Res earc her Published by CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. CQ www.cqresearcher.com Police Misconduct Will excessive force, racial profiling be curbed?
he U.S. Department of Justice is stepping up its oversight of local police departments, pressuring them to l imit the use of force in civilian encounters and T eliminate racial profiling during traffic stops and other enforcement. Over the past year, the Justice Department’s c ivil rights division has criticized long-troubled police agencies in such places as New Orleans, Seattle and Maricopa County, Ariz., which includes
Phoenix. The department’s power stems from a 1994 law allowing A protester holds up a photo of wood carver John T. Williams, a hearing-impaired Native American killed the federal government to identify a “pattern or practice” of consti - by Seattle Police Sgt. Ian Birk in 2010. A fixture at a nearby social service center, Williams was shot after failing to respond to Birk’s order to drop an open tutional violations and threaten court action to force police agencies carving knife. The Feb. 16, 2011, demonstration was to protest the King County prosecutor’s decision to adopt changes. Seattle officials have proposed a detailed plan to not to charge Birk, who later resigned. answer the government’s criticisms, but negotiations are stalled in New Orleans and Maricopa County, where Sheriff Joe Arpaio is I N balking at the government’s demand for court supervision of policy THIS REPORT S changes. Meanwhile, the racially charged shooting death of a THE ISSUES ...... 303 I Florida teenager by a neighborhood watch volunteer has focused BACKGROUND ...... 310 D attention on police handling of the case. CHRONOLOGY ...... 311 E CURRENT SITUATION ...... 316 CQ Researcher • April 6, 2012 • www.cqresearcher.com AT ISSUE ...... 317 Volume 22, Number 13 • Pages 301-324 OUTLOOK ...... 319 RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 322 EXCELLENCE N AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD THE NEXT STEP ...... 323 POLICE MISCONDUCT CQ Re search er
April 6, 2012 THE ISSUES SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS Volume 22, Number 13 • Should police do more Justice Department Targets MANAGING EDITOR: Thomas J. Billitteri 303 to control excessive force? 304 Police Misconduct [email protected] • Should police do more The federal government has ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR: Kathy Koch to prevent racial and ethnic found police misconduct in [email protected] such localities as New Orleans, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Thomas J. Colin profiling? Seattle and East Haven, Conn. • Should police adopt [email protected] stronger disciplinary mea - Killings of Arrestees by ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Kenneth Jost sures for misconduct? 305 Police on Rise STAFF WRITER: Marcia Clemmitt Police committed 2,931 arrest - BACKGROUND related killings from 2003 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Sarah Glazer, through 2009. Alan Greenblatt , Peter Katel , Police Problems Barbara Mantel, Jennifer Weeks 310 Police misconduct has been Police Handle Tense DESIGN /P RODUCTION EDITOR: Olu B. Davis a problem since the 1800s. 307 Situations in Steps Agencies employ a “use of ASSISTANT EDITOR: Darrell Dela Rosa 313 Police Accountability force continuum.” FACT CHECKER: Michelle Harris Major police departments Half of Arrest-Related were beset by scandals 308 Killings Are of Minorities during the final decades Blacks and Hispanics made of the 20th century. up more than half of those killed while under arrest 313 Changing Priorities from 2003 through 2009. An Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. Oversight of police conduct VICE PRESIDENT AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, took a more aggressive 311 Chronology HIGHER EDUCATION GROUP: stance under President Key events since 1960. Michele Sordi Obama. Supreme Court Eases DIRECTOR, ONLINE PUBLISHING: 312 Rules on Police Searches Todd Baldwin Evidence gleaned illegally CURRENT SITUATION Copyright © 2012 CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Pub - allowed in criminal trials. lications, Inc. SAGE reserves all copyright and other rights herein, unless pre vi ous ly spec i fied in writing. Investigations Urged Police Under Scrutiny in 316 Citizens groups in several 314 No part of this publication may be reproduced Trayvon Martin Case electronically or otherwise, without prior written cities want the Justice De - Critics question handling of partment to examine po - shooting. permission. Un au tho rized re pro duc tion or trans mis- sion of SAGE copy right ed material is a violation of lice agencies with records federal law car ry ing civil fines of up to $100,000. of fatal shootings. At Issue 317 Is the exclusionary rule CQ Press is a registered trademark of Congressional Reforms Outlined needed to deter illegal police Quarterly Inc. searches? 318 Seattle is preparing to CQ Researcher (ISSN 1056-2036) is printed on acid- adopt a plan to overhaul free paper. Pub lished weekly, except: (March wk. 5) its police procedures, but FOR FURTHER RESEARCH (May wk. 4) (July wk. 1) (Aug. wks. 3, 4) (Nov. wk. reform efforts in New 4) and (Dec. wks. 3, 4). Published by SAGE Publica - Orleans have hit a snag. For More Information tions, Inc., 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. 321 Organizations to contact. Annual full-service subscriptions start at $1,054. For pricing, call 1-800-834-9020. To purchase a CQ Re - OUTLOOK Bibliography searcher report in print or electronic format (PDF), 322 Selected sources used. visit www.cqpress.com or call 866-427-7737. Single Police Under Pressure reports start at $15. Bulk purchase discounts and 319 Budget cuts and homeland The Next Step electronic-rights licensing are also available. Periodicals 323 postage paid at Thousand Oaks, California, and at security concerns add to Additional articles . the pressures on police. additional mailing offices . POST MAST ER: Send ad dress Citing CQ Researcher chang es to CQ Re search er , 2300 N St., N.W., Suite 800, 323 Sample bibliography formats. Wash ing ton, DC 20037. Cover: AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
302 CQ Researcher Police Misconduct BY KENNETH JOST
wide- ranging reforms to be THE ISSUES supervised by a federal court. The negotiations follow a endell Allen was scathing report by the Justice wearing only pa - Department’s civil rights division W jama bottoms in March 2011 that accused the when New Orleans police of - New Orleans police of routine ficers on a marijuana raid constitutional violations, in - broke into his house in the cluding use of excessive force, city’s middle-class Gentilly improper searches and racial neighborhood on the evening and ethnic discrimination . 3 of March 7. Armed with a The 158-page report is one search warrant, six officers, of nine published so far by clad in plain clothes covered the civil rights division’s so- by jackets identifying them called “special litigation sec - as police, announced their tion” under President Obama presence and, after receiving that have held police depart - no response, barged in. ments around the country up
Allen, a 20-year-old former r to highly critical scrutiny. In e b high school basketball star with r three reports published with - o S
a previous marijuana- related g in five days in mid-December, e conviction, was in the stair - r Justice Department investiga - G / l
well, unarmed, when Officer a tors upbraided Seattle police n Joshua Colclough fired a sin - r for use of excessive force and u o J gle gunshot that hit Allen in the Maricopa County, Ariz., e u
the chest. The bullet penetrat - q sheriff’s office and East Haven, r e
ed Allen’s heart, aorta and lungs. u Conn., police department for q
He died “almost instantly,” u ethnic profiling of Latinos. ( See b l A
New Orleans Parish Coroner graphic, p. 304. ) e
1 h
Frank Minyard said later. T Racial profiling is also at the / o
Allen’s death, the second t heart of the nationwide con - o h
fatal shooting of an African- P troversy over the Feb. 26 fatal
American youth by New Or - P shooting of a black Florida A leans police within a week, Natalie Gomez holds a picture of her brother, 22-year- teenager by a white neighbor - remains under what Super - old Alan Gomez, who was killed last year by hood watch volunteer. ( See Albuquerque, N.M., police. Ms. Gomez participated in a intendent Ronal Serpas rally on June 14, 2011, protesting the police department’s sidebar, p. 314. ) Trayvon Mar - promises will be “a complete use of lethal force. The department’s police union was tin, 17, was shot as he was re - and thorough” investigation. found to have been giving officers involved in fatal turning from a convenience store Colclough, in his fifth year shootings $500 to help them recover from stress. to the house of his father’s girl - with the force, gave a vol - Critics have called the payments a friend in Sanford, an Orlando bounty system for killing suspects. untary statement to investi - suburb. George Zimmerman, gators a week after the shooting. His son, leader of the United New Orleans whose mother is Hispanic, claims he shot attorney, Claude Kelly, says an “hon - Front, declared as protesters massed the unarmed Martin in self-defense after est” investigation will show the shoot - outside police headquarters two days following the youth because of what he ing was justified. after the shooting. Helen Shorty, Allen’s regarded as suspicious behavior. The in - Allen’s family and leaders of the city’s grandmother, called for Colclough to cident has touched off nationwide de - African-American community, however, be booked for murder . 2 bate not only over racial profiling but have no doubt that the shooting was The shootings come as the long- also over Florida’s so-called Stand Your unwarranted. “There have been egre - troubled department is negotiating with Ground law, which allows someone to gious wrongs done to the black com - the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) use deadly force when feeling threatened, munity of New Orleans,” W. C. John - the terms of a possible agreement on with no duty to attempt to retreat.
www.cqresearcher.com April 6, 2012 303 POLICE MISCONDUCT
The most recent reports by the Jus - Justice Department Targets Police Misconduct tice Department’s police accountability U.S. Department of Justice investigators have examined the policies unit exemplify its more aggressive stance and practices of more than two dozen law enforcement agencies after an eight-year period of dorman - cy under President George W. Bush. over the past decade and found a range of illegal or otherwise “They’ve been very assertive,” says improper practices, ranging from harsh treatment of suspects and Samuel Walker, a professor of criminal racial profiling to failure to probe allegations of sexual assault. Here justice, emeritus, at the University of are highlights from five recent Justice Department reports. Nebraska -Omaha and the nation’s senior academic expert on police-accountability issues. In all, the unit is conducting 20 New Orleans investigations of state or local law en - (March 17, 2011) Use of excessive force; unconstitutional stops, forcement agencies. searches and arrests; biased policing; racial, ethnic and sexual - Local police officials sometimes chal - orientation discrimination; failure to provide effective policing services to lenge the Justice Department’s find - persons with limited English proficiency; systemic failure to investigate ings. “The department is not broken,” sexual assaults and domestic violence. a defiant Seattle Police Chief John Diaz declared as the DOJ’s report was being Puerto Rico released on Dec. 16. The city’s mayor, Mike McGinn, backed him up. (Sept. 7, 2011) Excessive force; unreasonable force, other misconduct Over time, however, local officials designed to suppress exercise of First Amendment rights; unlawful searches generally yield to federal authorities. and seizures; evidence of frequent failure to police sex crimes and incidents In East Haven, Police Chief Leonard of domestic violence; evidence of discriminatory practices targeting individu - Gallo retired on Jan. 30 in the wake als of Dominican descent; “staggering level” of crime and corruption. of DOJ criticism. In Seattle, McGinn rethought his initial skepticism about Maricopa County, Ariz. (includes Phoenix) the report in the face of public criti - cism and directed Diaz to begin carry - (Dec. 15, 2011) Racial profiling of Latinos; unlawful stops, detentions and ing out some of the Justice Depart - arrests of Latinos; unlawful retaliation against individuals who complain ment’s proposed changes. about or criticize the office’s policies or practices; reasonable cause to In Arizona, however, the outspoken believe the office operates its jails in a manner that punishes Latino inmates Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is with limited English proficiency for failing to understand commands given refusing the Justice Department’s insis - in English and denying critical services provided to other inmates. tence for court supervision of changes in police and jail policies. “None of us Seattle agreed to allow a federal monitor to (Dec. 16, 2011) Use of unnecessary or excessive force; lack of adequate come remove my authority as the elect - training on use of force; failure of supervisors to provide oversight on use ed sheriff of Maricopa County,” Arpaio of force; serious concerns about possible discriminatory policing, declared on April 3. The government particularly relating to pedestrian encounters. now has the option of going to federal court on its own to force changes . 4 East Haven, Conn. Holding police departments ac - countable to the law has been an in - (Dec. 19, 2011) Systematic discrimination against Latinos, including tractable problem since the era of targeting Latinos for discriminatory traffic enforcement, treating Latino urban police departments began in the drivers more harshly than non-Latino drivers after a traffic stop and 1830s. 5 The 20th century saw a suc - intentionally and woefully failing to design and implement internal cession of efforts to reduce or elimi - systems of control that would identify, track and prevent such misconduct. nate police misconduct, starting with a movement to professionalize policing and continuing through the mid-century criminal-law revolution under Chief Jus - Source: U.S. Department of Justice, www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/findsettle.php. tice Earl Warren.
304 CQ Researcher In the decades since, civilian review boards or other independent auditing Killings of Arrestees by Police on Rise mechanisms have advanced from ob - From 2003 through 2009, law-enforcement officials committed jects of fierce debate to structures viewed 2,931 arrest-related killings, whether criminal or justifiable, of by police organizations themselves as people in their custody. Some experts caution that the upward trend “best practices.” Congress in 1994 also over the seven-year period may reflect improvements in data gave the Justice Department a direct role in police reform by passing a law reporting. authorizing the federal government to sue state or local law enforcement Arrest-Related Killings by Law Enforcement Personnel, 2003-2009 agencies if it found a “pattern or prac - 500 tice” of violations of constitutional or 497 400 455 federally protected rights. 447 376 375 377 404 The reforms have borne fruit in a 300 general strengthening of policies and 200 improved conduct by police officers 100 in the nation’s nearly 18,000 state or 0 local law enforcement agencies nation - 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 wide. “We’ve seen a progressive im - provement in the professionalism of Source: Andrea M. Burch, “Arrest-Related Deaths, 2003-2009 — Statistical Tables,” law enforcement over the last 30 years,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, November 2011, p. 4, says Andrew Scott, a police consultant bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ard0309st.pdf since his retirement as Boca Raton, Fla., police chief in 2006, after 30 years in Walker is even blunter: New Or - ing . In addition to one other guilty plea, law enforcement. leans is “everybody’s candidate for the five officers were convicted in August “Police departments have come a worst police department.” 2011 on federal civil rights charges after long way, both in terms of the officers Far from fighting the Justice Depart - a seven-week trial. U.S. District Court and the leadership in policing,” says ment’s findings, New Orleans super - Judge Kurt Engelhardt imposed sen - Hubert Williams, president of the Po - intendent Serpas joined the DOJ’s civil tences ranging from 38 to 65 years on lice Foundation, a Washington-based rights chief Thomas Perez in the four of the five defendants after an emo - research organization, and a former March 17, 2011, news conference to tional sentencing hearing on April 4; a Newark, N.J., police chief. release the report. Serpas said it con - fifth defendant drew a six-year term. Walker, a civil liberties-minded re - tained few surprises and went on to One other defendant is awaiting a re - searcher on police practices and poli - pledge improvement. “I am convinced trial, set to begin in May, after a mis - cies since the 1970s, agrees that police we will be a world-class police depart - trial in January. 7 behavior has generally improved over ment,” he said. A week later, Serpas said As in previous investigations, Justice the past few decades. But he says there many of the reforms were already Department lawyers are negotiating with is a continuing gap between the coun - being put into effect. 6 New Orleans officials on possible re - try’s best and worst departments. “Some The Justice Department launched forms. The changes would be includ - departments are taking up what I call its investigation in May 2010 at the re - ed in a consent decree to be overseen the new accountability measures, mov - quest of the city’s newly inaugurated by a federal court for a specified period. ing forward, doing the right thing, and mayor, Mitch Landrieu. The investiga - The department has followed the same reducing misconduct,” Walker says. “And tion came on top of ongoing federal procedure since the mid-1990s in such there are some that slip back.” prosecutions of officers implicated in major cities as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, The New Orleans department, by the attempted cover-up of the shoot - Detroit and Los Angeles. common agreement, ranks low on ing of six unarmed black civilians on A one-day roundtable with police those measures. “The New Orleans Po - the Danziger Bridge six days after Hur - off icials, experts and others convened lice Department has never been a ricane Katrina devastated the city in by the Justice Department in June 2010 model of good behavior so to speak,” September 2005. concluded the procedure has been ef - says Marjorie Esman, executive direc - By May 2010, four officers had al - fective in reforming police department tor of the American Civil Liberties Union ready pleaded guilty to obstruction-type practices. Experts generally agree. “De - of Louisiana (ACLU-La.). charges in connection with the shoot - partments have come out of this much
www.cqresearcher.com April 6, 2012 305 POLICE MISCONDUCT
better than they went in,” says David terterrorism investigations. The AP sto - are some of the arguments being Harris, a professor at the University of ries, dating from summer 2011 and heard as those issues are debated: Pittsburgh School of Law. continuing, show that the department Some of the officials at the roundtable, investigated hundreds of mosques and Should police do more to control however, complained that the process Muslim student groups and infiltrated excessive force? creates a “negative stigma” that takes time dozens. City officials are defending the John Williams was carrying a board for a department to overcome. 8 practice, but some Muslim leaders are and an open wood-carving knife at an As assistant attorney general for civil calling for the resignation of Police intersection near Seattle’s Pioneer Square rights, Perez has pushed the “pattern or Commissioner Raymond Kelly. 10 on Aug. 30, 2010, when Police Sgt. Ian practice” process more Birk spotted him, got out vigorously than any of of his patrol car and or - his predecessors. In ad - dered him to drop the dition to New Orleans, knife. When the hearing- Perez personally attend - impaired Williams failed to ed news conferences to respond, Birk fired four shots announce the reports in from about nine feet away. Seattle and Maricopa Williams, a fixture at the County. “When police nearby social service center officers cross the line, for Native Americans, died they need to be held ac - at the scene. countable,” Perez told The Williams’ death added Washington Post. “Crim - to long simmering con - inal prosecutions alone cerns about use of force will not change the cul - by Seattle police forces. ture of a department.” 9 Led by the ACLU of Wash - One of the supposed ington State, a coalition of deterrents to police mis - 34 community groups conduct, however, is asked the Justice Depart - being weakened by the ment to investigate. The Supreme Court under department’s devastating Chief Justice John G. report, released on Dec. 16, Roberts Jr., according to found routine violations of
civil liberties advocates. a constitutional rights when m
The Roberts Court has a force was used, with a T
issued three decisions in o small number of officers i r the past six years that a responsible for a dispro - M / somewhat narrow the s portionate number of in - e g
exclusionary rule — the a stances and with scant m I court-created doctrine internal review of the in - y t t that prohibits the use of e cidents. “Seattle cannot G evidence police find dur - An opponent of a controversial New York City Police Department control its own officers,” ing illegal searches. ( See “stop and frisk” policy marches in the Bronx borough on Jan. 27, says Jennifer Shaw, deputy story, p. 312; “At Issue,” 2012. The NYPD says the policy helps to prevent crime, but critics director of the ACLU af - p. 317. ) accuse the police of racial profiling and civil rights abuses. filiate. 11 Meanwhile, the New Out of 684,330 persons stopped by NYPD officers in 2011, Statistics are hard to the vast majority — 87 percent — were black or Hispanic. York City Police De - come by, but experts ap - partment, the nation’s largest, is under The Justice Department investiga - pear to agree that police use force less a national spotlight after news reports, tions, coupled with the recurrent local frequently today than in the past. particularly by The Associated Press, de - controversies over police behavior, “Overall, it is less frequent than it was tailing the department’s secret infiltra - focus increased national attention on in the 1960s,” says the Police Founda - tion and surveillance of Muslim and such issues as use of force, racial pro - tion’s Williams. A study by the Inter - some liberal groups as part of coun - filing and police accountability. Here national Association of Chiefs of Police
306 CQ Researcher (IACP), published in 2001, found that police used force 3.6 times per 10,000 Police Handle Tense Situations in Steps service calls during the 1990s. Citing Most law enforcement agencies have policies that guide their use of the IACP’s and a more recent study, force. Such policies describe an escalating series of actions an officer the National Institute of Justice, the Jus - may take to resolve a situation. Officers are instructed to respond tice Department’s research arm, con - cluded in 2011 that use of excessive with a level of force appropriate to the situation. An officer may move force is “rare,” even while conceding from one part of the continuum to another in a matter of seconds. the difficulty of defining “excessive.” 12 As in Seattle, a small number of of - A typical use-of-force continuum: ficers are typically found most likely Officer Presence — No force is used. Considered the best way to resolve to resort to force or to use excessive a situation. force in encounters with civilians. “The • The mere presence of a law-enforcement officer works to deter vast majority of officers do not engage crime or defuse a situation. in excessive use of force,” says former • Officers’ attitudes are professional and nonthreatening. chief Scott. “It is the small minority of officers who abuse their power.” Verbalization — Force is not physical. The U.S. Supreme Court has given • Officers issue calm, nonthreatening commands, such as “Let me see only limited guidance on use of force your identification and registration.” by police. The court ruled in 1985 that • Officers may increase their volume and shorten commands in an police can use deadly force when pur - attempt to gain compliance. Short commands might include “Stop” suing a fleeing suspect only if the sus - or “Don’t move.” pect poses a significant threat of death Empty-Hand Control — Officers use bodily force to gain control of a or serious physical injury to the offi - situation. cer or others. In a broader ruling, the • Soft technique. Officers use grabs, holds and joint locks to restrain court held in 1989 that any use of force an individual. by an officer must be objectively rea - • Hard technique. Officers use punches and kicks to restrain an sonable. Factors to be considered in - individual. clude the severity of the crime, whether the suspect poses “an immediate safe - Less-Lethal Methods — Officers use less-lethal technologies to gain ty threat” and whether the suspect is control of a situation. “actively resisting arrest” or attempting • Blunt impact. Officers may use a baton or projectile to immobilize a to escape. The court added that the combative person. “calculus of reasonableness” should take • Chemical. Officers may use chemical sprays or projectiles embedded into account an officer’s need to make with chemicals to restrain an individual. Pepper spray is an example. “split-second judgments.” 13 • Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs). Officers may use a device such as “The legal standards are pretty loose,” a Taser to immobilize an individual. Such devices discharge a says Robert Kane, an associate pro - high-voltage, low-amperage jolt of electricity at a distance. fessor at the University of Baltimore’s Lethal Force — Officers use lethal weapons to gain control of a situation. School of Criminal Justice and co-author These should be used if a suspect poses a serious threat to an officer or of a forthcoming book on police ac - other individual. countability issues. “There’s a lot of • Officers use deadly weapons such as firearms to stop an individual’s gray in terms of trying to judge the actions. appropriateness of force.” City governments are occasionally Source: www.nij.gov/nij/topics/law-enforcement/officer-safety/use-of-force/ hit with five-, six- or even seven-figure continuum.htm damage awards in suits by victims of police beatings or shootings. As one chase. Criminal prosecutions are more Internally, police departments appear dramatic example, Rodney King was difficult. The King case ended in state to reject most citizen complaints of ex - awarded $3.8 million for the beating court acquittals of four officers and a cessive force. In a recent study of eight he suffered from Los Angeles police federal civil rights trial that ended with local police departments, researchers at officers in 1991 after a high-speed car two convictions and two acquittals. Michigan State University and Central
www.cqresearcher.com April 6, 2012 307 POLICE MISCONDUCT
took the issue one step further earlier Half of Arrest-Related Killings Are of Minorities this year by analyzing what happened More than half of the 2,958* people who were killed while under in Connecticut to drivers after they arrest from 2003 through 2009 were black or Hispanic. Whites were stopped by local police. The newspaper’s analysis of more comprised 42 percent of the total. All but 27 of the deaths were at the than 100,000 traffic stops found that hands of law enforcement officers. blacks and Hispanics were far more Racial Origin of Those Killed likely to get a citation than whites stopped for the same offense. As one example, While Under Arrest, 2003-2009 blacks were twice as likely and His - panics four times as likely to be tick - Unknown eted for improper taillights as whites 2.8% stopped for the same reason. “This is White, beyond profiling,” Glenn A. Cassis, ex - non-Hispanic ecutive director of the state’s African- Other * 41.7% American Affairs Commission, told the 3.6% newspaper. “This goes to actually a level of discrimination, and who gets the wink Hispanic and who doesn’t get the wink.” 15 20.3% The Justice Department’s recent re - Black, ports found similar evidence of racial non-Hispanic or ethnic profiling in New Orleans, Mari - 31.7% copa County and East Haven. In New Orleans, investigators found that police shot 27 civilians during a 16-month period , all of them African-Americans. In Maricopa County, Latino drivers were four to nine times more likely to be * Includes American Indians, Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, other Pacific Islanders and persons of two or more races. subjected to traffic stops than similarly situated non-Latino drivers. In East Haven, Figures do not total 100 because of rounding. Latinos make up about 10 percent of Source: Andrea M. Burch, “Arrest-Related Deaths, 2003-2009 — Statistical Tables,” the population, but accounted for near - Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, November 2011, p. 6, bjs.ojp. ly 20 percent of traffic stops . 16 usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ard0309st.pdf The tensions between police de - partments, historically predominantly Florida University found that six took no Walker says policies and training are white, and African-American and His - action on at least 90 percent of the com - the keys to reducing excessive force panic communities are of long stand - plaints during the two-year period stud - by police. “If you have a bad use-of- ing. The U.S. Supreme Court’s initial de - ied. Only three officers were suspended force incident, it’s a mistake to focus cision, in 1936, limiting police conduct and one terminated because of use-of- on the officer because the underlying during interrogations came in the case force complaints during the period . 14 cause is some failure by the depart - of three black tenant farmers who con - The IACP’s model policy on use of ment: lack of proper training or lack fessed to murder only after being tor - force largely restates the general guide - of proper supervision,” he says. tured. Los Angeles police tacitly abetted lines from the Supreme Court, with white servicemen attacking Latinos in added advisories against firing warning Should police do more to prevent the “Zoot Suit” riots in 1943. The Kern - shots or shooting at a movi ng vehicle. racial and ethnic profiling? er Commission report on urban riots of Many departments provide more de - Many studies over the past two decades the 1960s listed the “deep hostility be - tailed guidance, including a so-called have shown that African-American and tween police and ghetto communities use of force continuum that correlates Hispanic drivers are more likely to be as a primary cause of the disorders.” the level of force to be used with the stopped for traffic enforcement than Racial profiling advanced to the top suspect’s level of resistance or threat white motorists. In a mammoth jour - of the national agenda in the mid- and to safety. ( See graphic, p. 307. ) nalistic project, the Hartford Courant late-1990s — as seen in the popular -
308 CQ Researcher izing of the grimly ironic phrase “dri - East Haven, the Justice Department ac - ber 2011 criticized the department for ving while black.” In litigation that cused the force of “intentionally and woe - allowing “at least” 93 officers to re - documented the experiences of many fully failing to design and implement in - main on the force despite offenses African-Americans, ACLU affiliates in ternal systems of control that would identify, such as drunken driving and domes - several states filed suits contesting the track, and prevent such misconduct.” The tic violence. A similar, nine-part series practice. Some states, including Con - report on Maricopa County faulted Sher - by the Sarasota Herald Tribune in De - necticut, responded by passing laws re - iff Arpaio by name for using “unverified cember found that “thousands” of of - quiring demographic statistics-gathering tips or complaints” that were “infected ficers remain on the job in Florida po - on traffic stops to try to spot signs of with bias against Latino persons.” lice departments despite “arrests or racial profiling. Police Foundation president Williams evidence” implicating them in crimes Racial and ethnic profiling appears says the responsibility for stopping the punishable by prison sentences. 19 to be continuing despite increasing di - practice rests with police officials. “Are Despite such newspaper investiga - versity on local police forces. The New chiefs dealing with the problem?” he tions, some experts give police de - Orleans police force is now majority asks rhetorically. “I think they have partments generally good marks for black. In New York City, a majority of policies that prohibit it, and from that disciplining rogue cops. “Internal dis - the police officers are black, Latino or perspective they’re dealing with it. It’s cipline is taken seriously by most if not Asian; whites comprise only 47 percent. the enforcement of those policies that’s all American police departments,” the Out of 684,330 persons stopped by the big question mark. In that area, University of Baltimore’s Kane says. NYPD officers in 2011, however, the there’s more of a question mark.” “Police commanders and departments vast majority — 87 percent — were ei - can often determine that a police of - ther black or Hispanic. 17 Should police adopt stronger disci - ficer is not good for the department Harris, the Pittsburgh law professor plinary measures for misconduct? and not good for the public.” and author of a book on racial profil - Jason Mucha has had a checkered Police Foundation president Williams ing, says the practice “is a police issue, career with the Milwaukee Police De - gives a mixed review. “Some police not a race issue.” Profiling, he says, “is partment since being hired as an aide departments are very good at disci - a product of the training, culture and in 1996 while still a teenager. He was pline — a lot, not just a few,” he says. customs within that department. Black promoted to sergeant in 2005, but over “But I wouldn’t want to say that all officers are going to be trained like all the next few years was accused by 10 police departments are like that.” others. They’re going to want to fit in different suspects of either beating them ACLU officials are more critical. “We just like all officers.” or planting drugs or both. Although he have found problems with internal dis - Other experts say profiling results was never disciplined, a state appeals ciplinary procedures around the coun - naturally from the demographics of crime. court explicitly questioned Mucha’s cred - try,” says Vanita Gupta, deputy legal “This is a social issue,” says the Uni - ibility as a witness, and the U.S. attor - director for the national ACLU. “To say versity of Baltimore’s Kane. “We know ney’s office dropped one case rather that they are an adequate remedy for that race and class are strongly tied up than put him on the stand. these violations is a real problem. It’s with crime, perceptions of crime and The department’s disciplinary proce - just not how it plays out.” urban disorder. Crime and race are not dure has now caught up with Mucha, The disciplinary procedures that exist randomly distributed across America.” however, after he and fellow squad today are the culmination of decades “It is a problem, and it will con - members were accused of invasive of pressure from outside groups — in tinue to be a problem,” says police body searches in drug investigations. particular, groups such as the ACLU consultant Scott. “But it may not be Mucha and seven officers in his unit and other civil rights organizations — extending from a police officer’s big - were stripped of police powers and re - for more effective oversight of police otry. If you have a particular segment assigned to desk duties in March be - practices in general and in specific cases. of the community that is particularly cause of the accusations, according to “Some form of citizen oversight exists involved in a particular crime, part of the Journal Sentinel. Without confirm - in almost every city,” according to the the profiling has to be the ethnicity ing the report, Chief Edward Flynn told University of Nebraska’s Walker. of the offender.” a news conference on March 22 that if In contrast to civilian review boards Id entifying impermissible profiling the allegations were true, the searches — perhaps the most common over - can also be difficult, Scott adds. “It may would have violated state law. 18 sight mechanism — Walker says he be insidiously nontransparent as to The Journal Sentinel has been on prefers the appointment of an inde - why an officer has stopped a particu - the department’s case over discipline pendent auditor for a department. “They lar individual,” he says. In its report on for years. A three-part series in Octo - have authority to review the operations
www.cqresearcher.com April 6, 2012 309 POLICE MISCONDUCT
of an agency and to make public re - United States in the mid-19th century. system, moneyed-interest politics with ports,” Walker explains. “That’s the best Political patronage and financial cor - popular democracy and professional solution for improving the department, ruption were dominant concerns in government services. Walker and Katz not just finding guilt or innocence in the 1800s; use of force and other co - credit August Vollmer, chief of the Berke - a particular incident.” ercive tactics and racial and ethnic dis - ley, Calif., police force from 1905 to Roger Goldman, a professor at crimination became major issues in the 1932, as the father of the movement St. Louis University School of Law who 1900s. A reform movement to profes - to define policing as a profession. He has specialized in police accountability sionalize policing dates from the early created college-level courses in police issues, notes that even when an officer 20th century. The Supreme Court began work and, along with other reformers, has been removed from a force, he or to exercise oversight by the 1930s and favored raising standards for hiring of - she often looks for — and sometimes then brought about significant changes ficers, eliminating political influence and finds — a job with another law en - in police practices with decisions in placing control in the hands of quali - forcement agency. To remedy the prob - the 1960s establishing new limits on fied administrators. lem, Goldman favors a system of “de - interrogations and searches. 20 But police reform “progressed very certifying” an officer for any police The constables and night watches of slowly,” Walker and Katz write. And work after a finding of misconduct — the colonial and early post-independence in 1931 Vollmer co-authored a critical akin to disbarment for lawyers, for ex - years proved inadequate for law en - report by the presidentially appointed ample. “The problem can’t be left up forcement by the mid-19th century. The National Commission on Law Obser - to local municipalities and police de - emergence of urban centers brought vance and Enforcement, commonly partments to handle,” he says. with it the breakdown of law and order called the Wickersham Commission. Police consultant Scott says police due to interethnic clashes, economic Among its findings: Physical brutality unions represent a big obstacle to discontent and conflict over political is - was “extensively practiced” by police strengthened discipline. “The unions sues, including slavery. Philadelphia and departments around the country. can protect the incompetent, and the Boston created police forces in the 1830s The Supreme Court first entered the malicious, and allow them to get back — not long after Sir Robert Peel in 1829 field in 1936 with a unanimous deci - on the streets,” Scott says. “The unions had created the first urban police force sion, Brown v. Mississippi , declaring the have lost their way as to who they’re in London, England. New York City use of confessions obtained by torture- supposed to represent in the bigger followed in 1845. like interrogation to be a violation of picture of law enforcement.” The 19th century officer was typi - the Due Process Clause. Over the next Other experts, however, stress the cally unarmed and untrained, inefficient three decades, the court adopted a role of leadership at the top in im - and largely ineffective in preventing case-by-case approach that barred con - proving discipline. “What you’ve got crime. He was likely chosen on the fessions if induced by either physical to have,” says Williams, “is commit - basis of political patronage and afford - or psychological coercion. ment at the highest levels of the de - ed no job security. * Corruption was By the 1960s, the court saw the partment.” The ACLU’s Gupta agrees. “epidemic,” according to a textbook by need to adopt a stronger, preventive “We know and police experts know the University of Nebraska’s Walker and safeguard. The result was the contro - how to implement best practices in Arizona State University professor of versial but now largely accepted de - this area,” she says. “There are best criminology Charles Katz, but reform cision, Miranda v. Arizona (1966), practices out there, but there still re - efforts typically consisted merely of which required police to advise a sus - mains a lot of work to be done.” replacing supporters of one political pect of his or her rights, including the faction with those of another. And right to remain silent, before any cus - “no attention” was given to the two todial interrogation — that is, any in - issues that would dominate the 20th terrogation during which the suspect century: excessive force and racial is not free to leave. Five years earli - BACKGROUND 21 discrimination. er, in Mapp v. Ohio (1961), the court More serious reform efforts began had established another landmark lim - in the early 20th century as part of Pro - itation on police conduct by requiring Police Problems gressive Era movements to replace spoils- states to enforce the exclusionary rule, which bars the use of evidence ob - olice misconduct has been a per - * Chicago is now believed to have hired the tained by police during an unconsti - 22 P sistent problem since full-time po - first female officer in 1891; Portland, Ore., fol - tutional search or arrest. lice forces were first organized in the lowed in 1905, Los Angeles in 1910. Continued on p. 312
310 CQ Researcher Chronology
of constitutional or statutory rights Thomas Perez to head Justice De - 1960s Supreme Court (42 U.S.C. § 14141). partment’s civil rights division. lays down rules for police searches, interrogation. Mid- to late ’90s 2010 Justice Department uses new law to Roundtable convened by Justice 1961 get Pittsburgh and Steubenville, Ohio, Department finds police investiga - Supreme Court says states must police departments to agree to re - tions “effective” in promoting re - adopt exclusionary rule to bar use forms; launches investigations in other form; some police officials com - of evidence found by police during cities, including Washington, D.C. plain of “negative stigma.” unconstitutional searches ( Mapp v. Ohio ). 1999, 2000 2011 Los Angeles Police Department is Justice Department report sharply 1966 rocked by disclosures of corrup - criticizes New Orleans Police De - Supreme Court requires police to tion, excessive force by antigang partment for excessive force, dis - advise suspects of rights before in- unit in predominantly Latino Ram - criminatory policing; police chief custody interrogation ( Miranda v. part neighborhood; Justice Depart - promises reforms (March 17). . . . Arizona ). ment, city agree in 2000 on re - Five New Orleans officers are con - forms, court supervision. victed in federal civil rights trial in 1968 Danziger Bridge case (Aug. 5); five National Advisory Commission on • others had pleaded guilty earlier. . . . Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission) DOJ report lambasts Puerto Rico report says distrust between police Police Department for excessive and “ghetto communities” was major 2001-Present force, other issues (Sept. 7). . . . cause of urban riots. . . . Law En - Bush administration pulls back Three more DOJ reports fault po - forcement Assistance Administration on police department investiga - lice in Maricopa County (Phoenix), is established to provide federal tions; Obama administration Ariz.; Seattle; East Haven, Conn. grants to state, local law enforcement takes aggressive stance. (Dec. 15, 16, 19). agencies; in 14-year lifetime, agency promotes accreditation standards, 2003 2012 provides funds for officer training. Detroit agrees to institute police East Haven Police Chief Leonard reforms after investigation initiated Gallo retires (Jan. 30). . . . • in December 2000. African-American teenager Trayvon Martin is shot and killed by neigh - 2005 borhood watch coordinator George 1990s Justice Depart - Two African-American civilians Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla. (Feb. 26); ment gains power to investigate killed, four others wounded by death touches off debate over au - state, local law enforcement New Orleans police officers while thorities’ failure to arrest Zimmer - agencies. crossing Danziger Bridge to flee man, Florida law easing rule on post-Katrina flooding. self defense. . . . Seattle mayor, 1991, 1992 police chief adopt plan to revise Videotaped beating of Rodney 2006 use-of-force policies, review racial King by Los Angeles police offi - Supreme Court allows use of evi - profiling (March 29). . . . Puerto cers provokes debate over use of dence found in Detroit drug raid Rico Police Chief Emilio Díaz force, leads to riots in African- despite officers’ failure to follow Cólon resigns to avoid hurting re - American neighborhoods after offi - knock-and-announce rule ( Hudson forms (March 29). . . . Maricopa cers are prosecuted but acquitted. v. Michigan ); first of Roberts Court County Sheriff Joe Arpaio rejects rulings weakening enforcement of Justice Department demand for 1994 exclusionary rule. court-supervised consent decree Congress authorizes Justice Depart - (April 3). . . . Justice Department ment (DOJ) to investigate state, 2009 weighs requests for formal investi - local law enforcement agencies for Eric Holder is named first African- gations of police in Albuquerque, “pattern or practice” of violations American attorney general; chooses Omaha, elsewhere.
www.cqresearcher.com April 6, 2012 311 POLICE MISCONDUCT
Supreme Court Eases Rules on Police Searches Evidence gleaned illegally allowed in criminal trials.
etroit police officers thought they were raiding a big view that the only effective deterrent to police misconduct in crack-cocaine house when they converged, seven conducting searches is to exclude the evidence from trial. Critics D strong, on Booker Hudson’s home on the afternoon of say there are other deterrents, including police disciplinary pro - Aug. 27, 1998. Wary of being shot, Officer Jamal Good shouted, cedures and civil damage suits. “Police. Search warrant,” and then paused only a moment before As a White House lawyer under President Ronald Reagan, barging in. Roberts helped lay the basis for a series of attacks aimed at ei - Good’s nearly instantaneous entry violated a Supreme Court ther amending or abolishing the exclusionary rule. Now, as chief decision issued three years earlier, in Wilson v. Arkansas , that im - justice, Roberts leads a five-vote conservative majority that crit - posed a so-called knock-and-announce rule requiring police to ics say is transforming those broadsides into legal precedent . 2 wait a reasonable period after the initial knock before entering a The Hudson case came in Roberts’ first full term as chief private home. justice. Three years later, Roberts wrote for the same 5-4 ma - When Hudson was tried on cocaine charges, he sought to jority in a second decision cutting back on the exclusionary exclude the evidence that police found in their search: five in - rule. The decision in Herring v. United States (2009) allowed dividually wrapped “rocks” of crack cocaine that he had in his the use of evidence that an Alabama man was carrying when pants pockets. Michigan courts refused, and so did the U.S. he was arrested in 2004 on the basis of what was later found Supreme Court — in the first of three decisions under Chief to be an outdated arrest warrant. Roberts said the exclusion - Justice John G. Roberts Jr. that critics say have seriously weak - ary rule applies only to police conduct that is “sufficiently ened the so-called exclusionary rule against using evidence deliberate that exclusion can meaningfully deter it, and suf - found during an illegal police search. ( See “At Issue,” p. 317. ) ficiently culpable that such deterrence is worth the price paid Writing for the majority in Hudson v. Michigan (2006), Jus - by the justice system.” 3 tice Antonin Scalia said the costs of applying the exclusionary In a third decision, the court in June 2011 held that the ex - rule to knock-and-announce violations in terms of releasing clusionary rule does not require suppression of evidence ob - criminals would outweigh any benefits in terms of protecting tained by police if they relied in good faith on an established privacy or deterring improper police behavior. As one reason, court precedent, even if it was later overruled as violating the Scalia pointed to what he called the “substantial” existing de - Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search - terrents to police violations of search rules. es and seizures ( Davis v. United States ). In January, however, David Moran, then a Wayne State University law professor the court gave defense lawyers and civil liberties advocates a who represented Hudson before the Supreme Court, sharply significant victory by limiting the authority of police to attach disagreed. “It’s a joke to say that the police will comply with a GPS tracking device to a vehicle for surveillance purposes. the knock-and-announce rule without the exclusionary rule as The unanimous ruling in United States v. Jones apparently re - a sanction,” he said. 1 quires police to get a search warrant unless they can show a The exclusionary rule, a distinctively U.S. legal doctrine, dates reason for an exception. 4 from a 1914 Supreme Court ruling applying it to federal court cases. The Supreme Court forced the same rule on state courts — Kenneth Jost in 1961 in one of the first decisions under Chief Justice Earl War - ren that expanded the rights of suspects and criminal defendants. 1 Account taken from Kenneth Jost, The Supreme Court Yearbook 2005-2006 . The court trimmed but did not eliminate the rule under the next 2 See Adam Liptak, “Justices Step Closer to Repeal of Evidence Ruling,” The New York Times , Jan. 31, 2009, p. A1. two chief justices, Warren E. Burger and William H. Rehnquist. 3 See Kenneth Jost, The Supreme Court Yearbook 2008-2009. Supporters of the exclusionary rule, criminal defense attor - 4 For coverage, see Adam Liptak, “Justices Reject GPS Tracking in a Drug neys and civil liberties advocates among others, echo Moran’s Case,” The New York Times , Jan. 24, 2012, p. A1.
Continued from p. 310 ing School, now the FBI National Acad - funneled about $8 billion in grants to The 1960s also saw agreement be - emy, in Quantico, Va. In 1968, Con - state and local police agencies. It was tween Congress and the president to gress created, as part of the Omnibus abolished in 1982, unpopular in Con - increase the federal role in profession - Crime Control and Safe Streets Act, a gress and among some experts, in part alizing state and local police agencies. new agency to support state and local because of a penchant for funding ex - Since the 1930s, the FBI had been al - law enforcement: the Law Enforcement pensive gadgetry. But it also is cred - lowing local police officers to enroll in Assistance Administration (LEAA). ited with helping establish standards what was originally called the FBI Train - In its 14 years of existence, LEAA for police and corrections agencies
312 CQ Researcher and with providing funds for training In the 1990s, the Los Angeles Po - excessive force, corruption and obstruc - state and local police officers. lice Department experienced two major tion of justice accusations against mem - “LEAA was the catalyst that pro - scandals, each of which made national bers of an antigang unit assigned to one moted the education of police officers headlines. In the first, an onlooker cap - of Los Angeles’ predominantly Latino by creating a significant amount of tured on videotape the seemingly un - communities. The wide-ranging allega - money for police officers to get edu - justified beating of an African-American tions of misconduct by Rampart Divi - cated,” Police Foundation president suspect, Rodney King, by LAPD officers sion officers included unprovoked shoot - Williams says today. 23 on the night of March 3, 1991, after a ings and beatings, planting of evidence, high-speed automobile chase. The blue- stealing and dealing in narcotics and cov - ribbon Christopher Commission creat - ering up of the offenses. The scandal Police Accountability ed in the wake of the incident found led to disciplinary actions against 58 of - that “a significant number” of officers ficers, but an independent commission espite widely acknowledged im - repetitively used excessive force against later criticized the department’s response D provements in professionalism suspects. The acquittals of the officers as inadequate. and accountability, major police de - charged in the King beating in 1992 The Justice Department intensified its partments around the country were touched off riots in the city’s largely investigation of the LAPD after the scan - beset by high-profile scandals during African-American neighborhoods and dal. By mid-2000, government lawyers the final decades of the 20th centu - helped force the resignation of Police were threatening to sue the city in fed - ry. Major controversies in New York Chief Daryl Gates. He was succeeded eral court unless it agreed to wide- City and Los Angeles resulted in the by Willie Williams, the LAPD’s first ranging internal reforms. Mayor Richard formation of blue-ribbon commissions African-American chief. Riordan resisted any agreement, but that recommended significant changes, The King beating also led to the fed - painstaking negotiations eventually re - some eventually adopted. In Wash - eral law authorizing the Justice De - sulted in the city’s agreement to an en - ington, Congress laid the foundation partment to sue local police depart - forceable consent decree that the city for increased police accountability with ments for rights violations. Members of council approved by a vote of 11-2 on two legisla tive enactments: the 1994 Congress from California pushed the Nov. 2, 2000. Among other provisions, provision authorizing Justice Depart - proposal unsuccessfully in 1991 and the agreement required creation of a ment suits against rights-violating po - 1992; it was enacted in 1994 as a pro - new division to investigate all uses of lice departments and a 2000 provi - vision in the omnibus Violent Crime force. The decree, formally entered in sion requiring data collection on Control and Law Enforcement Act, thanks June 2001, was terminated in 2009. 26 arrest-related deaths. in part to a push from then-Senate Ju - Meanwhile, Congress gave the fed - Financial corruption of the sort wide - diciary Committee Chairman Joseph eral government an additional tool for spread in earlier eras continued as a Biden. Despite its later importance, the police accountability by passing the recurrent issue. In the most dramatic provision attracted little attention. A de - Death in Custody Reporting Act to col - episode, New York City police detec - tailed Justice Department fact sheet on lect data on deaths of inmates in pris - tive Frank Serpico blew the whistle on the law failed to mention the provision. ons and jails and of suspects in po - widespread bribery and extortion in the By 1996, however, the department’s lice custody. The bill was approved by NYPD in a newspaper expose in 1970 civil rights division was beginning to voice vote in the House of Represen - and a year later as a witness before the use the new powers with investigations tatives in June 2000 and by the Sen - blue-ribbon Knapp Commission. 24 The initiated in response to citizen complaints ate in September; President Bill Clin - city’s response to the commission’s rec - of police departments in Pittsburgh and ton signed it into law on Oct. 13. After ommendations for internal reforms was Steubenville, Ohio. By the end of the setting up procedures, the Bureau of criticized as timid. Two decades later, decade, those cases had resulted in con - Justice Statistics began collecting reports however, Mayor Rudy Giuliani estab - sent decrees requiring organizational on police -custody deaths in fiscal 2003. lished a standing independent com - changes. Nine other investigations were mission to combat police corruption. pending as the decade ended, includ - Today, critics in New York continue to ing one in Washington, D.C., requested Changing Priorities highlight allegations of misconduct, but in 1999 by a new chief of police. the commission credits the department’s The department had already investi - he Justice Department’s oversight of Internal Affairs Bureau generally with gated the Los Angeles Police Department T local law enforcement agencies lagged “thorough and diligent investigations” for three years when a new scandal under President George W. Bush. Investi - of accusations. 25 erupted in 1999, featuring wide -ranging gations and cases already initiated were
www.cqresearcher.com April 6, 2012 313 POLICE MISCONDUCT
Florida Police Under Scrutiny in Trayvon Martin Case Critics question handling of shooting by armed civilian.
he fatal shooting of an African-American teenager by a An altercation of some sort ensued after Zimmerman — 5-foot- volunteer neighborhood watch coordinator in a gated 10, 170 pounds — got out of his vehicle and Martin — 6-foot-1, T suburban community in Florida has ignited a racially 150 pounds — realized he was being surveilled. An unidentified charged debate over the police department’s handling of the girlfriend of Martin’s says Martin called her to complain about being case. The episode also puts a national spotlight on Florida’s followed. Zimmerman’s father says his son told police that Martin controversial Stand Your Ground law, which allows a civilian challenged him, used a racial epithet, forced him to the ground to use potentially lethal force in self-defense in public places and pummeled him with his fists. without first trying to retreat to safety. 1 Whatever the exact course of the dispute, Zimmerman fired Some six weeks after the Feb. 26 death of Trayvon Martin, a a single shot that hit Martin in the chest. Martin died at the special state prosecutor is set to present evidence in the case on scene. The police officers who arrived handcuffed Zimmerman April 10 to a Seminole County grand jury. The U.S. Justice De - and took him to the police station, where he was questioned partment is also reviewing the case. The moves have come, how - and released without having been tested for drugs or alcohol. ever, only after local and national protests over the authorities’ A video appears to show a gash on the back of Zimmerman’s decision that night not to file charges against George Zimmer - head but no serious injury to his face despite Zimmerman’s claim man, a neighborhood watch volunteer since August 2011. to have suffered a broken nose during the altercation. A funer - Martin, 17, was returning from a convenience store to the home al director who examined Martin’s body said it showed no of his father’s girlfriend in the Retreat at Twin Lakes community scrapes, bruises or other signs of a fight other than the single in Sanford, Fla., shortly after 7 p.m. when he drew Zimmerman’s gunshot wound to his chest. suspicions. Martin was unarmed; he was carrying a bag of candy Martin’s death drew no news coverage for almost two weeks and a can of iced tea and wearing a gray hoodie to protect him - until his father, Tracy Martin, held a news conference on March self from the rain. Zimmerman, 28, a resident of white and His - 8 to call for Zimmerman’s arrest and demand the release of panic ancestry, was carrying a 9 mm handgun — despite earlier the tapes of Zimmerman’s 911 call. The tapes, released over instructions from the Sanford police department’s neighborhood the next weekend, turned the episode from an overlooked local watch liaison that volunteers should not be armed. story into a round-the-clock nationwide controversy. Zimmerman had volunteered for the neighborhood watch in In the weeks since, Martin has been described as a typical August 2011 because of several burglaries in the gated com - teenage boy, with good manners and good attitude, but a record munity of some 260 homes. Suspicious of Martin, he placed a of three suspensions from his high school in north Miami-Dade 911 call to the Sanford Police Department. Zimmerman said Mar - County, where he lived with his mother. In February, he was tin was “just walking around” and appeared to be “up to no staying with his father in Sanford after having been hit with a good.” The police dispatcher advised Zimmerman not to follow 10-day suspension because of marijuana residue found in his Martin and to wait to meet a patrol officer. Later in the record - backpack. ed four-minute call, Zimmerman is heard saying something list - Zimmerman is described as a former altar boy with unrealized ed on the police transcription as “unintelligible” and interpreted ambitions of becoming a police officer, capable of kindness but also by others in the subsequent debate as a racial epithet. with a volatile temper. He was arrested in summer 2005 after push - continued, but reports on newly opened and stinging reports issued on five law The special litigation section had investigations took a deferential tone to - enforcement bodies within four months. achieved important victories early in the ward police policies. Obama’s selection As a presidential candidate in 2000, Bush year s in investigations begun by of civil rights-minded officials for key Bush said he believed police matters the Clinton administration of police forces posts at the Justice Department signaled should be handled locally. Under Bush, in Washington, D.C.; Detroit; and Prince a likely change in priorities. Even be - the civil rights division became highly George’s County, Md. The in vestigation fore Perez’s confirmation to head the politicized, morale declined sharply and in Washington found “a pattern . . . of civil rights division, the special litigation career lawyers left in droves. A later re - excessive force” by officers in the 1990s section’s report on one local department port by the Government Accountabili - and applauded new efforts to reduce took a sharper tone than those in the ty Office found that the special litiga - the problem. Police officials agreed to Bush years. By the end of 2011, the tion section suffered an attrition rate of the appointment of a monitor to over - section’s activist stance was evident with 31 percent in 2005, 24 percent in 2006 see the department for five years. In a record number of investigations open and 18 percent in 2007. 27 Detroit, a consent decree agreed to in
314 CQ Researcher ing a Florida state alcohol the laws. Prosecutors in Florida agent during a raid at a col - said the law had made it hard - lege-area bar; the charge er to bring charges in homicides r
was dropped after Zimmer - a where the suspect claimed self- m
man agreed to a pretrial di - a defense. Police organizations l K
version program. A month have criticized the laws, but gun- e o
later, he and his ex-fiancée J rights groups have defended / s
obtained reciprocal domes - e them. g
tic violence injunctions based a Only after a full month had m I
on mutual accusations of passed since the shooting was it y t t
physical violence. e reported that Sanford Detective G
From the outset, author - / Chris Serino, the lead investiga - P
ities in Sanford and Semi - F tor in the case, had initially rec - A nole County explained that Protesters in downtown Los Angeles mark the ommended charging Zimmerman Zimmerman had not been one-month anniversary of the Feb. 26, 2012, killing of with manslaughter only to be over - charged in the shooting in unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin by a ruled by his chief and by state’s part because of a law Flori - neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida. attorney Norman Wolfinger, who da enacted in 2005 making has declined to comment on the it harder to prosecute indi - report. Wolfinger was removed viduals in the face of a claim of self-defense. The Stand Your from the case after Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pamela Ground law extends the long-established “castle doctrine” — al - Bondi appointed Angela Corey, the state’s attorney from the Jack - lowing the use of deadly force in self defense inside one’s home sonville area, as special prosecutor. — to any setting, private or public. In its central provision, the 1,000-word statute provides that — Kenneth Jost someone in a place where he or she has a right to be “has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground 1 For a comprehensive overview, see Dan Barry, Serge F. Kovaleski, Camp - bell Robertson and Lizette Alvarez, “In the Eye of a Firestorm: In Florida, and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she an Intersection of Tragedy, Race and Outrage,” The New York Times , April reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death 2, 2012, p. A1, www.nytimes.com/2012/04/02/us/trayvon-martin-shooting- or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to pre - prompts-a-review-of-ideals.html?_r=1&hp. The rapidly changing, heavily an - notated Wikipedia entry on the case includes links to the 911 call made vent the commission of a forcible felony.” The law specifically on the night of Trayvon Martin’s shooting, to other police documents and provides immunity from criminal or civil liability if the use of to collections of news and commentary in The New York Times and Wall 2 Street Journal , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin. Back - force is justified. ground details drawn from both accounts. Similar laws are on the books in about half the states. Cov - 2 See Title XLVI, Chap. 0776, www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/Chapter erage of the Florida episode has led to a national debate over 0776/All.
June 2003 similarly provided for an out - litigation. Instead, reports, such as one ing police-accountability investigations. side monitor to check compliance with in August 2008 suggesting the Orange As deputy attorney general in the Clin - changes that included new steps to County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office adopt new ton administration, Holder had helped track officers named in excessive-force policies on the use of Tasers, gener - oversee police department investigations, complaints. In Prince George’s County ally included language specifying that including the filing of the suit against in suburban Washington, D.C., the po - the “technical assistance” being pro - the Los Angeles Police Department in lice agreed in January 2004 to curb ex - vided was viewed “as recommenda - 2000. To head the civil rights division, cessive force by officers and restrict the tions and not mandates.” 29 Obama and Holder picked Perez, a for - use of police dogs, with compliance to Obama’s appointment of Eric Holder mer criminal prosecutor in the division be tracked by an outside monitor . 28 as the first African-American to serve from 1988 to 1995 who had gone on In later years, however, reports on as attorney general signaled a likely to hold political posts as deputy to the police departments appeared to steer reinvigoration of the Justice Department’s head of the division (1998-1999) and clear of pointed criticism or threats of role in civil rights enforcement, includ - head of the Office of Civil Rights in the
www.cqresearcher.com April 6, 2012 315 POLICE MISCONDUCT
Department of Health and Human Ser - lice departments with troubling records tice for several years of giving officers vices (1999-2001). Perez drew Republi - of fatal shootings and other uses of involved in fatal shootings $500 to help can opposition because of his work force against arrestees and suspects. them take time off to recover from with the immigrant rights group CASA In the most recent request, the stress related to the incidents. Critics de Maryland, but eventually won Sen - Omahans for Justice Alliance asked the said the payments appeared to be a ate confirmation on Oct. 6, 2009, by a Justice Department and U.S. Attorney bounty for killing a suspect. Police vote of 72-22. 30 Deborah Gilg on March 13 to inves - Chief Ray Schultz said he was unaware Even before Perez took office, a tigate the Omaha Police Department. of the practice. With the controversy slight change of tone was seen in the The 10-page letter cited an alleged pat - raging, two top officers of the Albu - section’s report on the Yonkers, N.Y., tern of excessive force, illegal arrests, querque Peace Officers Association re - police department. The June 2009 re - disregard of state law and department signed on March 27; their successors port included the same “not a man - polices and other misconduct. joined Schultz and Mayor Richard Berry date” language used in earlier reports, “The kind of incidents that we’ve on March 30 in announcing an end to but followed with a sentence “strong - had are very, very serious and appear the practice . 34 ly” urging the department to adopt the to get worse,” University of Nebraska pro - Walker, who co-authored a study recommendations listed. A report on fessor Walker, one of three co-signers of of the Albuquerque police department the Inglewood, Calif., department issued the letter, said at a news conference to in 1997, says the number of deaths at in December “strongly” urged adoption announce the request. Supporting or - the hands of police appeared to war - of the recommended changes. ganizations include the ACLU of Ne - rant a Justice Department investiga - Stronger reports came in quick suc - braska, Nebraskans for Peace, Black Men tion. “That’s a lot of shootings,” he told cession in 2011, beginning with the one United of Omaha, the NAACP’s Omaha The Associated Press. 35 on New Orleans in March. A report on Branch and the Progressive Research The Justice Department has ac - Puerto Rico, issued on Sept. 7, found a Institute of Nebraska. 32 knowledged the preliminary inquiry pattern of “unreasonable force” along with In a prepared statement, Lt. Darci into the Albuquerque department but “other misconduct” aimed at limiting free Tierney, a police spokeswoman, noted says it has made no decision on whether speech rights as well as “troubling evi - that the Justice Department had pre - to open a formal investigation. The dence” of “discriminatory policing prac - viously reviewed use-of-force incidents Justice Department had no response tices” targeting persons of Dominican as part of “normal business practices.” to the Omaha request in news cover - descent. In releasing the report, Perez She voiced no objection to scrutiny of age immediately afterward. Investiga - told reporters that the section had 17 the additional incidents noted in the tions are being sought in other cities, investigations under way. The investi - letter. “We strive to be a transparent including Las Vegas, The Associated gations are “really a cornerstone of our agency, and if a citizen group feels Press reported. Justice Department of - work,” Perez said. Three months later, the need for the Department of Jus - ficials did not respond to a request he elevated the issue further by per - tice to review these events, we wel - from CQ Researcher for a complete list sonally attending December news con - come the review,” Tierney said. 33 of current investigations. ferences releasing the Seattle and Mari - Also in March, an Albuquerque In both Omaha and Albuquerque, copa County reports. 31 citizens’ group stepped up its calls the groups pressing for federal inves - for a federal investigation of the city’s tigations complained that civilians in - police department after two fatal volved in police shootings or use-of- shootings in mid-March brought the force incidents were predominantly CURRENT total to 18 over the past two years. people of color. The Omaha group also Most of those killed have been young cited figures from a state commission Hispanic men, according to Jewell showing that black drivers are stopped SITUATION Hall, executive director of the Mar - almost as often by the Omaha Police tin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center. Department as white drivers are. “I hope that they will do an inves - Both forces are predominantly white. Investigations Urged tigation to get deep inside the Al - In 2000, about 80 percent of the Omaha buquerque Police Department,” says officers were white, and the Albuquerque ith 20 investigations already Hall, a retired teacher. department was 60 percent Anglo and W under way, the Justice Depart - The Albuquerque department drew 36 percent Hispanic, according to fed - ment is being urged by citizen groups national attention with the disclosure eral Bureau of Justice Statistics data. 36 in several other cities to look into po - that the police union has had a prac - Continued on p. 318
316 CQ Researcher At Issue:
Is tyhes e exclusionary rule needed to deter illegal police searches?
NORMAN L REIMER WILLIAM J. FITZPATRICK EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR , N ATIONAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY , ASSOCIATION OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE ONONDAGA COUNTY , N.Y. LAWYERS WRITTEN FOR CQ RESEARCHER , APRIL 2012 WRITTEN FOR CQ RESEARCHER , APRIL 2012
hile it is true that the Supreme Court has at times s a prosecutor for 35 years, I have never met a cop over the past decade treated the exclusionary rule who was deterred by a judicial opinion written five w with disdain, fortunately the court has not yet com - a years after he or she made a split-second decision. pletely disavowed it. It is perhaps the only tool the courts have The Supreme Court-crafted exclusionary rule has morphed from to circumscribe police behavior that violates the Fourth Amend - its intended restraint on police misconduct into a judicially sanc - ment. Let me give you an example. tioned version of roulette. The Supreme Court in January decided a case — U.S. v. Jones Antoine Jones, a Washington, D.C., nightclub owner, was — that is sure to be the first of many that will test the limits of making money the old-fashioned way, entertaining his cus - government’s ability to use modern technology to invade individ - tomers with hip-hop music and running the District’s largest co - ual privacy. The court unanimously upheld the suppression of caine distribution ring. Rather than spend countless hours legally GPS tracking data, rejecting the government’s sweeping claim that following Jones, police in 2005 decided to place a GPS tracking it can track a person’s movements without spatial or temporal device on his wife’s car, and even though not required, they ac - limitation, and without a warrant or any judicial oversight. tually got a search warrant to track the location of this vehicle. The idea that such surveillance could occur solely at the This innovative tactic resulted in Jones’ arrest and convic - government’sy discretion proempted Chief s Justice John G. Roberts tion as well as nthe seizure of fiveo kilos of cocaine and Jr. to ask in astonishment whether, in the government’s view, $850,000 in ill-gotten drug proceeds. the FBI could put GPS monitors on the cars of every member Inexplicably, when the U.S. Attorney’s office authorized the of the court. The government’s position was a resounding “yes.” installation of the tracking device, the police did so one day Fortunately for the future of privacy in a world in which tech - beyond the sanctioned 10-day window. nology now permits once unfathomable invasions of privacy, In United States v. Jones , the Supreme Court ruled — for the the court’s decision was an equally resounding “no.” first time — that the installation of a GPS device by the authori - How massively was this taking place before the court’s de - ties on a suspect’s car constituted a search under the Fourth cision? During the oral argument, the deputy solicitor general Amendment. Thus the evidence obtained in the case was sup - acknowledged that the federal government alone has been pressed, despite the fact that, prior to the decision, the prevailing using GPS devices “in the low thousands annually.” Separate law was murky at best. Pardon me if I’m confused as to how from that, state and local law enforcement authorities frequent - this deters police misconduct. Would it not make more sense to ly employ GPS tracking devices — subjecting untold thou - punish the appropriate grammar school teachers who failed to sands to surveillance. properly train the future attorneys on how to read a calendar? Was the court’s invocation of the exclusionary rule, a venera - My colleagues have no problem with the GPS warrant re - ble remedy that will soon celebrate its 100th anniversary in quirement. What concerns us is the uncertainty and Draconian American jurisprudence, an effective tool to vindicate fundamen - response to what may be charitably called a technical error. If tal rights guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment? You bet it was. we track EZ-Pass holders to locate an abducted child or trace Within weeks, the FBI’s general counsel, Andrew Weissmann, a terrorist by using cell-tower records, do the criminals go said the ruling in U.S. v. Jones caused a “sea change” in law free? While technology is changing rapidly, police who make enforcement. Following the oral argument and in anticipation of life-and-death decisions do not have the luxury of waiting for the ruling, the FBI scrambled to ensure that the government the courts to delineate these constitutional boundaries before had warrants for 3,000 active GPS tracking devices. they take action. After the decision, 250 of those tracking devices remained Even the learned justices in Jones had little consensus on shut down. Many may eventually be reactivated where there is the grounds for the decision. Prosecutors merely want a rational legal cause — as they should be. No doubt, states and locali - approach to evidence suppression where concepts such as ties are responding similarly to ensure compliance with the proportionality and good faith have some standing. You do dictates of the Fourth Amendment. Thus, once again, the not “deter” cops with a system that is, as Justice Lewis Powell power of the exclusionary rule to rein in governmental abuse said, “intolerably confusing.” You only confuse cops and make is vindno icated. the public less secure.
www.cqresearcher.com April 6, 2012 317 POLICE MISCONDUCT
Continued from p. 316 Board, collect data on possible racial for developing “updated, clear policies” In Omaha, the citizens’ group also profiling and improve diversity training. on the use of “lethal, less-lethal and is urging the city to re-establish the of - In one specific change, the plan re - non-lethal tools available to officers.” fice of Public Safety Auditor. The office sponds to criticism of how police dealt Officers would be trained annually on was created in 2001, but Mayor Mike with Occupy Seattle protesters in No - the policies and on “de-escalation” of Fahey fired Tristan Bonn from the post vember by prohibiting the use of pep - “low-level encounters.” Sergeants and in October 2006, barely a week after per spray except in self-defense or as commanders are also to be given an - she delivered a report sharply critical “a last resort.” nual training on how to investigate and of the department. The city fought Bonn’s Seattle and Justice Department offi - document use-of-force incidents. lawsuit to regain the position and has cials met behind closed doors the next Seattle’s Force Review Board, es - failed to refill the position, according day to discuss the plan. Seattle officials tablished after the release of the Jus - to the citizens’ group. 37 appeared to hope the department would tice Department report in December, The current mayor, Jim Suttle, says back away from insisting that the city would be given a formal role. Some there is no need for an auditor. “We agree to a court order giving a feder - form of civilian review of the board’s have a lot of faith in our police chief,” al judge supervisory authority over the work would be instituted. he told an Omaha television station plan’s implementation for a specified Issues of “biased policing” are to in September 2011 in the midst of a number of years. 40 be addressed by streamlining race-data controversy over the videotaped beat - Progress on a reform plan in Seat - collection related to traffic stops and ing and kicking of a suspect in po - tle came after negotiations between initiating the collection of race data lice custody. 38 the Justice Department and New Or - for pedestrian encounters. The Uni - In Albuquerque, an officer involved leans officials had stalled because of versity of Washington’s African-Amer - in a November 2009 shooting was fired a bizarre incident involving the feder - ican Studies Department is to be en - the next year after the department’s in - al government’s point person in the gaged to review the department’s ternal affairs unit and the Independent talks. Sal Perriccone withdrew from practices as related to the issue. Review Officer found the shooting un - the talks and then resigned from the In New Orleans, Perricone took him - justified. Schultz said he fired Brandon U.S. Attorney’s office in New Orleans self out of the federal-local negotiations Carr because the officer lied to inves - in March after he acknowledged hav - on March 16 after his role as pseudo - tigators about the events. ing used a pseudonym to post hun - nymous online commentator came to The city paid the victim’s family dreds of online comments about law light. Mayor Landrieu said Perricone’s par - $950,000 to settle a civil suit, but on enforcement-related stories on the ticipation had “poisoned” the negotiations, March 30 the district attorney’s office Times-Picayune ’s website, nola.com. 41 but U.S. Attorney Jim Letten insisted the announced no criminal charges would Two of the major groups involved in removal would not cause a delay. be brought against Carr. Out of 29 po - requesting the Justice Department in - ACLU official Esman says the on - lice shootings since 2009, eight are vestigation of the Seattle Police Depart - going talks are “very guarded,” but she awaiting grand jury action, but no ment reacted approvingly to what McGinn expects eventual agreement on a court- criminal charges have been brought in called the 20/20 plan — 20 steps to be supervised consent decree. “Some - the other 21, according to the Albu - put into effect over 20 months. Estela thing will come of it,” Esman says. querque Journal. 39 Ortega, executive director of the His - “Whether it will be enough, whether panic advocacy group El Centro de la it will work is anybody’s guess.” Raza, appeared at the news conference Meanwhile, another of the police Reforms Outlined with McGinn and Chief John Diaz and forces sharply criticized in Justice De - praised their willingness to work with partment reports last year got new he Seattle Police Department is community leaders on the plan. leadership in late March in a move T preparing to adopt a 20-point re - In a brief statement, Kathleen Taylor, that may ease the way for reforms. form plan aimed at answering criticisms executive director of ACLU of Washing - Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño named from citizens’ groups and the Justice De - ton State, said the civil rights organiza - former FBI official Hector Pesquera as partment and perhaps avoiding federal tion was “encouraged” by the plan. But superintendent of the commonwealth’s court supervision for several years. she said a court-supervised consent de - 17,000-person police department on The plan, released by Mayor McGinn cree “is critical to ensure that reforms March 29 following the resignation of on March 29, includes steps to revamp are thoroughly implemented and are Emilio Díaz Cólon from the post. use-of-force policies, strengthen the role sustained for the long term.” Díaz had been superintendent for of a newly established Force Review The plan’s use-of-force provisions call only three months when the Justice
318 CQ Researcher Department report was released in Sep - suits that could be avoided if we as dress the issue of excessive force tember. He responded by denying any a public demanded to have better against civilians, nor has he mentioned constitutional violations by the force. trained police officers.” the issue in his monthly column in the Over the next six months, Díaz was Police accountability is being en - association’s magazine despite the spate criticized for failing to offer an anti - hanced, however, by new technology, of critical Justice Department reports in crime program. Fortuño quoted Díaz such as the video cameras now in - December. 46 as saying he was resigning to avoid stalled on many police cars to record Walker, the veteran of police ac - hurting prospective reforms. 42 officer-suspect encounters. “The way countability issues, worries that the to encourage police reform and po - post-9/11 emphasis on homeland se - lice accountability is [with] sunlight,” curity has been a setback for best po - says University of Baltimore professor lice practices. “Your primary focus is OUTLOOK Kane, “making these practices known not community policing, which tells to the public.” you that the major things we have to Technology at the same time in - do is work with people in the com - creases the potential for police abuse of munity,” he says. And he worries about Police Under Pressure individual privacy and safety. Civil lib - the impact of budget-imposed layoffs. erties groups complain that local police “If the economy worsens,” Walker says, opular trends in law enforcement now are using cell phone tracking rou - “things could be very, very worse.” P push police departments in op - tinely and aggressively, often without Still, Walker believes that excessive posite directions. Police departments much judicial oversight. Tasers, once seen force and racial profiling are not intractable use high-tech tools to surveil suspects, as a non-lethal alternative to firearms for problems. “If these problems are per - crack down on drugs and try to spot subduing suspects, are linked by the sisting, it’s just because [police leaders] terrorists, even as officers are being human rights group Amnesty Interna - are not paying attention,” Walker says. urged to get out of their cars, walk tional to hundreds of deaths of suspects “We have a much clearer picture of pos - the streets and engage the public in — a risk that the manufacturer ac - sible things we can do. It’s just finding “community policing.” 43 knowledges but calls exaggerated. 45 the will do to do them.” Along with these competing visions The high-power, high-tech weapon - of good policing come financial pres - ry provided to SWAT teams, especial - sures as fiscally strapped local gov - ly for drug raids, is viewed disap - ernments cut back on police depart - provingly, even by police-friendly Notes ments’ staffing, pay and services. In experts. “In some cases, you’ve got Detroit, police precincts are open only this hypercoercion being used in sit - 1 Account drawn primarily from coverage by during daytime hours, and nonemer - uations that don’t require this kind of Brendan McCarthy in The Times-Picayune gency reports have to be made force,” Kane says. “It’s almost like a (New Orleans): “Raid details show focus on through a central call center. To save toy that needs to be played with.” weed, ” March 10, 2012, p. A1; “Man killed by $80 million in 2011, the Los Angeles Even without high-power weapon - cops was not armed,” March 9, 2012, p. A1. Some other information drawn from other Times- City Council cut overtime pay for cops, ry, the risk of unnecessary and exces - but the department still had to find Picayune articles, most of them by McCarthy. sive force, sometimes lethal, persists in 2 Johnson, Shorty quoted in McCarthy, ibid. , $41 million more in savings. And po - police-civilian encounters. Review pro - March 10. lice departments around the country cedures in place, as in Albuquerque, 3 The New Orleans report is available on the have been dealing with layoffs by tak - often find officers’ conduct justifiable, Justice Department’s website: www.justice. ing reports on many property crimes even as outside groups and victims’ gov/ crt/about/spl/nopd.php . A complete list over the phone instead of sending of - families disagree. But national police or - of Special Litigation Section cases and matters, ficers to investigate. 44 ganizations appear to devote little at - including “Conduct of Law Enforcement Agen - The financial pressures lead police tention to the subject. In assuming the cies Investigations” and “Conduct of Law En - consultant Scott to worry about cut - presidency of the International Associ - forcement Agencies Complaints,” is found here: backs in the training needed to en - ation of Chiefs of Police in November www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/findsettle.php . 4 Diaz quoted in Mike Carter, Steve Miletich, sure that officers live up to profes - 2011, Quincy, Fla., Police Chief Walter sional standards. “Law enforcement is and Jennifer Sullivan, “City faces possibility of McNeil said the group’s highest priori - court intervention,” The Seattle Times , Dec. 17 , not training its personnel the way it ty would be “to continue a compre - 2011, p. A1; Gallo’s retirement reported in Denise should,” the former police chief says. hensive violence-against-police-officers Buffa and Josh Kovner, “Chief Steps Down,” “This is where I see many, many law - reduction strategy.” McNeil did not ad - Hartford Courant (Conn.), Jan. 31, 2012, p. A1;
www.cqresearcher.com April 6, 2012 319 POLICE MISCONDUCT
Quoted in J. J. Hensley, “Negotiations between 10 See “Highlights of AP’s probe into NYPD Union cited in Sean Gardiner, “Stop-and- MCSO, DOJ fall apart,” The Arizona Republic intelligence operations,” http://ap.org/media- Frisks Hit Record in 2011,” The Wall Street (Phoenix), April 4, 2012, p. A1. center/nypd/investigation . Journal , Feb. 14, 2012, p. A21. 5 For previous coverage, see these CQ Re - 11 See “Investigation of the Seattle Police De - 18 Gitta Laasby, “Flynn addresses inquiry into searcher reports: Kenneth Jost, “Policing the partment,” U.S. Department of Justice, Civil strip searches,” Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee), Police,” March 17, 2000, pp. 209-240; Sarah Rights Division/ U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western March 23, 2012, p. B1. Background on Mucha Glazer, “Police Corruption,” Nov. 24, 1995, pp. District, Washington, Dec. 16, 2011, www.jus drawn from past coverage by Gina Barton: 1041-1064; Richard L. Worsnop, “Police Bru - tice. gov/crt/about/spl/documents/spd_find “Gun Case Falls Apart With Cop’s Testimo - tality,” Sept. 6, 1991, pp. 633-656; and earli - letter_12-16-11.pdf . The letter requesting the ny,” ibid. , Aug. 8, 2010, p. A1; “Forceful Im - er reports in CQ Researcher-plus Archives. investigation is on the ACLU’s website: www. pact: Suspects have accused Sgt. Jason Mucha 6 See Brendan McCarthy and Laura Maggi, aclu-wa.org/re-request-investigate-pattern-or- 10 times of beating them or planting drugs. “NOPD deeply defective, report says,” The practice-misconduct-seattle-police-department . He wasn’t disciplined, but courts took no - Times-Picayune , March 18, 2011, p. A1; Bren - For initial coverage of Williams’ death, see Sara tice,” ibid. , Sept. 29, 2007, p. A1. dan McCarthy, “Reforms in place, Serpas Jean Green and Steve Miletich, “Police have 19 Anthony Cormier and Matthew Doig, “Unfit says,” ibid. , March 24, 2011, p. B1. See also questions about shooting by cop,” The Seattle for Duty,” Herald-Tribune (Sarasota, Fla.), De - Laura Maggi, “ ‘Clear pattern’ of excessive Times , Sept. 1, 2010, p. A1. cember 2011 (nine parts), http://cops.htcrea force cited,” ibid. , March 18, 2011, p. A14. 12 “Police Use of Force in America,” Interna - tive.com /; Gina Barton, “At least 93 Milwau - 7 See Brendan McCarthy, “Judge imposes stiff tional Association of Chiefs of Police, 2001, kee police officers have been disciplined for sentences on 5 NOPD officers convicted in www.theiacp.org/Portals/0/pdfs/Publications/ violating the law,” Journal Sentinel , Oct. 23, Danziger shootings,” nola.com, April 4, 2012, 2001useofforce.pdf ; “Police Use of Force,” Na - 2011 (1st of 3 parts), www.jsonline.com/watch www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/04/judge_ tional Institute of Justice, www.nij.gov/topics/ dog/watchdogreports/at-least-93-milwaukee- imposes_sentences_on_5_n.html . The defen - law-enforcement/officer-safety/use-of-force/ police-officers-have-been-disciplined-for-vio dants and their sentences are Robert Faulcon welcome.htm#note2 (modified January 2012). lating-law-132268408.html . Jr., 65 years; Kenneth Bowen, 40 years; Robert 13 The decisions are Tennessee v. Garner , 471 20 Background drawn in part from Samuel Gisevius Jr., 40 years; Anthony Villavaso II, U.S. 1 (1985); Graham v. Connor , 490 U.S. 386 Walker and Charles M. Katz, Police in Ameri - 38 years; Arthur “Archie” Kaufman, six years. (1989). ca: An Introduction (5th ed., 2005), chapter 2 For an overview of the case in advance of 14 William Terrill, Eugene A. Paoline III and (pp. 23-58). The sixth edition (2011) was not the trial, see Brendan McCarthy and Laura Jason Ingram, “Final Technical Report Draft: available for use before deadline. Maggi, “Federal prosecutors allege civil rights Assessing Police Use of Force Policy and Out - 21 Ibid. , pp. 33-34. abuses,” The Times-Picayune , June 19, 2011, comes,” National Institute of Justice, February 22 The major cases are Brown v. Mississippi , A1; for a post-verdict account, see Katie Ur - 2012, p. 159, www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/ 297 U.S. 278 (1936); Miranda v. Arizona , 384 baszewski and Brendan McCarthy, “Danziger 237794.pdf . U.S. 436 (1966); Mapp v. Ohio , 367 U.S. 463 evidence outweighed chaos theory,” ibid. , 15 Matthew Kauffman, “In Traffic Stops, Po - (1960). For background, see David G. Savage, Aug. 23, 2011, p. A1. lice Tougher on Blacks, Hispanics,” Hartford Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court (5th ed., 2011), 8 “Taking Stock: Report from the 2010 Round - Courant (Connecticut), Feb. 26, 2012, p. A1. pp. 740-748 (confessions), 725-726 (exclusion - table on the State and Local Law Enforce - 16 New Orleans data cited in Kenneth Jost, ary rule). ment Police Pattern or Practice Program (42 “ ‘Black on Black’ Racial Profiling: Why?” Jost 23 For an official assessment, see “LEAA/OJP USC § 14141),” National Institute of Justice, on Justice (blog), March 11, 2011; Justice De - Retrospective: 30 Years of Federal Support September 2011, https://ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/ partment findings on Maricopa County, www. for State and Local Criminal Justice,” U.S. De - 234458.pdf . justice.gov/crt/about/spl/mcso.php ; East Haven; partment of Justice, Office of Justice Pro - 9 Quoted in Jerry Markon, “Justice Dept. is and www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/documents/ grams, July 11, 1996, p. 3, www.ncjrs.gov/pdf policing the police,” The Washington Post , easthaven_findletter_12-19-11.pdf . files1/nij/164509.pdf . Sept. 18, 2011, p. A3. 17 Figures from the New York Civil Liberties 24 For background, see Glazer, op. cit. ; Peter Maas, Serpico (1973), and the cinemazation of the same title, also 1973, with Al Pacino About the Author in the title role. 25 “14th Annual Report,” City of New York Associate Editor Kenneth Jost graduated from Harvard Commission to Combat Police Corruption, College and Georgetown University Law Center. He is the Feb ruary 2012, www.nyc.gov/html/ccpc/down author of the Supreme Court Yearbook and editor of The loads/ pdf/14th_annual_report.pdf . Supreme Court from A to Z (both CQ Press ). He was a mem - 26 See Tina Daunt and Jim Newton, “City OKs ber of the CQ Researcher team that won the American Bar Police Reform Pact With U.S.,” Los Angeles Association’s 2002 Silver Gavel Award. His previous reports Times , Nov. 3, 2000. include “Eyewitness Testimony” and “Prosecutors and the 27 See Ryan J. Reilly, “Report Delivers Hard Law.” He is also author of the blog Jost on Justice (http:// Numbers on Bush Civil Rights Division,” Main joston justice.blogspot.com). Justice, Dec. 7, 2009, www.mainjustice.com/ 2009/12/07/report-delivers-hard-numbers-on-
320 CQ Researcher bush-civil-rights-division /. 28 See David A. Fahrenthold, “U.S. Faults D.C. Police Use of Force in the ’90s,” The Wash - FOR MORE INFORMATION ington Post , June 14, 2001, p. B1; “Findings Letter re Use of Force by the Washington American Civil Liberties Union , 125 Broad St., New York, NY 10004 ; 212-549-2500 ; www.aclu.org . Has been active on racial profiling, use of force and other police- Metropolitan Police Department,” U.S. De - practices issues. partment of Justice, June 13, 2001, www.jus tice.gov/crt/about/spl/documents/dcfindings. Fraternal Order of Police , Grand Lodge, 1410 Donelson Pike, A-17, Nashville, TN php ; M.L. Erlick and Ben Schmitt, “U.S. De - 37217 ; 615-399-0900 ; www.grandlodgefop.org . Largest membership organization rep - mand to Detroit: Stop Police Abuses Now,” resenting rank-and-file law enforcement officers. Detroit Free-Press , June 13, 2003; “Investiga - International Association of Chiefs of Police , 515 North Washington St., Alexan - tion of the Detroit Police Department” (tech - dria, VA 22314 ; 703-836-6767 ; www.theiacp.org . Represents operating chief executives nical assistance letters, 2002), U.S. Depart - of international, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies of all sizes. ment of Justice, www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/ National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement , 638 E. Ver - documents/dpd/ detroit_cover.php ; Jamie mont St., P.O. Box 1737, Indianapolis, IN 46206 ; 1-866-462-2653 ; www.nacole.org . Stockwell and Ruben Castaneda, “Pr. George’s Brings together individuals and agencies working to establish or improve oversight Agrees to Curb Excessive Force by Police,” The of police officers in the United States. Washington Post , Jan. 23, 2004, p. A1; U.S. Department of Justice, “Investigation of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers , 1025 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 901, Washington, DC 20036 ; 202-872-8600 ; www.crimdefense.org . The largest Prince George’s County Police Department,” organization exclusively representing criminal defense lawyers. Jan. 22, 2004, www.justice.gov/ crt/about/spl/ documents/pgpd/pgpd_cover.php . National District Attorneys Association , 44 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 110, Alexan - 29 “Investigation of the Orange County Sher - dria, VA 22314 ; 703-549-9222 ; www.ndaa.org . Represents criminal prosecutors in state, iff’s Office Use of Conducted Energy Devices,” district, county and city attorneys’ offices. U.S. Department of Justice, Aug. 20, 2008, National Sheriffs’ Association , 1450 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314 ; 1-800-424- www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/documents/ 7827 ; www.sheriffs.org . Represents and assists sheriffs’ offices nationwide through orangecty_ta_ltr.pd . education, training and information resources. 30 Andrew Ramonas, “Senate Confirms Tom Police Foundation , 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20036-2636 ; Perez,” Main Justice, Oct. 6, 2009, www.main 202-833-1460 ; www.policefoundation.org . Established by the Ford Foundation in justice.com/2009/10/06/senate-confirms-tom- 1970; sponsors research to support innovation and improvement in policing. perez /. For a profile, see Jerry Zremski, “For - mer area man takes top civil rights post,” Buffalo News , Nov. 14, 2009, p. A1. 36 See “Law Enforcement Management and 42 “Former FBI director named Puerto Rico 31 Perez quoted in Markon, op. cit. Administrative Statistics, 2000,” Bureau of Jus - police chief,” The Associated Press, March 29, 32 Quoted in Sarah Te Slaa, “Group Calls for tice Statistics, April 2004, pp. 31, 32, http://bjs. 2012. Federal Investigation Into Police Department,” ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/lema001a.pdf . 43 For background, see Richard L. Worsnop, KMTV (Omaha), March 13, 2012, www.kmtv. 37 See Lynn Safranek, “Future of police audi - “Community Policing,” CQ Researcher , Feb. 5, com/news/local/142578935.html . See also tor post under review,” Omaha World-Herald , 1993, pp. 97-120. Roseann Moring, “Groups seek federal probe Oct. 31, 2006, p. 1B. 44 See Joe Rossiter, “Godbee: Virtual police of Omaha police,” Omaha World-Herald , 38 Liz Dorland, “Ernie Chambers Requests precinct plan to go into effect Monday,” De - March 14, 2012. Federal Investigation Into Omaha Police De - troit Free Press , Jan. 31, 2012, p. A7; Kate 33 The statement is cited in full in “Police Re - partment,” KMTV, Sept. 7, 2011, www.kmtv.com/ Linthicum, “L.A. council cuts millions from bud - spond to Complaint,” WOWT, March 13, 2012 , news/local/129429963.html . get,” Los Angeles Times , May 19, 2011, p. AA1; www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Police_Res 39 Jeff Proctor, “Fired Cop Cleared in Death Kevin Johnson, “Home burglarized? Fill out a pond_to_Complaint_142541525.html?storySec of Vet,” Albuquerque Journal , March 30, 2012, form,” USA Today , Aug. 25, 2010, p. 1A. tion=story . p. 41. 45 On use of cell phone tracking, see Eric 34 See Jeff Proctor, “Cop Payments to Stop,” 40 See “SPD 20/20: A Vision for the Future,” Lichtblau, “Police Are Using Phone Tracking Albuquerque Journal , March 30, 2012, p. A1; City of Seattle, www.seattle.gov/mayor/media/ as Routine Tool,” The New York Times , April 1, and earlier coverage by same reporter. For PDF/SPD2020. pdf . For coverage, see Mike 2012, p. A1; on Tasers, see CBS News, “Taser: national coverage, see Manny Fernandez and Carter, “Seattle mayor announces broad ini - An officer’s weapon of choice,” 60 Minutes (David Dan Frosch, “Payments to Albuquerque Of - tiative to improve police force,” The Seattle Martin, correspondent; Mary Walsh, producer), ficers Are Called a ‘Bounty System,’ ” The Times , March 29, 2012; Sara Jean Green, Nov. 13, 2011, www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_ New York Times , March 25, 2012, p. A20. “Mayor’s initiatives seem to address complaints 162-57323531/taser-an-officers-weapon-of-choice /. 35 See Russell Contreras, “Albuquerque ac - of biased policing,” ibid. 46 See Walter A. McNeil, “The Year Ahead,” tivists seek federal probe of police,” The As - 41 See Michelle Krupa and Gordon Russell, Police Chief , November 2011, www.policechief sociated Press, March 27, 2012. Some other “Prosecutor bows out of NOPD talks,” The magazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction= background drawn from article. Times-Picayune , March 17, 2012, p. A9. display_arch&article_id=2519&issue_id=112011 .
www.cqresearcher.com April 6, 2012 321 Bibliography Selected Sources
Books see Police Accountability: The Role of Citizen Oversight (Thomson Learning, 2001). Walker maintains an informative Delattre , Edwin J. , Characters and Cops: Ethics in Polic - website on police accountability issues, including a page cov - ing (6th ed.), AEI Press , 2011 . ering developments in New Orleans (http://samuelwalker.net/). A professor of philosophy, emeritus, at Boston University His other books include Popular Justice: A History of Amer - and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute ican Criminal Justice (2d ed.) (Oxford University Press, 1998); combines two decades of studying police behavior to ex - and A Critical History of Police Reform: The Emergence of amine a full range of ethics issues for law enforcement. In - Professionalism (Lexington, 1977). cludes detailed notes, short bibliography. Articles Kane , Robert J. , and Michael D. White , Jammed Up: Bad Cops, Police Misconduct, and the New York City Police Kocher , Charles , et al. , “Sustaining Police Operations at Department , New York University Press , 2012 (forth - an Efficient and Effective Level under Difficult Economic coming: Nov. 19) . Times,” Police Chief , March 2012 , www.policechiefmaga The book examines the causes of — and responses to zine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&article_id= — alleged police misconduct based on unprecedented, 2621&issue_id=32012 . complete access to the confidential files of more than 1,500 The article, co-authored by a retired deputy Camden, N.J., New York Police Department officers over a 20-year peri - police chief, in the monthly magazine of the International od. Includes detailed notes, bibliography. Kane is an asso - Association of Chiefs of Police examines the need for adapt - ciate professor at the University of Baltimore’s School of ing police department structures and operations in times of Criminal Justice, White an associate professor at Arizona layoffs, cutbacks and consolidated services. State University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Jus - tice. For an earlier article on their findings, see Robert J. Reynolds , Dawn , “Coast to Coast — the Public and the Kane and Michael D. White, “Bad Cops: A study of career- Justice Department is Demanding More Accountability,” ending misconduct among New York City police officers,” National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law En - Criminology and Public Policy , Vol. 8, No. 4 (November forcement , spring 2012 , www.nacole.org/sites/default/ 2009), pp. 737-769. The issue includes three other policy files/NACOLE_Review_Spring2012.pdf . essays on police misconduct. The article in the association’s quarterly newsletter reviews the Justice Department’s reports on Seattle; Maricopa Coun - Roberg , Roy , Kenneth Novak , and Gary Cordner , Police ty, Ariz., and East Haven, Conn. & Society (3d ed.), Roxbury Publishing , 2005 . The college textbook includes lengthy chapters on “Be - Reports and Studies havior and Misconduct,” “Force and Coercion” and “Ac - countability and Ethics.” Each chapter includes notes, sug - “Taking Stock: Report from the 2010 Roundtable on the gested websites for further study. The book also comes with State and Local Law Enforcement Police Pattern or Prac - an interactive student study guide. The authors are profes - tice Program (42 USC § 14141),” National Institute of sors, respectively, at San Jose State University, University of Justice , September 2011 , https://ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/ Missouri-Kansas City and Eastern Kentucky University. 234458.pdf . The report includes a 10-page summary of the views ex - Walker , Samuel , and Charles M. Katz , Police in America: pressed at a roundtable convened to assess the impact of An Introduction (6th ed.), McGraw-Hill , 2011 . the Justice Department’s pattern or practice of police mis - The college textbook includes overviews of the history and conduct program. The report includes notes, a list of all current structure of U.S. law enforcement and individual participants and a list of settlements and investigations as chapters on police corruption and accountability, plus chap - of July 2010. ter notes, a glossary and an interactive student study guide. Walker is a professor of criminal justice, emeritus, at the Uni - Weisburd , David , Rosann Greenspan , Edwin E. Hamil - versity of Nebraska-Omaha and a longtime expert on police ton , Kellie A. Bryant and Hubert Williams , “The Abuse issues; Katz is an associate professor at Arizona State Uni - of Police Authority: A National Study of Police Officers’ versity’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Attitudes,” Police Foundation , 2001 , www.policefounda - tion.org/pdf/AOANarrative.pdf . Walker , Samuel , The New World of Police Accountability , The first-ever national survey of police officers’ attitudes SAGE , 2005 . found that most believe extreme abuse-of-authority cases are The book synthesizes major developments in police ac - infrequent and that the public and the media are too con - countability over the previous decade. For an earlier account, cerned with such incidents.
322 CQ Researcher The Next Step: Additional Articles from Current Periodicals
Excessive Force misconduct and to discipline officers accordingly, says a for - mer state assistant attorney general. McCoppin , Robert , and Dan Hinkel , “Many Complaints, Little Discipline,” Chicago Tribune , Feb. 10, 2012 , p. A1 , Profiling articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-02-10/news/ct-met-north- chicago-brutality-20120210_1_excessive-force-jack-frost- Hanna , Bill , “Fort Worth Councilman Says Report Suggests police-misconduct/2 . Appearance of Racial Profiling,” Fort Worth (Texas) Star- Excessive-force cases against North Chicago police have Telegram , May 25, 2011 , www.star-telegram. com/2011/ steadily increased, but not many officers have been disciplined. 05/24/3101314/fort-worth-councilman-says-report.html . A Fort Worth, Texas, council member has asked the city’s McGhee , Tom , “Spike in Cops’ Lawsuit Payouts,” Denver police chief to provide more data justifying the arrests of Post , Jan. 13, 2012 , p. B1 , www.denverpost.com/breaking alleged victims of racial profiling. news/ci_19730217 . Denver paid $1.34 million in 2011 to settle lawsuits alleg - Pinkerton , James , “A Trend Not in Decline: More Blacks ing that city police officers engaged in excessive force. Pulled Over,” Houston Chronicle , May 9, 2011 , p. A1 , www. chron.com/cars/article/More-black-motorists-pulled-over- Walter , Donna , “8th Circuit: Minor Injuries Can Come From according-to-1691304.php . Excessive Force,” Missouri Lawyers Media , June 6, 2011 . Houston police say race plays no part in traffic stops, but Plaintiffs do not have to sustain major injuries in order to black residents continue to be pulled over more often than prove the use of excessive force by police, according to a any other racial group. U.S. appeals court ruling. Rubin , Joel , “Latinos Targeted in Traffic Stops By LAPD Discipline Officer,” Los Angeles Times , March 27, 2012 , p. A1 , www. latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lapd-racial-profile-201203 Coe , Jackee , “Interim Chief Earns Praise for Tougher 26,0,6544493.story . Policies,” Arizona Republic , Aug. 10, 2011 , p. 3 , www.az An inquiry by the Los Angeles Police Department conclud - central.com/community/swvalley/articles/2011/08/10/ ed that one of its officers targeted Latinos for traffic stops. 20110810goodyear-interim-chief-earns-praise-improving- department.html . Vock , Daniel C. , “Racial Profiling Data Often Unstud - The interim police chief of Goodyear, Ariz., has been praised ied,” The Washington Post , Aug. 9, 2011 , p. A13 . for establishing a consistent professional-standards policy out - Illinois state police hardly ever study racial profiling infor - lining misconduct violations and disciplinary measures. mation, says the state chapter of the American Civil Liber - ties Union. Furst , Randy , “Dolan Panned on Cop Discipline,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis), Dec. 20, 2011 , p. B1 , www.star - tribune.com/local/minneapolis/135898668.html . CITING CQ RESEARCHER The Minneapolis Civilian Review Authority says it has “no Sample formats for citing these reports in a bibliography confidence” that the city’s police chief would discipline of - ficers who engage in misconduct. include the ones listed below. Preferred styles and formats vary, so please check with your instructor or professor. Grossman , Daniel J. , “Atlanta Officers Escape Discipline,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution , May 13, 2011 , p. A19 , www. MLA STYLE ajc.com/opinion/atlanta-officers-escape-discipline-9442 Jost, Kenneth. “Remembering 9/11,” CQ Researcher 2 Sept. 21.html . 2011: 701-732. The failure of the Atlanta Police Department to discipline its officers for misconduct exposes the city to direct finan - APA S TYLE cial liability, says a civil rights attorney. Jost, K. (2011, September 2). Remembering 9/11. CQ Re - Klein , Robert L. , “Police Must Be Accountable to the searcher, 9 , 701-732. People,” Hartford (Conn.) Courant , May 1, 2011 , p. C1 , CHICAGO STYLE articles.courant.com/2011-05-01/news/hc-op-klein-poice- brutality-misconduc20110501_1_police-officers-police- Jost, Kenneth. “Remembering 9/11.” CQ Researcher , September misconduct-police-force . 2, 2011, 701-732. Connecticut needs an agency to hear complaints of police
www.cqresearcher.com April 6, 2012 323 In-depth Reports on Issues in the News
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