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BART Police Oversight Vs. Every Cop Union in the State; Police Chief Gee Out; and a Rumor
Just three days after the proposal was forwarded from the subcommittee on police oversight, the BART Board of Directors voted unanimously on Thursday, August 13th, in favor of submitting the new police oversight plan to the California legislature for approval. As legislators debate the plan's merits, or lack thereof, it is certain to be vehemently resisted by every police union in the state, as the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) has already threatened. The BART Board is currently lobbying legislators to pass the proposal, and undoubtedly statewide police representatives are lobbying for rejection of the plan. BART is hoping that the Board's unanimous support for the proposal will be enough to serve the police unions a rare defeat in the state legislature.
Over the weekend, as BART negotiated with its own labor unions to avoid a strike that would have shut down BART on Monday, Police Chief Gary Gee announced that he will be retiring from the force by December 30th of this year, two days short of the first anniversary of the murder of Oscar Grant.
The removal of Chief Gee has been a top priority for community activists since January after he declared in a press conference that all of the officers on the Fruitvale platform when Oscar Grant was murdered acted professionally and according to protocol. He said this despite having seen a high-quality video with audio and accounts of numerous eye-witnesses to the contrary. Chief Gee has failed to discipline a single officer for misconduct related to the murder on New Year's Day. It might be one of his very last acts as Chief to finally do so, according to rumors surfacing now.
Rumor has it, indirectly heard from two elected officials, one within BART and one within city government, that the long overdue Meyers Nave investigative report on the events of January 1st is set to be released in the very near future and that the report comes down hard on the extremely unprofessional behavior of the officers who detained Oscar Grant and his friends. If the report indeed makes such conclusions, it will validate what community activists have been saying all along. There is no advance word on whether the report will recommend criminal charges against at least Tony Pirone as activists have demanded.
If the Meyers Nave report does turn out to be critical of BART police behavior and not merely a public relations whitewash as some in the community have feared it might be, then it becomes obvious why Chief Gee announced his resignation on Saturday. If the report were to vindicate the BART police at Fruitvale, then it would have also vindicated Gary Gee for taking no action against them and he likely would remain on the force. But, if Gee's officers were out of control -- acting more like a racist, murdering gang than a professional police force -- and Gary Gee failed to hold them to account for their behavior, then he himself is culpable for his own gross negligence as their supervisor. And so his resignation ahead of the release of such a report makes sense.
Looking forward, General Manager Dorothy Dugger is just as culpable as Chief Gee for the failures of the BART police. She is the only one who currently has the authority to reprimand or fire Chief Gee (not even the BART Board legally can), and yet she has failed to do so. Likewise, she has made false statements in support of Gee and the officers involved on the Fruitvale platform. Dugger publicly has stood by Gee and the BART police, deflecting responsibility to Meyers Nave and NOBLE to tell her what to do. Additionally, Tony Pirone and Marysol Domenici need to be held to account for their actions on January 1st, not to mention the perjury they both committed during Johannes Mehserle's preliminary hearing. Why none of the other officers present on the Fruitvale platform felt compelled to check Pirone and Domenici as they assaulted Oscar Grant and his friends, and why they all apparently hesitated in calling for medical assistance after Oscar Grant was shot in the back, are more outstanding issues BART has yet to deal with.
While BART's Board-approved draft for police oversight is flawed for tying its citizen's board's hands with a supermajority requirement and by allowing BART's two police unions to appoint a "citizen" oversight board member, amongst other issues, it is unique in a state dominated by the Police Bill of Rights in that it actually allows civilians outside of BART's police force to have a say in discipline for officer misconduct. Hence the very strong police resistance to the plan -- they worry that it is a foot in the door to stronger civilian police oversight statewide. One can only hope...
Presumably the bill to create external police oversight at BART will pass through the California Assembly's Public Safety Committee, as did Tom Ammiano's AB312, which was an earlier legislative attempt to establish BART police oversight that was stymied by BART itself and statewide police unions. Assemblypersons Jerry Hill and Warren Furutani voiced support for AB312, but passage will also require convincing previously undeclared Assemblypersons Fiona Ma from San Francisco and/or Nancy Skinner from Berkeley in order to move the bill forward. Supporters of increased police oversight at BART should call or email these officials to enourage support for the plan. You can also show up at the offices of Fiona Ma and Nancy Skinner on Fridays when they are required to be in their local offices.
--------------------------------------------------
previous related post:
BART Anxious to Wrap Up Police Oversight Plan at Final Subcommittee Meeting: audio & PDFs
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/14/18615770.php
The removal of Chief Gee has been a top priority for community activists since January after he declared in a press conference that all of the officers on the Fruitvale platform when Oscar Grant was murdered acted professionally and according to protocol. He said this despite having seen a high-quality video with audio and accounts of numerous eye-witnesses to the contrary. Chief Gee has failed to discipline a single officer for misconduct related to the murder on New Year's Day. It might be one of his very last acts as Chief to finally do so, according to rumors surfacing now.
Rumor has it, indirectly heard from two elected officials, one within BART and one within city government, that the long overdue Meyers Nave investigative report on the events of January 1st is set to be released in the very near future and that the report comes down hard on the extremely unprofessional behavior of the officers who detained Oscar Grant and his friends. If the report indeed makes such conclusions, it will validate what community activists have been saying all along. There is no advance word on whether the report will recommend criminal charges against at least Tony Pirone as activists have demanded.
If the Meyers Nave report does turn out to be critical of BART police behavior and not merely a public relations whitewash as some in the community have feared it might be, then it becomes obvious why Chief Gee announced his resignation on Saturday. If the report were to vindicate the BART police at Fruitvale, then it would have also vindicated Gary Gee for taking no action against them and he likely would remain on the force. But, if Gee's officers were out of control -- acting more like a racist, murdering gang than a professional police force -- and Gary Gee failed to hold them to account for their behavior, then he himself is culpable for his own gross negligence as their supervisor. And so his resignation ahead of the release of such a report makes sense.
Looking forward, General Manager Dorothy Dugger is just as culpable as Chief Gee for the failures of the BART police. She is the only one who currently has the authority to reprimand or fire Chief Gee (not even the BART Board legally can), and yet she has failed to do so. Likewise, she has made false statements in support of Gee and the officers involved on the Fruitvale platform. Dugger publicly has stood by Gee and the BART police, deflecting responsibility to Meyers Nave and NOBLE to tell her what to do. Additionally, Tony Pirone and Marysol Domenici need to be held to account for their actions on January 1st, not to mention the perjury they both committed during Johannes Mehserle's preliminary hearing. Why none of the other officers present on the Fruitvale platform felt compelled to check Pirone and Domenici as they assaulted Oscar Grant and his friends, and why they all apparently hesitated in calling for medical assistance after Oscar Grant was shot in the back, are more outstanding issues BART has yet to deal with.
While BART's Board-approved draft for police oversight is flawed for tying its citizen's board's hands with a supermajority requirement and by allowing BART's two police unions to appoint a "citizen" oversight board member, amongst other issues, it is unique in a state dominated by the Police Bill of Rights in that it actually allows civilians outside of BART's police force to have a say in discipline for officer misconduct. Hence the very strong police resistance to the plan -- they worry that it is a foot in the door to stronger civilian police oversight statewide. One can only hope...
Presumably the bill to create external police oversight at BART will pass through the California Assembly's Public Safety Committee, as did Tom Ammiano's AB312, which was an earlier legislative attempt to establish BART police oversight that was stymied by BART itself and statewide police unions. Assemblypersons Jerry Hill and Warren Furutani voiced support for AB312, but passage will also require convincing previously undeclared Assemblypersons Fiona Ma from San Francisco and/or Nancy Skinner from Berkeley in order to move the bill forward. Supporters of increased police oversight at BART should call or email these officials to enourage support for the plan. You can also show up at the offices of Fiona Ma and Nancy Skinner on Fridays when they are required to be in their local offices.
--------------------------------------------------
previous related post:
BART Anxious to Wrap Up Police Oversight Plan at Final Subcommittee Meeting: audio & PDFs
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/14/18615770.php
For more information:
http://www.indybay.org/oscargrant
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Useful , informative article . One suggestion though . Please don't refer to Police organizations as '' Unions''. Cops certainly do look after themselves , '' Blue wall of Silence '' and all that .
But they show no solidarity whatsover with genuine working class organizations. During strikes their ''job'' is to keep production/operation of whatver struck facilities going , escorting scabs across picket lines etc. They also often ''Moonlight '' and pick up another paycheck as open strikebreakers working directly for the struck corporation .
At BART once some years ago they even placed cops as Train Operators so they could solicit real train operators to sell them coke . After requested requests from a undercover cop one driver fell for this entrapment and sold them a tiny amount , resulting of course in his firing , arrest and conviction . So much for Solidarity with their ''fellow BART workers '' !
I think that Police organizations shouldn't be allowed in County Labor councils yet they are foolisly welcomed in every council that i'm aware of .
But they show no solidarity whatsover with genuine working class organizations. During strikes their ''job'' is to keep production/operation of whatver struck facilities going , escorting scabs across picket lines etc. They also often ''Moonlight '' and pick up another paycheck as open strikebreakers working directly for the struck corporation .
At BART once some years ago they even placed cops as Train Operators so they could solicit real train operators to sell them coke . After requested requests from a undercover cop one driver fell for this entrapment and sold them a tiny amount , resulting of course in his firing , arrest and conviction . So much for Solidarity with their ''fellow BART workers '' !
I think that Police organizations shouldn't be allowed in County Labor councils yet they are foolisly welcomed in every council that i'm aware of .
That rumor definitely makes sense, Dave. Thank you for keeping us updated on these recent developments.
Here's an idea. Suppose they actually do create this civilian oversight board. What do you suppose their reaction would be if they got several hundred applications to be on that board? Even though the Oscar Grant Movement is no longer a major presence on the streets, I believe that the various organizations could still mobilize many, many people to fill out applications to be on this board.
Here's an idea. Suppose they actually do create this civilian oversight board. What do you suppose their reaction would be if they got several hundred applications to be on that board? Even though the Oscar Grant Movement is no longer a major presence on the streets, I believe that the various organizations could still mobilize many, many people to fill out applications to be on this board.
Obey the government, for God is the one who has put it there. There is no government anywhere that God has not placed in power.
2 So those who refuse to obey the laws of the land are refusing to obey God, and punishment will follow.
3 For the policeman does not frighten people who are doing right; but those doing evil will always fear him. So if you don't want to be afraid, keep the laws and you will get along well.
4 The policeman is sent by God to help you. But if you are doing something wrong, of course you should be afraid, for he will have you punished. He is sent by God for that very purpose.
5 Obey the laws, then, for two reasons: first, to keep from being punished, and second, just because you know you should.
6 Pay your taxes too, for these same two reasons. For government workers need to be paid so that they can keep on doing God's work, serving you.
7 Pay everyone whatever he ought to have: pay your taxes and import duties gladly, obey those over you, and give honor and respect to all those to whom it is due.
2 So those who refuse to obey the laws of the land are refusing to obey God, and punishment will follow.
3 For the policeman does not frighten people who are doing right; but those doing evil will always fear him. So if you don't want to be afraid, keep the laws and you will get along well.
4 The policeman is sent by God to help you. But if you are doing something wrong, of course you should be afraid, for he will have you punished. He is sent by God for that very purpose.
5 Obey the laws, then, for two reasons: first, to keep from being punished, and second, just because you know you should.
6 Pay your taxes too, for these same two reasons. For government workers need to be paid so that they can keep on doing God's work, serving you.
7 Pay everyone whatever he ought to have: pay your taxes and import duties gladly, obey those over you, and give honor and respect to all those to whom it is due.
as for romans 13:1-7 quote above:
should they too be afraid for not following God's will?
or is their corruption part of God's will?
this bible stuff confuses me
should they too be afraid for not following God's will?
or is their corruption part of God's will?
this bible stuff confuses me
it says god determines our president and police chief. I think that Mehserle screwed up though and is a sinner.
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