After spending my career working to identify and implement the most effective public safety strategies, I have seen one constant – the community is safest when the police and prosecutors earn and keep the public’s trust.
That’s why I read with real concern that the San Francisco District Attorney’s office would not produce reports related to officer-involved shootings pursuant to a recent public records request from NPR-affiliate KALW.
As a former Police Commissioner, I have been briefed in closed session on the details of officer-involved shootings. But the public knows very little about these incidents. My fellow Commissioners and I often heard complaints from community members about how little public information was released about officer-involved shootings. This lack of transparency breeds distrust.
In all officer-involved shootings, the DA’s office conducts an independent review to determine if there is criminal liability. If such liability is found, the DA presses charges, which are public. But when the DA determines that there is no liability, it is equally important that the DA publicly explain the reasons for its decision.
As such, the District Attorney’s office should issue a very detailed report on every officer-involved shooting in which it does not file charges and should make the report publicly available on its website. The report should detail the facts, the law and the reasons for the decision not to file charges.
This kind of complete transparency will make the job of our police and prosecutors much easier by building trust between law enforcement and the community – making it more likely that community members will work in partnership with police and prosecutors, and that victims and witnesses will come forward to testify.
San Francisco is lucky that we are served by rank and file police officers who are second to none. Publishing detailed reports that clear officers when they acted within the law can dispel public misconceptions about what actually happened.
Of course, officers’ privacy rights need to be respected and investigations cannot be compromised. But once an investigation is complete, and an officer has been cleared, it is imperative that the District Attorney’s office share its findings with the public.
This is the standard that is already being applied in communities throughout California. The District Attorney’s office in San Diego, hardly a bastion of liberalism, actually lists these cases on its website. Many other counties – including Los Angeles, Orange and Fresno – also make them matters of public record and available on request.
Building trust with the community is the key to enhancing public safety. Let’s not violate that trust by refusing to release documents that the public has the right to see.
David Onek is a Senior Fellow at the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice, former Commissioner on the San Francisco Police Commission and candidate for San Francisco District Attorney.
Still vivid in my memory is the night in March 1991 when I stayed up to watch the KTLA News at Ten for their breaking news, which turned out to be a shocking video of the LAPD beating the hell out of a guy they'd pulled over - Rodney King. It came against the background of rampant police brutality under the leadership of Darryl Gates, and even as I watched the video I knew that the public reaction would be furious.
At least Rodney King survived the attack. Oscar Grant did not. When he was shot and killed by a BART police officer on New Year's Day it revealed an ongoing lack of accountability from the BART police toward the public they serve. As the San Francisco Bay Guardian noted BART police have been involved in two other shooting deaths that appeared unjustified in recent years.
If that effort is going to be successful, the public needs to mobilize behind the creation of a civilian oversight board - that has real teeth - for the BART police.
Oscar Grant deserves justice, and the officer who shot him needs to be held accountable. We also need to work to ensure that this horrible event never happens again on the BART system. A civilian oversight board is a necessary step in that direction. Properly implemented, it can mandate changes in BART police methods, and provide the public transparency and accountability in police actions. The board can help get to the bottom of controversies and rebuild trust that is clearly lacking.
The civilian oversight board won't solve the problems alone. But it is a necessary part of the long-term solution.
The email we sent out today is reproduced over the flip.
KTVU Channel 2 and other Bay Area stations have been showing video of, and the SF Chronicle are reporting about angry protests in Oakland over the horrific BART police shooting of unarmed man Oscar Grant on New Year's Day:
A protest over the fatal shooting by a BART police officer of an unarmed man mushroomed into a violent confrontation tonight, as a faction of protesters smashed a police car and storefronts, set several cars on fire and blocked streets in downtown Oakland....
The protest started peacefully shortly after 3 p.m. at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, where BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant of Hayward to death early New Year's Day. BART shut down the station well into the evening commute, although the demonstration there was peaceful.
However, shortly after nightfall, a group of roughly 200 protesters split off and head toward downtown Oakland, prompting the transit agency to close the Lake Merritt station.
Oakland Police Officer Michael Cardoza parked his car across the intersection of Eighth and Madison streets, to prevent traffic from flowing toward Broadway and into the protest. But he told The Chronicle that a group of 30 to 40 protesters quickly surrounded his car and started smashing it with bottles and rocks.
More at Daily Kos. It includes this YouTube video showing how Oaklanders have lost faith in the police - taunting arresting officers "why don't you shoot him?" and "pigs go home."
I've specifically tried to avoid calling this a "riot" and oversensationalizing this, because the protest's turn shouldn't take away from the real story here, which is the growing intensity of public outrage over the obviously unjustified shooting death of Oscar Grant at Fruitvale Station by BART officer Johannes Mehserle. Mehserle has refused to answer questions about the shooting, and BART police have apparently been VERY slow to get information.
The shooting death, and the public outcry, may well be predictable outcomes of three decades of militarizing the police, limiting and eroding fundamental Constitutional protections of individual rights, and a deliberate decision by many Americans to simply abandon cities like Oakland to their fate.
When police officers feel they can act with impunity, the public loses faith in their honesty and their ability to fairly offer justice. Police brutality and even murders have become all too commonplace in many American communities. And let us not forget that many of the practices of Guantanamo Bay were first tried out in American prisons.
Whatever happens in Oakland tonight, and in the coming days and weeks, it should hopefully become clear that America's approach to policing needs to undergo a fundamental change. Of course, Oakland was the scene of a similar turning point 40 years ago with the rise of the Black Panthers. We will see whether this time the right choices are made.
California Republicans finally, finally submitted what they claim is a plan to attack the budget deficits, detailing specifics of the cuts they are demanding. The plan they submittedonly cuts the deficit in half, thereby admitting (but not admitting) the urgent need to raise taxes to cover the other half of the deficit.
The Republican plan guts public schools, community colleges, Medi-Cal, transit, mental health and many other programs. And yet it still leaves half of the deficit in place. So it isn't really a "plan" at all. It is just one more extremist demand that we gut public schools.
Much attention has been focused on the lovely town (I'm serious!) of Vallejo as it faces bankruptcy. In a harbinger of things to come for many California cities and counties, Vallejo's general fund has been hit hard by the housing crash, leaving the city strapped for cash.
Today, the FBI confirmed what CA AG Jerry Brown said in May, Irvine is one safe city. In fact, it's the safest in the nation:
For the third year running, Irvine tops all large cities in the nation with the lowest incidence of violent crime after posting a nearly 17 percent drop in 2006, according to a report by the FBI. Reported violent crimes for the city – which include homicide, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault – fell from a total of 151 in 2005 to 126 in 2006, for a rate of 67 per 100,000 in the preliminary posting of the 2006 FBI Annual Uniform Crime Report. (OC Reg 6/5/07)
Last time, I talked about the importance of parks and recreation. And of course, economic factors surely weigh into the amount of crime. Given that Irvine has a pretty high per capita income, it's not surprising to see a low rate of crime. But Irvine actually does better than similarly sized cities with higher per capita income. Take that Sunnyvale! (Ok...Sunnyvale is #2 on the AG safe city list, but that's one slot below #1).
But something else is also at play here, that is the role of the city's various crime prevention programs. Irvine has implemented geographic policing, neighborhood watch programs, and Internet reporting. Follow me over the flip for more..
