Ask Mayor Slay to sign bill establishing a Police Civilian Oversight Board

BB 69 for Civilian Oversight passed in the Board of Aldermen Friday, March 10. As you probably know by now, we were unable to get a selection process for Civilian Review members which included elections. Nevertheless, we did decide that the bill gives the community the first steps toward police accountability. We will keep working for the elections component. In the meantime we are pushing for implementation of the bill. This requires approval by the mayor and the Board of Police Commissioners.

The first step is the mayor. He has announced that he will not sign the bill, but it seems that he will not veto it either. He has a third option of doing nothing, in which case the bill proceeds as if he signed it after twenty days. His refusal to sign, he says, is because the preamble has "inflammatory antipolice language". He seems to be referring to a clause which mentions the "blue wall of silence". We see this as a simple acknowledgment that the police, like any organization, tend to circle the wagons to protect their own. This preamble language has no practical effect regarding the functioning of the Board. In any case, the mayor never brought up this objection in several years of negotiation with Alderman Kennedy.

We are urging a call-in campaign to make sure the mayor feels enough pressure that he does not decide to veto the bill. Will you call his office and tell the mayor that he should sign the bill? Please call the mayor's office at 314-622-3201. Ask for Charles Bryson, the mayor's point person on this issue. If you can not speak directly with him, leave a message.

Community support and grassroots action have been the hallmark of this campaign. Thank you for all your support. Please help us push this through to a final victory.

If you have questions, call John Chasnoff at 314-413-0454.

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You know what? The problem is, our present criminal justice system is broken beyond repair, operated by inept (often lazy) judges and/or prosecutors. Therefore, it would seem that criminals are the ones who are never "held accountable." But instead of focusing efforts on solving that problem, you insist upon being hyper-critical of law enforcement officers?

Evidently, "Instead of War" wouldn't fathom taking a stand against the very people who rob, rape, murder and deal dope in your very own residential areas. Thus, when bullets fly...and a truly innocent person gets caught in the crossfire, members of your group and community are culpable. Still, we hear little "outrage" about the perpetrators...but lots of whining and crying about what the cops are doing.

Don't you see what is going on here?

That mentality is much like throwing gasoline upon a raging fire. If groups like yours don't start building a bridge with law enforcement, nothing will ever change for the better. In my humble opinion, that will only continue contributing to the plight of our most disadvantaged people; crime can do nothing but stunt any hope we have for peace and prosperity in their communities.

In the interim however, I have come up with a wonderful idea!

I have been a police officer for about five years now; most likely, you won't see me in uniform for a sixth. Between groups like yours, and a court system that plays politics instead of dispensing fair, impartial justice...I am absolutely, positively disgusted. No matter what a law enforcement officer tries to do, someone wants to gripe. We are always caught in the middle, and it is truly an "impossible" job.

So here's my idea, and a challenge for you!

GO OUT AND SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF YOUR OWN COMMUNITIES, BECAUSE I QUIT!!!

Although you wouldn't believe such a thing, 99.99% of the people who embark upon a law enforcement career, do so with good intentions. But after so long, the job takes it's toll...and we get burned out. That's the point I've reached, and a lot of it has to do with groups like yours.

If it's so easy, strap on a badge and clean up your own "mean streets." Handle your 'bizness out there, and see how far it gets. The criminal element will chew you up like a lawnmower, and your goal of "peace" will be further from reach than ever before.

I bid you good luck.