When will the Madness Stop and the Accountability Begin in Westchester N.Y. Justice System

A consistently alarming rate of cases of police criminality in Westchester County, especially regarding people of color and in the disadvantaged communities has been reported. The case of Mr. Rui Florim prompts us to ask the question, when will the madness stop? When will our elected officials and upper level leaders within law enforcement say enough is enough and the accountability actually begin?

Recommendations and reports have not stemmed the tide (or most would agree, the wave) of alleged civil rights abuses against our mothers, fathers, sisters, sons and daughters by those few that assume they are judge, jury, and executioner. Since October, 2006, Mayor Amicone and Commissioner Edmund Hartnett have become co-conspirators to the madness that has plagued the citizens of Yonkers and created a cancer for the rest of the Westchester law enforcement community. We are demanding that Yonkers Police Commissioner Edmund Harnett tighten up his belt and make Yonkers Internal Affairs a reliable source of accountability for his rank and file.

Law enforcement professionals are an asset to the community. Not holding the rogue officers who cross the line accountable for what would be crimes if they were ordinary citizens, tarnishes the good work and dedication of the many law enforcement professionals that have done good deeds for the community at large.

We are demanding that Westchester County District Attorney, Janet DiFiore and her team commence a full investigation of these rogue police officers for their criminal conduct. To pursue and prosecute Mr. Florim using an assault charge against him and accusing him of assaulting an officer’s knuckles is simply ludicrous. Mr. Florim received 72 staples to the head, stitches, and bruises to his entire body. The DAs office has not only made a mockery of the court and the justice system, they have eroded the trust in the process of true justice to the citizens of Westchester that DA Janet DiFiore claims to represent. She has once again proved her office is incapable of handling cases that involves police criminality. This is yet another reason for the need for a permanent State-Level Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute cases that involve alleged police brutality and police misconduct.

The Westchester Chapter of the National Black Police Association fully supports every family of every race, creed or color that has been victimized by police criminality. We all feel the same pain regardless of ethnicity or economic status.

In a True Democracy, There is a System of Checks and Balances

A community forum yesterday generated calls for a "crisis intervention" in response to local police forces' lack of diversity and recent incidents of excessive force.

About 200 people attended the Detective Christopher A. Ridley Law Enforcement Community Relations Forum yesterday at Grace Baptist Church. The event was named after Ridley, a Mount Vernon police officer mistakenly shot to death in White Plains by four Westchester county police officers during Ridley's intervention in a Jan. 25 street fight.

Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, District Attorney Janet DiFiore and other county and local elected and police officials from Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains and Yonkers sat on the panel.

They answered questions about what policies the county's largest police forces can adopt to increase police diversity and sensitivity to prevent incidents like the Ridley shooting or the body-slamming of Irma Marquez last year.

On Friday federal prosecutors charged Yonkers Police Officer Wayne Simoes with criminally violating Marquez's civil rights, after DiFiore's office prosecuted a case against Marquez without finding fault with Simoes' actions.

The Rev. Darin Moore of the United Black Clergy of Westchester began the forum by discussing the results of a national poll of black Americans released last week indicating that many of them feared or distrusted the police.

Moore co-moderated the forum with Grace Baptist's senior pastor, the Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson; the Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network; and state Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, D-Mount Vernon. Audience members wrote their questions on cards that were then handed to the moderators, who asked panelists questions.

Richardson said racial diversity in local police forces is critical to reducing community distrust and incidents like those involving Ridley and Marquez.

"I serve on the board of PepsiCo, and we can force the people who are hiring people to reflect the community we sell to," Richardson said. "If 24 percent of (Mount Vernon) police officers are black and 50 percent of the city is black, that is a crisis. There has to be a crisis intervention."

The panelists described their police departments' efforts to diversify, and then panelists turned their attention to the district attorney's role in providing evidence and advice to grand juries.
In her opening statements, DiFiore said that a district attorney cannot determine outcomes of grand jury decisions and that she would not criticize a grand jury's decision not to indict the four Westchester county police officers who shot Ridley.

Sharpton then questioned DiFiore's ability to investigate local police and her role in deciding what evidence is given to grand juries to review.

"In light of the arrest in Yonkers by federal prosecutors ... what can you say to the community to relieve them of the idea that a local district attorney cannot investigate a local police department?" asked Sharpton, who in recent weeks has come under federal scrutiny for his organization's income and tax declarations.

DiFiore said she would not hesitate to prosecute a police officer, and she described her response to her office's handling of the Marquez case.

"There were grave errors in judgment in that case," DiFiore said. "Lawyers have been disciplined and removed, and training has been introduced for all (prosecutors) from top to bottom."

Hassell-Thompson asked DiFiore to release a report of her disciplinary findings in the Marquez case, and Moore asked DiFiore to take the lead in investigating local police departments in matters of misconduct.

lohud.com

BLACKWATCH


The admission and acknowledgement of the District Attorney that they were grave mistakes in the handling of the Marquez case should give us pause. As a community we should take this opportunity to stop, reflect and ask ourselves: how many other innocent people have buckled under the pressure of the District Attorney’s Office? How many of us settled for being accused of minor infractions? How many times were people’s constitutional rights violated and overlooked?

Many disadvantaged families, especially those in the Black and Latino communities have been force to watch family members brought to court on trumped up charges like “disorderly conduct”, “obstruction of justice” and “resisting arrest” which are little more than smoke screens for police misconduct and criminality. Police Criminality is cancerous; and if left unchecked, it can erode the integrity of law enforcement and eat away at the trust of the community.

Politicians and law makers in Westchester should be called to the carpet for an ineffective and failed system of law enforcement and for the lack of accountability that is running rampant. In a true democracy, there is a system of checks and balances; there are forums for the people to be heard; and there is an opportunity for dialogue and change.

The National Black Police Association (NBPA) and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have been monitoring the complaints of Police Criminality in the cities, towns and villages of Westchester. At the numerous rallies and community meetings we held over the past years, we discovered that many community residents do not know how to file a proper compliant when they felt their rights was violated by law enforcement officers. To this end, we have created an informational pamphlet “How do you Handle Police Brutality a Citizens Plan For Action”. This pamphlet is meant to provide citizens with information to help them determine if their rights have been violated by the police and what steps to take if they feel their rights have been violated.

The NBPA will continue to support and rally for legislation that will secure the appointment of a State wide Special Prosecutor to eliminate assumption of bias and political influence on investigations when local police municipalities are both “investigating” and “prosecuting” each other. Appointment of a Special Prosecutor will ensure transparency in the Justice system which is essential for building trust in the community we serve and for the ensuring that both the rights of victims and law enforcement officers are protected.

BlackWatch

Lack of Accountability of Police Criminality from Westchester Officials Spawns New Breed of Bad Law Enforcement

The Westchester Chapter of the National Black Police Association (NBPA) and the Yonkers Chapter of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have been monitoring the issue of police criminality in Westchester’s communities. We have seen the civil rights of our mothers, sisters, fathers and brothers repeatedly violated and abused. How many more reports of police misconduct and criminality must we hear about?

Neither the outrage from the community, eyewitnesses reports, videos of incidents, or pictures of brutalized victims have made this madness stop. What will it take for our County Executive, County Legislators to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?

The dreadful offense that happened to Ms. Marquez is one more reason why something must be done about the ungodly attitude of policing in Westchester County when it comes to people of color and people who are economically disadvantaged. As citizens we can no longer tolerate Police criminality in our communities. How many times are we going to be lulled to sleep by Mayor Amiccone and our County elected officials? They have failed to serve and protect the citizens of Westchester County.

By no means was this offensive attack indicative of the behavior of all law enforcement officers who each day put on their uniforms, put their lives on the line and do the jobs that they were sworn to do. This was the action of rogue police officers; and we demand a critical and fair accounting of the few police officers that crossed the line. Their actions gives a false sense of security and breeds a new generation of police officers that believe it is okay to beat up, slam up, set up the citizens they have sworn to serve and not face punishment. Instead, they move up the ranks in the law enforcement.

For over a year how did the DA’s office vigorously pursue the prosecution of Ms Marquez, yet manage to overlook the illegal and criminal actions of Officer Simmones? The lack of the swift accountability from the DA’s office gives us yet one more reason for the need for a permanent State-level Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute cases that involve alleged police brutality and misconduct. If the Westchester DA Janet DiFiore’s office does not pursue justice with a thorough investigation of the actions of these rouge police officers, she and her office have once again proved her office to be incapable of handling cases that involved police misconduct.

Westchester County Department of Public Safety the Chief’s Association must also share this responsibility. Where did Officer Simmones learn this tactical move to subdue Ms Marquez? How many times have other Law Enforcement officers use this tactic on women in Westchester? Did they teach this in the academy? Or was it yearly training by the departments? After the “Use of Force Report” from Westchester officials, we must now look even closer to the training at all levels. The constant reoccurrence of these unfortunate incidences with Law Enforcement in Westchester has shown that New York State Minimum Standards are not enough. We need to know how training and our Police Departments rank are and compare to the National Standards.

We also need balance. Can someone tell me who is policing the police? A recent News 12 opinion poll reported that 65 percent of the people polled saw police brutality as an issue in the communities in Westchester County. Westchester County officials must react, respond and make the necessary moves now to rectify these critical issues.

It is time for Revolutionary Change in law enforcement in Westchester County. We are calling on the creation of County level Law Enforcement oversight board or County Level Independent CCRB (Civilian Complaint Review Board) with both subpoena power and power to implement binding recommendations on policy and procedures where necessary.

This external, objective, third party review is the only way we can build trust between the community and law enforcement; and it is the only way to ensure that our police departments are effective and that they will truly protect and serve our communities.

PistolCam added Solution for Examining

With regards to the tragedy surrounding the death of Detective Ridley, the ability to view the scene and hear the incident as it unfolded would put the question of police misconduct or negligence on the part of Detective Ridley to bed once and for all. Yet,the District Attorney has refused to provide the Ridley family attorney with an unedited copy of the tape showing footage of the incident taken by a surveillance camera. Interestingly, it has been reported that this same video was key in the decision of the Grand Jury not to pursue a case against the County Police Officers. The DA’s refusal to turn over the tapes leaves more questions than answers about the validity of the surveillance video.

In fact, surveillance videos are often times “questionable”; therefore the PistolCam, new police technology will fill a needed void. The PistolCam is a small camera mounted on the front of any 9mm weapon or long gun. It automatically provides video/audio documentation each time the weapon is drawn from its holster. The recording is encrypted and cannot be altered in any way. The recording can also be immediately released to help identify perpetrators so that they can be apprehended before others are placed at risk. The Pistol Cam also allows for better training of the force, as practice drills can be reviewed and discussed.

It has been reported that Newburgh Police Department and Sheriff’s Office SWAT in Orange County began field testing this technology last fall. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

Clearly, the Sean Bell verdict and the subsequent “investigation” into the death of Detective Ridley has prompted the call for not only more training of law enforcement officers but the implementation of updated law enforcement technologies like the PistolCam.

New York State Senator Eric Adams a ranking member of the Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee in the State Senate has examined the PistolCam and is very pleased with its results. Adams noted “our officers and the public need, want, and deserve their police departments to invest in the very best, most innovative technology available—and the new training and practices that technology brings”.

Westchester County and the Chiefs Association need to take a page from Orange County’s book. In Westchester there needs to be a marriage between better training and the use of updated police technologies. There is no monetary value on the lives of our Officers and the citizens we protect and serve. The PistolCam is another step in insuring transparency in Justice and building trust in the community of the actions of law enforcement in Westchester County.

National Black Police Association and NAACP Call For Change In Westchester New York

06/01/08) YONKERS - Members of the National Black Police Association and NAACP called for change Sunday at a Yonkers news conference after video was released showing a cop slamming a woman.

The groups want local politicians and police to address what they feel is a longstanding practice of police brutality against Westchester minorities. While an internal probe cleared Officer Wayne Simoes in the 2007 incident, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating.

Simoes was later promoted to detective, which outrages community leaders. "To slam a woman, put her in the hospital and bring her up on trumped up charges – which took her a year to beat – and now to get promoted in the process. That's ridiculous," said Damon Jones, of the National Black Police Association.

Their outrage is in response to stunning video that was recently released. It shows Simoes throwing 44-year-old Irma Marquez on the floor face-first. Authorities maintain Marquez was blocking officers from helping her niece, who was hurt in a fight.

A jury acquitted Marquez last month on charges stemming from the case. She has filed an $11.3 million lawsuit against Simoes, nine other Yonkers officers and the city.

news12.com

BLACKWATCH

Who is Policing the Police in Westchester County?

The dreadful incident that happen to Ms. Marquez is another example that something must be done with the ungodly attitude of policing in Westchester County when it comes to people of color or the poor community’s. As citizens we can no longer tolerate Police Criminality in our communities.

Nobody in Westchester is “Policing the Police”!!! It is time for Law and Policy makers of Westchester County to create County wide Law Enforcement Oversight or County wide Independent CCRB (Civilian Complaint Review Board). There must be balance for the citizens and accountability for law enforcement in Westchester County.

If the Westchester DA Janet DiFiore’s office does not go after these rouge Police Officers for there criminal conduct. She and her office have once again proved her office is incapable of handling cases that involved Police Criminality. The lack of swift accountability of the DAs office give more reason for the need for a permanent State-level Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute cases that involve alleged Police brutality and Police misconduct.

The Westchester Chapter of the National Black Police Association fully supports the Marquez family and every family that have been victimized by Police Criminality.

BLACKWATCH

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

What Rev. Jeremiah Wright Really Said

Rev. Jeremiah Wright






The Chicago Tribune recently transcribed some controversial sermons of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama’s former pastor. As can be seen below, many of his remarks were taken out of context.





SEPT. 16, 2001 Sound bite: “We’ve bombed Hiroshima, we’ve bombed Nagasaki, we’ve nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye. . . . We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and Black South Africans, and now we are indignant. Because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”





Wright in context:
“I heard Ambassador (Edward) Peck on an interview yesterday, did anybody else see him or hear him? He was on Fox News. This is a White man, and he was upsetting the Fox News commentators to no end. Did you see him, John? A White man. He pointed out, an ambassador, that what Malcolm X said when he got silenced by Elijah Muhammad was in fact true, that America’s chickens are coming home to roost.


“We took this country by terror away from the Sioux, the Apache, the Iroquois, the Comanche, the Arapaho, the Navajo. Terrorism. We took Africans from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism. We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians, babies, non-military personnel; we bombed the Black civilian community of Panama, with Stealth bombers, and killed unarmed teenagers and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hard-working fathers. We’ve bombed (Muammar) Gadhafi’s home and killed his child.
“Blessed are they who bash your children’s heads against the rocks. We bombed Iraq; we killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to pay back an attack on our embassy. Killed hundreds of hard-working people, mothers and fathers who left home to go that day, not knowing that they would never get back home.


“We’ve bombed Hiroshima, we’ve bombed Nagasaki, we’ve nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye. Kids playing in the playground, mothers picking up children after school, civilians not soldiers, people just trying to make it day by day.


“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and Black South Africans, and now we are indignant. Because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards.


“America’s chickens are coming home to roost. Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred and terrorism begets terrorism. A White ambassador said that, y’all, not a Black militant. Not a reverend who preaches about racism.



JULY 2003 Sound bite: “The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America?’ No, no, no, not ‘God Bless America,’ ‘God Damn America.’”





Wright in context:
“The United States of America government, when it came to treating her citizens of Indian descent fairly, she failed. She put them on the reservations. When it came to treating her citizens of Japanese descent fairly, she failed. She put them in internment prison camps. When it came to treating the citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains. The government put them on slave quarters, put them on auction blocks, put them in cotton fields, put them in inferior schools, put them in substandard housing, put them in scientific experiments, put them in the lowest paying jobs, put them outside the equal protection of the law, kept them out of the racist bastions of higher education and locked them into positions of hopelessness and helplessness. The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America?’


“No, no, no, not ‘God Bless America,’ ‘God Damn America.’ That’s in the Bible, for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating its citizens as less than human, God damn America as long as she tries to act like she is God and she is supreme. The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent.”



JAN. 13, 2008 Sound bite: “Hillary is married to Bill, and Bill has been good to us. No he ain’t. Bill did us just like he did Monica Lewinski. He was riding dirty.



Wright in context:
“There is a man here who can take this country in a new direction. ‘But he’s a Black man.’ There is a man here who is empowered by hope to usher in an era of change in a country that is in desperate need of a change. ‘But he ain’t Black enough.’ There is a man here who can get Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and persons of no faith to sit down at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood and talk about our common humanity and our common future. ‘But I ain’t gonna vote for him ’cause I don’t want to waste my vote.’ ‘But Hillary is married to Bill, and Bill has been good to us.’ No he ain’t. Bill did us just like he did Monica Lewinsky. He was riding dirty.”

George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. This commentary was distributed by NNPA.

REMEMBERING OUR KING

Nearly 40 years after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., some say his legacy is being frozen in a moment in time that ignores the full complexity of the man and his message.

"Everyone knows -- even the smallest kid knows about Martin Luther King -- can say his most famous moment was that 'I have a dream' speech," said Henry Louis Taylor Jr., professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Buffalo. "No one can go further than one sentence. All we know is that this guy had a dream. We don't know what that dream was."

King was working on anti-poverty and anti-war issues at the time of his death. He had spoken out against the Vietnam War and was in Memphis when he was killed in April 1968 in support of striking sanitation workers.

King had come a long way from the crowds who cheered him at the 1963 March on Washington, when he was introduced as "the moral leader of our nation" -- and when he pronounced "I have a dream" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

By taking on issues outside segregation, he had lost the support of many newspapers and magazines, and his relationship with the White House had suffered, said Harvard Sitkoff, a professor of history at the University of New Hampshire who has written a recently published book on King.

"He was considered by many to be a pariah," Sitkoff said.

But he took on issues of poverty and militarism because he considered them vital "to make equality something real and not just racial brotherhood but equality in fact," Sitkoff said.
Scholarly study of King hasn't translated into the popular perception of him and the civil rights movement, said Richard Greenwald, professor of history at Drew University.

"We're living increasingly in a culture of top 10 lists, of celebrity biopics which simplify the past as entertainment or mythology," he said. "We lose a view on what real leadership is by compressing him down to one window."

That does a disservice to both King and society, said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University.

By freezing him at that point, by putting him on a pedestal of perfection that doesn't acknowledge his complex views, "it makes it impossible both for us to find new leaders and for us to aspire to leadership," Harris-Lacewell said.

She believes it's important for Americans in 2008 to remember how disliked King was before his death in April 1968.

"If we forget that, then it seems like the only people we can get behind must be popular," Harris-Lacewell said. "Following King meant following the unpopular road, not the popular one."

In becoming an icon, King's legacy has been used by people all over the political spectrum, said Glenn McNair, associate professor of history at Kenyon College.

He's been part of the 2008 presidential race, in which Barack Obama could be the country's first black president. Obama has invoked King, and Sen. John Kerry endorsed Obama by saying "Martin Luther King said that the time is always right to do what is right."

Not all the references have been received well. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton came under fire when she was quoted as saying King's dream of racial equality was realized only when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

King has "slipped into the realm of symbol that people use and manipulate for their own purposes," McNair said.

Harris-Lacewell said that is something people need to push back against.

"It's not OK to slip into flat memory of who Dr. King was, it does no justice to us and makes him to easy to appropriate," she said. "Every time he gets appropriated, we have to come out and say that's not OK. We do have the ability to speak back."

Listen to the candidates, not their associates

(CNN) -- Its been an interesting week watching folks analyze the outcry over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's controversial comments, especially when they try to link them to Sen. Barack Obama.
Roland S. Martin says all the presidential candidates have supporters with controversial views.
Obama's supporters say it's wrong to associate his views with those of his pastor at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ.

His opponents say that surely his views are linked with Wright's, including the pastor's praise of Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan.

Conservative talker Sean Hannity -- who incidentally many have accused of associations with white supremacist Hal Turner, which he denies -- was foaming at the mouth. He called Wright a racist and an anti-Semite, and then said we all should assume Obama is also a racist and an anti-Semite.

Talk about a stretch.

Frankly, it's just not plausible to suggest that you always share the same feelings or views as someone you know.

In remarks to a Pittsburgh newspaper, Sen. Hillary Clinton responded to a question about the Wright controversy by saying: "You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend."

True. Very true. But there's also some reality that politicians pick and choose who they want to be associated with.

Clinton pressed Obama during a debate this year to repudiate and denounce Farrakhan's unsolicited praise of him at an event the Nation of Islam leader organized for his group in Chicago.

The moderator, NBC's Tim Russert, brought up comments made by Farrakhan 24 years ago in his question to Obama.

Fine, so what do we make of then-President Bill Clinton publicly endorsing the 1995 Million Man March? Who called for that march? Louis Farrakhan. Who was the lead organizer? Louis Farrakhan. Who was the keynote speaker? Louis Farrakhan.

After he was out of the White House, President Clinton also endorsed the Million Man March. Who called for that march? Louis Farrakhan. Who was the lead organizer? Louis Farrakhan. Who was the keynote speaker? Louis Farrakhan.

Did Sen. Clinton privately or publicly rebuke her husband for supporting a man whom she has determined to be hateful and divisive?

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who is national co-chair of Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign, once stood on stage with Farrakhan in 1997 -- at an event the Times said was "called to promote racial reconciliation after several recent high-profile crimes" -- and praised him for his commitment to ending violence in the black community. Rendell was the mayor of Philadelphia at the time.

According to the April 15, 1997, story in The New York Times, Farrakhan praised Rendell before 3,000 people at the anti-violence rally for ''his courage and strength to rise above emotion and differences that might be between us or our communities.'' Roland Martin argues that Obama is not alone in his controversial associations »

According to the Times, Rendell, who is Jewish, commended the Nation of Islam for its emphasis on family values and self-sufficiency.

Must Clinton repudiate and denounce Rendell's past comments and association with Farrakhan?
Former Republican Rep. Jack Kemp is a huge supporter of Sen. John McCain, and he also has a Farrakhan story.

In 1996, when Kemp was the vice presidential running mate of Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, he told reporters that he wanted to meet with Farrakhan and praised his organization's focus on economic empowerment, family values and its pull-yourselves-up-by-the-bootstrap message -- right in line with the GOP talking points. Kemp said he wanted to speak at the Million Man March.

Boy, was he torn apart by Jewish critics, and many in his own party.

Kemp summarily criticized Farrakhan's comments about Jews and whites, but he didn't take his words back. By the way, Hannity pressed every African-American supporter about Farrakhan, but he never got in Kemp's face about his comments. I wonder why?

Must McCain repudiate and denounce Kemp's past comments and association with Farrakhan?
When it comes to homosexuality, no Clinton or Obama supporter should think of criticizing the other campaign's black ministerial supporters because that means most of their own would have to be disassociated from their campaigns.

On CNN's "The Situation Room," Paul Begala mentioned "hateful" things said about gays by the Rev. James Meeks, founder and senior pastor of Salem Baptist Church of Chicago, and an Obama supporter. Meeks has made no bones about his firm opposition to homosexuality (and abortion), which is one of the reasons he's very close to many of the nation's white conservative pastors. (I know him well; I'm a member of Salem).

And then there was the hoopla over gospel singer Donnie McClurkin when the Obama campaign recruited him to take part in a gospel concert tour around South Carolina. McClurkin has preached that homosexuals can be converted to heterosexuals. That set off a firestorm.
But Clinton also has her own issues with anti-gay pastoral supporters.

The Rev. Harold Mayberry, pastor of the First African Methodist Church in Oakland, has voiced for years his opposition to homosexuality. In fact, some have said he has compared homosexuality to thievery.

When Mayberry came out in support of Clinton, her campaign touted his endorsement, sans any mention of his anti-gay rants.

She has also received a $1,000 contribution from Bishop Eddie L. Long of the mega-church New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, who previously led an anti-gay marriage march in Atlanta.

Of course, when it comes to McCain, it wouldn't be a story if his ministerial supporters are anti-gay. It would be news if any of them actually supported homosexuality.

The bottom line: Everyone has an association that is open for scrutiny. Our real focus should be on the candidates and their views on the issues, because one of them will stand before the nation and take the oath of office and swear to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States.

Roland S. Martin is a nationally award-winning journalist and CNN contributor. Martin is studying to receive his master's degree in Christian communications at Louisiana Baptist University. You can read more of his columns at http://www.rolandsmartin.com/.

Quick, Let Me Search Your Home For Guns Before The Supreme Court Tells Me They Are Legal Anyway!!!!!

The hounds of deliverance are upon us!The Washington D.C. Examiner offers editorial comment upon the current door-to-door D.C. visit by police seeking guns!"WASHINGTON (Map, News) - If the U.S. Supreme Court seemed on the verge of finding the D.C. government guilty of violating its citizens’ First Amendment rights, would the D.C. police be going door to door looking for printing presses to confiscate? Of course not. It would be unthinkable. Civil libertarians would be — to use an apt phrase (figuratively speaking) — up in arms. But when the civil liberty at issue is the right to bear those arms, as protected by the Second Amendment rather than the First, District officials seem determined to leave no gun unturned in.

Mayor Adrian Fenty and Police Chief Cathy Lanier may have all the best intentions, but their “Safe Homes Initiative” is constitutionally and otherwise objectionable on several levels. The initiative involves door-to-door visits with police asking residents for permission to search their homes for guns. Any firearms found will be confiscated, but owners won’t be prosecuted unless the guns are determined to be linked to specific crimes.

The program has drawn criticism not just from gun-rights lobbies such as the National Rifle Association but also from the National Black Police Association and the American Civil Liberties Union. No matter how much respect and support police officers deserve, there is still an intimidation factor involved any time an officer is on one’s doorstep, such that the “permission” may not seem as voluntary as police mean it to be. So where does this end? How long before Lanier sends police into selected neighborhoods — selected by whom and on what basis? — asking to search homes for marijuana, terrorist literature, evidence of intent to commit a crime, fireworks or Cuban cigars? Lanier is establishing a precedent that would have horrified the founders of this republic.

What is clearly at work here is the District’s determination to enforce its broad gun ban while it still has nominal power to do so. Never mind that a federal appeals court has ruled the ban unconstitutional, or that most observers of last week’s Supreme Court oral arguments on the issue reported that a majority of justices seem inclined to throw the law out. Never mind that the fundamental constitutional right of gun ownership is at issue. District officials appear to believe their own antipathy to guns outweighs all those pesky concerns about whether the Constitution empowers their confiscations. But the guns they take away today may turn out to be perfectly legal under the Constitution. It would be far better to wait for the high court’s direction than to rush, half-cocked, into this kind of a crackdown."

Next up, "voluntary" searches for marijuana, illegal drugs, illicit sex, and other tragedies of our society!

Way to go D.C., you have once again proven yourselves incompetent to run your own city. Time for the Congress Fairy to take control and let the locals from a nearby state take charge! Do you suppose Marion Berry would apply for the job as Commissar?

What a crock D.C. is.....how shameful that the "seat of government" is allowed to be so completely bereft of any form of control with logic!

RALLY FOR JUSTICE MISUNDERSTOOD BY SOME

The press conferences, news interviews and now a rally have not been an indictment of the Four County Police Officers on behalf of concerned supporters of the family of Detective Christopher Ridley. No one wants to see anyone go to jail for a glitch in the institutional system of policing.

This has been a clear plea to Politicians and Policy Makers in that they have a chance to put a little faith in the process of justice in the black community. Due to what appears to be inadequacies, there are now questions about the entire process of justice in reference to the investigation of the shooting of our brother Detective Ridley. Was there a full representation of the facts?

What will be the steps to lay the ground work to make sure this will never happen again? The request by the family of an outside agency like the Attorney General’s Office or the Department of Justice to investigate. Whether this investigation will give merit or demerit to the facts of Westchester’s investigation is a fair and impartial request from the family of Detective Ridley. That is the process of Justice.

County Public Safety Commissioner Belfiore, the Public Safety Commission and Politicians need to admit the system is flawed. More adequate accredited training is needed for all Law Enforcement Officers that carry off-duty. A true Off-Duty training course should also be implemented along with Racial Sensitivity classes. These types of classes should not just be for the academy but yearly refresher courses as well. A Fraternal Day should be implemented for cadets of all law enforcement academies in Westchester where Law Enforcement Fraternities of all races can come and talk to the cadets.

Now that it has come to light that the only black County Police Officer did not fire his weapon, shouldn't we question the reason why he was pointed out to be the lone gunman from first accounts from authorities? Does this coincide with the studies, data and facts that the Westchester NBPA has said all along about the perceptions of black males within institutions of law enforcement? How these types of unfortunate occurrences mainly happen to officers of a darker blue when they are off duty or in plain clothes.

This intentional or unintentional leak of our brother’s name has caused a lot of emotions in the law enforcement community and a deep wound in the black law enforcement community as well. The black law enforcement community in time should begin the process of healing. We should agree to disagree and begin the work of the common goal protecting, educating and uplifting our communities. The communities and the black communities at large are in our critical care.

It is far from indicting anyone when you ask for a more clear and concise representation of the facts. We need to make sure we will not loose another officer.

Whatever point we make or opinion we have, we should always be in one voice saying never, ever, again should a mother and father loose their son in a situation like this

SUPPORTERS RALLY FOR A CALL FOR JUSTICE

WHITE PLAINS - Angry words followed a minute of silence yesterday as close to 200 people gathered at the spot where Mount Vernon Police Officer Christopher Ridley was killed to protest the circumstances surrounding his death and a grand jury's decision not to indict the four Westchester policemen who shot him down.

"Chris Ridley was shot and killed. Murdered. And nobody is responsible,'' said the Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, where Ridley was a parishioner. "We gather here to register our anger and discontent. We cannot rest until we are sure that something could not have been done differently."

Ridley, 23, was killed in front of 85 Court St. on Jan. 25 as he tried to arrest a mugging suspect. Off duty and in civilian clothes, he was hit six times by a volley of at least 10 shots fired by county police who converged on the scene. After what authorities described as an exhaustive investigation that included extensive video evidence and testimony from 62 witnesses, a Westchester grand jury voted last week not to indict county Detective Robin Martin and Officers Christian Gutierrez, Jose Calero and Frank Oliveri, concluding that Ridley did not react to repeated orders to drop his gun.

Ridley, hailed as a hero, was posthumously promoted to the rank of detective and his badge was retired.

Richardson and other speakers called on the state Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Justice Department to conduct their own independent investigations, and demanded that Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore make public the evidence that was presented to the grand jury. He also called for a countywide "criminal justice summit," inviting law enforcement to answer questions from the public and listen to community concerns.

"We're not trying to bring anyone down, we're trying to get justice,'' Richardson said.

As he spoke, some in the crowd punctuated his remarks by yelling, "Murder!'

'
The Rev. W. Darin Moore of Mount Vernon, president of United Black Clergy of Westchester, told the crowd that the "blood of Detective Christopher Ridley cries out to us."

"We cannot allow this to happen again,'' Moore said.

Ridley's parents, Felita Bouche and Stanley Ridley, thanked the throng huddled under umbrellas in the pouring rain for their support.

"As a mother, you cry and you pray every day,'' Bouche said before the 20-minute rally began.

"I just want justice. You can't tell me that you can investigate a murder in this many days and then come back and say it was no one's fault. No.''

"This is a global issue,'' said Damon Jones, executive director of the Westchester chapter of the National Black Police Association. "Black cops are being looked at as perps and thugs. We are asking for justice, for a clear representation of the facts.''

Since Ridley's death, Jones has repeatedly called for more training for those in law enforcement and for the hiring of more African-American police, particularly in Westchester's urban communities.

"It's common sense,'' he said afterward. "How can a city like Mount Vernon, which is 62 percent black, have a police gang unit that's all white?''

When Richardson told demonstrators that the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was to appear, canceled at the last minute, some shouted, "That's OK. We're here!"

Richardson noted that representatives from the Nation of Islam and the National Action Network were on hand.

"This is no picnic,'' he said as the 20-minute rally ended. "You don't have a picnic in the rain. We're here because we're serious. This is not the last you'll hear about this. We have much more to say, and we're not going away."

Richard Clarke, a retired New York City police detective from Garnerville, said he turned out in the rain because he wants to see law enforcement held accountable.

"It's a scary situation,'' he said of Ridley's death. "If you can shoot a cop, then who's safe?"

Clarke, who recalled being stopped and searched by another officer who mistook him for a perpetrator while he was chasing a drug suspect, said that "attitudes and mentalities have to change."

"And that can only happen through training, talking about this and understanding," he said.

"This is one of too many tragic incidents that involve the killing of a black man,'' said Surya Peterson, a retired administrative assistant from White Plains. "The fact that these officers indicated they were following their training indicates to me that the training wasn't correct."

The demonstration began at 4:55 p.m. - the time Ridley was killed. Police, who had expected a larger crowd, closed the Court Street block where the rally was held for about two hours, but reported no major traffic problems.

Reach Richard Liebson lohud.com

PROTEST TO SEEK NEW PROBE IN MT VERNON OFFICERS DEATH

WHITE PLAINS - Fiery civil rights activist Al Sharpton will head a protest downtown today at the same time and place that Mount Vernon Police Officer Christopher Ridley was shot dead by four Westchester County policemen.

Organizers expect more than 1,000 people will join the rally, which also will feature Ridley's parents, black clergy and members of a black police association who are upset over a grand jury decision last week not to indict the county officers. Demonstrators will demand federal and state investigations into the Jan. 25 shooting, believing Ridley was shot because he was black.

"We are not ready to accept the conclusion that this was just a tragedy that couldn't have been avoided," said the Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson of Mount Vernon's Grace Baptist Church, who also will speak at the event. "We don't have the institutional trust in the black community to accept that, in light of the number of black men who get killed by police officers."

The 23-year-old, off-duty cop was trying to subdue a mugging suspect in front of 85 Court St., when the officers opened fire. The panel of jurors concluded they committed no crime after hearing that the policemen had repeatedly ordered Ridley to drop his gun. They fired at least 10 shots, and Ridley was struck six times.

Ridley's family and their supporters, however, argue that White Plains police and the Westchester District Attorney's Office rushed the investigation and disregarded several witnesses whose testimony could have supported criminal charges. Supporters will gather outside 85 Court St. beginning at 4:30 p.m. and the rally will begin at 4:55 p.m., the time Ridley was shot. It will last about an hour.

"We march in support of the family of our brother, Detective Ridley, and many black law enforcement professionals that have been shot, shot at or killed in the past," said Damon Jones, executive director of the county chapter of the National Black Police Association. "This will be a historical moment for all people of color in Westchester. There has never been a gathering of people of color in Westchester in protest of a system built on institutional bias policies and attitudes when dealing with people of our community."

They are calling on the state Attorney General's Office to review the Ridley case and plan to reach out to the Justice Department, asking it to consider, among other things, whether Ridley's civil rights were violated.

District Attorney Janet DiFiore continues to defend the grand jury's decision not to indict, pointing out that 62 witnesses testified about the shooting death, and prosecutors also presented extensive video and other evidence during eight sessions that spanned two months.

Detective Robin Martin and Officers Christian Gutierrez, Jose Calero and Frank Oliveri have all returned to the county force, limited to administrative duties at this time.

By Shawn CohenThe Journal News • March 19, 2008

WILL THE BLACK COMMUNITY EVER HAVE TRUST IN LAW ENFORCEMENT, POLITICS, AND THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN WESCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK

The unfortunate death and subsequent investigation of Detective Ridley has echoed many concerns in the Black Community as it relates to the perceptions and attitudes of Law Enforcement and the Justice System in Westchester County. The Westchester Chapter of the National Black Police Association will continue to support the Ridley Family in their determination to a achieve truth and justice in this unfortunate situation.

The “sweep under the rug technique” used by Westchester politicians and the DA’s office is a disservice to the Ridley Family as well as a disservice to the four county police officers involved in this tragic incident. Those involved with the investigation claim that there was complete and thorough investigation which is contrary to the obvious facts of he case. For instance:

Within four hours of the tragic event, Detective Robin Martin’s name, the only Black officer involved, was leaked to the media and the community at large.

After investigating the crime scene for four hours, there was no shell casing found from Detective Martin’s gun.

There was no final ballistics report indicating whose gun was used for the two fatal shots that killed Detective Ridley.

Detective Ridley was reported to have powder burns on shirt. What is the distance from the shooter to the target that will render powder burns?

The report to the family that one officer was so close, he claimed he could of grabbed Ridleys feet while he and Jacobs were struggling for the gun. Why didn’t he react with pepper spay?

The disrespectful and discouraging manner some interviews were conducted and on one occasion, imprisonment. Was this because their statements contradict the pre-judged theory that the blame was on our brother Detective Ridley?

Why wasn’t Mt. Vernon Police Department’s I.A.D. Unit involved in the investigation? It is normal procedure to have a representative from the officer’s police unit to participate in the investigation when one of their members weapons discharges.

For the Grand Jury to make a determination within in 35 days on a case that involved police firing their guns during rush hour in downtown White Plains is troublesome and appears to be inadequate to say the least. The DA’s office claims to have had 62 witnesses that came before the Grand Jury. Are we to assume that 62 witnesses gave statements, were questioned and follow-up was done to validate their statements including cross checking with the video surveillance; and this was all completed within 35 days of the incident? How is this possible when it took almost a year to investigate the Sean Bell case, a civilian with less than half of the witnesses, a police department much larger and more resources, before going to the Grand Jury?

For the Westchester PBA President to criticize supporters of the Ridley family by saying they must have an “agenda” and a “preconceived outcome”. He is totally mistaken. Nothing is preconceived when New York’s history shows that this type on unfortunate incident only happens to Black law enforcement professionals and NEVER in the reverse. Nothing is preconceived when generations of Black males have been subject to police brutality, police misconduct, and unjust shootings cloaked by bias institutional polices that allow them to say its "JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE".

The Westchester NBPA’s statements are not an indictment of the four County Police Officers. This is an impartial continuous request for a fair and full investigation for COMPLETE JUSTICE. We would hope to think if the families of the Four County Police Officers were in the Ridley family’s situation, they would request the same.

POLICY AND PROCEDURE

Unfortunately, Westchester County is using smoke and mirrors on the issue at hand. The Westchester NBPA feels they are totally missing the point. We need to deal with ALL Law Enforcement that carry a weapon off duty and have the powers under NYS Criminal Law section 2.10 to make a warrantless arrests and the use of deadly force. That should include training for Police Officers, Probation Officers, Court Officers, Corrections Officers, Sheriffs and any other Law Enforcement Professional that fall under NYS Criminal Law section 2.10 in Westchester County.

With President Bush signing the HR218 Law “ The Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act” that allows officers off-duty, as well as retired, peace officers Right To Carry reciprocity throughout the nation in order to help prevent crime in communities. With this type of law in place and the horrific outcome of many officers being shot or killed and it being classified as “friendly fire”, a comprehensive “Off Duty” training class should be implemented for ALL Law Enforcement Professionals in Westchester County. The NBPA’s national office in Washington D.C. has met with representative in Congress to amend the law to add such a type comprehensive training along with the Article 35 “The Use of Force” and Yearly firearms qualification.


The Westchester NBPA has never heard of Deputy Public Safety Commissioner Monte Long until the Detective Ridley incident. We are told he comes from NYC Police Academy. NYC has a long history of Black officers being shot and African American males being unjustly shot. Just as recent as the Sean Bell Case, NYC Police Department policies and procedures are under the highest scrutiny. So what will this panel bring that will be new and innovative? Who are the other law enforcement organizations from the Black community, since history shows that Black officers are the only ones being shot in situations such as this? The Westchester NBPA has been the only Black Law Enforcement organization that has been critical of Westchester County and individual Police Department’s policies and procedures when it comes to the Black, Hispanic and poor communities.

POLICE CRIMINALITY IN BLACK COMMUNITIES

Police brutality and misconduct is an ongoing occurrence in the poor Black and Latino communities in Westchester County. The Westchester NBPA considers this brutality and misconduct POLICE CRIMINALITY. Any law enforcement officer that has powers to arrest, use deadly force, and received comprehensive training by certified institutions of Law Enforcement that will go into a community and abuse the powers they have from the state of New York is committing no less than a Criminal act them self.

We found common charges among citizens that had complaints of police criminality. These charges are resisting arrest, trespassing, and obstruction of governmental operations.

Since most of the families that are victims of Police Criminality live at poverty level or below, they have no means to afford proper legal representation. The majorities are ill- advised on their charges and have no choice to plea bargain for a lesser charge. Doing this keeps the courts moving and the jails filled. This is always the case when the victims are poor citizens that lack the funds, knowledge and recourses to fight City Hall.

As a law enforcement organization, this is not an attack on the good law enforcement officers that go to work everyday and do the job they are sworn to do. Instead we are demanding critical and fair accountability of the few police officers that cross the line and that Westchester County officials, police administrations, and politicians recognize and correct their failure to address this ongoing problem.


It is no surprise that minority citizens, especially the Black community have a constant cry for justice. The tragedy of Detective Ridley and its “so-called” investigation is a constant reminder of the negative perceptions and biasness of institutional policies. We must take a critical examination of the issues at hand. There is a lack of Black representation among law enforcement agencies in the cities, towns, and villages of Westchester County. There must be certified, conventional training for all law enforcement officers how to carrying firearms off duty. There must be racial sensitivity classes to better understand the races and cultures you protect and serve. There must be better community relations with the minority community. Without that these things the Black community is at a tremendous disadvantage and can never hope to receive the service and protection from the police they are rightfully due.

RIDLEY FAMILEY SEEKS PROBE IN SONS SHOOTING

Detective Chritopher Ridley

MOUNT VERNON - The parents of slain Mount Vernon Police Officer Christopher Ridley and a nationally known cleric are demanding federal and state investigations into the shooting by four Westchester County cops after a county grand jury declined to indict them.

"They have essentially said that Christopher died, and it was nobody's fault. We will not accept that," the Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson said yesterday at Grace Baptist Church, as he called on state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the U.S. Attorney's Office to review the case. "We will not sit by and allow this to be the last word on this matter."

They also called for a street protest Wednesday at the site where Ridley was gunned down outside 85 Court St. and urged people to gather there at 4:55 p.m., the time of the shooting.
"Calm and waiting is over. It is now time for the community to act," Richardson said. "What happened in White Plains was systemic execution. Unless we transform the system, we will be back here again."

A spokesman for Cuomo said his office was reviewing the request for a state probe.
The pastor was joined at the news conference by Ridley's mother, Felita Rucker-Bouche, and father, Stanley Ridley, who had urged his son to become a police officer.

"This is very hard because I gave my son to this system so that he could make it better," Stanley Ridley said, growing tearful. "And you all - the media, Westchester County - has treated him like a common thug; treated him like he just didn't exist, like he wasn't a police officer.

"This should never happen again, and I'm going to fight for my son and the right for him to be the hero that he died for," the father said.

A grand jury cleared Detective Robin Martin and Officers Christian Gutierrez, Jose Calero and Frank Oliveri of any wrongdoing. But Richardson and Damon K. Jones, executive director of the National Black Police Association's Westchester chapter, said that was a rush to judgment by the District Attorney's Office.

"We feel betrayed and outraged and believe the report is a collaboration of cover-ups," Richardson said of the grand jury's non-action. "It is not thorough. We question the pursuit and the posturing of the District Attorney's Office."

The Rev. W. Darin Moore, president of the United Black Clergy, an organization made up of about 50 religious leaders countywide, agreed.

"The entire process demands closer scrutiny and transparency," he said. "We believe that too few details have been made public, and those facts that have, raise troubling questions as to whether there was an excessive use of force by the four police officers."

Ridley's mother expressed anger with the grand jury's decision.

"I don't like what Westchester did. I think they need to be investigated," Rucker-Bouche said of the shooting and subsequent investigation. "It's been 47 days. I waited patiently for them to execute my son and give him no remorse. I want an investigation done and I want justification."
In a statement released yesterday, District Attorney Janet DiFiore said she had "complete faith and confidence" in the grand jury process. She said 62 witnesses - including 45 civilians - testified about the shooting death on Court Street.

She said 16 of the civilian witnesses were in or about the plaza in front of 85 Court St., some only a few feet away when the shooting happened. Of the witnesses, 17 others were inside the office building watching from their windows as the events unfolded below them. Twelve other civilian witnesses were in the general area on the street, DiFiore said in the statement.

"The twenty-three grand jurors, over eight sessions spanning two months, investigated and considered photographs, all videos which captured portions of the events from cameras positioned in a nearby office building, charts, diagrams and documentary evidence," the statement said. "The grand jury found that, based upon all of the evidence presented, there was no reasonable cause to believe a criminal offense was committed by any of the Westchester County Department of Public Safety Police Officers involved in this tragic incident."

Because grand jury proceedings are confidential, DiFiore would not say what, if any, criminal charges her prosecutors recommended to the panel.

Calvin Scholar, the husband of Ridley's cousin and a former Westchester prosecutor who served as chief of the bias crime unit before resigning in early January, said the familey considered it a "slap in the face" Wednesday at a private meeting when prosecutors met with them and spoke of how distraught the county officers were.

He accused investigators of "ignoring a version that indicates that there should be an indictment." He said several witnesses were turned over to the prosecutor's office by the family, and they were disregarded. One was even put in jail, he alleged, though he did not provide a name.

"There are witnesses that have come forward, and the White Plains Police Department has been very heavy-handed in treating the witnesses that have indicated a version that supports criminal charges," he said. "There have been incidents where they have not been spoken to properly. There have been situations where they have been ignored. And in one case, upon information and belief, we believe that somebody was arrested after they agreed to cooperate with the investigation."

Scholar, who is serving as a lawyer for the family, would not say whether a lawsuit would be filed against Westchester County.

His former colleagues at the D.A.'s office and Daniel Jackson, deputy commissioner of White Plains police, declined to respond to Scholar's comments.

Mount Vernon Mayor Clinton Young was at the church, but was not invited into the news conference to speak. He declined to comment yesterday about the case saying he has not read the report.

Young's chief of staff, Yolanda Robinson, said later that there was a "misunderstanding" between the family and the mayor. Robinson said Young spoke with Ridley's mother later in the day.
Young called a news conference with Ridley's mother, and it was abruptly canceled just before it was to start.

Reached for comment about the investigation and the family's calls for outside intervention, Mount Vernon Police Commissioner David Chong said, "I was not part of the grand jury investigation, and I do not know the facts that were presented to the grand jury, so I can not make a comment."

Sgt. Kevin Mandell, president of the Mount Vernon Police Benevolent Association, said he and his members also have questions about the investigation. He said he would like to view the videotape and grand jury findings before deciding if outside agencies are warranted

lohud.com

SOME MESSY ISSUES AFTER A FAMILIAR TRAGITY “WILL LAW ENFORCEMENT BE TRUSTED BY THE BLACK COMMUNITY”

Detective Christopher Ridley

Although the full story surrounding the brief career and violent death of Christopher Ridley, the young Mount Vernon police officer cut down by "friendly fire" police bullets in January, has yet to unfold publicly, key law enforcement officials are already looking to changes they hope will help prevent future tragedies.

Mount Vernon police plan to double the instruction that officers now receive in how to conduct themselves in confrontations between uniformed police and fellow officers who may be off-duty, undercover or otherwise in plain clothes - an area certain to garner attention in the probe of how Ridley was killed; he died Jan. 25, shot by brother police officers as he tried to make an off-duty arrest in White Plains.

"I intend to have that training twice a year now and I intend to have that training not lumped in with all the other training," David Chong, the Mount Vernon commissioner, told The Editorial Board. Since the 1990s, the city has provided such confrontation training as a supplement to instruction that all personnel receive in the Westchester County Police Academy. "By separating it from the routine, you're giving something special attention," Chong said.

In Westchester County, Public Safety Commissioner Thomas Belfiore has called for a top-to-bottom review of use-of-force and confrontation training, both for members of the department and academy cadets. His officers fired the fatal barrage at a gun-wielding Ridley, who was in street clothes and mistaken for an assailant. The county oversees the 20-weeks-long academy, which serves 43 departments. "We don't want this to happen again," said Belfiore. He wants a study group to report back in the next 60 days.

Both departments are under pressure to respond - even before all the facts are known - to what has become a too familiar nightmare, when a plainclothes officer, usually black, is mistaken for a criminal and shot by fellow police. "We never thought (these kinds of incidents) would come in our backyard," said Damon K. Jones, a county corrections officer and executive director of the Westchester Chapter of the National Black Police Association. "Now that it is here, we have an opportunity to be in the forefront of this."

Since the Ridley shooting, Jones and representatives of other groups representing black police officers have been highly critical of law enforcement, in both public statements and media interviews. A common complaint is that ingrained stereotypes that correlate blacks with criminality place minority officers at added risk when they act out of uniform. Jones has called for more community policing, better representation of blacks throughout department ranks, as well as more tactical and diversity training.

"We have to rise above our biases," said Jones, who applauds past efforts by the New York City Police Department, after a similar (but nonfatal) friendly fire shooting of a black undercover officer in the mid-1990s, to foster better understanding of the problem. That effort included updating training tapes and other material so they also depicted racial minorities, not just whites. There were also forums featuring minority police officers speaking about their experiences on the force. "That's good. That could work," Jones said. "You need that kind of discussion. . . . If that's not the case, we may have more Christopher Ridleys."

Charles Billups, chairman of the Grand Council of Guardians, which represents black officers in the New York Police Department, called for stepped-up training as well. "The (NYPD) has come a long way," Billups said. "The suburbs are behind what's going on in the city." He told a gathering of the Westchester NBPA last weekend: "We need to do something."

Seven weeks after Ridley's death, only the basic details of what transpired have been made public. The most elemental facts are that Ridley was wielding a gun, in plainclothes and trying to make an off-duty arrest - in a jurisdiction not his own -after interceding in a violent altercation between two men. During a struggle between Ridley and the alleged aggressor, a weapon was discharged; county officers then converged on the scene, on Court Street near the county social services offices; they fired on Ridley, purportedly after he did not respond to their commands to drop his weapon.

Ret. NYPD Detective Roger L. Abel, Northeast regional president of the NBPA and a student of such friendly fire shootings, said black officers out of uniform are particularly vulnerable under such circumstances. He faults the officers' colleagues: "They don't think of you as a police officer." He added: "Training is never a factor. Training is excellent. The problem is in executing the training."

Yet it is hardly self-evident at this juncture just what might have made a difference during those frantic moments in White Plains -both for the 23-year-old Ridley and the police officers who let loose the fatal barrage. While a grand jury inquiry continues, officials have divulged very little about what transpired. Those details - derived from all the logical whos? whys? wheres? and hows? - will help inform, in a way the unavoidable racial elements of the tragedy cannot fully, how we came to lose one of Mount Vernon's finest, and how future heartache can be prevented.

A rare event
Not many police officers die as Christopher Ridley did. Nationwide, according to FBI statistics, 32 law enforcement officers were killed in accidental shootings between 1997-2006, the latest available data. Of that total, 19 died from cross-fire, firearm mishaps, and what the FBI refers to as "mistaken for subject" shootings. (The FBI does not breakdown the numbers any further.) By contrast, twice as many officers were killed in aircraft accidents (39) and four times as many (81) were killed directing traffic or assisting motorists.

But the circumstance of black officers being shot by fellow cops - by all accounts, black officers are the runaway leaders in this category of travesty - has searing, independent significance. For blacks within and beyond police departments, such shootings rub the same nerves already rubbed raw by the high-profile fatal police shootings of civilians Amadou Diallo, Timothy Stansbury Jr. and Ousmane Zongo, all unarmed and unambiguously innocent black men in New York who were mistaken for perpetrators.

The friendly fire shootings of black cops engender even more indignation and pack considerable irony; if a black police officer - someone who clearly runs against stereotype - cannot get a fair shake from the police, the thinking goes, how can other blacks expect any better? (An ongoing trial in Queens, of undercover officers facing criminal charges in the chaotic 2006 shooting death of Sean Bell, will help determine if another name is added to the ranks of Diallo and the others.)
According to Abel, the retired NYPD detective and author of "The Black Shields," a pictorial history and narrative of blacks' experience in policing, some 35 black city officers have been shot at or shot by their white NYPD brethren since 1941, resulting in four fatalities. He said the opposite scenario - a white officer being shot by a black officer - has never occurred. Abel's accounting does not go beyond a black-white paradigm. For example, it does not include the Jan. 28, 2006 shooting death of NYPD patrolman Eric Hernandez, who was the most recent friendly fire casualty prior to Ridley.

The Latino officer, off duty and in civilian clothes, had been beaten by a group of men inside a Bronx restaurant. Once outside, a dazed Hernandez pointed a gun at a man he mistakingly believed to have been involved in the attack. He was shot by a responding police officer, also a Latino, after failing to respond to the officer's pleas to drop his weapon. Police later determined that the shooting officer acted within department guidelines. Hernandez, who grew up in White Plains, was 24. (Of course, Abel's count also does not count Ridley, a black officer fired upon by a multi-racial phalanx of officers: two Hispanics, one white and one black officer.)

Friendly fire shootings can send reverberations throughout a police department. In the District of Columbia in 1995, a pair of friendly fire shootings of plainclothes black officers by white colleagues caused a firestorm that "brought the 7th District to the brink of a racial conflagration," the Washington Post reported.

In February that year, pregnant Detective Lani Jackson-Pinckney, then 33, was shot as she interrupted an attempted carjacking; her fetus survived, but Jackson-Pinckney was partially paralyzed. Months later, in December, James M. McGee Jr., a black officer working undercover, was shot as he trained his weapon on two robbery suspects. Under the official account, an officer converging on the scene ordered McGee to drop his weapon; he fired when McGee started to turn his way. McGee was dead at 26.

"It's going to separate us," a black officer told The Post after the Pinckney shooting. "There's going to be more tension," another officer said. "They [white officers] are so quick to shoot us. I hope it was an honest mistake." More tension arose on July 18, 1998, when the D.C. department lost another black officer to friendly fire; off-duty Thomas Hamlette Jr. was shot by a white officer, also off-duty, who encountered Hamlette and another man engaged in a struggle outside a nightclub.

During the melee, Hamlette's weapon discharged. By the official account, the officer converging on the scene ordered Hamlette to drop the weapon; he fired when Hamlette turned toward the officer. As with the two other D.C. shootings, a department inquiry cleared the shooting officer of any wrongdoing. "The only color of relevance is that both people involved are blue," Executive Assistant Chief Terrance Gainer told The Washington Post.

That assessment was called into question when the dead officer's family - Hamlette Sr. was also a police veteran - later won a $1.2 million settlement to end their civil rights lawsuit against the city. A subsequent investigation by the newspaper revealed numerous lapses in departmental training, failures to meet basic firearms proficiency standards, as well as a poor track record for investigating shootings, despite considerable practice: D.C. police shot and killed more people per capita in the 1990s than any other large city police department.

"All D.C. cops shoot first and ask questions latter," Gregory Lattimer, the Hamlette family attorney, told Washington City Paper. "Especially when the person on the other side of the barrel happens to be a young black man. Black is black. You're black first and a police officer second."

To shoot - or not
Westchester certainly isn't the District of Columbia, which was the "murder capital" of the nation through much of the high-crime 1990s. Nor is it New York City, the safest big city in America, notwithstanding the 497-some murders there in 2007, the fewest since John F. Kennedy was president. But the experience in both locales - the experience framed in such harsh terms by lawyer Lattimer - helps form the prism through which the Ridley tragedy is seen.

"It's not just black propaganda," said Jones of the Westchester NBPA, referring to the perception that blacks are subject to harsher treatment by police - and hence the tragedy that claimed Ridley's life. "People have done studies. This is deep-rooted in the whole theory of policing. And it applies to both blacks and white officers." Former Detective Abel said black police officers pay the price for an attitude he said was common among police, that "it is better to be judged by 12 than carried by six."

That is a jarring assessment, to be sure. But the sentiment, whether widely held or not, does not exist in a vacuum. A 2001 Justice Department report showed that black suspects are five times more likely than white suspects to die "at the hands of police." At the same time, police are five times more likely to be killed by a black suspect than a white suspect, according to the report. Those are messy, uncomfortable facts that have to be a part of any honest discussion about interactions between police and civilians, and confrontations between uniform officers and police in plainclothes - the Ridley scenario.

Relatedly, an important study was published last year in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. "Across the Thin Blue Line: Police Officers and Racial Bias in the Decision to Shoot" was notable - numerous news organizations wrote articles about its findings - because it was based upon experimental data of actual police behavior in confrontation situations. (The article notes that findings of numerous other studies "indicate that race can play an important role in decisions about the danger or threat posed by a particular person," but rarely do these inquiries speak directly to what cops do.)

The researchers from the University of Chicago and University of Colorado tested how study participants - Denver police, national police and community representatives - shown video-screen images decided whether to shoot (or not shoot) either black subjects or white subjects who were either armed or unarmed.

Overall, the police outperformed the community sample in key respects; ignoring race, they were faster to make correct shooting decisions, better able to detect a weapon, and they set a higher criterion for the decision to shoot, "indicating a less 'trigger-happy' orientation." Yet both police and community members exhibited "robust racial bias" in response speed. Accurate responses to targets that were congruent with cultural stereotypes (the armed black targets and unarmed white targets) required less time to make than responses to stereotype-incongruent targets (the unarmed black targets and armed white targets). In other words, the participants needed more time to think when they saw images that ran against the grain of their biases or expectations.

Additionally, "when the target was White, all [of the groups] set a relatively high criteria [for shooting], and none of the [groups] differed from one another," the study said. "But when the target was Black, the community set a significantly lower (more trigger-happy) criterion than the officers." The researchers saw good news in this, suggesting that while training may not affect the speed with which someone processes stereotype-incongruent targets (the unarmed black or armed white), training - the kind of training that police receive - does affect the ultimate decision whether to shoot. "The data suggest that the officers' training and/or expertise may improve their overall performance (yielding faster responses, greater sensitivity and reduced tendencies to shoot) and decrease racial bias in decision outcomes."

That is a long way back to what happened in White Plains, but such context is everything if law enforcement, community leaders and the public are to come to any understanding of the overlapping issues that swirled around Ridley when he interceded in the melee in White Plains.
'Unidentified armed person'

Westchester's Public Safety Department has had a written protocol - General Order No. 1.24 - for how officers should conduct themselves in confrontations between uniformed officers and unidentified officers, typically police who are off-duty, undercover or otherwise in civilian clothes. The instruction seeks to choreograph an interaction that, in the absence of any rules, would have incalculable peril for all parties, including members of the public. The policy was put into place on July 31, 2006 - just months after the friendly fire death of the NYPD's Eric Hernandez in the Bronx.

For example, the policy defines as a "challenging officer" the service member who happens upon an "unidentified armed person" - usually someone in civilian clothes. The unidentified officer is the "confronted officer," perhaps someone off-duty, undercover or from another service. Among other things, the policy instructs on tactics: challenging officers are told to take cover and approach an unidentified officer from behind - a strategy that gives both parties more time to react; in many of the friendly fire cases, confronted officers are shot when they turn their bodies to the side.

The policy instructs confronted officers to "remain motionless even if it means a fleeing suspect may escape" and "not to turn (their) body, especially if holding a firearm." It instructs challenging officers to announce "Police! Don't move" to avoid contradictory instructions, and to request that challenging officers tell them exactly where their I.D. is. Confronted officers are told to remain motionless; to identify themselves as police officers; to obey all directions from challenging officers; and how even to produce identification ("slowly, in a controlled manner").
The written protocols became part of formal Westchester Police Academy training with the start of the January 2007 class -a year after Officer Ridley matriculated. Officials familiar with academy training practices prior to the January 2007 academy class insist that confrontation tactics were included in the curriculum.

Since the early 1990s, the Mount Vernon department has had a "confrontation lesson" it includes in the in-service training extended to all Mount Vernon officers. This is the training that Chong, who became commissioner in May 2006, said he would now isolate "and not have it lumped in with all the other training." He said that the department will also conduct such training twice a year.

He declined to share a written copy of the instruction given to Mount Vernon officers, but said that it is "essentially word-for-word" with the NYPD's and Westchester's lesson. Neither he nor any law enforcement official connected with the Ridley matter, including District Attorney Janet DiFiore, would comment on any specifics of the Ridley matter because it remains under investigation.

Speaking generally of the department's training goals, Chong said: "You're dealing with a very highly stressful situation. You want to make everything as mechanical as possible. Train, train, train. Make it as mechanical as possible . . . You want to make it a mechanical reaction." He added: "We have to get people to realize that holding a gun is a dangerous thing to do. And if you're acting as a police officer, you have to think that. You have to think, 'I'm in plain clothes and I have a gun out.' "

What Westchester knows of confrontation training it learned from the NYPD; what the NYPD knows, it learned the hard way. As Roger Abel, the retired NYPD detective recalled, the department had a spate of friendly fire shootings in the 1970s. He said that fellow black officers were being shot at by white police officers - jittery because black radicals, members of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, were shooting at white police. He said that's when the first confrontation guidelines were established. Protesting black officers warned that if nothing changed, "we are going to start shooting back," Abel said. "That's when all these (protocols) came about."

More change came about in the mid-1990s, after black undercover officer Desmond Robinson was shot and injured by a fellow NYPD officer who mistook him for a perpetrator. "Over the years they stopped training as much as they used to, so the problem came back," James Fyfe, a former police officer who helped devise the department's guidelines, said after the Robinson shooting. The well-known criminologist died in 2005. Ironically, Commissioner Chong served in the same bureau with Peter Del-Debbio, the officer who shot Robinson; he was later dismissed from the force. And Westchester Commissioner Belfiore ran the NYPD police academy in the years immediately following the Robinson shooting. He would have helped implement some of the training reforms implemented afterward.

He will have another opportunity now. Deputy Public Safety Commissioner Monte Long will oversee a panel made of top law enforcement officials, representatives of minority police officer groups, academics, community and clergy members charged with reviewing use-of-force and confrontation training, both within the Westchester department and for incoming academy cadets.

"This is something we began working on,'' Belfiore said, "after some of the issues became somewhat apparent by the news reports and witness accounts that there may be some training inferences, or at least have some people take a look at the current training, so we can have this never happen again."

The writer is opinion editor of The Journal News and LoHud.com.