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The People Demand an Independent Police Auditor

by Mike Rhodes (MikeRhodes [at] Comcast.net)
The struggle for an Independent Police Auditor in Fresno
550_ipa.jpg

The People Demand an Independent Police Auditor
By Mike Rhodes
June 23, 2004

The Fresno City Council voted (5-2) yesterday not to fund the proposal for an Independent Police Auditor (IPA). Today, the Central California Criminal Justice Committee (CCCJC) held a press conference to address the issue. Ellie Bluestein, chairperson for the CCCJC, said that "the Fresno City Council made a mistake in not adopting the proposal for an Independent Police Auditor for the City of Fresno because it is very much needed. I have here hundreds of signed endorsements by Fresnans favoring such a position, as well as several dozen organizational endorsements."

Several members of the City Council had complained, during public hearings, that the people supporting the IPA proposal did not represent the majority in the community, that they had not heard from their constituents on this issue, and that an IPA was not needed. Community activists have speculated that political ambition and not wanting to upset the powerful Fresno Police Officers Association had more to do with council member Perea and Castillo’s vote than higher political principles. Council member Duncan and Calhoun, on the other hand, are ideologically predisposed to believe that the police can do no wrong and therefore believe that an IPA is unnecessary.

Fresno mayor Allan Autry and Police Chief Jerry Dyer came out in support of the IPA. Autry was quoted in this morning’s Fresno Bee as saying "I’m more determined rather than disheartened about the police auditor. It’s something that we have to have - I’ll keep pushing for it." The Rev. Floyd Harris, a strong supporter of the IPA proposal, said that he "felt this is a sad day for the community because of all the work that the citizens have put into this effort - we have struggled 5 or 6 years to get this Independent Police Auditor. I want to say to the Demetre Hall family whose son was gunned down in Fresno that we will not stop fighting for justice." Harris went on to say that "we are not going to tolerate this - we will get the IPA by whatever means necessary.

At the press conference Ellie Bluestein thanked the many groups that have supported the effort to bring an IPA to Fresno, "especially the Human Relations Commission which supported us early on and has continued to help." The mayor was thanked, as well as The Fresno Bee which has printed several editorials supporting the IPA proposal. The CCCJC press statement, however, took aim at Police Chief Dyer: "We have had some good cooperation from the police chief, but he really disappointed us. We have been told that some of the suggestions we worked on together have been implemented but they are really not effective unless there is a neutral, independent oversight in place. This is especially true of the complaint process. We spent much time with the chief improving the forms and seeing that they were placed in 10 centers around town. But few people know where the are, and there has been no contact with people in those locations to show them how to help people make use of them. And of course the main flaw is that the complaints are heard by police officers, perhaps the very ones being complained about, with no outside presence and no report of the final disposition or the reasons for it, just a statement saying that the complaint has been sustained or not. These are all matters that an IPA would be handling."

Bluestein said at the press conference that "a while back when there were some incidents that called into question police practices the chief asked us to trust him, that he was in favor of an IPA and that it would happen, but he needed some time to work things out, that he had made many changes and could not do everything at once, and he asked us to cool off a bit and give him some time. We did this. Therefore we were very disappointed to read a quote from him during the budget hearings saying that an IPA was not necessary. It certainly seems to contradict other statements made to the public and to us saying that he is in favor of an IPA."

Gloria Hernandez, an active member of the CCCJC and a participant at today’s press conference, was asked if the proposal to spend $188,000 on an IPA was a realistic figure and if the money would be well spent. Hernandez said "it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money paid out in lawsuits settled between 2001-03 when the city paid $4,223,298 in out of court settlements. Between 1998-2003 the city paid out $2,432,401 from lawsuits that were settled in court, making the cost of paying for an IPA peanuts." According to the CCCJC an IPA could not only save lives but city money too.

Spokespersons at the CCCJC press conference stressed that it is not necessary to wait another year for the city council to include IPA funding in the budget. Bluestein said "Anytime the City Council wants to they could easily do the right thing and bring police accountability and fairness to the city of Fresno."

Questions? Ideas? Call Ellie at (559) 229-9807, Gloria at (559) 268-2261, Floyd at (559)288- 0828, Rebeca at (559) 227-3837. Also, see the new CCCJC web site at: www.fresnoalliance.com/cccjc

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