The Entire System of Policing Must be Torn Down and Rebuilt

Marq Claxton
100 Blacks in Law Enforcement


MOUNT VERNON - An activist yesterday criticized as simplistic a report calling for more training in the wake of the fatal police shooting of Mount Vernon Officer Christopher Ridley.

"What this should be called is 'Police Reform for Dummies'," said Marq Claxton, head of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, at a news conference. "It's a statistical justification for a horrific tragedy ... It's not worth the paper its written on."

A seven-member panel, established after the police shooting to review police procedures, released the report yesterday and made numerous recommendations related to use-of-force training, particularly that more be done to make officers prepared in cases of off-duty confrontations. Ridley was shot by county police officers Jan. 25 after he tried to subdue an assault suspect while off duty in downtown White Plains.

Claxton made his comments after calling on Albany lawmakers to support state Sen. Eric Adams' proposal for a permanent special prosecutor to handle police shootings and alleged police brutality. Adams, who co-founded 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement with Claxton, made the proposal after last month's acquittal of three New York City police detectives in the killing of Sean Bell. Claxton and other speakers yesterday said Ridley's death and the subsequent investigation provided just as strong a case for why police and prosecutors should not investigate their own.

Journal News

BLACKWATCH


It appears that the remarks of Marq Claxton of the 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care may have ruffled feathers and damaged egos. We should recognize that when organizations like 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement, the National Black Police Association, the National Organization of Blacks in Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), Grand Council of Guardians, the National Latino Officers Association and Black Cops Against Police Brutality speak, they draw from decades of struggling for police reform. We do not need a report to validate what Detective Ridley, Desmond Robinson, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond, Ousmane Zongo, Timothy Stansbury and Alberta Spruill and countless others have “told” us.

New York has a history, dating back to the 1940’s, when Black officers in plain clothes or off-duty have been shot at, shot, or killed by their peers while doing the job they were sworn to do. It was in response incidents such as these that Robert Mangum organized the first New York City Guardians. The organization received their charter New York City in 1949. The Guardians as well as countless other organizations have led the call for enhanced training; revisions of policies; diversity throughout law enforcement structures (from the top down); and better community relations for decades.

However, before one can address these prevalent issues, there must be an examination institutional culture of policing that historically reinforced bias and discrimination. It was the economic benefits and socially divisive practice of slavery that led to the creation of uniformed police in southern cities decades before Boston (1838) and New York (1845) established the forces which remain the accepted starting point for the history of the police in the United States

In her work Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas (2001), Hadden notes that “there was some variation in the social structure of patrols, the point of establishing them was constant: to maintain white supremacy and privilege.” Dulaney in his book Black Police in America (1996) further noted that the patroller policed specific geographical areas in the southern communities called “beats” and that they were authorized to stop, search, whip, maim and even kill slaves caught off the premises of the plantation without a pass.

Like “patrols” which became the basis for policing in the United States as we know it now, the under girding racial perceptions that were borne out of these policing policies still endure. Black communities are contained like concentration camps. Racial profiling gives police the new authorization to “stop” Blacks without cause. No wonder relations with communities of color are often non-existent and interactions between police and residents are often strained.

Newspapers, newscasts, web casts and blogs are ripe with weekly, sometimes daily reports of cases of alleged and founded police criminality. While talk shows, community meetings, local forums and even Congressional hearings by Congressman John Conyers have placed these issues at the top of their agenda. The recent incident involving NYPD Police Chief Ziegler-- the highest ranking black official in the NYPD –reminds us of the challenges we face as citizens of color and for Black law enforcement officers.

Black law enforcement professionals must be extra cautious when they react to situations when they are off duty or as plain clothes officers, lest they fall into the same situation as our brothers Detective Ridley or Desmond Robinson. It’s unfortunate that the only time they are truly recognized as law enforcement is when they don the blue uniform. Until perceptions of Black males are changed in the institutional structure of policing, the Black Law Enforcement community and the Black community at large in Westchester and the state of New York will remain at a disadvantage and in danger.

Clearly the entire system must be torn down and rebuilt. Band-Aid solutions like “special commissions” and their “recommendations” have done and will do little to stem the tide. We need local or state lawmakers with the testicular fortitude to act now. How many more Black men must lose their lives before someone says “stop!”? Annual training should not be an option for any law enforcement officer that can carry firearms under NY State Criminal Law Section 2.10 and Article 35 in Westchester County and New York State. This should be mandatory with no excuses.

Who is policing our police? The call for a state wide special prosecutor to ensure transparency in the justice system is essential for building trust in the community we serve and for the victims and the affected Law Enforcement Officers. Despite having a reputation as being one of the most “progressive” and wealthiest counties and countries, Westchester and the United States lack an effective oversight in law enforcement. We need to take a page from the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan-- all whom have governmental oversight in law enforcement and credible Independent Civilian Complaint Review Boards.

Let’s be honest. Westchester meets NY State minimum standards when it comes to training. The Westchester Department of Corrections has applied for National Accreditation. We are now required to have approximately 21 hours per year training after the academy to meet NYS minimum standards. Yet, the American Correctional Association, the body that governs the national accreditation, notes that 40 hours per year training is most effective. Clearly Law Enforcement in Westchester County is behind the times. The real question is how far behind is Westchester County and the Chief’s Association in relation to what is occurring on the national level? Is Westchester County’s police training and its police departments nationally certified and have national accreditation? Westchester County and the Chief’s Association should have a accreditation agency like CALEA to do a complete audit of our training and police departments so we can see how our tax dollars are being spent.

Is too much to ask to raise the bar? Raising the bar in Westchester will not only make us exceed the standard, but it will save innocent lives. Imagine 19 more hours of training could have saved the life of Detective Ridley and made January 25, 2008 just another day. We did not need a report to tell us what we already knew.

BLACKWATCH

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Senator Eric Adams, Attory Norman Siegal, and Black and Latino Police Groups Charge NYPD With Institutionalized Racism

New York Senator Eric Adams

Anthony Maranda National Latino Officers of America

Noel Leader 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement

Attorney Norman Siegel

Damon K. Jones National Black Police Association

Senator Eric Adams, Attorney Norman Siegel., 100 Blacks and Law Enforcement, National Latino Officers of America, Grand Council of Guardians, and the National Black Police Association. Have called on Commissioner Kelly for swift punishment of the two undercover police officers whos actions was disrespectful towards Three –Star NYPD Chief Douglas Zieglar.

Chief Zieglar in his briefing to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, said that the two cops, who are white, had no legitimate reason to approach his SUV with guns drawn. Even after he gave them his NYPD ID the two didn’t believe that he was who he said he was.

The Sean Bell verdict has given Law Enforcement a legal alibi that a Black man can be unarmed, shot , killed, and still be a legal threat just by the color of his skin. As Black Law Enforcement Professionals we now have to be extra cautious when we react to situations when we are off duty or as plain clothes officials less we fall into the same situation as out brother Detective Ridley or Sean Bell. It’s unfortunate that the only time we are truly recognized as law enforcement is when we don the blue uniform. Until perceptions of Black males are changed in the institutional thinking of policing, the Back Law Enforcement community and the Black community at large in Westchester will remain at a disadvantage.

Parents, police target gangs at Mt. Vernon forum

Detective Anthony Mitchell Westchester NBPA Doing

PowerPoint Presentation on Gang information

MOUNT VERNON - Students, parents and law enforcement officers attended a forum to address rising gang activity in the city at Thornton High School yesterday.

The Westchester chapter of the National Black Police Association kicked off its celebration of Police Week with the presentation, titled "Identifying and Addressing Gang Problems in Mount Vernon."

"We are out of touch with our young people," Mount Vernon Detective Anthony Mitchell said. "As parents, we have to get out and do these types of things. We have to express our concerns about what the community is not getting."

Mitchell led the presentation about the signs of gang activity, prevention and how to talk with teens about the issue.

The 10-year veteran detective said youths often join gangs to gain a sense of belonging and protection.

He advised parents to acknowledge any suspicion and become positive role models for their children. Mitchell also advised parents to get to know their child's friends and their parents.
Residents can promote a gang-free neighborhood by getting to know one another and reporting any criminal activity, he said.

"Police don't solve crimes by themselves," Mitchell said.
Freshman Kayla Ortiz, who attended the seminar with her mother, said she learned more about the different types of gang paraphernalia and tactics used to discourage members from leaving a gang.

Ortiz also liked that Mitchell told parents to praise their children for their good deeds.
"It was informing and encouraging," Ortiz said.

Yvonne Johnson, whose daughter attends the high school, said she wanted more informative programs and activities for the youth in Mount Vernon.

"You have to find places for them to go and be involved," she said.
Johnson said the forum helped her learn more about resources in the city and gave her a chance to meet with a representative for the mayor's office.

Tamara Berthaud, a clinical social worker at Thornton and Mount Vernon High, helped coordinate the seminar after polling students on the issues that affect them the most.

"It's important to address the topics and let parents know what's going on," Berthaud said. "There are a lot of issues, and we want that communication between parents and children. They need a lot of support."

Principal Sharon Bradley said the seminar gave parents a chance to share concerns, survey the issues and realize a solution with each other.

"So often, parents are looking for solutions, and they have them but don't even know it," Bradley said. "The more educated we are, the better we can service our children."

The forum about local gang activity was part of a daylong seminar held at Thornton, which included discussions on parent and child communication, teen sex and pregnancy.
Bradley said the school will continue to host programs to focus on the challenging issues teens face.

Plainclothes officers in trouble - didn't recognize off-duty chief

Three-star NYPD Chief Douglas Zeigler

At least one cop has been disciplined for ordering the NYPD's highest-ranking uniformed black officer out of his auto while the three-star chief was off-duty and parked in Queens, the Daily News has learned.

"How you can not know or recognize a chief in a department SUV with ID around his neck, I don't know," a police source said.

Chief Douglas Zeigler, 60, head of the Community Affairs Bureau, was in his NYPD-issued vehicle near a fire hydrant when two plainclothes cops approached on May 2, sources said.
One officer walked up on each side of the SUV at 57th Ave. and Xenia St. in Corona about 7 p.m. and told the driver to roll down the heavily tinted windows, sources said.
What happened next is in dispute.

In his briefing to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Zeigler said the two cops, who are white, had no legitimate reason to approach his SUV, ranking sources said.
After they ordered him to get out, one officer did not believe the NYPD identification Zeigler gave him.

The cops gave a different account:
When one officer spotted Zeigler's service weapon through the rolled-down window, he yelled "Gun!" according to sources who have spoken with the officers.

Both cops raised their weapons and ordered the driver out of the car, sources said.
Instead of saying he was an armed member of the NYPD, Zeigler shouted, "Don't you know who I am?" the sources said.

When one cop reached over to check the identification badge around Zeigler's neck, the chief pushed him away, sources said.

Only then did Zeigler tell the two officers his name and rank, those sources said.

Zeigler, in his discussions with Kelly, said the officers never yelled "Gun!" sources said.

One cop got into a heated argument with the chief even after seeing the ID, sources said.
That cop was stripped of his gun and badge and placed on modified duty last night, sources said. The status of the second officer was unclear.

The incident occurred as the NYPD is under fire for record numbers of pedestrians being stopped and frisked, the majority of them black or Hispanic. Some 145,098 people were stopped by the NYPD in the first quarter of this year.

Zeigler has headed the Community Affairs Bureau since January 2006. His wife, Neldra Zeigler, is NYPD deputy commissioner for equal employment opportunity.

By ALISON GENDAR DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER