[Peace-discuss] Re: [Discuss] Schwieghart's quote to WDWS

[Mikhail Lyubansky]

Good morning,

Like many here, I am very saddened and concerned about Kiwane Carrington's
tragic death and the Champaign Police dept's role in this (as well as past)
incidents.  However, I am uncomfortable with the recent calls for Chief
Finney's resignation given the information currently in our possession.  We
do not, for example, know what actually happened in the moments leading up
to the fatal shooting or what Finney did or did not do during this time.
Furthermore, while there are parts of the Department's Use of Force policy
that I find troubling (particularly section 1.3.2 concerning the use of
deadly force), it is not clear to me that Finney was responsible for
determining this portion of the policy.  To the contrary, according to the
document, that section was determined by the lllinois Compiled Statutes (220
ILCS 5/7-5).

I write this not to defend Finney but to caution us from rushing to
judgment. Sometimes time is of the essence and decisions must be made before
all the necessary information is in.  This is not one of those cases. I
suggest that, for the moment, we marshal our efforts to push for a full and
independent investigation and the creation of a community review board and
hold off on judging Finney until more information is available.

In hope of community healing,

Mikhail


**

Mikhail Lyubansky, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~lyubansk <http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/%7Elyubansk>

Managing Editor, OpEdNews
http://www.opednews.com/author/author18834.html
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mikhaill


On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 6:40 AM, Christopher Evans <caevans2 at hotmail.com>wrote:

>  In reaction to the call for Chief Finney's resignation:
>
> *"I think that's alot of emotionality. The Chief hasn't done anything that
> calls for his resignation. I wouldn't support his resignation. Uh, he acted
> in a legal manner."*
>
> Said even though Finney's police tactics help cause the death of an unarmed
> 15 year-old, Finney snuck in the taser and broad use of deadly force in the
> use of force policy behind Council's back, and relations betweeen the
> community and police are at an all-time low.
>
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>
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