Where can we find solutions?
Last week’s article on Citizen
Review closed by posing an important question. If
the police can really solve their own problems - why
haven’t they? Let’s talk about that while
we analyze solutions. If you want to start by challenging
whether there is really is a problem, that’s
fair.
As we discussed
last week, it’s unusual that Police Officers
are arrested. Usually they make the arrests. In addition
to the arrests, numerous other problems have come
to light. Many have been covered in this and in other
newspapers. Over the months, if not years, little
corrective action is apparent. I haven’t heard
about any training in this area, have you?
It is claimed that the Citizen’s
review board will be too expensive. It’s tough
to have confidence in the numbers tossed out by the
City. The City Manager has variously been reported
to claim that the board will cost approximately a
half million, then a quarter million, and recently,
reported by other newspapers, a little more than $
175, 000.
I don’t know about you, but
if the mechanic fixing my car, first told me the repair
would cost $500 and when I questioned him, $ 250 and
then later again only $175, I’d wonder whether
he was trying to put one over on me or whether he
just had no idea what things cost. I’d keep
the car and change the mechanic.
The subpoena issue is no issue. Opponents
know that if you don’t have subpoena power,
you don’t have a Citizen Review Board with any
teeth. Officers and witnesses don’t come to
give evidence. Without subpoena power, the board will
fail and the police will escape any accountability.
That’s why the union lawyers who represent police
don’t want subpoena power.
It’s claimed that this board
is a vendetta by the publisher of this paper. Nobody
has said that Dennis Cooper was present at any of
the police beatings and other criminal misconduct.
He didn’t cause it, he wrote about it. Isn’t
it strange how our first response is to shoot the
messenger of the bad news, rather than do something
about the real problem?
It is absolutely true that Dennis
Cooper has worked hard to help the good police officers
by being an active proponent for Citizen Review. If
the Police Chief can arrest a publisher for reporting
truthful information that the Police Chief doesn’t
like, how safe are you? While we’re talking
about truth, you should consider this public record
information.
In a recent deposition of the Chief
of Police, the City Manager, the Police Public information
officer and at least one City Commissioner, most,
if not all claimed that Cooper frequently published
false information. When asked, none could come up
with an example that had any details that could be
investigated.
You’’d think if there were so many times
that it was claimed that Cooper wasn’t truthful,
they could come up with at least one as proof. If
they can’t, it begins to seem more likely that
Cooper simply prints the truth that they don’t
want you to hear. It may be that, although bad for
him personally, Cooper’s arrest and the resultant
Citizen Review Board is the best thing that has happened
to the community in some time. Later in this article
I’ll suggest the real benefit of this entire
situation.
It is important not to miss the fact
that there were a number of levels of both police
and government supervision which failed to act to
address this situation to the point where the citizenry
got involved. Let’s take the example of the
basic officer, charged with beating someone already
handcuffed.
Above the level of the basic police
officer, you’ll usually find a sergeant (supervisor),
a lieutenant (watch commander), a captain (patrol
bureau), the Chief of Police. That makes four levels
of potential supervision above the officer, in the
Police Department alone. Still more avenues for supervision
existed. Training officers. Internal Affairs investigators.
Higher in the chain of supervision,
you will find the City Manager, six City Commissioners,
and the Mayor. I count at least seven levels of supervision
above the officer and about a dozen City employees
or elected officials who took your money (they get
paid) but took no action.
In the few times, I’ve had to
explain this to people below me in a "chain of
command," I simply said if they weren’t
going to do their job and forced me to do it for them,
then I didn’t need them and I certainly didn’t
need to pay them for me to do their work.
In the present situation, the police
and elected officials have let the citizens down.
Now, they seem mad at the citizens for stepping in
to fix what they neglected. I know we live in Key
West but isn’t that a bit too crazy even for
us? Let me close this article by making my brief case
for voting for Citizen Review. The reason is not to
fix the police, it’s to fix government.
Citizens have the right to make laws that are needed.
That’s what is happening here. The reason that
this ability exists, in our City Charter, is to give
citizens a chance to govern themselves when government
can’t or won’t do their job. It’s
a good thing. It may be a great thing. The phrase
"Government of the people, by the people and
for the people. . ." should mean something.
It seems healthy to remind elected
officials that we the citizens are really in charge.
I don’t believe we do it often enough. That
may be what frightens the elected officials. They
appear terrified that citizens would actually control
their government. They behave as if they don’t
understand this part of our checks and balance system
of government.
When you go to the polls to vote,
enter the booth, and look around. You’ll be
the only one in there. Use the time to vote for Citizen
Review. It will fix the police problem. More importantly,
it will remind the elected officials that you’re
the one in charge and it is government by the PEOPLE.
Michael R. Barnes practices law
in Key West, Florida. His comments are provided as
a pro bono community service and are not offered as
legal advice for a particular set of circumstances.
If you are concerned that you may need a lawyer, you
are encouraged to contact one and follow his or her
advice for your individual situation.
