to be confidential," said Claire Gastañaga, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, "is just a step too far in government secrecy. We are dangerously close to a police state in some respects." She said shootings and attacks on police are rarely committed by anyone using public records.

Although other states have made moves to shield the identities of some officers, none would go as far as the proposal in Virginia.

In Oregon, the state House passed a bill last week allowing the name of an officer involved in a police shooting to be withheld for 90 days if a judge finds there is a credible threat to the officer. This followed the killing of a protester from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, held by armed occupiers for more than a month this year. And the Pennsylvania House passed a bill in November mandating the withholding the name of an officer involved in a shooting while the investigation is pending - which would be a change from the Philadelphia Police Department's policy of releasing the name within three days.

Kevin Carroll, president of the Virginia Fraternal Order of Police union, said he knew of one instance when a citizen had taken an officer's name and committed financial fraud, adding that the potential existed in other cases for danger to an officer's family. "This is not about trying to keep information from the public, to have secret police," Carroll said."But it is about wanting to keep our officers safe."

Carroll said: "With the current trend across the country, law enforcement officers have been attacked and even assassinated because of issues being driven in the media. . . . With technology now, if you have a name, you could find out where they live. It puts them at risk."

Completely withholding officers' names from the public is a new step nationally, according to Dan Bevarly, interim executive director of the National Freedom of Information Council. "Usually legislation is related to a specific incident, but not as a preventive measure," he said. "To do such a blanket exemption for a high-profile government employee, what are you trying to accomplish?"

John Worrall, a criminology professor at the University of Texas at Dallas specializing in policing in legal issues, said that in his review of state freedom of information laws, "none that I've found have gone to this extreme. In fact, the opposite is occurring" in many states, Worrall said, with more governments and police agencies posting information promptly about police-involved shootings.

Although police supporters fear the use of publicly available records against them, "that's largely based on a total lack of data," Worrall said. "There's no data on retaliatory actions against police officers. And even if the problem exists, I'm not convinced that hiding their names is the solution."

Worrall and others noted that keeping officers' names secret seems to conflict with the idea of community policing and building trust with citizens. "I don't know how you have community policing," Gastañaga said, "when nobody knows your name."

Should the Virginia bill become law, the practical implications still aren't clear. Some worry it would allow an officer who pulls over a driver, or stops someone in the street, to refuse to provide his or her name. Officers' names would still appear on traffic tickets or court documents.

Police would still have the discretion to release any officer's name if they wanted, and police officials said they would not withhold names without specific reasons. Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. said he and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors remains "committed to increasing our transparency." He said that officers would never be removing their names from their uniforms, as some have suggested the bill would allow, and that he would withhold a name only to protect a particular officer's safety or the sanctity of an ongoing investigation. Fairfax police waited 16 months to release the name of the officer who shot an unarmed Springfield man, John Geer, in 2013. The release came only after a judge ordered it.

Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said police in the commonwealth already have the option to withhold names, and Cosgrove's bill merely codifies that discretion. She and Carroll, the police union president, both noted that 1,500 Virginia state employees had fraudulent tax returns filed last year, which officials think originated with an online database of employee names and salaries.

"We do not expect this to be abused," said Schrad, who sent an email to state police chiefs saying: "We caution all of our agencies to use discretion in exercising this exemption. In order to build a trust relationship with communities, agencies should make sure that the communities know who their officers are. This exemption should only be exercised when trying to protect the identity of an undercover officer or when protecting the integrity" of an internal affiars investigation.

Schrad and Carroll helped launch the bill after the Virginian-Pilot newspaper and the state Department of Criminal Justice Services reached an agreement last summer for the state to release the names, agencies and dates of employment of every law enforcement officer in Virginia. Schrad opposed the release because she said the database was old and inaccurate, saying that providing the mass data was her chief reason for pursuing the bill.

Virginian-Pilot reporter Gary Harki said he wanted to check tips he had received that officers who were fired from one department were simply rejoining a police force elsewhere, similar to the reporting done by the Boston Globe on reassignment of pedophilic Catholic priests in Massachusetts. The newspaper negotiated an agreement with the state to obtain the names of only current officers, not to publish the entire database or share it with anyone, and to indemnify the state from any legal claims.

After the agreement was signed, Schrad and Carroll objected, and the state changed its mind. No deal. But the state failed to cite a legal exemption for its refusal in the required time under the state Freedom of Information Act, and a Norfolk judge ruled that the data had to be given to Harki. The judge also ruled that police names are personnel records that can be exempt under FOIA, but he said the state had already agreed to release them. The ruling at the circuit-court level does not have the weight of legal precedent and so Schrad and Carroll sought to put it into law.

"The public has a right to know who their police officers are," Harki said. "To me, it's just a fundamental principle of democracy [to know] who our public officials are." He said that the database he got was "just a piece of a larger puzzle to a problem that may or may not exist" and that he hasn't published anything about it since the Virginian-Pilot won the court ruling in November.

When Harki worked as a reporter in West Virginia, a similar investigation of troubled officers moving between departments resulted in legislation adding oversight to the movement of officers.

Megan Rhyne of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government noted that many public servants take actions that could anger citizens - prosecutors, social service workers, judges - but their names remain public. She also said that withholding names would result in a lack of accountability for a variety of unsavory acts, such as profligate spending or hiring friends and family, actions that often are caught only when names are linked to illegal deeds.

The bill is scheduled for a hearing Thursday afternoon before a subcommittee of the House General Laws Committee, chaired by Del. James M. LeMunyon, R-Fairfax. He declined to offer his views on the bill, but he said if it passed, it would be heard again next Thursday before the entire committee, then possibly sent to the full House.

Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition Rallies and Lobbies for Police Reform in Maryland

February 27, 2016 by Thomas Nephew

Maryland Police Reform press conference on February 23

This post is a modification of the original post by Thomas Nephew at Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition

MCCRC’s Thomas Nephew and over a hundred other advocates of police reform descended on Annapolis on Tuesday to press their case for real police reform andagainst measures like “Recommendation 23”— packing brutality hearing boards with members favorable to the accused — that would set back that cause.

It was a full day of education and advocacy, including a press conference, a hearing on the police reform measures, and meetings with legislators and their aides.

The hashtag for the day was #NoRec23.Activists demanded that any reform package should:

•           Reduce the unfair advantage given to officers accused of brutality:

•           Don’t let bad cops choose who reviews their own brutality cases.

•           Allow trained civilians to sit on trial boards, ESPECIALLY in brutality cases.

•           Provide local civilian review boards with subpoena power to question officers accused of misconduct.

•           Eliminate the 5 day window that bad cops use to manufacture their story.

•           Outlaw collusion between officers so they don’t lie to protect each other.

•           Treat victims of brutality as well as all other victims fairly:

•           Open up who can file brutality complaints.

•           Eliminate the time restriction on when complaints can be filed.

A press conference before the hearing featured advocates bedecked in yellow “Caution” ribbons indicating the strong reservations about that element and others of the House and Senate leadership omnibus police reform bill HB1016 (now crossfiled as Senate bill SB1026).

Larry Stafford (Maryland Coalition for Justice and Police Accountability, MCJPA) led off comments with a remembrance of Marshawn Carroll, a smart, committed young African American Ohio man who had worked with Larry and MCJPA here briefly before returning to Columbus, where he committed suicide earlier this month.  “What has not been reported widely was that before he took his life, he had actually lost a friend to police violence in Ohio. And so recognizing the pain and the trauma that is inflicted on communities across this country when their loved ones lives are lost through police violence, or their freedom is infringed upon because of police misconduct and abuse of their authority, it’s because of that that we’re here today.” Other speakers included:

•           William Rau (Caucus of African American Leaders): “…our elected officials are policymakers who are acting on our behalf.  These walls, this carpet, this podium, the pomp and circumstance, the parliamentary procedure, that is all put into place to do our will.  We must remember that…we are challenging a process that has run amuk.  […] We must let them know we’re paying attention to every single word and every single comment.”

•           Marion Gray-Hopkins (Coalition of Concerned Mothers): “…most importantly, I am a survivor.  My son Gary Hopkins was murdered by the police November 27th 1999.  I’m here with Greta Willis whose son Kevin Cooper was murdered in Baltimore City.  I’m here with Darlene Cain whose son Dale Graham was murdered in Baltimore City in 2008.  And… there are other mothers who are not here who I am representing: Dorothy Elliot – son: Archie Elliot, murdered – over 20+ bullets while he was handcuffed in the back of a patrol car, and it was alleged that there was a gun.  I’m here for Gina Best whose daughter India Kator was murdered in Virginia.  This is not just about Maryland.”

•           Rev. Jamila Woods Jones (Jabez Christian Community Church):“This is not a new issue, we’ve been coming here for years, with the same issues, the same concerns. And while we’re happy that we’re moving forward, we want to acknowledge that there are some fatal flaws that *must* be addressed if we’re going to make this a truly transparent effort that is beneficial to everyone. … Now we’re calling on our legislators, we’re demanding that our legislators hear the cry of the people.  That’s all I have to say.”

•           Sophia Marjanovic: “…during my divorce I met a county sheriff whose conduct concerned me about his neglect of duty and misconduct. I made a complaint of misconduct with the county sheriff’s department. The department did not advise me about whether they’d be investigating the case, and never advised me about whether there was an outcome of an investigation. […] I was later ordered to work with the same sheriff against whom I filed the complaint. […] I’m concerned about retaliation because the officer shouted at me that he didn’t want me filing a complaint against him again. […]  I ask that the agency be required to inform the complainant of the outcome of an investigation.”

•           Kirkland Hall (Somerset County NAACP): “I’m here speaking for a young lady who had been voiceless after what happened to her in 2009.  … The Maryland State Police called her home looking for a young man who had escaped from a work release team.  She wasn’t there.  But he left a message. He said ‘My name is Sergeant Milo, Maryland State Police.  We need for you to call us.’ When he thought he had hung up the phone, he made this statement: ‘I’m getting sick and tired of calling these n*****s on the telephone with these long voice messages.’ […] We could hear other police officers laughing on the phone.  Which tells me there’s a culture of the police department. Which tells me that they are very familiar with the words of Chief Justice Taney many years ago, that a black man has no rights which a white man should respect.”

•           Lawrence Grandpre (Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle):“Some people think this issue of police reform is complicated.  I don’t think so.  You can look at the words of the people who represent the establishment to see what the problem is.  A few days ago [Delegate] Curt Anderson was on the radio. And he said ‘This trial board thing, it doesn’t matter. That’s internal, that’s kind of like a court martial. So we don’t need non-police officers on that board. Think about that. An elected official in Maryland just said that we should have military style justice for civilian police forces.  It’s a small step when you isolate a community and produce a military style accountability system; soon enough you’ll get military style application of policing on the streets.”