Critics of the SJPD claim that the recent arrest of Vietnamese student Phuong Ho, which happened to be captured on camera by his roommate, is indicative of a larger problem concerning the amount of force being used by the police. Even Mayor Chuck Reed has expressed “significant concerns about how and when force is used” by the police.
In response, Police Chief Rob Davis has proposed two new measures: 1) a group of officers would review current training procedures regarding the use of force; and 2) a team of police captains would meet regularly to review cases under investigation.
But is this enough? Councilmember Kansen Chu doesn’t think so. He points out that in 2008, internal police investigators did not uphold a single complaint of excess police force made by a civilian. “That really jumped out at me. Logically I doubt that big zero.”
He says that the solution is to provide the Independent Police Auditor with greater authority. Pierce Murphy, a former police officer in Menlo Park and now the ombudsman of the Boise police department, would take it a step further. While he supports the panels in principle, he would like to see some civilians added to them to promote greater neutrality. “Can the panel members who work for the chief really ask tough questions?” he asks.
Perhaps the sharpest attack against the new measures came from Peter Keane, former Police Commissioner in San Francisco and now a professor of law at Golden Gate University law. He compared having the police investigate their own abuses to “the fox guarding the chicken house.” Even if it’s an honest fox, as Murphy pointed out, there’s the public perception to deal with too.
I find this whole thing annoying. Let’s start here:
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/ipa/Youth Guide-English.pdf.
All this talk about the Police using excessive force may be true in a few cases, but not ALL. So when are we going to hear something about offenders accepting personal responsibility for behaviors that require Police assistance? We can’t put ALL of the blame on the Police!
Everyone involved is using these few cases to ignore dealing with the real problems. An understaffed Police Department, people with anti-Police mentalities, differences in culture, language barriers, gang violence, entitlement attitudes, politics, egos, personal agendas, bias media coverage, drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness and the lack of resources to help, the list goes on and on.
And lastly, when the City forms these committees, and task forces, ALL stakeholders aren’t invited to the table so you aren’t ever going to get a win/win solution. Anti-Police groups and the media dominate these task forces and committees so nothing ever changes, as they don’t ever agree on anything purposed. Enough is never enough! Community outreach by the City is sorely lacking therefore involvement by citizens is non-existent. It is a no win situation for everyone all the way around.
Kathleen,
Oh, it’s annoying to have to evaluate cases of abuse. It might be sad that such cases exist, but burying our head in the sand is not the answer. If the police had a reasonable procedure for evaluation then this wouldn’t be a story. Because it would be naive to believe that 100% of police officers will make the proper decisions in all circumstances.
So it is unreasonable that not one complaint of police abuse was sustained last year. That’s the story. In 99% of the situations, the police do what is best and as a result hold a place of high esteem in our society. The measure of a police department, however, is how it handles the other 1%. Your solution would be to say to the citizen who is the victim of that 1%, “sorry about that, but 99% of the time, the police do what is right, you are just unlucky to have encountered a member of the other 1%.”
Annoying, you said, “Your solution would be to say to the citizen who is the victim of that 1%, “sorry about that, but 99% of the time, the police do what is right, you are just unlucky to have encountered a member of the other 1%.” Where in my post did I say that? I didn’t.
Equally, for you to assert that the Police are guilty even before an investigation into the matter is conducted is prejudice, unfair, and unjust. And where in your post do you acknowledge the victims of these people wielding knives, 8-10 inch vegetable peelers during the commission of a crime? You don’t, It is a two way street. Blaming the Police for everything wrong in this situation is naive, and untrue. Lots of things need to change and Police practices aren’t the only ones that do. Let us be balanced in looking at this issue for once instead of swallowing the crap the Murkey News is spoon feeding us. Let us include ALL of the stakeholders not just the media, politicans running for re-election or higher office, and special interest groups. This is OUR City, and OUR Police Department.
Your link did not work
Sorry JMO.
Try this one if the one below doesn’t work. http://www.sanjoseca.gov/ipa/
Once at the IPA’s page, go to Youth Guide and read what to do when the Police stop you.
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/ipa/Youth Guide-English.pdf
The proposals from the Police Department to review the training procedures and to have a team of senior cops review complaints sound like good administration or housekeeping.
However, the fact that not even one complaint of excessive force was upheld in 2008 means that the internal affairs and “Independent Police Auditor” system is corrupt and cannot meet the needs of the people of San Jose to hold the police department accountable.
According to the 10/31/09 Mercury News article regarding use of force, “A U.S. Department of Justice study found large departments — those with more than 100 officers — sustain on average about 8 percent of citizen complaints of excess force.”
Until there is some form of independent outside investigation into SJPD practices, confidence in the complaint process, and in the ability of the community to hold the police accountable, will be zero too.
Downtownster,
I am not sure where you or the Mercury Reporters are getting the data that there were zero sustained complaints in 2008. I just went to the Independent Police Auditors own report for 2008 and there were 19 sustained complaints by citizens and 55 sustained complaints that were initiated WITHIN San Jose Police department against it’s own officers.
Here is the link with the date which starts on page 23 or so. http://www.sanjoseca.gov/ipa/reports/08ye.pdf
That is certainly one way to look at it. Second guessing a situation you weren’t there to witness, or trained/educated in correct policy and procedure is ignorant to say the least. Unlike the Murkey News, some us realize that there are other vital contributors to the problem, and the lack of accountability of these arrestees is one of them. To place the blame solely on SJPD is myopic and does a grave disservice to victims of crime. When stopped, if people did what they were asked by the Officer, or if they weren’t behaving badly in the first place this wouldn’t be an issue.
Steve
I am refering to the part of the report that you listed on page 43 where it clearly states that “No force allegations were sustained in 2008.” The numbers you are citing are for all types of allegations, however my point is that if none of the 117 allegations of excessive force were sustained when those specific types of allegations are sustained in large departments at an average rate of 8% then a rate of 0% indicates that IA and the IPA are either incompetent or covering for the cops.
Outside investigation with the power to hold cops accountable: accept no substitute.
Eric, San Jose Inside,
I think it would be great if you could publish as its own article this piece by Chief Joseph MacNamara to provide some balance. Hopefully you will consider it.
http://protectsanjose.com/blogs/1-default/126-unfair-criticism