I report you decide-By Barry Levinson.
BARRY LEVINSON
The Increasing Number Of Suspected Police Abuse Incidents Caught On Video Is Becoming A Real Problem For Both Our Police Departments And Our Society As Well.
Why Incidents Like The Kelly Thomas Beating Death By Police In
Fullerton California Will Not Go Away?
Police Chiefs around this country tell us repeatedly how well trained the members of their departments are and how they believe their departments are one of the best in the country.
FPD’s Dan Hughes
Yet every time we witness via live taping of a police civilian contact gone terribly wrong, almost never is the officer criminally or even civilly held to account for their actions.
They are put on paid administrative leave, which means a fully paid vacation for months or even up to a year or more while the police hierarchy and/or the DA investigates the incident. Then almost always the officer’s actions are found to be “reasonable” and they are back at their jobs fully refreshed from their extended paid vacations.
Yes many times, we might hear that the officer will receive additional training as if every bad act by a police officer can be fixed by attending one or more classes. If an officer likes to hurt people, training will do absolutely nothing to stop his bad behavior. If the officer has the wrong temperament or lacks the necessary common sense to deal rationally with the public, training will do absolutely nothing to change that officer’s bad behavior.
If someone is asked to sit down by an officer and he/she refuses does that give the officer the right to put that person’s life in danger? It is clear that too many police officers like the power and authority they have over the average citizen and yes have an extremely low bar before they escalate a confrontation from words to physical violence.
I for one, if asked to sit down or stand up or even get on my knees would obey the officer out of both respect and fear that this officer might use any minor excuse to physically assault me.
But there are those citizens who do not automatically listen to commands barked by an officer and want to know why they are being detained and want an answer before considering obeying an officer’s command.
There are situations that are not easy for the police. Non-obeying suspects are a challenge to them. But a situation where a non-violent suspect does not obey a verbal order, grounds to put someone in the hospital or worse. I do not think so.
The headline above asked if the police are more violent today then in the past. I do not know that answer. But I do know that more and more suspected police abuse has been caught on citizen’s smart phone cameras now.
I also know that laws such as POBAR, the Police Officers Bill of Rights in California that hides the records of bad police officer’s from the general public and everyone else but the police chiefs does not help the situation one little bit.
Finally, obvious cases of police officers using excessive force and not being punished, criminally, civilly or even suspended without pay for their actions, has given the bad officer a virtual green light to continue to mete out their form of street justice to an unsuspecting public.
See these fists?
Therefore, the real problem may not be whether there is more police abuse now than in the past. The real problem may be that the criminal justice system is ill-equipped to rein in and properly punish those bad officer’s acts.
It is clear that a growing segment of the public has become aware of this problem and it could become dangerous for our society to test the public’s patience on this matter.
#1 by Anonymous on July 28, 2014 - 3:38 pm
You want facts?
Here’s a few:
Fact: Since Hughes took over, the entire command staff of the police department is new, not to mention a significant number of rank and file officers.
Fact: There are at least six homeless liaison officers, at least one on duty 24 hours a day whose sole responsibility is dealing with homeless members of the community. These officers make very few arrests, but try their best to assist these individuals.
Fact: Fullerton PD hiring practices are completely revamped, relying heavily on outside independent vetting of job candidates to avoid any hint of nepotism.
Fact: New regulations are in place for dealing with mentally ill members of the community.
Fact: New, more clearly-defined use of force policies are in place.
Fact: The PD policy manual, for the first time ever, is posted on the department website.
Fact: Hughes has posted details on the PD website related to officer misconduct and discipline.
Fact: Hughes has given out his cell phone number to countless members of the community, including citizens who’ve been critical of him and the department.
There are 130,000 residents in Fullerton and, yes, the chief serves all of them.
But don’t call him corrupt just because he doesn’t kowtow to you when you yell and scream from the podium.
Sorry, but you can’t keep playing the Kelly Thomas card. As someone whose been intimately involved in the case from July 5, 2011 to today, I’ve seen too many people use the incident to advance their personal agendas.
It’s flat out wrong.
#2 by Anonymous on July 28, 2014 - 4:01 pm
Were those liason officers under Hughes command the ones responsible for bulldozing their camp at the library so some church could rent it for office space for 1200 a month?
#3 by FPD? on July 28, 2014 - 6:51 pm
I’m wondering why there are “at least six homeless liaison officers” but why no one to replace Officer Bill Wallis to head up the monitoring of sex criminals in our city?
Aren’t the children and women at least deserving of this protection? Why is Mr. Levinson being ignored?
I would like to believe that the FPD has truly been reformed but as I understand it, recently the FPD made threats of bodily harm to protestors. As a result, I cannot come to the conclusion that the FPD now operates lawfully.