Oakland Police Investigation Panel – Objective, No

Dear Editor,
Maybe I'm confused about something here, but I have to admit I was amazed to see in your story on the Oakland Docks protest investigation [5.28.03], that a former appointee of then-governor Jerry Brown - retired Santa Clara Superior Court Judge, LaDoris Hazzard Cordell - could be considered an unbiased member of a panel investigating Brown's own police force in Oakland. I'm sure she was a fine judge, but Brown has come out on the side of the police, forcefully and without evidence, and the stakes here are high - the city has suffered over 40 murders this year alone and faces massive lawsuits on police abuse. Ms. Cordell may have worked at Stanford, but so did Condoleeza. And now that the war is over, it looks like the cover-up is just beginning.

Sincerely,
. . . .

"The City Council will hear a report on the panelists Tuesday, but will not vote on the members because they have already been selected by City Attorney John Russo and City Manager Robert Bobb. "

Is this a democracy??? WTF? Brunner says she wanted at least ONE person on there who the activists wouldn't see as biased - Brunner also lied to us directly in the City Council chambers when she told us to wait to speak after we ousted de la Fuente, don't forget. Her interest may be in just keeping everything under control and placated. This is ridiculous.

See you Tuesday!

..............................................
Police probe panel named
Retired judge, assistant D.C. police chief, lawyer to check allegations
By Laura Counts, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- A panel charged with investigating police use of "less-lethal" weapons on anti-war protesters at the Port of Oakland will include a retired judge, an assistant police chief from Washington, D.C. and a San Francisco civil rights attorney.

All three have agreed to donate their time, according to the City Attorney's Office. They will spend the summer interviewing police, demonstrators and witnesses, and reviewing police documents before reporting back in September.

"Law enforcement agencies are learning that in order to effectively deal with situations you have to get firsthand experience, and you have to share what you learn," said Assistant Chief Brian Jordan of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia.

He said that D.C. has seen its share of protests, including those surrounding the International Monetary Fund meeting.

Jordan will serve as the police practices expert on the panel, which also will include LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, a retired Santa Clara County Superior Court judge appointed to the bench in 1982 by then-Governor Jerry Brown. The third panel member is Attorney Dale Minami, whose best-known civil rights case overturned a 40-year-old conviction of a Japanese American who had resisted internment during World War II.

The City Council will hear a report on the panelists Tuesday, but will not vote on the members because they have already been selected by City Attorney John Russo and City Manager Robert Bobb. That process was followed to keep the investigation independent, said city attorney spokeswoman Karen Boyd.

Councilmember Jane Brunner (North Oakland), who called for a review of police actions, said she wanted to make sure the panel would be fair.

"I wanted to make sure there was one person on the panel who protesters would not think was biased against them," Brunner said. "I looked into the judge and found she has a reputation for being fair."

Civil rights and community groups were outraged when police opened fire with "less-lethal" ammunition during an April 7 protest that aimed to shut down two port shippers with war-related government contracts.

Police said they used wooden dowels, "sting balls" that spew tear gas and rubber pellets, and buckshot-filled bean bags to disperse protesters throwing bottles and rocks. But demonstrators insist the protest was peaceful, and said police fired repeatedly at retreating crowds.

None of the videotapes released by police shows any objects being thrown, and transcripts of radio communication show no reference to rock throwing until well after police fired on a crowd blocking the gate to the APL terminal. At least a dozen -- and possibly several dozen -- people were injured, including several with broken bones, and a woman who has required two surgeries and a skin graft to her leg.

Oakland police were the only agency in the country to use such projectiles against anti-war protesters, though other agen-cies do employ them for crowd control. Oakland had only recently added the wooden dowels and stinger grenades to its arsenal, and had actually used them for the first time to control post-Super Bowl crowds in East Oakland.

In that instance, there was no outrage, despite the fact that police shot 42 wooden baton rounds, 30 rubber baton rounds, 41 stinger grenades, and 52 rounds of beanbags. Police also used the stinger grenades on unruly crowds that refused to go home after Monday's Carijama Carnival. No injuries were reported.

Jordan said he hadn't reviewed any of the Oakland events and couldn't comment on the police department's methods. But he said the D.C. police don't use projectiles for crowd control, instead using pepper spray, tear gas and batons.

Jordan said he had not served on an investigation panel before, but has conducted numerous training sessions on crowd control. He serves as assistant chief in charge of patrol operations in the central city, overseeing 1,200 officers and a budget of $80 million.

He has also directed the office of internal affairs, the civilian complaint review board, as well a broad range of other police operations, including homicide and narcotics. Jordan joined the force in 1983 and is a 1998 graduate of the FBI National Academy and a 1999 graduate of Harvard University's senior management policing institute.

Cordell said she couldn't comment on her involvement in the panel since it has yet to meet.

Cordell retired from the bench in 2001 and is now vice provost and special counselor to the president for campus relations at Stanford University.

When Brown appointed her to the municipal court in 1982, she became the first African-American woman judge in Northern California. She was elected to the superior court in 1988, becoming the first African-American Superior Court justice in the county's history.

Minami, who could not be reached to comment, is primarily a personal-injury and entertainment lawyer. He represents a number of athletes and entertainers including Olympic figure skating gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi.

He also has handled several high-profile civil rights cases involving Asian Americans, including the case of Fred Korematsu, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor after Minami succeeded in getting his conviction for refusing to obey exclusion orders overturned.

Minami also has served as an adviser to President Bill Clinton and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. He is a partner in the San Francisco firm Minami, Lew and Tamaki.
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~1422309,00.html

Grand jury critical of police review
S.F. cops hinder watchdog agency's work, panel says

Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, May 29, 2003
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/05/29/BA305781.DTL

The San Francisco Civil Grand Jury on Wednesday found systematic problems in the city's police accountability system -- adding a new layer to a growing pile of complaints about the Police Department's response to charges of officer misconduct.

The Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC) -- the city's police watchdog agency -- and City Controller Ed Harrington issued separate reports last month that found chronic problems in the system. Among the concerns: the OCC lacks true independence to thoroughly investigate civilian complaints against cops and the Police Department hampers the investigations by foot-dragging in cooperating with OCC investigations.

The Civil Grand Jury's findings echoed those concerns.

"Meritous citizen complaints have been dismissed during the past three years because of delays in the OCC investigation process caused by SFPD personnel," the Civil Grand Jury found in the report.

The delays, it added, have real consequences. Because of a one-year statute of limitations on most complaints of police misconduct, some cases in which the OCC has sustained a complaint and forwarded it to the Police Department for review have have been dropped, with the officer avoiding discipline.

The 19-member Civil Grand Jury recommended several reforms, including that the Police Department adopt procedures to ensure cooperation with the OCC and that the department improve its tracking system of citizen complaints to make sure they're dealt with in a timely manner.

Like the city controller, the Civil Grand Jury also called for changes with the Police Commission, which oversees the Police Department and the watchdog agency, to improve its handling of misconduct cases.

The Board of Supervisors held a hearing last week on the concerns raised by the OCC and the controller. At the meeting, Acting Police Chief Alex Fagan said he and his command staff take the problems seriously and he vowed to resolve them.

E-mail Rachel Gordon at rgordon [at] sfchronicle.com.

Why don't they have somebody from Amnesty International or Human Rights watch on the Panel? Why not someone from outside the U.S. who has experience in human rights.? After all, we "the US" are always sending monitors to other countries- when we here have our own share of state violence including police actions, the death penalty, the death penalty for juveniles, detentions without any due process,etc, etc. And what did we get-an entertainment attorney. Since he has worked to represent the civil rights of Asian Americans, maybe he will be interested in the rights of the Asian American police officer who gave orders to initiate the police violence on April 7th. Let's see-Jerry Brown's appointee, a high ranking police officer and an attorney who represents highly paid entertainment and sports figures. Yes, this does show the "respect" or should I say "contempt" that city officials have for the average citizen in Oakland. Of course, all of these people have "volunteered" to do this over the summer. I guess that would also leave out most of the average people who have to work full time to make a living.

dear neutered

enough of the global whining, we are working for the repeal of globalization, and you want to give the global's more power! ! ! the power to silence us!
are you mad?

Globalization is basically an effort to put production in those countries with the lowest wages and with minimal government interference for human rights, the environment, etc. To suggest that international human rights organizations are part of globalization...i don't think so. There are basic international standards on human rights and other conventions by which the international community conducts itself. Unfortunately, the U.S. does not always conform to these conventions. The death penalty for juvenile offenders is one glaring example.

other conventions by which the international community conducts itself.

and you feel that some unknown "global entity" is best suited to regulate local law and govern your future??
are you for real?? look at what comes from the politicians we know about
and you want to appoint "secret officials" I pray you are joking...