On could only wish the powers that created the Civilian Review Boards in both Minneapolis and St. Paul actually cared about accountability of officers in performance of their duties.
Modern societies around the world, but especially in American cities, and particularly Minneapolis, are in cultural denial over the extent of police abuses and biased/selective law enforcement. What ought to amaze all of us is the extent to which police misbehavior is excused, forgiven with slaps on the wrist or conveniently forgotten. Meanwhile, the cultural divisions created by police in their abusive exercises continue to haunt us as a community and we feel powerless as we watch with horror the pictures of intolerance and denial of basic human and Constitutional rights as they stomp on dissent with impunity. Many people feel safer by this behavior - until they become its victims and they realize with great fear and trepidation that police powers have gone too long unchecked. Civilian Review Commissions were conceived as a buffer to internal affairs departments which did a better job of protecting fellow cops than the public health. But in their creation, commission powers were drastically curtailed adulterated by police membership and participation on the boards - a mere extension of Internal Affairs they became. Other members, whose record as police critics were clear going in, have soon been completely co-opted by the same police-speak and power influences and more often than not become useless as real reviewers. Now what? Who knows, but the from a budgetary standpoint, they can kill the whole thing and start over again with real outside review process established in its stead. Andy Driscoll Saint Paul ------ "The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who, in times of moral crisis, remain neutral" --Dante > From: Brown, Terrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 15:03:47 -0600 > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Mpls] Budget Cuts and civilian police monitoring, an idea needing > rethinking > > J. Kushner: > >>> A civilian monitoring system with greater power and broader authority and >>> more in touch with the community would help mold a police force that could >>> do >>> more with less. >>> > W. Cygan: > >> The absolute last thing that the Police Department needs (IMHO) is to try and >> be equally accountable to more than one authority. It is a nightmare. <snip> >> Giving a civilian monitoring authority more power, I believe, would turn out >> badly. >> > R. Nelson: > > And I suspect that the reason we haven't seen a fatal police shooting in the > past six months is because of the threat of lawsuits over shootings in 2000 > and early 2001. > > <snip> > > Of course, we've had an _ineffective_ civilian monitoring agency in place > for a long time. It's not a simple matter to make it effective. > > [TB] Having a civilian monitoring agency falls along the line with having a > civilian in charge of the Defense Department. There is a long history of > both military and police agencies abusing their powers and authority. While > it might be better to put a civilian in charge of the department, MN law > requires that a Chief of Police be a licensed police officer. > > When an agency is mistrusted as much by many members of the community as the > Police Department there needs to be a mechanism in place for outside review. > If the police had nothing to worry about, we'd here them saying "come on in, > review everything" but instead we see objection to any kind of outside > review. What do they have to hide? > > Clearly the lawsuits against the Police Department and in some cases > resulting settlements indicate that there are some problems. True, those > that get the *%^$ kicked out of them by the cops have done something wrong > to get themselves in that situation, that does not give the police license > to do unnecessary physical harm. > > A couple of years ago MPD built their version of the Berlin Wall within view > of my living room window. One of the bigger overreactions to an event this > city has seen. It costs us a lot of money every time they overreact, money > that could better be used somewhere else. > > I had thought we established the Review Authority by Charter Amendment (but > maybe my memory is failing). How do we then discontinue it by just cutting > off the money? > > If the feeling is we don't need both the department's Internal Affairs Unit > and Civilian Review many would be more comfortable with eliminating Internal > Affairs and keeping Civilian Review. > > I haven't studied the entire Minneapolis budget but Civilian Review > certainly wouldn't be in my top 5 list of cuts. > > > > > Terrell Brown Loring Park terrell@terrellbrown .org > > > > http://www.startribune.com/stories/468/1616359.html A bill introduced Monday > in the Minnesota House would put bin Laden's image on a state lottery > scratch-off ticket. Players would discover any winnings by scratching off > ``and thus obliterating,'' as the bill notes, bin Laden's face. > > Sixty percent of the proceeds - the maximum allowed under the state > Constitution - would go to anti-terrorism efforts. > > The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Rich Stanek, is a Minneapolis police officer. > _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil > City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
