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Knoxville News Sentinel - Knox
02 December 2007

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Knoxville Police Department, T

Police brutality: A (rare) rea

In 2004, a man who allegedly ran from and then struggled with Knoxville police was kicked by an officer after he had been handcuffed and stopped resisting.

In 2005, an unarmed, mentally disabled woman was shocked repeatedly in her front yard by a Taser-wielding Knoxville Police Department officer who later said he didn't know he'd used the weapon and, if he did, it was an accident.

Last year, a mentally ill homeless man who screamed pronouncements about God and Satan was slapped and then punched repeatedly by a Knox County Sheriff's Office corporal while he was strapped into a restraint chair at the county jail, unable to fight back or even move.

In each case, Internal Affairs investigators found that the officers broke departmental rules by using excessive force. But none of the officers involved was fired or charged with a crime.

None of the cases was referred to the Knox County Distict Attorney General's Office, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation or the FBI for independent review.

They were instead dealt with internally through suspensions or letters of reprimand.

Local officers infrequently use violence when dealing with the public, and instances in which they improperly use physical force are few and far between. But, while excessive force cases involving local law enforcement officers are aberrations, it's even rarer for the officers to be fired or prosecuted criminally, even when authorities have clear evidence of misconduct, according to a News Sentinel review of approximately 200 Internal Affairs cases from both KPD and KCSO from 2004 to early this year.

Also, neither agency has a policy requiring investigators to notify local prosecutors or any other outside agency when it appears that an officer might have broken the law or when an excessive force complaint is lodged.

But records also reveal that both agencies take complaints of officer misconduct seriously and that supervisors have repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to discipline officers who break the rules, the News Sentinel review shows.

Exactly how much punishment is enough, however, remains an open question, and the answer largely depends on whom you ask.

Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols, who is in charge of prosecuting crimes in Knox County, said he was unaware of the incidents referenced in the investigation until the News Sentinel queried him about them.

"I've not heard any of those tales," he said. "I don't know exactly how to respond. ... The management can't let that go on. That's just a problem waiting to hit somebody between the eyes. Most of the time, they're pretty good to consult with us."

Nichols said it's a good idea for cases to be initially screened "by a competent police professional, but it would be reasonable to have an independent agency review these."

When asked if be believes KPD should change its policy to require that a separate criminal probe be initiated or the DA's office notified whenever excessive force allegations are raised, Police Chief Sterling Owen IV said be believes that such incidents should be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Owen also said all citizens have the right to contact the DA's office on their own if they wish to seek charges.

"That is certainly an option that they have," he said.

Jimmy "J.J." Jones, KCSO's assistant chief of administration who served as sheriff for several months this year, took a different stance when asked by the News Sentinel if the department's policy should be changed.

"That's a valid point," he said. "We might incorporate that into our general orders for Internal Affairs investigations."

What the numbers show

In a sense, today's KPD was born in early 1998 after the deaths of four men, three of them black, during encounters with police over a seven-month period. Although all the officers were cleared of wrongdoing, the black community lashed out at what they perceived to be a culture of brutality and indifference.

Then Mayor Victor Ashe and then Police Chief Phil Keith responded by creating a citizens' review board, the Police Advisory and Review Committee, to oversee the department and establish a dialogue with the city's various communities.

While maintaining that racism and brutality weren't widespread problems in the department, Keith instituted a number of changes to make KPD officers more accountable and reduce the likelihood that they would need to use lethal force. Video cameras were soon placed in the agency's cruisers, and department leaders began experimenting with less-lethal weapons such as bean bag projectiles and Tasers in the hope that they would give officers greater flexibility when subduing suspects.

Through PARC's longtime executive director, Carol Scott, citizens were then able to bring their concerns about KPD officers to an independent party who could guide them through filing a complaint. Scott also helped put together training programs that specifically focused on preparing officers to work in an increasingly diverse community where cultural differences can easily lead to misunderstandings or escalate into conflicts.

In recent years, the number of violent confrontations between KPD officers and the public has dropped dramatically, according to a News Sentinel analysis of records compiled from KPD and the TBI.

In 2004, for instance, KPD officers used force in one out of every 29 arrests - or 735 calls for service - and KPD officers were assaulted 76 times. In that year, Internal Affairs investigators probed nine allegations of excessive force and sustained one of them, meaning they found that the officer had broken departmental rules. They also looked into five alleged instances of unnecessary force, sustaining one.

In 2006, KPD officers used force in one out of 48 arrests - or 948 calls for service - and 58 officers were the victims of assault. The IA unit investigated only two excessive force complaints, sustaining none, and nine unnecessary force allegations, sustaining two.

One category in which there has been little if any drop-off is in the use of firearms in the line of duty. There were four officer-involved shootings in 2004, three in 2005 and five in 2006. No officers were killed or wounded in the incidents, in which five suspects were killed and three wounded.

The 40 percent reduction in KPD's overall use-of-force rate occurred during a period of time when there was no significant drop-off in serious violent crimes such as homicide or aggravated assault, and there was a sharp increase in the number of arrests by city officers, figures show. In 2004, for instance, KPD made 11,127 arrests, a number which swelled last year to 15,176.

'They're not hiding things'

The increase in arrests might be attributable to successfully solving more crimes than in the past, said KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk. In 2003, for instance, the agency had a case clearance rate of 35.5 percent, but in 2006, the clearance rate was about 47.4 percent.

KPD's performance is attributed to an ironclad commitment to professionalism that's reflected at all levels, according to Owen.

Owen, who was the chairman of PARC until he took over the job of police chief from Keith in 2004, said KPD makes it a point to hire only the most-qualified candidates, trains them to an exacting standard using a 24-week program, and then insists that they adhere to strict codes of conduct both on and off duty.

"Society has changed, what they expect of officers has changed, and I think that has forced some changes by police departments and how we deal with things," Owen said.

"If you talk with other police agencies, they would say that KPD is considered a leader in professionalism," he said. "Our day-to-day philosophy is to do the right thing. ... We put these men and women under a lot of pressure. ... From time to time, we all make mistakes, but these are minuscule in the scheme of what we accomplish everyday."

KPD's Internal Affairs process involves pulling evidence from numerous sources, such as interviews, videotapes and various internal records. Complaints are filed by citizens who often use PARC as a conduit, by supervisors, and sometimes by other officers. Many investigations deal with administrative or personnel issues, such as violating policies governing the use of in-car cameras, tardiness, or off-duty conduct that may reflect poorly on the department.

Not all allegations end up going to IA investigators, who normally handle those that are more serious. Many complaints - such as allegations of rudeness, which are far more common than complaints about officer violence - are handled by supervisors, but their dispositions are nonetheless recorded.

From 2002 to 2006, the IA unit sustained, or found against officers, more than 50 percent of the time. Once supervisors' inquiries into less-serious offenses are included, the department sustained about 32 percent of the allegations.

Nationally, most police departments have an estimated overall sustained rate of 15 percent to 20 percent, according to the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, which means that KPD finds against its own officers more often than the national average. KPD's sustained rate for excessive force allegations is lower than for other types of IA cases, at about 10 percent.

Scott believes the statistics show that the agency is serious when it comes to ensuring that its employees follow the rules.

Scott, who has reviewed more than 1,400 complaints against KPD officers since PARC was created in 1998 and also serves on NACOLE's board, said the high rate of sustained cases shows that the IA process works most of the time.

"I think KPD is being more honest than some other departments," she said. "I think they're not hiding things."

The last time a Knoxville police officer was prosecuted criminally for an excessive force allegation was in 1998, when John Paul Szczepanowski was charged with kicking a handcuffed man. Szczepanowski also was fired, later convicted of official misconduct and sentenced to two years on probation.

Why no prosecutions?

There is no internal policy dictating when cases should be referred to the DA's office or outside agencies, officials say, although all incidents involving the use of deadly force - such as shootings - are reviewed by prosecutors.

Owen said KPD officials look at incidents on a case-by-case basis and evaluate them based on the totality of circumstances. Many times, excessive force cases are detailed by the alleged victims without the proper context, he said, which is akin to opening a book at the end and expecting to understand the story.

Owen also pointed out that IA investigations aren't aimed at pursuing criminal charges but are instead focused on determining whether an officer has broken the department's regulations. Just because an excessive force complaint is sustained, he said, doesn't automatically mean that an officer is guilty of a criminal offense.

"Where we might sustain or find that it happened, a particular allegation, it doesn't necessarily translate into being a prosecutable type violation," he said. "It could very easily be an administrative issue, an internal KPD rule that was violated."

IA records reveal that KPD officers have repeatedly turned in other officers who abuse citizens, a fact that Deputy Chief Gus Paidousis said he believes shows exactly how serious the agency is about curbing unnecessary violence.

"It further underscores the climate we have," he said. "Not only will the command staff not tolerate it, but the officers won't tolerate it."

But the lack of prosecutions against officers has led to a certain level of uneasiness, even among those who believe the agency is serious about policing its own.

PARC's executive director, for one, said that citizens have repeatedly asked her why police aren't charged criminally in connection with complaints. Scott, who retired last month, said she wishes she'd been able to answer their questions more fully but that she was not often given fully satisfactory answers from the department.

"This is one of the things people have said: 'Why aren't they being prosecuted?' This is a concern," Scott said. "A police officer should be prosecuted if he does wrong. He or she is not above the law. ... I have never gotten an answer as to why they didn't prosecute them, except that each case is different."

Although PARC has the authority to investigate complaints, and it reviews as a matter of policy all IA investigations conducted by KPD, the board has no power to do anything other than to make suggestions. Scott said she's never referred a complaint against KPD to prosecutors but has always made sure that citizen complainants knew it was an option.

"Some people think we're miracle workers, but we're not," Scott said. "We make sure the people's voice is heard, but we can't make the police do anything. But we can make them listen."

Jones served a brief stint as Knox County sheriff this year but was removed from office along with 11 other county officeholders as a result of News Sentinel Editor Jack McElroy's lawsuit against the County Commission for violating the state Open Meetings Act. He is now the department's assistant chief of administration pending the appointment of a new sheriff and may be reappointed once a legal mechanism to fill the vacancy is decided.

A 28-year law enforcement veteran whose career included a lengthy stint with the now defunct joint city-county Metro Narcotics Unit, Jones agreed to be interviewed because he meted out disciplinary action for the beating of a fully restrained jail inmate last year.

Jones said the incident might have been discovered earlier had the victim filed a complaint, and he stressed that the public's help is needed in discovering incidents of officer misconduct.

"We want citizens to complain," he said. "If somebody feels like an officer has done wrong ... we want to know about it. A citizen's complaint is the best way to get the ball rolling."

Comparing KPD with KCSO

For the past several years, the Sheriff's Office IA unit hasn't had a uniform filing and classification system, although one is in the works, officials said. Because of the lack of standardization and the fact that several investigators have cycled through the unit, it's difficult to provide a direct comparison of Sheriff's Office and KPD files.

Based on a News Sentinel review of case files dating to 2005, there don't appear to be any major differences between how the Sheriff's Office and KPD conduct IA investigations. A small number of KCSO files, however, were clearly incomplete. Essential reports and other documentation weren't included, and one file contained only photographs of a dead jail inmate.

Officials blamed the missing data on the prior lack of standardization.

The Sheriff's Office sustains IA cases less frequently than KPD but still does so significantly more often than the national average, records indicate. In that time frame, IA investigators sustained about 32 percent of allegations and just less than 10 percent of excessive or unnecessary force cases.

IA Investigator Sgt. Tom Cox said it might not be reasonable to assume that KCSO has a higher or lower sustained rate than other departments because law enforcement agencies use different types of processes to evaluate complaints.

In Knox County, for instance, full-blown IA investigations are only launched when allegations might result in serious disciplinary action if proven true. Some complaints don't trigger IA probes, he said, but are instead dealt with by supervisors or other means.

"One of three things may happen," Cox said. "We may do a supervisor referral; it might be less serious and we can handle it here and then classify it as miscellaneous; or we can do an Internal Affairs investigation. ... It's such a broad spectrum."

Without a way to factor in how complaints are screened in the departments whose sustained rates form the basis of NACOLE's estimated national average, Cox said, it's unfair to compare agencies.

NACOLE President Pierce Murphy agreed that direct comparisons between agencies may be problematic. Murphy said the national average is determined by reviewing public reports issued by oversight agencies across the country and has "become kind of the commonly held statistic."

"This is not necessarily an apples-to-apples comparison, it's only an attempt to indicate," he said. "Every department has a different way of screening."

Records indicate that patrol officers from the Sheriff's Office use force far less frequently than do KPD officers. Between 2004 and 2006, KCSO patrol officers filled out an average of one use-of-force report per every 547 arrests, a rate more than 10 times lower than the city police department. Also, it's been more than six years since a suspect was killed by KCSO officers.

Jones, however, cautioned to not read too much into the statistics, pointing out that the Sheriff's Office's jurisdiction differs radically from that of KPD. Rather than dense urban areas with high crime rates like those patrolled by KPD, he said, KCSO officers cover areas that are largely rural or suburban.

"We don't have the inner city, we don't have the housing projects, we don't have the areas around the housing projects," he said. "I'm not saying it's any easier, it's just different."

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Knoxville News Sentinel - Knox02 December 2007

Police brutality: A (rare) rea

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Knoxville News Sentinel - Knox
02 December 2007