Protesters gather at City Hall, demand police oversight

A group of protesters gathered at City Hall on Monday, calling for action to be taken in reinstating independent oversight of the Omaha Police Department. 
Earlier, Omaha police said a command officer was placed on leave in connection with an investigation into a controversial arrest that was caught on video
Earlier, Omaha police said a command officer was placed on leave in connection with an investigation into a controversial arrest that was caught on video.
Two other officers are also on administrative leave and two additional officers were temporarily reassigned.
The investigation stems from a March 21 incident at 33rd and Seward streets, which resulted in allegations that police used excessive force in subduing Octavius Johnson. Video taken from a neighboring home was posted online.
-- Watch the video on YouTube
As of Monday morning, the video had more than 300,000 views on YouTube.
Police said once the internal investigation is complete, Chief Todd Schmaderer will hold a news conference to announce the results.
Demonstrators, armed with signs, marched down Farnam Street and gathered outside City Hall on Monday.
-- Video: Protesters gather at City Hall, demand police oversight
"We, the people of Omaha, will no longer tolerate leaders that run from and ignore problems related to public safety," one protester said over a megaphone.

Bill would tighten oversight of fake IDs for undercover police in Washington

OLYMPIA — Over the years, the Washington state Department of Licensing has issued hundreds of fictitious licenses to help cloak undercover police officers.
The program was so secret that not even the Legislature knew about it, the Kitsap Sun reported Tuesday. It only came to light when the Bremerton newspaper submitted a public records request last year for a story.
Now, the Department of Licensing has gone to lawmakers to finally get approval for the program and to tighten disclosure laws, spokesman Brad Benfield said.
Two Republicans, Rep. Matt Shea of Spokane Valley and Rep. Jason Overstreet of Lynden, said they were floored last week when a fictitious ID bill approved by the Senate arrived in the House Transportation Committee.
"At this point it appears there's no oversight whatsoever," Shea said. The Department of Licensing "has been doing this above the law literally for years."
The lawmakers don't oppose the program but want better rules to prevent abuse. They plan amendments to define legitimate use of the licenses, ensure the program's transparency, and create accountability should it be abused.
"I think the public deserves to know how these things are being used," Overstreet said.
No one knows when the undercover license program began, but those familiar with it believe it has been a reasonable thing to do, Benfield said.
"Everyone who's involved in this program takes it very seriously," he said, noting there have never been reports of misuse.
"It's a tool we absolutely need," added Mitch Barker, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. "I think a driver's license is a pretty cheap way to protect an officer."
The confidential license program is run out of the Department of Licensing integrity unit, the agency's investigative wing, which is headed by Fred Bjornberg, a retired Washington State Patrol detective sergeant, Benfield said.
Only a handful of department employees can issue confidential licenses. A qualifying applicant can't just go to the nearest office to get one; they must go to Olympia to department headquarters, Benfield said. After five years, the IDs expire, just like regular licenses.
The requesting agency must fill out a one-page form, which includes a space to fill in the desired fictitious name. The local, state or federal agency must present the reason for getting the fictitious ID on agency letterhead.
Benfield said the requesting agency also must prove the ID will be used for a criminal justice function.
In addition, the licensing integrity unit is notified if a police officer's fictitious license is run through the department database by other law enforcement, he said.
"We really have to have faith that these law enforcement agencies are using these properly," Benfield said.
The bill seeking program approval sailed through the Senate on a 47-1 voted.
"It was portrayed as a housekeeping bill," said Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island.
Rolfes said there were no issues raised about the program in the Senate transportation committee. But she commended Shea and Overstreet for raising questions.

Bills to curb police activity will get very public airing

A bill to create an inspector general's office for the New York Police Department has already driven a wedge between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his closest ally in the race, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Yesterday, he dismissed the field of mayoral candidates altogether on the issue of public safety, saying, "We don’t even know if [reducing crime] is their goal.”

Quinn supports the I.G. bill, which Bloomberg believes would create an unnecessary regulatory layer for the police and would stop the department from operating effectively. Ray Kelly, who Quinn has indicated she'd like to keep on as police chief, strongly opposes the bill too, as does the detectives union, which ran an ad today criticizing the bill and its chief supporter.

In an odd twist, City Comptroller John Liu, the most resolutely anti-Bloomberg Democrat and the only candidate to favor a total end to stop-and-frisk, recently changed his position on the I.G. bill and now, like the mayor, opposes it. That won him a modicum of praise from the Daily News editorial page, which strongly opposes the bill on the grounds that it dilutes the mayor's authority over the department.

At the bottom of this Daily News story it also revealed that former comptroller Bill Thompson supports the bill, but wants an inspector general "who would report to the commissioner."

I pointed that out to one of the bill's main sponsors on the Council, Brad Lander of Brooklyn, who called it "ridiculous." Lander said that the "entire point" of the bill is "meaningful oversight" independent of the police commissioner.

West Valley City Council calls for better police oversight

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| The Salt Lake Tribune
West Valley City • City Council members, saying they’re frustrated with recent police incidents, have directed City Manager Wayne Pyle to come up with ways to improve the municipality’s Professional Standards Review Board.
The call for better police oversight comes in the wake of an announcement that the Salt Lake County district attorney’s office is dismissing 19 cases due to problems involving a West Valley City detective and controversy over the fatal shooting of a woman last year by officers investigating a purported drug deal. A letter signed by Mayor Mike Winder and the other six West Valley City Council members asks Pyle to report back at an April 9 study meeting.
"As a council, we are frustrated with the recent issues that have come to light related to our police department," the letter says. "We understand why some of our residents are disappointed and as a council will want to ensure there is a proper process and enhanced transparency and accountability as we move forward."
Six volunteers constitute the West Valley City Professional Standards Review Board, a civilian body monitoring the city’s 190 police officers. The review board does not publish its work and does not have the autonomy that other police monitors across the nation do. 
Philip Eure, past president of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, said sharing statistics represents a "core function" of such review boards, and had never heard of such a board not publishing statistics.
It’s unclear who serves on the review board. Some members’ names were found in City Council meeting minutes, but a roster of board members was not found on any city website.
The letter says the board is a "critical piece" in reviewing questionable police actions. The elected officials ask Pyle to consider the makeup of board members, potential term limits and publicly listing the roster of board members. 
"We strongly encourage you to look at ways to increase transparency with the board, such as posting of agendas and minutes, issuing quarterly reports, and sharing of statistics," the elected officials wrote. "We also ask you to look at the potential of providing this board with its own full-time investigator or other methods to increase their independence and abilities to do their job."
Councilman Steve Buhler said the timing is right for the review because the city will be getting a new police chief. Thayle "Buzz" Nielsen, who had been chief since 2002, resigned effective March 8 for medical reasons and West Valley is in the process of replacing him.

Charlotte council may study police review board

Charlotte’s City Council on Monday may take steps to strengthen the Citizens Review Board after an Observer investigation found that the board, set up nearly 16 years ago to look into allegations of police misconduct, has always sided with police.

Proponents of reforming the review board hope to pressure the City Council to give it more power. They’re trying to gather dozens of residents to speak at the council meeting or wear black in silent protest.

At least one City Council member has told the Observer he plans to recommend that the council’s community safety committee review the board. If passed, the motion would be the first official step toward changes.

Among proponents’ suggested changes: giving the board the authority to subpoena witnesses and to overturn Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department disciplinary decisions after investigations of officer misconduct.

Jason Huber, a professor at the Charlotte School of Law, believes the Citizens Review Board has failed in its mission. A study by the law school questions whether the board is following its mandate to serve as a public watchdog.

Huber plans to attend Monday’s council meeting.

“We would hope the City Council overhauls the Citizens Review Board’s structure to make it fairer for the citizens who believe they’ve been abused by police,” Huber told the Observer.

Community members have said overhauling the board would reinforce the community’s faith in the police department.

“Everybody on the council understands that there is concern in the community, but we want them to understand the extent of that concern,” said Matt Newton, a Charlotte defense lawyer who has helped organize an effort to bring dozens to Monday’s council meeting in support of reforming the board. “We perceive there to be erosion in the public trust of the (police department) and the government, and we just want to reinforce that trust and reinstill the faith that we have in an efficient, proficient police force.”

‘The board is a cruel joke’

Since it was established in 1997 to look into allegations of police misconduct, 79 complaints have been filed with the Citizens Review Board. No one has won before the board.

The 11-member, volunteer board was established to restore public confidence in police after three unarmed African-Americans had been killed by white police officers.

If residents don’t agree with the outcomes of CMPD Internal Affairs investigations into police misbehavior, they can appeal to the board. The complaints must involve the use of excessive force, unbecoming conduct, unlawful arrest, search or seizure or a shooting.

The board’s limitations and record of never siding with complainants suggest it is among the weakest in the nation, experts and civil liberties advocates told the Observer.

“Right now the board is a cruel joke – an illusion held out to the citizens that a board exists that can give them justice against the police,” George Daly, a civil rights lawyer and the board’s first chairman, wrote in a letter to the Observer.

“If the City Council refuses to give the Board the power to find the facts, then it is continuing to hide behind the peculiar Southern myth that policemen can do no wrong.”

Critics, including two former board members – Daly and former Mecklenburg Commissioners Chairman Harold Cogdell – don’t believe complainants had much of a chance to win.

The board has little authority. It has no independent power to investigate. And residents must meet an unusually high standard of proof for the board to even hold hearings on their complaints of inappropriate police behavior.

The board has met behind closed doors – first with the complainants, then with police – and voted to dismiss almost every case without holding a hearing on the allegations of police misconduct. The board has only held four hearings. After each of those hearings, the board ruled in favor of police.

One complaint is pending. A couple has accused a police officer of using excessive force in killing their dog. The board has asked police for additional information before deciding whether to hold a hearing.

Critics recommend changes

Among changes the board needs, according to critics:

• The burden of proof to gain a formal hearing should be lowered from the “preponderance of evidence” to “probable cause” that CMPD made mistakes in its investigation into allegations of misconduct.

• Independent investigative powers. Now, the board can’t initiate its own investigations.

• Residents who can’t afford to hire lawyers should be given representation.

• The power to overturn CMPD’s disciplinary decisions. The board now can only advise the police chief and city manager if they believe the disciplinary decisions by CMPD were mistakes.

City Council member Patrick Cannon, the chairman of the community safety committee, declined to comment before Monday’s meeting, saying he’s awaiting input from the public and members of the committee.

Cannon has indicated, however, that he intends to ask that the community safety committee look into the board’s work to hammer out what, if any, changes are needed. Any recommendations would have to be approved by the City Council.

“I’ve had some level of conversation with some members of the body,” Cannon told the Observer in March. “I think there’s some open minds about making any changes that would be for the betterment of the board.”

In a letter to the mayor and City Council, Police Chief Rodney Monroe didn’t recommend any changes to the board, saying it “serves the needs of the community.” Later, in an interview with the Observer, he said he was open to the City Council re-examining the board.

“If they want to look and study it more, I’m all for anything that’s going to give (residents) more trust and confidence,” he told the Observer. “I’m not going to sit back and say don’t do it.”

Monroe outlined in the letter how CMPD investigates allegations of police misconduct. CMPD’s disciplinary process, the police chief wrote, is “a direct reflection of the department’s integrity and professionalism and, as such, is taken seriously by every member of the department.”

Monroe praised the Citizens Review Board, calling it an asset to the community that plays a critical role in the department’s disciplinary process.

“I support the Citizens Review Board as a way of providing members of the community who feel they have been mistreated by the police the opportunity to present their cases to a body that is independent of the Police Department for review,” Monroe said. “It is another level of accountability and the public is better served because of the Board’s existence.” 

Police Misconduct Bill Teeters In Hawaii House Under Union Criticism

A bill that would provide more information about misconduct of county cops still has life, but there’s little guarantee it will survive the legislative session.

On Thursday, Senate Bill 839 had its first hearing in the House Public Safety Committee, but was deferred so the chair, Rep. Henry Aquino, could collect more information about the measure.

The deferral comes on the heels of the state’s powerful police union testifying against the bill, saying it could potentially violate state law if it means identifying cops who have been suspended for misconduct.

SB 839 seems relative innocuous as written, and in fact one open records advocate called it "laughably cosmetic."

Besides making clear that mandatory summaries of disciplinary action must cover the calendar year, the bill essentially changes one word in the current law — from "summary" to "description."

That tweak prompted State of Hawaii Organization of Cops (SHOPO) President Tenari Ma’afala to argue in written testimony that SB 839 would “eviscerate current laws” that guard cops from having to release details about their wrongdoing. Ma'afala said the measure would infringe on their due process rights guaranteed through the union grievance procedure.

“Any additional requirement to add detailed facts to a summary of misconduct that resulted in a suspension or discharge of the cop may prematurely and unfairly identify the cop,” Ma’afala said. “Further, the county police departments would be in violation of this law should the descriptions they provide indirectly identify an cop who has been suspended, or was discharged without first having had the opportunity to exercise and exhaust fully all of the administrative remedies, which are specified in the collective bargaining agreement and in state law.”

Ma’afala also noted in his testimony that SHOPO “carefully” vets all grievances regarding police discipline, and that while some punishment is upheld or reduced, there are other cases that are overturned because there was no “just cause.”

SB 839 aims to have the four county police departments — Honolulu, Maui, Hawaii and Kauai — provide more detailed information about cops who are suspended or discharged for misconduct. But how much more detailed is unclear. There is no definition in the bill for "description."

Each year the counties are required to send a report to the Legislature with summaries of these incidents. Very few people, including lawmakers, have read them. But those who have, including the bill’s sponsor Sen. Les Ihara, say the summaries are too vague, making it difficult to know if bad cops are being properly punished.

Under Hawaii's public records law, the public can gain access to police misconduct records, including names and other details about the wrongdoing, if the termination is upheld after the union grievance process. The public is barred from getting information about cops who have been suspended — an exemption afforded only to the police. Other public employees' disciplinary files are available for public review.

SHOPO convinced the Legislature to grant the exemption in 1995, in a highly publicized legal and political battle. Lawmakers undermined a Hawaii Supreme Court decision that found police disciplinary files should be public.

The Office of Information Practices has said that the Supreme Court ruling trumps the legislative change. OIP says even suspended cops' files must be made public.

University of Hawaii journalism professor Gerald Kato was in the middle of that fight along with some of his students. He’s now supporting SB 839, and wrote a letter to the Public Safety Committee outlining his support as a member of the Media Council Hawaii.

Kato’s testimony recounts his three-year stand-off with SHOPO as well as the ruling of the late Circuit Court Judge John Lim, who told a courtroom full of cops that the public has a right to know about the conduct of its police force.

It’s time to “breathe life” into Lim’s ruling, Kato said. He also noted that while the Media Council Hawaii supports the intent of SB 839, the group would like to see even more disclosure when it comes to troublesome cops.

“We believe that the Legislature and public are entitled to meaningful information on police misconduct and disciplinary actions,” Kato said. “This includes names of cops and relevant details about the misconduct and disciplinary actions taken by police departments across the state. The current process of reporting is so general that the information, as revealed in a recent series of articles in Civil Beat, is of little to no value as a means of maintaining public accountability.”

Civil Beat wrote a five-part series on police misconduct in Hawaii and the secrecy surrounding it. That investigation found that even though cops are getting disciplined for misconduct on a regular basis — about once a week on average in Honolulu — little information is available about their misdeeds, even if they were guilty of committing crimes.

Kato, though, isn’t the only one who has been bothered by the lack of information and public accountability. UH professor emerita Bev Keever was also drawn from the past to testify on SB 839.

Keever was also a journalism professor at the university in the 1990s when SHOPO was lobbying the Legislature to change the public records law to hide the identities of bad cops. She fought back, but lost.

She calls SB 839 “laughably cosmetic,” and believes it needs to be broadened to match the disclosure requirements of other public employees guilty of misconduct.

“The Legislature didn’t listen then, but now your in-depth attention is urgently needed,” Keever wrote in testimony, adding that the responsibilities of cops have increased due to Homeland Security requirements.

“The public confidence in their local cops would be greatly strengthened if this bill is recast to broaden it so that cops, except for undercover cops, are given the same public scrutiny as all other public employees under the state’s open-records law.”

It’s now up to Aquino to schedule another hearing on SB 839. He didn’t set a date, and he has only two weeks pass the bill from his committee to the House floor.

The time crunch plus the lack of a set hearing are not good signs for Ihara’s bill. In many cases, a deferral is the equivalent of shelving a bill for the session.

But Aquino said after Thursday's hearing his intention is to bring the bill before his committee again. He just wants to get some questions answered, specifically from SHOPO, before making a decision. Aquino also wanted to get some legal insight from the Attorney General's Office on matters of law related to collective bargaining and public records.

"Hopefully I can get those answers that I need and we'll go from there," Aquino said. "We still have several weeks. I do have technically two more hearing days so it really depends on when I can get the information. So there is time."

Bloomberg To Veto NYPD Inspector General Proposal To Provide More Police Oversight

NEW YORK — In a politically charged standoff over police oversight in the nation's biggest city, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Wednesday he'd veto a plan to put the New York Police Department under an outside watchdog's scrutiny, calling it a threat to hard-won safety.

But City Council Speaker Christine Quinn – a frequent Bloomberg ally who's been seen as likely to get his support to succeed him as mayor next year – said she'd guarantee a veto override if needed to create an inspector general for police, a proposal fueled by criticism of the police department's widespread use of the tactic known as stop and frisk and its surveillance of Muslims, spying revealed in a series of stories by The Associated Press.

A day after Quinn signaled the measure would pass the council after months in limbo, dividing lines were dug deeper over the plan, which would install a monitor with the power to subpoena documents and witnesses and the mandate to look at the procedures and policies of the nation's biggest police department.

Bloomberg urged lawmakers to oppose the plan, saying it would usher in an era of second-guessing for a police force that has worked to drive killings to record lows.

"Make no mistake about it: This bill jeopardizes that progress and will put the lives of New Yorkers and our police cops at risk," he said at the opening of a computer data center in a downtown high-rise – an example, he said, of economic activity flourishing in a city seen as safe. "...We cannot afford to play election-year politics with the safety of our city."

Quinn, however, said there was "absolutely no validity" to suggesting that more monitoring would compromise crime-fighting. She argues that closer scrutiny could instead help policing by building public confidence in cops.

"We have a situation right now in this city, whether we like it or not, where some of the practices of the Police Department have caused significant rifts between police and the community," she said at a news conference.

Quinn and colleagues backing the inspector general proposal reached an agreement on it Tuesday, positioning it to move toward a vote in the coming weeks. Quinn said Wednesday that talks were continuing on other proposals to set new rules surrounding stop and frisk: They would require cops to explain why they are stopping people and would give people more latitude to sue over stops they considered biased, among other provisions.

The developments come during a federal trial over the department's use of stop and frisk, and they follow AP stories that revealed how city police infiltrated Muslim student groups, put informants in mosques, monitored sermons and otherwise spied on Muslims as part of a broad effort to prevent terrorist attacks. Adding to the attention surrounding stop and frisk, violent protests rocked a Brooklyn neighborhood last week after police stopped a teen and ended up shooting him dead; they say he pulled out a gun.

Broached last year, the inspector general and stop-and-frisk proposals have become heated issues in November's competitive mayoral election; Bloomberg is term-limited.

Quinn, a top Democratic candidate, has faced pressure from civil rights and minority advocates and from some of her Democratic rivals to get the measures passed. One Democratic contender, Bill de Blasio, pressed the need for an inspector general at a news conference Tuesday, before Quinn announced lawmakers had agreed on it. Democrat Bill Thompson's campaign said the former city comptroller also supports the idea.

But some other hopefuls are speaking out against the plan for a monitor, including Democratic former Councilman Sal Albanese and Republicans John Catsimatidis, a billionaire businessman, and Joseph Lhota, a former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion's campaign said the Democrat-turned-independent, who's running on the Independence Party line and seeking the GOP nomination, also opposes the IG idea.

Republican George McDonald, who runs an organization that helps the homeless, is inclined to support the proposal but needs more details, a spokesman said.

The NYPD has said its surveillance of Muslims is legal and that stop and frisk has helped combat crime and save lives. The term refers to the police practice of stopping, questioning and sometimes patting down people who are seen as acting suspiciously but who don't necessarily meet the probable-cause standard for arrest.

Many government agencies, including the FBI and CIA, have inspectors general, or officials with investigative powers to explore conduct within the agency. So do the Los Angeles Police Department and other forces.

Civil rights advocates say the NYPD should, too. The inspector general would be housed within the city's Department of Investigation, which performs that function for many other city agencies.

Efforts to establish outside watchdogs for the NYPD go back decades. Voters in 1966 defeated a plan to put civilians on a board that reviewed complaints about police; more than 20 years later, private citizens ultimately were appointed to and now make up the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which deals mainly with allegations of misconduct against individual cops. A special commission that explored a 1990s police corruption scandal recommended empowering an ongoing, independent board to investigate corruption; a Commission to Combat Police Corruption was established in 1995, but it lacks subpoena power.

The Police Department has its own 700-person Internal Affairs Bureau that examines cops' conduct, and courts have exercised some oversight, including through a 1985 federal court settlement that set guidelines for the NYPD's intelligence-gathering.

Supporters say an inspector general would look more broadly at police activities than the current agencies do. But Bloomberg said they already provide robust monitoring and noted that prosecutors can pursue charges against cops suspected of criminal misconduct.

The council proposal, he said, amounted to "a policy supervisor" who could conflict with the police commissioner.

"There would be questions in the ranks of police cops about who's really in charge and whose policies they should follow," Bloomberg said.

Quinn rebuffed those concerns, saying the inspector general would issue reports and shine a light on the workings of the police department, but not change policy.

Civil rights and police reform advocates said they were pleased with the pact on the inspector general measure but were continuing to press for the other measures. Police unions condemned the inspector general idea as squandering resources on red tape, and the police department said it gets plenty of oversight.