THE HIGH COST OF POLICE BRUTALITY

THE HIGH COST OF POLICE BRUTALITY
by Gloria Hernandez

"He ain't heavy, he's my brother." That song goes round and round my head whenever I think about the recent officer-involved shootings or incidents of police brutality and all the property they have managed to get their hands on thanks to us, the Fresno taxpayers. We, the community, can carry our brothers and sisters by insisting that our city have Independent Police Auditor oversight. We have recently read that the police department is seeking accreditation to become more professional but it comes to this city at a cost—a cost that didn't stop the already accredited Cincinnati police from beating a man to death (and the case was sent to the Independent Civilian Review Board there).

The mayor is recommending that the item be placed on the City Council's agenda in mid-January 2004. CCCJC encourages everyone to call the city manager's office and get a copy of the mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee's report recommending that Fresno have an IPA. Read it, make notes, and contact your council members to make sure they have read the report and can answer to you why they object to having an IPA. They will tell you what they told us: It costs too much money.

We have seen more and more lawsuits and claims being filed against the police department for police misconduct. I have before me 61 pages of claims, not lawsuits, provided to our attorney in accordance with the Public Records Act Request. The amounts paid by the City of Fresno for claims filed against the FPD from fiscal year1998 to fiscal year 2002 are too numerous to list. The claims were filed for incidents that occurred when police officers were pursuing cars, running stop signs, towing vehicles, striking parked cars, and so on. I have listed some that caught my eye:

11/7/98 $50,295.64 assault/battery against a family
11/27/98 $44,650.82 excessive force
6/22/99 $21,819.88 excessive force
7/12/99 $9,536.51 mental anguish
7/12/99 $8,675.05 civil rights violation
7/22/99 $124,652.97 excessive force
7/23/99 $50,000.00 sexual harassment
9/9/99 $544,710.42 bodily injury (four minors)
9/19/99 $8,129.14 assault/battery
9/23/99 $2,227.12 mental anguish
9/24/99 $5,973.74 assault/battery
10/9/99 $3,457.71 excessive force
12/13/99 $47,476.14 excessive force
3/7/00 $8,746.59 excessive force
4/1/00 $29,399.38 civil rights violation
5/6/00 $42,079.44 civil rights violation
6/2/00 $9,436.52 excessive force
7/9/00 $1,751.00 civil rights violation
8/23/00 $1,336.00 false arrest
8/26/00 $750.00 animal bite
11/24/00 $217.66 excessive force
1/24/01 $1,752.24 excessive force
2/8/01 $1,185.00 excessive force
3/16/01 $2,451.69 assault/battery
5/17/01 $155.29 excessive force
7/18/01 $597.95 excessive force
7/21/01 $23,430.86 excessive force
7/22/01 $63.00 excessive force
9/12/01 $220.01 civil rights violations
3/26/02 $1,063.30 animal bite

I also have some information regarding the lawsuits that have been settled or paid out by the city of Fresno
*Case filed 10/15/99 federal court (assault/battery off duty officer) settled $575,000.
*Case filed 2/8/96 federal court (sec.1983 action, excessive force settled $45,000.00

Out of the 32 pending court cases as of December 18, 2002:
12 were filed for excessive force, 15 for anything from civil rights (racial, sexual, etc.) to personnel actions and some for accidents resulting from the officers in pursuit.

This does not take into account the amount of money that both sides paid for court costs or attorney fees. That's mucho dinero! So make sure your council member knows that we are already paying too high a price not to demand oversight.

For more information regarding this article, email Gloria from CCCJC; she can be reached at iwapgh [at] aol.com.