“The policeman isn’t there to create disorder. He’s there to preserve disorder.” — Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago, 1968
July 30, 2012
Mayor Tom Tait, Mayor Pro Tem Harry S Sidhu, P.E., Council Member Lorri Galloway, Council Member Gail E. Eastman, Council Member Kris Murray
City of Anaheim, City Hall 7th Floor, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd, Anaheim CA 92805
Honorable Mayor Tait and City Council Members:
I am writing in my official capacity as State Director of the California League of Latin American Citizens (CALLAC), an affiliate of the National League of Latin American Citizens (NLLAC). Aside from that official status, please take note that I have been a private investigator since 1979, licensed since 1983, and served an unprecedented seven terms as Chair of the Board of the world’s largest organization of private investigators.
I am writing so that Anaheim, in considering whether or not to establish a civilian oversight board or commission in connection with the current well publicized events overtaking your city, not make the mistakes that other cities have made in the past. Cities such as Inglewood and Dinuba, when faced with highly publicized allegations of police misconduct and the concomitant litigation that inevitably results, have adopted a boiler plate ordinance establishing a police commission at the recommendation of their City Attorneys. I suspect that city attorney associations have bandied about this boiler plate proposal at continuing education seminars as the best band aid solution for the public relations aspects of the problems that need to be solved.
Unfortunately, other than dealing with short term P.R. difficulties, this boiler plate ordinance has never accomplished anything else.
Essentially, the ordinance that cities wind up adopting creates a council appointed commission which must utilize police to investigate police and whose ultimate sole authority is to make a confidential report to the City Manager. After a few years of experience, those appointed to the commission wind up publicly criticizing the whole process as useless and wondering what they are accomplishing by participating it.
In response to the Donovan Jackson video-taped beating by Inglewood Police Officers the Inglewood South Bay NAACP Branch requested that I review and comment on the ordinance which that city was in the process of adopting. My response was to predict the basic problematic toothlessness of the law, the fact that it was peacemeal “reform” rather than comprehensive reform, and wrote a real comprehensive proposal to counter it. That proposal is the Model Ordinance for Civilian Oversight of Police Misconduct, which you can download from the internet at:
http://www.sfvnow.org/files/Model_Ordinance_for_Civilian_Oversight_of_Police_Misconduct.pdf
The Model Ordinance deals with more than just Public Relations. It addresses real protection for legal and constitutional rights, protections for rank and file police officers and whistle blowers, treats both the community and rank and file officers as stakeholders in the process of police reform and oversight, and provides real good faith protection for the interests of the municipality in loss prevention.
I am requesting that Anaheim establish a committee or commission to study the Model Ordinance, conduct public hearings on the issues it raises, and to then consider the proposal as a whole or at least upon the individual components that can be implemented by consensus or with widespread support. I will be happy to participate in the process and to recommend experts who can provide additional information to assist the fact finding and policy formulation process.
Respectfully Yours, Jan B. Tucker, State Director, CALLAC
Note for readers: This request is also endorsed by Angel G. Luevano, as National Vice President of NLLAC
For another perspective on police reform by former LAPD & Private Investigator Alex Salazar, go to: http://www.renegadepopo.com/
