Complaint and Response
Last week, the Office of Police Complaints issued its annual report, which revealed a positive development: The stalemate between the D.C. Police Department and the agency appears to be over.
Since 2004, dozens of officers had refused to cooperate with the agency—mainly by not signing off on their statements—in investigations of citizen complaints ranging from inappropriate language to excessive force (“The Thin Blue Wall” 3/13/2007). But in April of last year, the report states, Chief Cathy Lanier issued directives that officers who did not participate in the OPC’s investigations would be disciplined.
In the first half of last year, 42 officers refused to comply. After Lanier’s order, only 6 cops refused. “We’re very pleased the way Chief Lanier responded to the issues, the stance she took,” says Thomas Sharp, OPC deputy director. “It’s important for us [and] the integrity of our process to interview every witness, including the officers. It was a problem that was expanding. It was continuing to grow. And she basically put an end to it.”
The union is still upset that officers can not prepare their own statements and are instead interviewed by OPC investigators. “I certainly wouldn’t [participate],” says union head Kristopher Baumann. Lanier says the problem got solved after the complaint procedure was explained and made more transparent to skeptical rank and file.
“Nobody is trying to trick anybody here,” Lanier says. “I don’t know what the union is upset about.”
5:08 pm
The Chief's lack of understanding of this issue causes me to wonder about her qualifications for her position. What Police Complaints is doing is a violation of DC Code 5-1111 (c) which reads in part. "The Executive Director is authorized to cause the issuance of subpoenas under seal of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia compelling the complainant, subject officer or officers, witnesses, and other persons to respont to written or questions, or produce relevant documents." The statements oral or written must be under oath or affirmation. The statute does not allow OPC to interview the officers them write the statements for them and order them to sign it or the will be referred to the Department for discipline for failing to cooperate. What the Chief has done is force officer to adopt the statements of the OPC investigators as their own. Next time you write about this subject do your home work first.
8:02 am
THis is a joke all the Chairman does is look for some press statement to put something out there, try to make your staff ACTUALLY represent the officers instead of picking and choosing what case they want to handle/push through the process.
9:29 am
It is a violation of the law to force an employee to sign a statement under oath that they did not write, and do not agree with. If this process were challenged legally, it would not withstand scrutiny. Again, the Chief appears to care more about her public image than the true underlying problem.
1:52 am
HOW ABOUT THE RIGHTS OF THE VICTIMS? I WAS/AM SUCH A VICTIM!
I always beleived that the police were there to help you and if you were a good person who followed the law you had nothing to worry about. That all changed September 3rd 2005 around 3am . Me and a 5 friends (all with clean records and professional jobs and most with degrees) we were walking to our cars after an evening at a nightclub at 14th and L when when we had the unfortunate luck of stumbling across plain clothes officers doing something they werent supposed to be doing with a prostitute.
We didnt even realize what we we saw at first. We didnt even realize these men were officers until well after the foul language, the threats, the shoves and until the guns were drown. You the reader are probably saying to youself "something else must have happened here" - that is what I would have thought if I hadnt seen it myself. If I hadn't seen a girl who weighed less than a hundred pounds get her arm broken (confirmed by hospital staff). If I hadnt seen one young man cover his friends body with his body to stop the blows from the policemans baton. If I handt seen one officer hold a handcuffed and seated man on the ground while an officer punched him in the face and said "what you have to say now motherfucker" (luckily another office pulled him off after a few punches). The only way I managed not to be assaulted directly was by taking photos with my phone while the assault which lasted about 5 minutes took place (unfortunetly my flash was not on so the pictures came out too dark).
This isnt something that just happens to poor, uneducated people who don't know the system. It can happen to anyone - I know because it happened to me. At the scene I requested a supervisor and a community liason - I was directed to the officer who initiated the violence and who broke the girls arm. Immediatly at the station where I and a concerned bystander totally who had never met me or my party that night (I myself had only met those people that night) waited at the 3RD STREET police station for hours. Not only did the police refuse to take our statement but when I informed them I wanted to file a complaint I was told by by the SERGEANT NEALE ( I will never forget that name) "You want to file a complaint? What do you think is going to happen? We are going to investate ourselves?" After I informed them I was filing a complaint and forced them to give me a complaint the four people ...the four VICTIMS were charged with a felony - assualting a policy officer. Although they were the only ones with the bruises, cuts, broken bones, and puncture wounds (fyi - puncture wonds dont heal like regular cuts - they can bleed for an entire week - I know I dressed those wounds daily for a week - you can never get used to waking up in blood soaked sheets).
I have never been more afraid in my life. I can only imagagine what those without a formal education, without the knowledge of how the system works or those that are poor or disenfranchised handle a situation like that.
Without going into any more detail I will give you the highlights. After a year of constant delays by the police department (including the refusal of the officers to participate in the Office of Police Complaint Process) to produce evidence the case was finally dismissed against my four friends - by then we had almost all but stop speaking. The trauma of the incident was too much. The officers involved Officer Norman Kenny, Officer Randy Twyman, Officer Ellingsworth
were not charged by the States Attorneys office although there were photographs of the injuries, multiple eyewitnesses including people not related to the victims.
Over 2 years later earlier this month I got a letter in the mail from the Office of Police Complaints regarding the charges that we filed against the officers including Execcive Force and Harrassment. UNFOUNDED. I check every day on the website of the office of police complaints to get some idea what would make us wrong and them right? What is the justification for beating someone? Of nearly killing them?
Some may consider me lucky because I managed to escape any PHYSICAL harm that night. I carry the emotional scars with me deep and they will never go away. It took almost a week before I was able to drive my own car in the city and when an officer pulled up behind me I nearly had a heart attack. The stress was that bad.
I would love it if the city paper or some other news outlet would look into this story. Not just because it happened to me but because it could happen to anyone and the fact of the matter is that it DOES HAPPEN EVERY DAY. The process involved in filing one of these complaints is long and arduous yet most of the descisions in these complaints are reached until many years later and even if the complaints are founded there is almost no disciplinary action. You would be surprised what someone can get away with as long as they have a badge.
WE have to do something about this - WHY WON'T THE GOVERMENT HELP? Why is this being ignored? I try to tell myself that not all officers are like this but it is hard to believe that when you see the system of coverups and excuses that are involved with these types of cases.
2:06 am
Want to see the types of complaints that are filed for DC and the results?
Here is a link to the examiner descisions grouped by year.
I gurantee you will be horrified and dismayed.
http://policecomplaints.dc.gov/occr/cwp/view,a,3,q,608933,occrNav,|31082|.asp