Albuquerque

Albuquerque will hold town hall meetings on overhauling its police oversight system as New Mexico's largest city faces a federal investigation over police excessive force cases.

Portland police oversight official stepping down

Mary-Beth Baptista, who has served as director of Portland's Independent Police Review Division, is leaving the job in mid-June. Baptista has led the division, the intake center for complaints against Portland police.  Baptista was involved in helping craft changes to the Independent Police Review Division in 2010 that increased the division's police oversight powers. Recently, Baptista was outspoken in her criticism of Police Chief Mike Reese's decision to demote Todd Wyatt, instead of firing him for his inappropriate touching of women employees and escalation of an off-duty road rage encounter

Bloomberg slams bills aimed at NYPD oversight

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg slammed legislation aimed at increasing oversight of the New York City Police Department -- and the politicians and interest groups behind the bills -- in a speech to NYPD brass at One Police Plaza Tuesday.

After lauding Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and members of the department for record-low crime statistics -- with murder down 32 percent so far this year, even after 2012 saw the fewest murders in modern history -- Bloomberg criticized legislation proposing an Inspector General for the NYPD and another bill that would tighten racial profiling laws.

Despite lowering crime -- and incarcerations and police shootings -- Bloomberg said the NYPD "is under attack, probably because this is an election year."

"The attacks most often come from those who play no constructive role in keeping our city safe, but rather view their jobs as pointing fingers from the steps of City Hall," Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg said critics "could not be more wrong" when they assert that the Stop, Question and Frisk program and the department's counter-terrorism intelligence gathering target people by race or ethnicity. Stops are conducted based on seeing something suspicious, or witness descriptions, Bloomberg said.

"The attacks most often come from those who play no constructive role in keeping our city safe, but rather view their jobs as pointing fingers from the steps of City Hall," Bloomberg said.

An Inspector General would make it harder for the police to maintain "unity of command," he said.

"Whose policies should an officer on the street follow -- and how would he or she know that their partner would be following the same procedures when the bullets start flying?" Bloomberg asked. "With confusion comes deadly consequences to our police officers and to the public that they are sworn to protect."

He said the bill could also undermine the city's work with other agencies on counter-terrorism measures -- other law enforcement might be less willing to share information if it could be released to the Inspector General and City Council.

"Passing any legislation that undermines our counter-terrorism capabilities would be the height of irresponsibility," Bloomberg said. "God forbid terrorists succeed in striking our city because of a politically-driven law that undermines the NYPD's intelligence gathering efforts."

As for the racial profiling bill -- part of a package of legislation called the Community Safety Act -- Bloomberg said the administration already has "absolutely zero tolerance for racial profiling."

The bill would stop the NYPD from using information like gender, age and race to identify suspects, Bloomberg said. If a suspect is a 20-something white man in a blue windbreaker, Bloomberg said, the only detail the officer could use as a lead would be the windbreaker.

"That means the law would require the officer to ignore all the information provided by the witness except the color of the windbreaker, and the officer would have to stop 80-year-old black women if they're wearing blue windbreakers," he said. "Even more absurd, if they stop someone who perfectly fits the description provided -- a 20-something white man wearing a blue windbreaker -- and that person turns out not to be the shooter, that person could sue the NYPD."

If it passes, "all officers would be under threat of going to trial for doing their jobs," Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg said the assertion that Stop, Question and Frisk unfairly targets minorities is based on comparing the stops to the general population -- when they should be compared to the descriptions of suspects in violent crimes. More than 90 percent of suspects in murders are black or Latino, Bloomberg said -- and so are 90 percent of murder victims, meaning they'd be put at risk by fewer stops.

"Make no mistake, this is a dangerous a piece of legislation -- and anyone who supports it is courting disaster," Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg's criticism wasn't just aimed at some of those hoping to take his job -- many Democratic mayoral candidates, including Council Speaker Christine Quinn, support the IG bill. He also targeted media outlets that have opposed Stop, Question and Frisk.

He invoked the murder of a 17-year-old Bronx resident, Alphonso Bryant, who was shot and killed last week. His death lead to no outrage from special interest groups, and wasn't mentioned in the city's "paper of record," the New York Times, Bloomberg said.

"Do you think that if a white 17-year-old prep student from Manhattan had been murdered, the Times would have ignored it?" Bloomberg asked. "Me neither."

Four days later, the paper's editorial board slammed Stop, Question and Frisk, Bloomberg said, calling it "widely-loathed."

 "Let me tell you what I loathe. I loathe that 17-year minority children can be senselessly murdered in the Bronx -- and some of the media doesn't even consider it news," Bloomberg said. "I loathe that parents have to bury their children -- and children have to bury their parents because there are too many guns on our streets."

Bloomberg said there's no question crime can drop lower in the city.

 "The question is whether elected officials and special interest groups will allow you to. Will they trust you and will they have your back? God help us if they don't -- and may God protect you, and may God protect all of us," Bloomberg said.

Oakland mayor calls for increased police training, civilian oversight to reduce shootings

OAKLAND -- Renewing her call for increased oversight of the police, Mayor Jean Quan on Thursday said better training, an updated computer system and a civilian watchdog similar to San Jose's would help Oakland address a troubling number of officer-involved shootings.

The mayor's comments came in response to an investigation by this newspaper, published Thursday, that highlighted a history of questionable police shootings in Oakland and a culture of failing to thoroughly investigate them.

While the department is already under the unprecedented scrutiny of the federal court to adopt widespread reforms, the mayor said a civilian inspector general would add another layer of accountability. She said she hopes to soon add the position to independently review internal affairs findings and make recommendations on officer discipline.

The department already has its own inspector general's office. It is charged with auditing programs and expenditures and tracking efforts to meet reforms ordered more than a decade ago by a federal judge in the wake of the Riders police abuse scandal.

What Quan has proposed is a new, civilian position, reporting directly to the mayor and city administrator.

"I want someone who is not a member of the force," Quan said, pointing to San Jose's use of an independent police auditor staffed with lawyers who review disciplinary cases and complaints against officers.

The plan needs the approval of the department's new federal compliance director, former Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Thomas Frazier, who was appointed in March to usher in reforms. Frazier could not be reached for comment.

Oakland police union president Barry Donelan declined to comment on Quan's proposal, calling Thursday's report on police shootings by this newspaper biased against the department.

Oakland police Sgt. Christopher Bolton, the department's chief of staff, had no response to Quan's proposal but said he would welcome her promise for new technology to help the department better track police shootings.

Oakland police have struggled to tally shootings over the years, blaming an antiquated computer system.

The newspaper's extensive review of police reports, district attorney's files, civil lawsuits and news accounts of police shootings since 2000 found police fired on people at least 117 times, killing 39.

The review found two dozen officers involved in multiple shootings. At least nine people who appeared to be fleeing were shot in the back. And while the city has paid out more than $9 million to settle lawsuits over the shootings, internal affairs investigations routinely find the shootings were justified.

Oakland police say officers often have little choice but to defend themselves with lethal force on the streets of one of California's most dangerous cities. Chief Howard Jordan insists the department constantly trains officers to avoid having to fire their weapons.

While Quan says the federal oversight has led to improvements, the mayor said more training would lead to fewer deadly encounters.

"We need to review whether the officers had to be in a (dangerous) position in the first place," she said.

The newspaper also reviewed new documents that raised questions about the department's internal affairs investigation into the 2007 shooting death of Gary King Jr. Last week, almost six years after the shooting, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office finally released a report, clearing Sgt. Patrick Gonzales of any wrongdoing.

On Thursday, Michael Haddad, an attorney who sued the city on behalf of King's family, said the $1.5 million settlement was a "tacit admission" of flaws in the internal affairs investigation and called on District Attorney Nancy O'Malley to re-examine evidence he uncovered.

A spokeswoman from the District Attorney's Office had no comment.