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| NEWS > 09 December 2007 |
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Bihar police threaten strike o
Police in Bihar threatened to strike if two colleagues, fired for tying a suspected thief to a motorbike and dragging him until he passed out, were not reinstated, officials said on Monday.
Some members of the local police said the Bihar government had 15 days to restore their colleagues' jobs before they went on strike, Dharamveer Kumar, president of the Bihar Policemen's Association, said on Monday.
"Their families are virtually on the road and will starve to death if the government does not give their jobs back to them," Kumar told reporters on Monday.
"The ... Read more
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Press-Enterprise - Riverside,C
09 December 2007
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To view it in its entirity click this link.
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San Bernadino Police Departmen
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Activists seek tougher scrutin
As San Bernardino extends a crime-fighting program to the city's Westside, activists are calling for more civilian oversight of the Police Department.
Some propose a citizens review panel separate from the city's existing police commission.
Others, joined by the city councilman representing the largely black and Latino neighborhood, want the city's police commission to use investigatory powers already written into city law.
"The police violence appears to be getting worse," said Georgia Doucette-Spicer, a member of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
"Over the years, there's been all kinds of outcry, but the people in City Hall just put a Band-Aid on it. As soon as the Band-Aid falls off, they move on."
Mayor Pat Morris said he, members of his staff and Police Chief Mike Billdt have worked hard to foster communication with Westside residents. All allegations of police misconduct are painstakingly investigated, Morris said.
"My assessment is that we have an objective, thorough process," he said. "I think this city is blessed with a remarkably qualified and strong chief of police who oversees these investigations, not just of shootings but of all actions involving his officers. Chief Billdt does hold his officers accountable for their conduct."
Westside Concerns
Activists are pressing for stricter police oversight as plans are laid for extending Morris' Operation Phoenix to the Westside.
The program, which combines community-based policing and social services such as job training and recreation programs, is credited with decreasing serious crime by 38 percent in what was once the city's most violent neighborhood.
Morris said Operation Phoenix can achieve similar results on the violence-plagued Westside.
He said he's committed to making the program work by building community support, and that includes addressing Westside concerns about alleged police brutality.
Morris said he has met several times in recent months with a group of black pastors to discuss neighborhood concerns. One result of those conversations is a new police department policy to inform an on-call Westside clergyman immediately whenever officers take a life in the neighborhood, Morris said.
Billdt said he is aware of neighborhood concerns and will continue to meet with community leaders.
Current investigation procedures when issues concerning uses of force arise work well, Billdt said.
But Linda Heart, who lives in a Westside neighborhood that was the subject of a police raid in August, said she wants thorough and public investigations when police officers use force, perhaps by a body similar to Riverside's nine-member Community Police Review Commission.
Securing Independence
The Riverside City Council created the commission in response to a controversial police shooting in 1998. With a budget of about $300,000, the panel is charged with investigating citizen complaints against Riverside police officers and all cases in which officers use deadly force.
San Bernardino municipal law includes a provision for thorough reviews. A 1972 ordinance empowers the Board of Police Commissioners to investigate "the affairs or operation of any division or section of the Police Department and to make such recommendations to the Chief or Council as may seem desirable."
However, the commission lacks funds for such probes and doesn't undertake them. Instead, discussions at monthly meetings touch on the activities of police support organizations like Neighborhood Watch. Sometimes, commissioners air concerns about apparent crime surges in the neighborhoods they represent, meeting minutes show.
Heart said she wouldn't trust such a body to conduct thorough investigations, even if it had the means.
"They're still under the city," she said. "People will say, 'They're part of the same organization as the police department, so what's the use of talking to them?' But if you have an independent organization, the trust is there."
Westside City Councilman Rikke Van Johnson questioned where a review panel would derive authority or funds if it tried to operate separately from city institutions.
He said he wants the police commission to undertake investigations.
"It has not been an investigatory body, and we need one," he said. "I would love to see something in our city that has independent investigative powers, especially in light of the fact that there have been so many police shootings in a year."
San Bernardino officers have killed eight people this year, police records show.
In building a more robust review process, San Bernardino should look at models elsewhere in the state, including Riverside, Johnson said.
Heart said she and her neighbors are studying those models already, in weekly meetings at the Dorjils apartment complex.
In August, about 25 residents of the complex attended a City Council meeting to describe what they called an unprovoked attack by police officers.
Witnesses said about 20 officers attacked Dorjils residents who had gathered for a candlelight vigil after the shooting death of a neighbor. The officers struck people without provocation, used pepper spray indiscriminately and verbally abused neighborhood children, witnesses said.
Police officials say the department is investigating the allegations. Heart said group members, assisted by a U.S. Justice Department mediation team, will meet with city officials to discuss the allegations next month.
A Justice Department representative did not respond to requests to comment. Mayoral Chief of Staff Jim Morris confirmed the meeting.
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