Why It's So Hard to Trust the Police-Jarvis DeBerry

[Mike Glasser]

On Friday, September 15, 2006, Jarvis DeBerry authored an artice in the Times Picayune, entitled, "Why It's So Hard to Trust the Police". I have decided to respond to Mr. Deberry's article. I have included his original article for those who may have missed it. My response follows.

Jarvis DeBerry
Why it's so hard to trust the police
Friday, September 15, 2006
Jarvis DeBerry

When New Orleans officials convene Saturday to talk about the city's stubborn crime problem, they'd do well to include a discussion about how little trust the public has for the New Orleans Police Department.
While everybody may know of individual officers whose integrity and dedication are beyond reproach, the fact remains that the department can -- and often does -- inspire fear in law-abiding citizens. Who among us can't tick off multiple examples of officers victimizing the public?
You name it: murder, aggravated rape, extortion, aggravated kidnapping, conspiracy to rob a bank, and somebody on the force has been booked with it. And that's not to mention the all-too common reports of harassment and brutality.

That reputation for thuggery can have a chilling effect on the public's willingness to cooperate with authorities. And until the public's trust increases, the department will get far less crime-fighting help from the community than it demands.

We should all be able to trust that our police officers are honest and capable of distinguishing criminals from everybody else. But the official account of the shootings on the Danziger Bridge Sept. 4, 2005, leaves one with the sick feeling that officers fatally mistook innocent civilians for gunmen and later tailored their reports to justify their actions.

The Sunday morning following Hurricane Katrina a police officer radioed that two officers had been shot at the bridge. The report was false. But the seven officers who commandeered a rental truck didn't know that. Reportedly there were people shooting guns on the bridge when they arrived. So those officers spilled out of the rental truck and fired back. But at whom?

Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old man who according to his family had the mind of a child, was shot seven times in his back and killed. Lance Madison, Ronald's big brother and protector, was booked with attempting to murder each of the seven officers who got off the truck.

Not a single officer was injured; nonetheless, officers appear to have killed two people and injured four.

No one from NOPD reported seeing Lance Madison, a 25-year employee of Federal Express with a spotless record, firing a gun. Court records indicate that the only person making the allegation was David Ryder, a shadowy figure who, despite a felony conviction and a couple other arrests, was claiming to be a St. Landry Parish sheriff's deputy.

Nobody recovered a weapon from Lance Madison. According to Officer Ignatius Hills' handwritten report, the 49-year-old Lance Madison "fled and threw his handgun into the Industrial Canal and was apprehended a short time later." However, Sgt. Arthur Kaufman testified at a preliminary hearing in September that he later added that part to Hills' report based on what another officer told him.

Lance Madison agrees that there were people on the bridge shooting, but he said that the gunmen were teenagers who were shooting in the direction of him and his brother. The brothers were running away from those criminals, he said, when the cops arrived and fired upon them, as if they were the bad guys.

By all accounts, the scene on the bridge was chaotic, but chaos often accompanies criminality. That's no excuse for officers not being careful. Even if their adrenaline was furiously pumping because they believed two officers had been shot, that doesn't grant them a shoot-at-everybody-in-sight pass.
This department frightens me. If Police Superintendent Warren Riley -- who had yet to take the helm at the time of those shootings -- is serious about increasing public cooperation he'll acknowledge that his officers frighten many others, too.

We want to trust the police. But they have quite a ways to go before they earn it.

Jarvis DeBerry is an editorial writer. He can be reached at (504) 826-3355 or at jdeberry@timespicayune.com.

[Mike Glasser]

Monday, September 18, 2006

The members of the New Orleans Police Department have no tolerance for any member who violates our and the citizens’ trust. And when an errant member does come to our attention, we expect that member to answer for his actions and bear the resultant consequences. What we do not expect, is to all be condemned and vilified along with that offender.

The police are the most visible and most called upon entity of government and society. Unlike EMS and Fire Fighters, who wait to be called to work and do not scour the city actively looking for injured people or fires, the police aggressively patrol the city to perform their duties. They have been mandated by you, and all the citizens of New Orleans, to aggressively ferret out and eliminate crime and criminals from their midst.

Not only are the NOPD the busiest of the city’s Public Safety services, they are arguably the busiest of any police agency in the nation. If you were to perform a modicum of research on the matter, you would be astounded at the number of calls for service fielded by the NOPD daily, the number of arrests that are made, the number of times each hour, our officers risk their own safety to ensure yours. In the last week alone, I am aware of no less than ten (10) people shot dead on our streets, and an additional ten (10) more wounded, some of whom might not survive either. There is no police agency in America called upon to combat crime this intense, with only the most remedial of resources. The NOPD was overwhelmed and lacking adequate support before Katrina, it was decimated during Katrina, and has been nothing but neglected and criticized since.

The NOPD has always been the agency everyone loves to hate. It is easier to forget the officers who have been killed or grievously wounded protecting our city. Easier to ignore the twelve hundred-plus officers who stood fast and rescued hundreds of people from flood waters and protected homes and businesses, even when 80% of them had lost their own homes, and did not know whether their family was safe, in favor of focusing on a few who chose not to stay or failed to act honorably. And while we don’t deny there have been some who have failed their sworn oath, we are equally aware that they are the very few. There are many people who would not be alive today, and what remained of the city after the storm would not exist, save for the efforts of those you describe as having the “reputation for thuggery”. We don’t expect everyone to be wearing NOPD T-Shirts and ball hats, or be drinking from NOPD coffee mugs, like everyone did for the NYPD after 9/11. But just a little respect might not be out of line.

You allege that the department as a whole is somehow untrustworthy, based upon the actions of a few of its members in instances of,

”… murder, aggravated rape, extortion, aggravated
kidnapping, conspiracy to rob a bank, and somebody
on the force has been booked with it.”

I think you overlooked the act of treason. I don’t believe there has ever been an instance where a New Orleans police officer was accused, much less convicted, of an act of treason. However, one of the most respected law enforcement entities in the world, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in whom we all place our collective trust, has a number of its former agents sitting in federal penitentiaries, convicted of traitorous acts against the citizens of America. And the FBI, by the way, is the agency that often investigates accusations made against New Orleans police officers. In spite of the traitors lurking within their rolls, however, I notice that you did not mention having any trust issues with the FBI.

And whether one agrees with our presence in Iraq or not, there are few people who do not respect and admire the sacrifices and courage of our military forces nor question their patriotism or bravery. However, just this week, there was a feature story in USA Today in which a soldier has reported that the rape and unprovoked murder of an Iraqi child and her civilian family was perpetrated by members of his squad. The matter is under investigation. We have all read of the issues at Guatanamo Bay, and even here in New Orleans, several National Guardsmen were caught looting homes. But I don’t recall reading of your shaken confidence in the National Guard prowling our streets with fully automatic weapons and heavy armored vehicles.

By pointing out these instances I do not intend to impugn the integrity of these fine institutions. On the contrary, the acts I mention are isolated incidents and do not impeach the excellent character of both the FBI and U.S. military, and the men and women who serve so admirably in them. And that is the point. As a law enforcement entity, the New Orleans Police Department is remarkably similar to any large organization, and such, is subject to the same type of problems. But it has an overwhelmingly consistent history and heritage of heroism and dedication to public safety, as has been demonstrated not only in the day to day sacrifices of its members in individual instances of courage and service, but also en masse, as in Hurricane Katrina and the Howard Johnson’s sniper incident thirty years earlier.

“We should all be able to trust that our police officers
are honest and capable of distinguishing criminals
from everybody else.”

The overwhelming majority of New Orleans police officers have no real good reason to stay here and continue to risk their lives under the conditions they are forced to do so, but they stay anyway. Other jurisdictions place significant value on the valor demonstrated by those who have stayed and persevered. They regularly recruit away our officers, and many have left for the rewards of greater pay and benefits and better quality of life, some in nearby jurisdictions, others across the country. But the majority of the NOPD remains here, to stay and see it through, compelled by their dedication to our city. As you challenge the police to be able to distinguish “the criminals from everybody else”, YOU should be able to distinguish those “honest and capable” officers from the very, very few who demonstrate that they are not up to our standards.

It is irresponsible and inflammatory articles such as yours, that are counter-productive to building a rapport between the police and the citizens they are sworn to protect. You do not merely call attention to issue of the public’s trust, you sabotage it with mischaracterizations and shoddy research.

“This department frightens me…”

Your article reaches hundreds of thousands of people. Your liberty to misrepresent the issue on such a large scale frightens me.

Mike Glasser
President Police Association of New Orleans

[NOPD]

Lt Glasser did you send that to the TP ?

If so do you think they will put it in the paper ?

:confused:

[EdmondExley]

Mike,

Great response, you really took that clown to school. Hopefully you sent a copy of that letter to the T-P and requested it be published in the editorial section of the paper.

At any rate, I could care less about Jarvis. The guy is an idiot and the only reason he writes this kind of drivel is to evoke a response. In my opinion the people who read this kind of garbage, then take it as gospel are the same ones who are apt to distrust and belittle us regardless of the situation or circumstances. In short they could care less and that's that.

If that is published I'm sure that many a decent, level headed person in the region will not only agree, but see the udder stupidity of DeBerry's piece.

[Mike Glasser]

The letter was sent to The Times-Picyaune, letters to the editor as well as Jarvis DeBerry's email address about 8:30am this morning. As to whether it gets published...we'll see.

[EdmondExley]

I'm just glad that we have PROFESSIONAL, well spoken people like youself in PANO, and Jim Gallager and Donavan Livicarri (sp?) with FOP speaking to the public and the media on our behalf. It seems that you guys do a much better job than the commander of PIO. Really, what was this girl thinking? If any police officer said such a thing to a citizen calling in a complaint we would wind up with a sustained violation for professionalism. This needs to be addressed. We have enough problems with the media and public, without PIO creating more.

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/current/news_scut.php



NOPD: Do Not Disturb
Criminals, cops and reporters all work odd hours -- usually. Last week, the chief spokesperson for NOPD admonished a reporter for waking her up "after normal business hours" -- with an email. While reporting on recent violent crimes in Bywater and Faubourg Marigny last Wednesday night, freelance journalist Allen Johnson Jr. received a call about a rumored barroom hold-up in Bywater shortly before 11 p.m. Johnson emailed Gambit Weekly editor Clancy DuBos at home around midnight to report the tip, and DuBos emailed Johnson shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday asking Johnson to confirm the report ASAP. Johnson then emailed Bambi Hall, director of public relations for NOPD, seeking confirmation of the reported hold-up. Hall responded by email at 8:37 a.m. Thursday with the following message: "While I don't mind fielding inquiries during normal business hours, your after-hours emails are quite intrusive while I am sleeping. If you could be mindful of that in the future, it would be greatly appreciated if you sent your requests between the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 p.m." DuBos said Gambit Weekly will try to encourage local drug dealers, burglars, thieves, murderers, rapists and armed robbers to confine their activities to "normal business hours" so that Ms. Hall is not disturbed by intrusive emails from reporters trying to do their jobs while she sleeps.

[Billy]

I saw the FOP letter in todays paper, why was the PANO letter now published ??

Do you think you used to many words ??

[Mike Glasser]

I actually sent in my letter to the editor about 6 hours before the FOP letter, but you guessed it correctly. The Times-Picayune wrote back that it was too long, and requested that I submit soimething about 1/3 the size, or about 320words. I decided that anything substantially less than what I originally wrote would not carry the message I intended, so I did not do the requested editing.

The letter that Jimmy Gallagher wrote was very good and I think also gets out to the public the message that we all think and that 's the point anyway. Who writes it is really irrelevant, as long as the public is informed. Between Jimmy's letter in the Times Picayune and the posting of my letter here and on Signal26 and the PANO website, I think we accomplished all of those goals. Besides, Jarvis DeBerry got both letters. He can respond if wishes.

[garda]

The letter was well written Mike. The length of it was necessary for the points to be discussed. How about sending the letter to other sources for publication. IE.. many of the nola.com forums (sound off, media, orleans, crime/safety)would be appropriate, various blogs, etc.

[Mike Glasser]

I agree relative to the points. I could perhaps shave a line or two if an economy of words was really crucial, but I would have had to do major surgery to squeeze it into their limited space. I think it would dilute the message more than I am willing to do.

I am going to send it along to Gambit. If anyone wishes, they can certainly send a link to the letter or the letter itself to any site or blog they deem approriate or who might have interest.

[James Gourlie]

Lt,

Might I suggest that you send the letter in as an independent article (which would allow you greater length) rather than a letter to the editor.

Kiwi

[uptowncop]

Why not send your letter to Bambi... maybe she can do a press release. Oh wait, never mind... its 11:00pm She is probably sleeping, and has the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door.

[Mike Glasser]

Response to the Editor, Times-Picayune:
“Why It’s So Hard to Trust The Police” by Jarvis DeBerry

September 25, 2006

Mr. DeBerry still doesn’t get it. My message was to suggest he resist the temptation to paint the whole department with a single broad brush. Judging the police department, any other organization, or for that matter, any class or group pf people, and making wholesale conclusions based on individual and isolated incidents is just plain wrong. That was, and still is, the message.

Mr. DeBerry chose to completely ignore that point, and reprint excerpts from my letter, out of context, to again portend his own skewed viewpoint. In my lengthy response to Mr. DeBerry, I never even mentioned the Danziger Bridge incident, and did not debate the merits of that incident. That was deliberate, as the matter is under review, and if it were as clear and evident as he would imply, there would be for no need for review or investigation by any of the formal agencies empowered and equipped to do so. The matter will be thoroughly scrutinized, and there are appropriate civil and criminal avenues for resolution when the all of the attendant facts are presented. Mr. DeBerry abuses his position by inflaming his readers’ emotions with his premature and irresponsible presumptions, all without benefit of complete and accurate information. None of us have all of the information necessary to make an informed and intelligent decision at this point, especially Mr. DeBerry. What he does to the police department is tantamount to Profiling.

Mike Glasser
President, Police Association of New Orleans (PANO)
3443 Esplanade Avenue
Suite 108
New Orleans, LA 70119
504-416-0366