Springfield Mayor Sarno Wimps Out On Review Board Promise

Springfield Massachusetts must be breathing a sigh of disgust with today's anti-climactic announcement from the Mayor’s office that there is now a new civilian review board to oversee police antics against the citizenry. This board can only recommend discipline to Police Commissioner William Fitchit, but take no action on their own.

Yes, they can subpoena people and evidence to assist in their recommendations, but what good is it if Commissioner Fitchet can ignore what the board concludes? We have all been here before and for far too long. As it has played out across the nation for years, the board makes a recommendation on behalf of the citizens to stop an errant cop from repeatedly biting the hand that feeds him, the Commissioner pats them on the head and thanks them dismissively, and everything stays the same. All the Jeffrey Ashers in Cop-land go out tomorrow to beat more Melvin Jones’s with the very flashlights We The People bought them. Mayor Sarno, unless you have a Chapter Two on this subject to reveal quickly, shame on you for letting us all down.

It is called TEETH, Mayor. The citizen will hire and fire the police. How much clearer do you need it? Jeffrey Asher has been on the force for years through many occasions of misconduct and he is still there. That means the “hire and fire” guy in the PD was asleep at the switch. Get rid of Jeffrey Asher yourself if you can’t bring a citizen review board into the department to do it. Call Donald Trump to teach you the words, “You’re Fired”. Do something definitive. But please, stop stringing along the citizens of Springfield.

Baltimore Police Are Blowing Commissioner Fitchet's Smoke At Us

The Baltimore Police Department must have been in contact with Police Commissioner William Fitchet of Springfield MA with this one.

Commissioner Fitchet recently suggested that a citizen overview panel with the power to discipline cops is exactly what his city needs because he is too busy fighting crime to punish his cops himself. Springfield Mayor Sarno called for such a panel. Commissioner Fitchet then defended his cop Jeffrey Asher after the beating of Melvin Jones III, who suffered severe injuries while other cops watched. Now, which one does Fitchet really mean? Is he for or against? Maybe both? Neither? Smoke?

Whatever the logic, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld III (above and left), is now trying the same tactic in his city. Read it here.

Public Lying, 101
How do you delude the public?

First, promise them something you know they want. (The Baltimore Police Dept will release the names of officers involved in shootings.)

Next, call what you are doing the result of an epiphany. (Bealefeld consulted with various members of the community, and saw the light.)

Then, explain why you didn’t do this long ago. (“Our concern throughout this entire time has been the personal safety considerations of officers and their families, but we have an obligation as a public safety agency to balance transparency and we feel 48 hours would give us ample time to put things in place for the officer while being transparent enough for the public”.)

Smell the smoke? Is Bealefeld doing the Fitchet Shuffle in Baltimore? Sounds like it. First say yes, and then say no. The Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department plans to give his cops a 48 hour window before identifying them to put safeguards in place after one or more cops shoots somebody. Interestingly, absolutely no description of what the safeguards are or why they are needed is ever explained. Only that they would be put in place in 48 hours. After that, the names would be released. It is getting smokier in here.

The Reality Of The Promise
Interestingly, this moment of clarity on Commissioner Bealefeld’s part comes just when Baltimore’s Mayor Sheila Dixon is on the way out and newly-elected Stephanie C Rawlings-Blake is coming in. Is the Commissioner trying to pull a fast one on the new kid in town? What a guy. There is no shortage of smoke now.

Stephanie C Rawlings-Blake and her aides revealed “frustration” about not knowing of the policy change before. Maybe that is because the decision has nothing to do with solving citizen complaints against cops in Baltimore and more to do with keeping the pot stirred and the smoke blowing.

Cops say they have citizen support for continued secretion of police names, but none of those in agreement with the current, “no name” policy have the ability to explain the protections the Commissioner would put in place in that 48 hour window, or why we are all better off leaving individual cop identity a secret. Does anybody know what this protection would be? Something like the Witness Protection Program? Maybe the cop should hide in a cheap motel on the outskirts of town until the heat is off? Possibly, they could all wear ski masks. Suspicion is, there’s no action to put in place during that 48 hours except for cops to formulate and agree upon the lie they will trot out to the news and the citizens. Just more smoke.

Ego is what cops breathe every day. Arrogance is what cops eat for dinner, and they are what they eat. The whole idea of withholding the name of a cop for any reason is an outgrowth of arrogance, especially when the citizen makes the payments on that cop’s whole existence.

By bringing this issue to the table, Commissioner Bealefeld is pulling two, worn-out liar’s tricks on us all: the distraction and the delay. Ask any magician or sleight-of-hand performer as to their effectiveness. And to make it worse, he is doing it to the new Mayor on her first week on the job. He has no intention of changing anything, if his comments are any indication.

Mayor, get some movement on a citizen Review Board, with the power to hire and fire, in gear and working. While you are at it, get on the Commissioner’s back today, and make the citizen’s right to know the names of who is shooting them a law, possibly through the use of a citizen oversight panel.

And Baltimore Police Commissioner Bealefeld, shame on you. Shame of you for trying the same old tricks, and for believing the citizen will fall for them. You are wearing a curly wool coat.

Springfield Commissioner Fitchet Plays Both Sides At Once

Police Commissioner William Fitchet, (over there, to the left,) is playing both sides. Trying to please everybody all the time, it seems. Didn’t Abe Lincoln disprove that theory? Anyway, he defends the cop who beat Melvin Jones’ head into an inhuman shape during a traffic stop, but he says he wants citizens to handle discipline with an oversight board because he would rather spend his time fighting crime and running the department. He finds discipline of cops to be “tedious”.

Fitchet admits he tried to prevent the public from knowing any details of the Melvin Jones beating, but was forced to come forward after the citizen video surfaced. He said he acted on advice from department lawyers when he held back with the facts. With that in mind, how seriously can we take his words when he claims he wants citizen-powered police discipline?

This is typical cop smoke and mirrors at best. We all know cops can’t take orders, and they thrive on lies to accomplish what they need. They pride themselves in their cleverness when devising a ruse. Lying quickly becomes habitual for them. If view of these facts, Commissioner Fitchet’s words sound suspicious. Even worse, the Commissioner expressed concern about public confidence being shaken because of the Jones cover-up.

Please Commissioner, Jeffrey Asher has been abusing citizens for years, and he is just one cop on the force. Has nothing prior given you a sense that the public was less than happy with you? Your department is regularly bombarded with complaints about Asher and others, and protests abound. And now, suddenly, you want citizens to be in charge of cop discipline? Sounds good if you mean it, but from here, it just sounds suspicious.

Prove me wrong Commissioner. Get behind Mayor Sarno right away and push the citizen oversight panel, with teeth, into reality. Don't hold out much hope for Jeffrey Asher when the panel is complete, but Jeffrey can’t responsibly operate a flashlight, as Melvin Jones’ head proves, let alone a gun, TASER, car, etc. We are all better off without him. How about this? Stop defending Jeffrey Asher and fire him now, before a discipline panel has to do it. Consider it an act of good faith on your part.

Police Departments Own Their Citizens. They Are The Law, Right?

Well, I hope not, and I hope you agree with me.

I will turn your face to alabaster,
When you find your servant is your master

--Sting, Wrapped Around Your Finger, 1983 (The Police)

Great song, great band, but it is just a song to the citizens, despite the ironic name of the group. Not so to a cop. Cops live in stark fear of this lyric becoming a reality for them. A cop is riddled with the haunting thoughts of how they violate citizens’ rights with every workday. They know there will be a day when their misguided belief of who and what they are become intolerable to citizens, who finally reclaim their rightful ownership of police departments. We know that cops joined the force for all the wrong reasons, and as Sting suggests in his lyrics, that guilt will turn into reality.

The form in which this epiphany must take is the Citizen Review Board. Cops are really common citizens who have been given a particular job, and no more, but have tried to parlay that job into something it never included: automatic superiority. And they parlay it with the only tool they have to work with, ego.

Nobody has corrected their mistakes, at least yet, and the citizens are suffering for it. Melvin Jones III, of Springfield Massachusetts, Michael Mineo, of Brooklyn NY, Daija M of the Bronx, NYC, are all good and recent examples of the way an out-of-control ego hurts us all. Worse, these three common citizens prove that you could be next.

Why has the servant been working as our master for so long? Society’s absentee-management style is why, and it has now come back to bite us all. Cops do what they want, fueled by ego and misdirection, and the only reason a citizen does nothing is because they are not yet a victim. Time will deliver that reality to their doorstep eventually, unless society makes the titles of servant and master a bit more clear to their police departments.

So what do we do? If you really like the way servant cops own you, do nothing. Cops will take it from there and in the long run, make every move, every thought you have, into a “violation”. You will be ticketed, jailed, fined, or put on a “list” forever. But if changing that outcome sounds better, we MUST take control back with a Citizen Review Board. Call the mayor, and the City Council. Make it clear to all incoming politicians that an oversight panel is a requirement to get or keep the jobs they seek.

Call friends and neighbors, and set up an email based network between them. Bookmark websites of all local politicians and make it clear to them who you are and what you expect for your tax money. Above all else, remember that the citizen invented the police department, we pay for it and it belongs to us first. When we get that past the ego problems and clean up the police forces we have now, we can start to work on what the police academy teaches their recruits, and let attrition take its course. It is a big, long term job, but it only gets worse without control.

Mayor Sarno Steps Toward Meaningful Citizen Control Of Springfield Police

Springfield Massachusetts CRB Update

Mayor Domenic Sarno, pictured at left, (no, not the blurry guy with the hat), may just be making progress here. So far, he is following up on his promise to get a new police oversight board up and running in the coming weeks.

His response is due to an outcry of citizen frustration. A Springfield, Massachusetts cop, known to Melvin Jones III and many other victims as Jeffrey Asher, is still on the payroll, and still thinks he is not guilty of anything, like bashing in Mr Jones' skull, partially disabling one eye and providing a long-lasting headache due to the broken bones in adjacent areas to said eye.

Keep it up Mayor Sarno, and make it permanent! The citizens and all future Melvin Jones's will thank you. Better yet Mayor, make a national statement by showing other cities and towns exactly how it is done. Make your plan a role model for others to follow. While cities and towns are all different in their needs, all cops are alike in their problems. Your work could become textbook information in police academies from coast to coast. Let's get that ball rolling.

Folks, call the Mayor, email the Mayor, fax the Mayor, 413-787-6000, (City Hall), as well as the Springfield Massachusetts Police Department 413-787-6322, spd@springfieldpolice.net and encourage the efforts of Mayor Sarno. This issue is the People's Business, if there ever was such a thing. It is what will happen next, to you or a family member, and what you need to be a part of to control. Make the contact with Mayor Sarno as well as the Springfield police union, and put on the pressure. Melvin Jones felt the pressure on his skull. Let's exert some of our own with our voices.

NYPD Anal Assault Trial Underway

The Story

That’s right, Michael Mineo was anally raped in a subway station by a cop, specifically Richard Kern, seen here with his lawyer. Mineo’s boxer shorts had a hole ripped in the back, the nightstick has his anal DNA on it, and he was admitted to the hospital with anal injuries, but cop Kern has pleaded not guilty. OK, let’s just sit back and watch this load from lawyer and cop alike spill into the record books. I can’t wait.

Maybe probing Mineo with a nightstick was within police policy. Maybe Mineo requested it. Maybe he is just trying to shake down the citizens of NY for multiple millions of dollars. Or, there might be truth to Kern’s statement that he was checking for drugs. In any case, it will be another exercise in absurdity from the police department and their lawyers, I am sure.

This kind of event happens for one reason only: No oversight. How could the friendly beatcop in our little villages whom everybody knew and trusted in and around their homes be transformed into a thoughtless, ego-filled sex criminal? No oversight.

Get the CRB, one that will save the citizenry millions of dollars in court costs like this one. We must revamp the Academy, to catch defectives before they even get into a PD. And let’s remember that cops work for us, for our satisfaction and our approval. We are not getting our money’s worth now. Ask Michael Mineo, at left.