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

.

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.