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Chesapeake Police Chief Retires
The police chief in Chesapeake, Virginia is retiring. Probably for the better, given this bit from the article:
He helped create six community advisory groups but stopped short of citizen oversight, which would have allowed citizens to investigate policy and complaints.
That did not sit well with the Chesapeake chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. March Cromuel Jr., president of the chapter at the time, said he believed oversight would build community trust.
"I would like to see cameras in all police cars and a citizen review board before he leaves," Cromuel said.
Justice opposed it, and still does. "At any time, a complaint can be lodged against us that can bring in the state police, the FBI. The department is open. We don't operate in any clandestine fashion now. We can't have citizen groups running a police department," he said.
Never mind that the police department actually works for the citizens. So no cameras in patrol cars, and no citizen review boards.
I'd beg to differ about Chesapeake PD not operating in a "clandestine fashion." A few weeks ago, based on a tip from some people I spoke with during my visit to Chesapeake, I filed an open records request asking for any internal investigations of "wrong door" raids conducted by Chesapeake PD. I also asked for any complaints filed against the late Det. Jarrod Shivers. My interest is to see if there's a pattern of the department's narcotics officers taking shortcuts, and conducting forced entries raids without doing the appropriate corroborating investigation, as certainly seems to be the case in the raid on Ryan Frederick's home.
I was told that all personnel matters at the department are confidential. All complaints against individual officers are confidential, all internal investigation into officers misconduct are confidential, and any records of internal investigation into mistaken or botched narcotics raids are confidential. It's all confidential. Not only that, but that confidentiality follows an officer to the grave. And it applies even in cases like Ryan Frederick's, where the suspect is facing life in prison or the death penalty, and where the case boils down to weighing the suspect's credibility against that of the police officers who raided his home. All confidential.
It's probably good for Chesapeake that this guy is retiring. And even better that the city manager has ordered a top-down review of police department procedures.
Summary of the Frederick/Shivers case here.
|3.30.08 @ 5:33PM|#
I was told that all personnel matters at the department are
confidential. All complaints against individual officers are
confidential, all internal investigation into officers misconduct
are confidential, and any records of internal investigation into
mistaken or botched narcotics raids are confidential.
What's the matter, Balko? Don't you trust the police? Surely if
there was a problem, with procedures or personnel, the Chesapeake
PD would handle it internally. Confidentially of course. A bunch of
citizens little people asking questions would destroy
morale and inhibit the boys in blue from protecting the citizenry
from the scourge of Japanese maple cvultivation.
Good riddance to the inappropriately named Richard Justice.
|3.30.08 @ 5:34PM|#
So, what's the logic behind all this confidentiality?
National security?
CYA. Nothing else.
|3.30.08 @ 5:41PM|#
Good riddance to the inappropriately named Richard
Justice.
I disagree J sub, he sounds like a Dick to me.
|3.30.08 @ 5:53PM|#
Radley Balko does amazing work. Everyone who's concerned about
civil liberties and the militarization of policing in the United
States owes him a debt of gratitude.
But Balko's journalism, to be effective, must be buttressed by an
active citizenry.
As of right now, there's no Wikipedia Page about the Ryan
Frederick-Jarrod Shivers case. (E.g., no wikipedia entry on Ryan
Frederick and none on Jarrod Shivers.) Without an entry, it's hard
to get people on the same page on this important case. [sorry for
the pun]
Okay, I'm done bitching. Who's going to step up to the plate and
remedy this injustice?
I believe Mr. Balko has already done his part.
|3.30.08 @ 6:22PM|#
It is probably unfair for me to judge the Chesapeake PD from 525
miles away with only a few newspaper articles and internet reports
to go on. But the circle the wagons attitude displayed by the
department in the wake of Jerrod Shivers' unfortunate death and
Ryan Frederick's subsequent arrest does not make giving the benefit
of the doubt very easy.
When any other group of people commit a questionable act, law
enforcement does not allow them to get together allowing them the
opportunity to align their stories. Sadly, that is an all too
common practice when it is an LEO who has done something of
questionable professionalism or legality. If Ryan Frederick had
company at the time of the incident, would that opportunity have
been given to him and his guest? Of course not.
We'll handle it internally and confidntially doesn't engender a lot
of faith to an increasingly skeptical public.
jtuf|3.30.08 @ 7:32PM|#
The down side of handling things through internal reviews is the lack of a court trial. There is a reason the constitution calls for fair and public trials.
|3.30.08 @ 8:51PM|#
"I would like to see cameras in all police cars
street corners" Cromuel said.
Justice opposed it, and still does. "At any time, a complaint can
be lodged against us any citizen that can
bring in the state police, the FBI. The department is open. We
don't operate in any clandestine fashion now. We can't have
citizen groups the police department running
a police department society," he said.
fixed.
Bingo|3.30.08 @ 9:21PM|#
We can't have citizen groups running a police department
In other words, the law enforcement caste has decided that the law
no longer applies to them. So I guess they get added in with movie
stars, professional athletes, politicians, and the rest of the new
American Royalty. I'm obviously exaggerating and being stupid, but
it sure seems this view is increasingly common among people with
power, money, or prestige.
|3.30.08 @ 9:47PM|#
Former police chief Richard Justice is an underhanded, secretive gay man... not that there's anything wrong with that!!
MK2|3.30.08 @ 9:56PM|#
It's the damn drug laws. If it weren't for the drug laws, police could concentrate on real crimes like healthfood scams, worthless diet books and self-help gurus. Nobody would care if a SWAT team bashed in Dr. Phil's door and arrested his ass.
D.A. Ridgely|3.30.08 @ 10:09PM|#
Never mind that the police department actually works for the
citizens.
When, oh when will Reason's editors wake up and stop this
Radly Balko person? Why, just days ago he was claiming that a dying
10 year old shouldn't get to see her incarcerated father because,
after all, this is a war against drugs and now he wants us to
ignore the fact that police departments actually work for the
citizens!
Oh, I know what you're going to say. You're going to claim he was
really using sarcasm or even something fancier that I can't
understand like irony and that he really does want dying children
to see their parents and citizens to oversee police
departments.
Well, maybe so, but I won't be writing a retraction. Since I am not
considering RB for employment I am not concerned with his past
achievements or what kind of person he is. I am only concerned with
his poorly worded comments.
Once you people are finished sucking from Radley's nipples you
might come to realize that elevating people is not a healthy thing.
One day you wake up and find their feet all muddy. I don't care how
popular this person is or what position he's taking on the
anti-drug-war, its' about what I read at the time, in the present,
and how a few people interpreted something. I should be sorry for
that?
This isn't Jr. High. It's very sad how you only mention how popular
a person is, but not one mention of the little girl who has passed
away. That's because you're so blind in your hero worship that you
can't see anything else. Radley Balko is a journalist and just has
to suck it up and deal with the fact that some people out there
might not appreciate something he writes or worship him. It's
called backbone.
Oh, wait, where was I? Oh no, it couldn't have been a dream. No,
Aunt Em. This is a real, truly live place. And I remember that some
of it wasn't very nice. But most of it was beautiful. But just the
same, all I kept saying to everybody was, 'I want to go home.' And
they sent me home. Oh, but anyway, Toto, we're home! Home! And this
is my room - and you're all here! And I'm not gonna leave here
ever, ever again because I love you all! - And oh, Auntie Em,
there's no place like home. There's no place like
home!
bill|3.30.08 @ 10:34PM|#
No cameras in the CPD's cars? That's weird. Most jurisdictions put in the cameras to protect the OFFICERS from malicious complaints. I guess the CPD doesn't care about it's officers or the citizens.
D.A. Ridgely|3.30.08 @ 11:20PM|#
D.A., your comment is bold proof of the failure on the war
on drugs.
Thank you. But, you know, I never did get those flashbacks
I was promised back in the 60s!
Jupiter|3.30.08 @ 11:49PM|#
Nothing will change. As one person pointed out on these boards
the other day, there is no real outrage, no protests, no marching
in the streets outside the Chesapeake PD. We are comfortably numb -
so complacent and preoccupied by other things that stories like
these cause our one minute of outrage, and then it all goes into
the memory file for extraction at a later date (maybe).
The War on the People will continue, advance, enlarge, and cannot
be stopped - save a miraculous awakening of social consciousness
among generation Ipod.
|3.31.08 @ 3:09AM|#
Nothing will change. As one person pointed out on these
boards the other day, there is no real outrage, no protests, no
marching in the streets outside the Chesapeake PD. We are
comfortably numb - so complacent and preoccupied by other things
that stories like these cause our one minute of outrage, and then
it all goes into the memory file for extraction at a later date
(maybe).
The War on the People will continue, advance, enlarge, and cannot
be stopped - save a miraculous awakening of social consciousness
among generation Ipod.
Or maybe, as information technology improves, these incidents will
enter more and more into the sunshine and those who care about
these kind of issues will have a larger base of people who want to
advocate change, while those who do not care about that kind of
issue will instead work on bringing about change for the issues
they care about.
No, wait you're right. All people are idiots. And our freedoms are
constantly dwindling away, not expanding.
WAKE UP SHEEPLE!
GOOGLE RON PAUL!
...WHAT ABOUT BUILDING SEVEN, HUH? EXPLAIN THAT! FREE FALL SPEED!
YEAH? YOU KNOW? HUH?
|3.31.08 @ 3:09AM|#
Nothing will change. As one person pointed out on these boards
the other day, there is no real outrage, no protests, no marching
in the streets outside the Chesapeake PD. We are comfortably numb -
so complacent and preoccupied by other things that stories like
these cause our one minute of outrage, and then it all goes into
the memory file for extraction at a later date (maybe).
The War on the People will continue, advance, enlarge, and cannot
be stopped - save a miraculous awakening of social consciousness
among generation Ipod.
Or maybe, as information technology improves, these incidents will
enter more and more into the sunshine and those who care about
these kind of issues will have a larger base of people who want to
advocate change, while those who do not care about that kind of
issue will instead work on bringing about change for the issues
they care about.
No, wait you're right. All people are idiots. And our freedoms are
constantly dwindling away, not expanding.
WAKE UP SHEEPLE!
GOOGLE RON PAUL!
...WHAT ABOUT BUILDING SEVEN, HUH? EXPLAIN THAT! FREE FALL SPEED!
YEAH? YOU KNOW? HUH?
Taktix®|3.31.08 @ 6:53AM|#
What's the matter, Balko? Don't you trust the
police?
Oh sure, you change your mind on this too...
Oh, wait...
Chamdar|3.31.08 @ 8:34AM|#
Why hasn't that vile fascist scumback Stan shown up to chime in on this yet?
Episiarch|3.31.08 @ 8:36AM|#
Radley Balko is a journalist and just has to suck it up and
deal with the fact that some people out there might not appreciate
something he writes or worship him. It's called
backbone.
I see the douchebag (douchbagette?) who failed to understand
Radley's sarcasm has decided to go the "fight like a moron" route
instead of just admitting they didn't get it right the first time.
Loser.
What's to say that any new police chief will be any more open to
transparency than Dick Justice? It's not like there are tons of
police chiefs out there chomping at the bit to clean up
departments.
|3.31.08 @ 9:25AM|#
"I know what you're going to say. You're going to claim he
was really using sarcasm or even something fancier that I can't
understand like irony and that he really does want dying children
to see their parents and citizens to oversee police
departments."
So, let me get this straight. You know exactly what Balko is
saying, yet you still prefer to take issue with an argument that
you fully admit he isn't making. Is that about it?
|3.31.08 @ 9:42AM|#
All confidential.
It will be interesting to see if this confidentiality stands up in
a criminal trial. I would think that this kind of information would
be useful to either (a) impeach police witnesses and/or (b) show
the defendant's state of mind and/or (c) attack the presumption
that the police were acting within Constitutional bounds.
T|3.31.08 @ 11:14AM|#
RC,
Yeah, I have to wonder if the confidentiality holds up under
criminal discovery. Obviously they won't give it to Radley, but I'd
love to hear the justification for not giving it to the defense
attorney if it's framed as possibly exculpatory.
the russian judge|3.31.08 @ 12:48PM|#
No clear winner yet but I feel pretty confident in nominating D.A. Ridgely for thread loser...
|3.31.08 @ 12:59PM|#
Russian Judge,
I'd agree with you, but I have no idea what the fuck D.A. Ridgely
is talking about.
On second thought, I agree with you because I have no idea
what the fuck he's talking about.
If someone would like to translate for me, I'd greatly appreciate
it.
Also, is Jonathan Hohensee claiming the World Trade Center wasn't
brought down by planes flying into them?
If anyone would like to translate his post for me too, I'd
appreciate it that as well.
|3.31.08 @ 1:23PM|#
Kool,
If he is being earnest and not just mocking a "truther", he seems
to be pointing out that it doesn't make much sense for a building
to sustain secondary damage and then collapse at the same speed as
an uninhibited object, which is as fast as anything can fall under
only the force of gravity.
|3.31.08 @ 1:26PM|#
Whether this did indeed happen is another question. But that's
what he was pointing out. It would certainly be a strange
phenomenon.
It's strange to me that there was so much damage done, especially
because the towers were designed for such attacks, but I was not
there and I cannot verify what did or did not happen. Nobody can.
That's why there are two sides to the story. Nobody has definitive
proof of what did happen. Only explanations for what could have
happened.
|3.31.08 @ 2:24PM|#
Ayn_Randian,
Do you know what today is, man! Nobody *deserves* to be mocked
until everybody gets over their hangovers from the weekend. Wait
until Wednesday at least! I'm still trying to wake up for
chrissakes.
|3.31.08 @ 4:09PM|#
I think this is one of the 1st times I have ever been in
agreement with the National Association of Always Complaining
People.
Everything a cop does is confidential yet if you get arrested for
something and not even convicted or tried in court your name
automatically appears in the paper.
They aren't to confidential when patting themselves on the back and
handing out pig of the year awards.
Instead of a Don't Snitch campaign perhaps we should all tell any
officer looking for information that you would love to be able to
help him but that information is CONFIDENTIAL!
You see how fast they want to regulate Banks now. You see how fast
that one Gov. last week passed a new stupid law since someone in
his family was affected. I forget the details but it was your
typical politician has a problem today and passes a new law
tomorrow type deal.
Now do you see how if only a few of the right people's relatives
get their doors kicked in and shot this problem would go away
pretty fucking quick. Not until those that surpress are affected by
their own laws will they bother to change them for anyone else.
Asharak|3.31.08 @ 4:34PM|#
Stan = Edward
I'm pretty sure they're different people, but I imagine Edward is a
drug warrior, too.
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