Cop-Proof Citizen Review Board, Part 3

No need to stop with print ads to get a CRB going, (see last Cop-Proof post). There are TV sets in everybody’s house. Why not use them too?

TV Ads

Once local newspapers have been canvassed and saturated, move on to TV. There are 2 levels of free TV advertising that can be accomplished with a little motivated negotiating—

· Local broadcast TV channels, both network affiliates and indie channels

· Cable company’s public access channels

The bigger your city is, the more local channels there will be to contact, therefore, a greater number of opportunities. TV channels are required by the FCC to offer a certain amount of segments per week for community announcements. Sometimes, these announcements are added between network programming or during commercial breaks, and sometimes attached to news programs at 6AM, Noon, Afternoon and 11PM. Any and all are good and free to the advertiser, as long as the message is a public service. Just supply the channel with the script, and one of their on-air personalities will read it, along with the other announcements of the day. No control, however, in exactly which daypart it will happen.

Cable companies, again by FCC requirements, devote a channel or two in their basic cable offerings to public service needs. Check your cable lineup for a channel like this. They could be anywhere in the spectrum, but will probably appear in the first tier, somewhere below channel 18. These public access channels originate at the cable company itself, and are not satellite feeds. They are there for your personal use.

Each cable company is different about what they offer, but some or all of the following is freely available from your cable outlet on at least one channel---

· Scroll loops containing text only w/music

· Scroll loops with voice-over

· Full video feeds.

Take whatever comes without charge, respecting our motto.

Scroll Loop

For a scroll loop, write a short, announcement style script, with essential contact info and meeting schedules. They will print this out on the screen and slowly scroll through it, along with all others they have that day, and then repeat them 24/7. The text will probably be backed with classical music from your local NPR radio station. (Not bad!)

Scroll Loop w/Voice-Over

If you can get a scroll loop with voice-over, they may give you a trained radio voice to read your script. (Even better!) If so, make everything easy to pronounce and understand, and provide info in addition to the text that compliments it. The total voice-over will probably only last 15 seconds at best, so keep it below 30 words.

One more thing: avoid complicated website or email addresses. If an email address is to be broadcast in text or voice form, set up a dedicated email box address for this purpose, (free from your ISP; mine allows me 6 email boxes), and make it a name that can be remembered after one reading or hearing, like CityCRB @gmail.com, with your city name in place of the word “city”, or JohnCRB @hotmail.com, with your or your organization’s name in place of “John”. Better yet, make up one of your own!

Video Feed

Video feeds of your meetings will be broadcast on the community service channels your cable company provides at their convenience. One hitch on this one: Somebody, provided by the citizens themselves, has to own the equipment to record the video of the meeting and it must rise to a minimum standard to be copied and broadcast by the cable company. No, it doesn’t have to be a George Lucas film, but it must have discernable audio and video quality. In these days, video cameras are common, even high-end ones, among the citizenry. Find a citizen, even advertise for one, who can join your ranks and do the job for you, again, without charge. Also, make a few DVD copies for the organization. It will come in handy.

The videos are handled in the same way as the text and voiceover announcements. They are broadcast in a rotation with others 24 hours a day. The good news is free exposure. Bad news is there may be no way to predict when the video will be shown. It is one of the drawbacks to not having to pay for it. Even so, watching your personal interview or recent meeting on TV will be a big boost to the cause of getting citizen review with teeth, fully backed by the mayor, town council or legislature.

Any ideas of your own? Any revisions to these ideas? Run it up the flagpole and see who salutes it! More on this subject later. (Not saluting, getting a citizen review panel advertised!) :-)

Police Oversight in Gainesville, FL and Pueblo, CO

Where It Is Happening

11/25/09 Gainesville wants Citizen Review but is already opting out of any authority.
Read Article.

Gainesville, FL, you are taking a far too passive role in this challenge. It just can’t be done that way. Cops only remember one thing that is taught them at the Academy: “Win”. Their definition of that word is a twisted psychological mess, to be sure, because it never includes equality or accountability for mistakes they make, which are numerous. Those who only know “winning” only know cheating. Nobody like that will EVER listen to suggestions on police oversight.

Chief Tony Jones says he wants a CRB? Does the phrase “stall tactic” apply here? I hope for the best from Chief Jones, but he has the reputations of thousands of cops before him to overcome. Gainesville, go big or go home. You MUST demand full authority over police department findings, files and decisions if you expect to regulate police behavior. You will simply be shunted off and ignored if you don’t. Get the backing from the citizenry and leverage it. Otherwise, it will be an exercise in frustration.


11/23/09 Police claim CRB unnecessary because safeguards already exist Read Article

Pueblo CO police still hold fast to the old, worn out line that a review board exists within the police department already, so we citizens can just hush, and not worry our pretty little heads about it. Chief Jim Billings, how many police chiefs out there think this canard will still work? The “We are your government. Trust us” method went out with Richard Nixon. Please Pueblo, don’t fall for it. Internal Affairs is a façade, and I assume IA is what chief Billings thinks is a civilian review. Citizens need their own. As always, if you actually like what you have now, stay with it, but if you want a change, you need to think outside the police box to find it.

Kristi Martinez, representing the Pueblo Human Relations Commission said,

"This process should be done within the context of what the community wants to accomplish with its review board".

Great idea! But will you accomplish that? Ms Martinez, don’t cave in at the final meeting. Chief Billings has made his stance clear, and you have to make the citizen’s position equally clear. Don’t lose sight of who pays their salaries, and don’t let Chief Billings forget either. Solicit info from your locals and keep track of it. Do what your citizens want, not what police tell you.

And Where It Is Needed

11/26/09---Vermont police settle after tasing an epileptic for resisting arrest Read Article

Is this story civilian oversight material or what? Not just because the victim was terribly wronged, but because the cops paid him to shut up so they can continue to claim “No Wrongdoing”. Thanks to Excited-Delirium for the heads up on this one.

E-D is the place to go for Taser crimes. Anything you need to know about the wonderful world of Tasers and how they affect the mere mortal is there to be found. He points out a salient element of this case in his comments. E-D says:

“Personally, I'd suggest that the amount of the settlement be adjusted to account for the lack of an explicit apology. Denial of wrong doing should be a very expensive option.”

Speaking for myself only, I would not pass up the$40K, but if it was hush-money, the citizens need to review it. Cops love to drive wedges, and this one is between the victim and the citizenry. Offer a guy a pay-off in bad economic times and he will forget how he just got used and abused. OK, but a citizen’s panel should approve it, for the very reason E-D describes. Cops need to start admitting wrong-doing when such things occur, and a financial deterrent is one of the few things cops understand. Going with the $40K base, a “no wrong-doing” declaration should up the payment by 2 or 3 times. Just like a speeding ticket, where the first one costs $x, the second $2x and so on, it is only fair and equal thinking to charge the police for their wrongdoing accordingly. This is a real meat-and-potatoes issue for a citizen review board anywhere in America. I hope it catches on somewhere.

What Real Cops Have To Say

Folks, I received some hits on this blog from members of a site in California, and I went to check it out. I left a message to the poster who addressed me there.

Here is his post:

Don’t you love people who:

1) Paint with broad brush strokes

2) Close their minds off to an opinion differing from their own

3) Enjoy railing about those who make a sacrifice for the better good of society

No?

Then read this blog:
http://bigbaldwin.blogspot.com/

Caution: NOT for:
A) Those with high blood pressure
B) Those who dislike people who hate the police or
C) Those easily given to rapid reply

I have no idea who the guy that runs this board is, but he obviously hates US....

My return post:

Hello (name withheld), and thank you for your skewed analysis. May I suggest you have another helping of turkey and just let the tryptophan do its job. You really do need to chill.
But to address your negative assumptions:

1) What you read is simply a result of watching and reading what police do, both in your part of the country and every other. The brush strokes are not so broad when all information is put into the mix.
2) At no time is my mind closed off to anything anybody says, which is why I open my blog to anyone willing to comment on it, so you must not be referring to me.
3) Once again you must have me mixed up with someone else, because my blog does not rail about those who make a sacrifice for the better good, it simply rails against those who have strayed from understanding that they are not better than society, they are equal to it.

I heartily invite any and all who wish to participate, mostly because sunshine is the best antiseptic, and creates the two things America needs in their PD's, responsibility and accountability. But my blog does not need a warning label, because

A) Although it may give rise to some blood pressure levels, it is a call to action that will increase adrenaline. If police experience an adrenaline rush when chasing a perp, and is good for them, it is good for everybody else, right?
B) No police hatred from me. citizens created you. I just want us all on the same page.
C) Rapid reply.....You mean like when six cops shoot a man armed with a candy bar in a shiny silver wrapper and you are convinced it is a gun? That kind of rapid reply? Ohhh....

No hatred for the "US" you speak of, just seeking the PD of the citizen's choice.

Ain't equality grand?

My post was later greeted with hate-speech and desperate anger from the police there. It is sometimes amazing that police can be that predictable. Anyway, here are some excerpts from their response posts:

Cop #1 said----So I just read the ramblings of bigbaldwin and his blog…and all I can say is you are an idiot.

Cop #2 said---OK, I looked at this guy's blog. It is the same run of the mill, anti-police crap that is posted by Van Jones types from here to Red Square.

Cop #3 said----Ballbag- Don't forget to write back here from time to time. Keep us posted on how you're doing in your quest for genuine personal growth, a better and more clear understanding of the adult world around you, and how you are actually making a difference at street level.

Yes, there is more, and it gets better, but here are some excerpts from the rules of the site:

“Degrading posts and name-calling are not permitted.”

“… do not post comments that attack other members, moderators or administrative personnel.”

And….

“This message board is intended for a free exchange of information and ideas. Keep this in mind if someone disagrees with your point of view and be sure to extend courtesy to others if you disagree with them. Disagreement often leads to informative, lively, and meaningful discussion of the issues. Try not to take it personally.”

Seems the police don’t know their own rules, even on a message board. How can we trust a cop with a Taser and a gun, or even the keys to his car for that matter, when he can’t even read and comprehend the rules to a simple message board? There is flatly ZERO control in the Cop Culture, and these posters just proved it.

As you can assess for yourself, my post was both informative and sought lively, meaningful discussion, and never implied that personal offense was taken, all modeled after the rules of the message board. The post was immediately met with angry vitriol, specifically name-calling, and degrading comments, totally against the rules of the message board. What does that tell us all about the mind-set of the police force in your city? We have a lot of remodeling to do.

Police Department Wears Curly Wool Coats

Is there an actual breakthrough in the way citizens sculpt the PD we want? Could it be? False lead, or real thing?

The Oakland Tribune reported that a survey of city residents has been commissioned to find out what THEY would like their police department to do. The consultant hired, Scott Bryant said:

"What's important about our approach is we're developing a community-based strategic plan," Bryant said. "It's not just an internal strategic plan for the Police Department."

Read the whole article here.

Maybe some rational thinking is finally getting through in Oakland, but it will be important to watch closely for police sabotage. While I am trying to see the glass half full, I wasn’t born yesterday, (or the day before that, either.) Cops are notorious for the ability to look cooperative on the outside, while being the biggest enemy of change on the inside. Wolf in the sheep flock? The original Trojan horse? Don’t put it past them. It is just more Cop Culture.

Two things in the article jumped out at me:

“…police have been in contact with San Jose State to survey city residents. Come January the department will have a draft plan of what areas are of highest priority to the community and then will work on how the police can work to meet those demands, said Scott Bryant, a Virginia-based consultant working with (Chief) Batts.”

(Emphasis is mine)

And------

“City staffers also have floated the idea of going to voters next spring to ask for tax increases, including a possible new public safety parcel tax to help Oakland maintain police and fire staffing levels.”

(Again, emphasis is mine)

Question: How do you destroy a good idea to reform your local police department?

Answer: Have the cops introduce it to the citizens and then charge them a special tax to enact it.

Can we guess the ending to this story? Apathy is the biggest setback to enacting a citizen review board, and cops rely on that along with the negative financial incentive as a buzz-kill. Leave things as they are for free, or pay what we can’t afford for improvement. While I applaud the effort, the citizens are still playing Three Card Monte on the street corner with cops and with the same success rate. Police need to be taken completely out of this loop. Citizens doin’ it for themselves is the only way to get what we need and pay for.

Hey, at least the subject is on the table in Oakland.