Joanna leaned forward and put her hands out to get everyone's attention.
"Gentlemen, we are not here to debate the potential rights or wrongs of the
political situation down there. We are here to look into what is going
wrong down there." Joanna calmly stared at Jackson. She did not know they
were supposed to be playing good cop/bad cop with anyone other than Van Der
Loo. "Commander, what can you tell us about any reports of overuse of
power
by either the home government or Starfleet forces assisting it? I am under
the impression that there have been some complaints in that area."
"Reports of excessive force are tracked here at district HQ, but
investigated by a team. This team includes an officer from district, from
the field command, and the PDF. We only get reports on acts committed by
Starfleet, not by the PDF."
Joanna was a little surprised by the answer. She knew what had happened to
David, but she did not want to believe that a large number of officers were
allowing it to go on. "What sort of things have been reported and
investigated?"
"There have been reports of roughing up prisioners in transport or in
interrogation, a couple incidents of delaying medical treatment,
destruction of
private property or theft, kidnapping, amoung others. In most cases the
investigative team has concluded that there is nothing to the accusation.
The
others go to a standard article 32 hearing, what equates to a grand jury in
Starfleet. To date I'm not aware of any complaint that has gone to an
article 32
hearing that has gone to trial."
Jackson had been listening and was impressed with the Counselor. She had
not back ground in the law, as far as he knew, but she seemed to be plying
this
situation with the right stuff. "Would it be possible for us to get access
to those reports?"
"That should not be a problem. I'll request that they be sent to you."
"Who filed the complaints? What types of demographics are involved for the
'victims'?"
"A demographic survey was not done, at least to my knowledge, Admiral. As
to who filed the complaints that would be a combination of the eledged victim,
their family, and in some cases doctors treating the wounded."
David scoffed visibly. He'd had almost all that he could take, "Pardon me
for interrupting Admiral. I will state unequivocally that I had medical care
delayed and was later denied the opportunity to contact Spacedock as I'd
requested several times."
Jared raised his hand to stop David. He did not want this to get emotional.
"Commander, you must have collected general demographic information when
the reports were created from the alleged attacks. That just has to be
collated for evaluation." He paused for a moment and glanced toward Boulay.
"And
as for your alleged victims, Captain Boulay here, is correct. He is one of
those filing complaints about his treatment while he was out here."
"I must apologize, sir, but I don't have any information about any analysis
that may have been done on the people filing the complaints. I do know that
the vast majority of them took place in areas where Starfleet patrols jointly
with the PDF. In areas where Starfleet is the sole operating force, complaints
are markedly less. As for Captain Boulay's allegations, there has been no
formal complaint filed within this district."
Abrams was not trying to pick a fight, but they were starting to take out their
frustrations on the messenger.
{response}
"Pick battles big enough to matter, yet small enough to win."
--Jonathan Kozol
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