Interesting note on secret 9-1-1 tapes at Monday's Council meeting
The Sun has been right on top of this issue from the get-go: On Aug. 19, a contingent of police officers went to the Dorjil housing projects on the West side where residents say they were holding a street side vigil for a young father who was slain the day before. Chaos ensued, by numerous accounts, with people being arrested, officers being slightly injured and dozens of residents being outraged enough to come to the city council meeting the next day, where the dead man's mother found a sympathetic ear in Mayor Pat Morris ...
Chief Mike Billdt said at that meeting that an investigation would be conducted.
The issue heated again when 6th Ward Councilman Rikke Van Johnson demanded the police tapes of the incidents so he could investigate.
Chief Billdt conferred with City Attorney James F. Penman. The answer was no, the councilman, nor anyone else, could not review the tapes.
It flared again, if lightly, at the Sept. 17 meeting.
During council announcements, Johnson said he wanted a written explanation from Penman as to why he couldn't see the tapes. Billdt was in the audience.
Penman's answer clearly put the onus on Billdt. He said the law was clear, and that he didn't make the decision, only that he told Billdt that state law gives him the right to disclose, or not disclose, the tapes. Penman further said that the tapes were part of an "ongoing murder investigation," even though the event in question occurred the day after the murder during a streetside vigil.
Penman said that the law was clear, citing a state supreme court ruling, that the police chief can "choose" whether to release the tapes. Penman went on to indicate that Billdt, "under consideration" of the mayor and city manager, had opted not to.
Billdt has said an investigation into the incident is ongoing. He has not indicated when, or if, he will release the tapes.
*** A brief comment from this reporter: In this matter, we want to avoid any unwarranted implication that police did something wrong that day at the Dorjils. They may have acted with unnecessary force, or they may have been perfectly justified in their actions.
We simply don't know. We can't know. The state supreme court has granted extra abilities for local policing agencies to keep records and information related to investigations secret. Other local government agencies generally do not have those powers (there are exceptions, closed session legal matters and negotiations come to mind). Police do.
It should be pretty clear that the refusal to release tapes by the police chief is just the city covering its potentially liablous butts.
If the citizens of this city truly want accountability from those employed by us to provide for our safety they should be looking to create a Public Safety Commission ala L.A., Riverside. etc. It is such an agency that would have the power to subpoena such tapes, review them, and report on their findings. It is high time in our city where 65 percent of our tax dollars are spent on public safety that we had the accountability necessary to independently assure that we are getting our money's worth.
As a side bar, I wonder if the officer selling the vulture shirts is collecting the measure Z tax on his sales?
Van johnson, NICE try at your attempt to place the blame for this near riot at the feet of the City Attorney. It did not work as you found out because you have not done your homework. I am sure that the "judge" advised you and then left you holding the bag, B U T, not quite hanging you out to dry. By the way, have you read in the last 90 days about five firefighters who were injured in Muscoy. They were attending to a deceased mother of an adult male in the same type of neighborhood as the incident involving the PD this last time. One person using "grief" as his excuse for pummeling 5 of our unarmed fire fighter heroes and sent some of them to the hospital. If Mr. v. Johson does not read the paper, he should look it up in the archives. Of course, he would never see the correlation and would continue in his plight to try to throw as many good cops under the bus. All this in an effort to make a statement that he is working for his constituency. Come to think of it, this is ONE rare occasion that he has opened his mouth other than to say "YES, Mayor, how do you want me to vote?
As usual the game of "politics" continues in the city... No longer the "City of 1,000 Welcomes" it is clearly a "New Jack City" on a larger scale... I am a former resident of the "Dorjils"... It is merely a "Housing Project" (slum) in the city...Children go door to door to ask other neighbors for cigarettes and drugs for their parents from other neighbors.... others are out looking for a hot meal... Code violations are in great abundance and never addressed - even when sited... As a renter in this city you are stuck with whatever is thrown your way for housing and if you complain too loudly you are met with the same attitude as all of my former neighbors - NOTHING!!!... We will investigate and when you are on the other side of Mr. Mayor you will get just that...NOTHING!!!... We will never know the truth of what happened at the back end of those projects on those days.... but one thing for sure is not all of those injured are telling an untruth... If the city has nothing to hide why not disclose what is on the tapes??? If the police were in the right the tapes would probably be on sale in the same parking lot as the T-shirts... I can onlly hope that all of the vultures pictured on the shirts are properly identified for who they are....