I would agree with many points Mr. Bouza makes in his recent cover rant. That he hopes to ignite a debate speaks mostly to his outsized ego. The debate started a long time ago. Tony is jumping on a rolling bandwagon picking up speed. I agree that newspaper reports and TV news spots can be insufficient and/or contradictory in detail, full of boilerplate from police public information officers, and even flat-out fabrications. It is difficult for the average citizen to know what really happened when the police have been spotlighted. Just as politicians like to cut deals behind closed doors, the police prefer to work shielded from the prying eyes of the public. I agree that there are "no supervisory fingerprints" in recent incidents involving Minneapolis police. Where, for instance, were the "supervisory fingerprints" in the recent shootout at Mickey's Diner? Why are we more likely to hear statements from the President of the Police Federation than we are from our police chief? Why are officers of the Minneapolis police given three days over Thanksgiving, three days in which they can get their stories straight, before providing statements to St. Paul police? Since officers in that shootout refused to be interviewed, does that then mean they did not undergo drug testing at the time of the incident? Those are just a few of the questions i might ask as a starting point. When Bouza writes "the simple fact is that outsiders are unable to distinquish between necessary force and brutality", I emphatically disagree. In effect what Bouza is suggesting is that civilians must stay out of the picture and leave those who are in the know, presumably guys like Mr. Bouza himself, be the final judges of police conduct. Heaven forbid! While it may be true that police inhabit a world of their own and rarely socialize outside it, never break the code of silence, and always circle the wagons when one of theirs comes under scrutiny, to suggest that one outside the ranks can never plumb the depths of their psyches and relate to them, or understand the fear associated with staring death in the face, or be an objective investigator of police conduct, dooms society to a future i do not want to inhabit and displays a depth of cynicism that precludes the advancement of civilization. Just one book I have read, "Above the Law", cogently written by one former NYC policemen who teaches at Temple University and a distinquished Professor of Law at UC-Berkeley, men who have done their work, clearly defines levels of force used by police. Skolnick and Fyfe tell us that unnecessary force is often the result of, poorly trained officers, whether that training be through ineptitude or insensitivity, hastily inserting themselves into situations from which they can only extricate themselves with unnecessary force, usually deadly gunfire. They are quick to add that these are often well-intentioned officers who make good faith mistakes. They continue, "good faith plays no part in brutality" and they liken it to lynching and lynching type behavior. The two notable incidents they cite in this category are those involving Rodney King in LA and Malice Green in Detroit. Bouza also throws into the mix a red herriing, namely mental health. In the incidents involving both Sean Hayes and James Fye, no mention of mental illness was ever suggested and yet they appear to indicate use of unnecessary force, at the ver least, as defined by Skolnick and Fyfe. But once again, we the public, see the events through the prismatic lenses of professional public information officers. A concerted effort is underway to cloud the issues the citizens of this city must address and Tony Bouza compounds the problem with glibness. What makes it most difficult for "outsiders" to discern differences is mostly that police investigators always control crime scenes; therefore the chain of evidence, including incident reports can and does go through numerous mutations before anyone with the slightest bit of objectivity and no real axe to gore, a person who seeks only the truth and perhaps a more humane society, has a chance to investigate. How can one suggest that the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department and the Hennepin County Prosecutor's office, have no bias. They are mere extensions of the thin blue line. They deal with these officers each day and rely upon them for their assistance and good will in doing their jobs. It is inherent in their jobs. And yet, each incident involving a death during the course of police work in Minneapolis goes through this review. Indeed, a compelling argument can be made for a review board or standing police commission staffed entirely by those very "outsiders" whom Bouza disses. Bouza is right when he states that most politicians don't know the right questions to ask? Apparently some police don't know the right questions to ask or what is more likely, they don't want to ask for fear they'll be compromised by the answers they hear. Whitewashing is a messy job! The real Tony Bouza exposes himself when he writes this sentence near the end of his screed: "So confident am I that outsiders have no clue as to the internal dynamics operating within their police departments that I've written a book on the subject, 'Police Unbound', which should come out early in 2001. This is called "cashing in". We see it all the time. Can www.tonybouza.org be far behind? Get a real job, Tony, and spares us the bleeding heart good cop schtick! Tim Connolly 66 So 12th St #204 Minneapolis, MN 55403 612.339.4557 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/
