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| NEWS > 13 July 2007 |
Other related articles:
Malaysian groups say police ab
Malaysian human rights groups said Friday that police abuse and corruption in the country have not stopped despite an independent commission's recommendations for sweeping changes.
«Human rights continue to deteriorate,» Yap Swee Seng, executive director of local organization Suaram, said at a meeting of human rights groups. «The culture of impunity is growing.
National police chief Inspector General Musa Hassan could not be immediately reached for comment. His mobile phone was switched off.
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Asbury Park Press - Asbury Par
13 July 2007
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Police whistle-blower question
SEASIDE PARK — A former West New York officer who broke open the biggest police corruption scandal in state history has told the Borough Council he wants to help reform the Police Department here.
"Excessive-force complaints are extremely rare occurrences," Richard G. Rivera, now of the People's Organization for Progress in Newark, told the council Wednesday night. "Even more rare are lawsuits from excessive-force complaints."
Rivera was referring to 13 excessive force lawsuits that have been filed against police. The borough's insurance carrier has settled five of the lawsuits for $1.5 million. The borough has made no admission of wrongdoing.
He said his statewide volunteer organization had received complaints from residents of the town, which prompted him to reach out to acting Police Chief Edward Dickson, some residents and a council member in doing preliminary research into allegations against the department.
While remarking that there is a lack of strong law enforcement leadership at the state level, Rivera said that Seaside Park is such a small town, the problem within the department probably came from a small number of officers taking the law into their own hands.
"Don't be ashamed of what happened," he told the council. "You have to know where you came from so you know where you are going."
He recommended that a case study be conducted regarding the department and told the council, "When you get results, post them. Don't let anybody think you are hiding something."
Attorney limits comments
During Rivera's exchange with local officials, Borough Attorney Michael J. McKenna told him: "The borough of Seaside Park is doing everything it can do to acknowledge a situation that occurred."
McKenna said he could not comment specifically on the lawsuits.
Rivera kept repeating that he wanted to create an open dialogue with the borough and recommended the town add more signs to direct visitors to the location of the police department; require officers to wear identification with names; provide larger, reflective identification numbers on the police cars; and not use as many unmarked police cars.
"As information is released, we're more than happy to let you have it," said Councilman Jim Jablonski, in response to Rivera's many questions about what steps the borough is taking in response to the lawsuits.
Voicing the confusion of some members of the council about how Rivera came to be at the meeting, Councilwoman Sue Maday told him: "I don't think we need someone from Hudson County to come down and tell us how to run our town."
Rivera said that residents called him, and he was asked by superiors to look into the town and offer the assistance of his organization, which has dealt with excessive force cases throughout the state.
According to its Web site, the People's Organization for Progress says that in recent years it has focused on police brutality. The group says it has conducted community surveys on police performance and campaigns for independent citizen-controlled police review boards for police forces at the state and local levels.
Good cop vs. bad cops
In the West New York scandal, 30 police officers, including then-Police Chief Alexander V. Oriente, and civilians were convicted or pleaded guilty as result of Rivera's undercover activities. He has said he was fired from the force in 1996 for reporting corruption.
Rivera has also been state coordinator for the National Institute of Ethics, which he has called the nation's largest provider of police ethics training, and chief investigator for the Police Complaint Center, what he has termed the largest national database for complaints against police officers initiated by citizens.
Rivera was met with expressions of skepticism from the audience while he was addressing the council, but after the meeting some residents and officials discussed with him the steps that are being taken in response to the lawsuits. For example, one step mentioned was adding more cameras in police cars in addition to the camera that had been installed before the lawsuits were detailed in an Asbury Park Press series.
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