More anti-cop stuff from Ken Miller, pretending to be the voice of reason
Support and belief in police requires a change in EPD behavior
by By Ken Miller, McKinleyville, 12/20/2006
Faith in the Eureka Police Department is unwarranted, given the facts.
Trust in EPD cannot be by blind faith, which Mr. Simmons suggests when he says “… handling these crises involves much more than the public is ever aware of.” (Dec. 16).
Trust is earned in light of the facts, not in their absence.
The inquest into Cheri Moore’s death showed that she should not have been killed. The state ballistics expert testified, in effect, that flare projectiles move about as fast as a paintball, cannot penetrate body armor or ballistic shields and pose a controllable fire threat.
An inquest into Burgess’ death, run by an independent coroner and hearing officer, could tell us what happened in that ravine. Or a Citizens’ Police Review Commission could.
The recent San Francisco Chronicle series on police shootings (Dec. 3-5) reports that San Francisco police, in violation of policy, put themselves into unnecessarily dangerous situations from which they shot their way out. The officers and their superiors then covered up the facts with in-house “investigations,” depriving the police and the community opportunities to learn from those tragic mistakes. The police investigations routinely exonerate the officers.
Similarly, in both the Burgess and Moore tragedies, the EPD neglected to stop and think, opting instead for reckless strategies that provoked panic and lethal force, where no lethal threat existed. EPD made no reasonable effort to use nonlethal force.
Neither posed an indefensible threat to anyone, and both needed help. But EPD has since covered up and, like Simmons, blames the victims: the mentally ill, the drug “addicted,” (neither were), or the criminal.
EPD rushed the SWAT team into Cheri Moore’s apartment — knowing she would point the flare gun at them — because of the unsubstantiated threat of fire.
However, EPD not only failed to ask the fire department for advice or appropriate help, they failed to evacuate the building, and they escorted an elderly disabled man in, and left five or six others in neighboring apartments. Instead of staging the command center across the street where they could see Moore, police set up inside the supposed tinderbox.
This behavior contradicts Simmons’ assertion that “…the EPD followed procedures that were implemented to reduce the risk to officers and innocent others not involved in the crises.”
EPD must learn to apprehend people, especially those most vulnerable, without killing them. But because EPD fails to acknowledge their tragic errors, they will repeat them, because the police will never be trained differently, nor treated for the psychological aftermath of killing unnecessarily.
It is the community’s responsibility to scrutinize, hold accountable and professionalize the EPD, and all our law enforcement agencies. We must exert civilian control in shaping a police force we can all live with.
Responsible oversight is a responsibility of responsible government.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment