Police Brutality Activists Return to Police Commissioner

April 10-- In response to an upswing in anti-police brutality activism generated by several violent incidents by SF police officers within the last year, the Police Commission officially recognized a "Memorandum of Understanding" with the African-American community of San Francisco last night.

The African-American Community Relations Board, a community group formed to confront issues of police relations to black neighborhoods, drafted the memorandum. AACRB member and Nation of Islam Minister Christopher Mohammed presented it to the Office of Citizen Complaints, an arm of the Police Commission, at Wednesday's public meeting, which was attended by an estimated 150 protestors decrying recent incidents of police brutality.

The three-paragraph resolution specifies that the San Francisco Police Department will hold a monthly meeting with the AACRB, with the intent of generating "respect from members of the police department towards members of the African-American community." The six-member board of the Office of Citizen Complaints, which was not a signatory of the agreement, unanimously voted yes to a resolution supporting the memorandum.

Mohammed, who read the statement aloud in the crowded meeting hall, hailed it as "a historical opportunity" and "a breakthrough." He cited his belief that no other statement of its kind had been signed elsewhere in the country, and added that the AACRB, which includes delegates from the mayor's office and the NAACP, clergy, and police liaison Sargeant Cornelius Johnson, is "pleased with the interaction up to this point."

But not everyone in attendance seemed to agree.

As PoliceWatch member Van Jones put it: "...There are Memorandums of Understanding on paper and then there is the understanding that exists out in here in our communities.... There is an understanding that black people with mental disabilities like Idriss Stelley and Richard Tims will not be talked down, but will be SHOT down!" He explicitly called police actions "racist" and pointed out that since the OCC "has no staff, no subpoena power... can't hire anybody, can't discipline anybody, and can't fire anybody... then I would say to you that we have a long way to go."

His speech was met with vigorous applause from the crowd.

Following Jones, the activists presented a variety of statements to the board. Notable among these were those of family members of brutality victims.

Among them was Arthur Tims, father of Richard Tims. Richard, a 36-year-old mentally disabled man, was fatally shot by a cop on March 15, after an incident in which he stabbed a man who had allegedly harassed him on the bus, then cowered in a bus shelter awaiting help.

Arthur told the board, "God give me the knowledge to know that not all police officers are bad. We need you. But the bad ones need to be weeded out."

Zether McGrigor, mother of Vilda Curry, followed him with words concerning her daughter, who was critically injured by a stray bullet in the shoot-out that killed Richard Tims. She spoke at length about her daughter's multiple injuries, which include a bullet lodged in her pelvic bone. "She [Curry] was hurting so bad when I left her [at the hospital] this afternoon, she was asking them to cut her leg off."

Other speakers included the mother of Idriss Stelley, a mentally ill man who was killed by officers outside the Metreon Theatre in June, 2001; the family of Gregory Hooper, who was killed by off-duty policeman Steve Lee in February; and Hunter's Point residents Susan McAllister and Tenisha Bishop, who witnessed McAllister's daughter Alema Hoskins and four other children being accosted by police on January 21.

The Hunter's Point incident-- in which an alleged eight cops handcuffed and pulled guns on five children between the ages of 12 and 14, sexually fondled Hoskins, then 13, and Jannell Harris, 12, and beat Jerome Brown, 14, into unconsciousness, later claiming that they mistook the kids for "gun runners"-- allegedly resulted in two officers being removed from their beats and placed on desk duty, and other officers' removal from the Hunter's Point neighborhood. None of the officers' names and almost no other information regarding the case has been released to the public.

McAllister demanded proof of the officer's reassignments, information on the investigation being undertaken by the Police Department, and the officers' removal from the force.

The families of Curry, Tims, Hooper, Stelley, and the five Hunter's Point children have formally complained against the city. Each is also "seeking legal redress for the wrongs they have suffered," according to their complaint to the SFPD.

All members of the OCC remained impassive throughout the meeting. Board President Sidney Chan's only remarks were to ask the participants to limit the time they spent at the microphone.

Local activist Peter Cabrera, who says he became involved with the series of protests in response to the incident in Hunter's Point, expressed disappointment as he left. "I was at the last one. Nothing's happened since. It's despicable."

And as far as the Memorandum of Understanding goes? It was "an attempt to deflect criticism... It was all a big show."