[Peace-discuss] Urbana CPRB mtg Monday 7pm

[Brian Dolinar]

The Urbana city council will be discussing the Citizen Police Review Board
Monday night at 7pm at city hall, 400 Vine St.
It is important that we fill the room in case the FOP (Fraternal Order of
Police) shows up
and we also need to send a message to Champaign for a CPRB there.

While the Mayor assures us we will have a CPRB, there are still a few
sticking points.
The Urbana CPRB will have no subpoena or investigative powers and all
complaints will be private.

Below is an article in the Chicago Sun-Times about how activists are looking
to reform a CPRB already in existence in Chicago after the abuses of Sgt.
Burge and Officer Abbate have been exposed.  Only 0.2 percent of officers
charged with brutality were seriously disciplined.

I think this article is an important read.
We may face a fight in the future to reform the CPRB Urbana is about to
pass.

BD

New campaign vs. torture
(http://www.suntimes.com/news/simpson/457718,CST-EDT-SIMP06.article)

July 6, 2007

BY DICK SIMPSON

This Independence Day week has kicked off, yet again, a campaign for better
police accountability.

A new Chicago Coalition for Police Accountability -- which includes Citizens
Alert, the ACLU, the African-American Police League, the MacArthur Justice
Center, the People's Law Office, the law office of the Cook County public
defender and faculty from Northwestern Law School, the University of Chicago
Law School and the University of Illinois at Chicago -- has begun a
six-stage campaign.

On Tuesday at the Cook County Board, Commissioner Earlean Collins will bring
to the floor four resolutions, including recommendations that the U.S.
attorney prosecute Jon Burge and other police torturers and that the state
Legislature pass laws that criminalize torture with no statute of
limitations. Committee hearings last month have created enough public
support for commissioners to pass these resolutions.

Commissioners are outraged that after a four-year investigation by Edward
Egan and Robert Boyle at a cost of $7 million, the special prosecutors
sought no indictments against Burge or other detectives, provided no new
ways to prevent police abuse, and offered no relief for the 26
African-American torture victims who remain convicted and incarcerated.

The County Board vote sets the stage for more powerful actions. The Burge
atrocities, officer Anthony Abbate's videotaped beating of a female
bartender, and the videotaped beating of four businessmen by cops already
have caused the resignation of the Police Supt. Phil Cline.

A major showdown will occur at the July 19 Chicago City Council meeting.
Mayor Daley's proposed ordinance to create a more independent police review
agency to be voted on that day has several major defects. So the Chicago
Coalition for Police Accountability is seeking three amendments:

• To assert the supremacy of the ordinance over police contracts;

• To ensure that the agency rather than the police superintendent has
control of police abuse reviews;

• To allow public participation in selection of the new review agency head
and transparency in the agency's record keeping.

The purpose of the ordinance as amended would be to make certain "that
complaints of police misconduct and abuse are resolved fairly and timely in
the public interest." It would empower the agency to investigate coercion,
threats or reprisal, as well as direct acts of violence. It would trump
police union contracts. The police superintendent could no longer override
the findings of the review agency. And citizens would have a voice through
civic organizations in selecting the agency head and ensuring that the
records of investigations were reported honestly.

The third stage of the coalition's campaign demands that a police
superintendent is chosen from outside the department and that the person
selected will curb police brutality and excessive force. Currently, there
are suspicions that the new police chief will be an insider committed to
keep the status quo.

The fourth step will be to meet with the new administrator appointed to head
the Independent Office of Police Accountability. Just as the new Chicago
inspector general has been able to make his office more effective, the new
administrator will determine whether or not the new office will succeed or
fail.

The fifth stage would bring public pressure on the city and Fraternal Order
of Police contract negotiations. The union contract sets restrictions on the
keeping of disciplinary records and the use of agency findings in
disciplining police officers. For instance, only 0.2 percent of officers
charged with brutality had any meaningful discipline. Police with 15 or more
civilian complaints of brutality often get no punishment. City-appointed
lawyers negotiating police union contracts don't have the interests of the
public as a top priority. Right now, these private negotiations are not open
to public input or scrutiny. Lawyers representing the public interest are
needed to serve as watchdogs over the negotiations.

Finally, coalition members seek new trials, hearings and fair restitution
for prisoners and former prisoners who made false confessions because of
torture by Burge and his accomplices.

If the coalition wins, we will all be the better and safer for their
audacious campaign.

-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com
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