[CPRB] media assault on Champaign PRB underway

[Randall Cotton]

I had to resend this because it bounced at first, so where I say "today", it
really means yesterday (Wednesday).
R

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Randall Cotton" <recotton at earthlink.net>
To: <cprb at lists.cu.groogroo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 4:10 PM
Subject: media assault on Champaign PRB underway


: Witness today's editorial in the News Gazette, followed by a letter to the
: editor that
: sounds like it's from a vested interest (anyone know who Michael Cook is?). On
: the letter to the editor - the ironic thing is that Finney actually is *not*
OK
: with the proposed PRB bubbling up from the Champaign Police Community
Relations
: Committee (the NG's story was a bit off the mark on that).
:
: R
:
: Police review board plan raises problems
: Wednesday October 11, 2006
: The city of Urbana has been considering for months and is expected to pass
soon
: a proposal to create a citizens review board to oversee its police department.
: So perhaps it's no surprise that the city of Champaign is in the early stages
of
: doing the same thing.
: A subcommittee of the city's Police Community Relations Committee recently
: issued a report outlining the process by which a review board would operate,
and
: the matter appears certain to go to the city council for consideration.
: The idea of a police review board is not necessarily a negative. But the
: creation of a review board could be a huge negative. It all depends on how the
: board is run and, most importantly, who sits on the board.
: The idea is born of a desire to reassure members of the minority community
that
: the city's goal is honest, fair-minded law enforcement with members of no
group
: receiving any better or any worse treatment than members of any other group.
: That, unfortunately, is a tough sell to people who have long viewed police
: either with suspicion or fear. Equally unfortunate is that there's no
guarantee
: that creating a police review board, operating under strict confidentiality
: guidelines, will help much.
: There is a huge practical problem involving boards of this nature, and it
: involves taking people who have no real knowledge or understanding of police
: work and putting them in a position to review what individual officers did or
: should have done in tense, time-pressured situations.
: How would they know? How should they know? Why ask them to judge?
: The last question is the easiest to answer.
: They're asked to judge because some people don't trust the current complaint
and
: discipline process, which is overseen by Police Chief R.T. Finney and City
: Manager Steve Carter. But those two or their successors also would be involved
: in a review board process, so how would it be any better?
: The best way for police to build bridges to any group is to maintain open
: communications, to visit, to answer questions, to explain and to listen. A
: police review board would do nothing except duplicate an existing discipline
: process that already is viewed in some quarters with skepticism.
:
: *******************
: letter to the editor:
: Police chief masters the art of surrender
: Wednesday October 11, 2006
: When local, vocal self-serving factions that do not represent the majority of
: Champaign citizens and the valid interests of the city target the police
: department with unreasonable demands and unfounded accusations, the immediate
: conduct that I have come to expect from Police Chief R.T. Finney is for him to
: promptly become a quasi-lackey for these groups.
: It is obvious that he has a self-preservation predisposition that limits his
: ability to represent and support the legitimate interests of the city, the
: police department and the community majority.
: Chief Finney's premature sanctioning of a civilian police review board before
: the city leaders have researched the matter and have reached a decision is
: inappropriate and self-serving.
: A review board comprised of citizens who, most likely, will not have the
: essential knowledge to enable them to comprehend the often overwhelming
: complexity of law enforcement, and competently evaluate a police-related
: judgment and action, will accomplish nothing but add a dysfunctional layer of
: bureaucracy to the city.
: Eventually, it will complicate and corrupt an ethical investigative and
: disciplinary system that already has an effective complaint process and
several
: layers of oversight, including the criminal and civil courts.
: When the demand for civilian oversight is not reasonably justified, beware of
a
: veiled desire to engage in personal ax grinding, politically coercive
practices
: and prejudice.
: Each time the handcuffs on a law enforcement agency are tightened, the
security
: of the community diminishes.
: MICHAEL COOK
: