Bad Judgment by Some SBPD

Hardy L. Brown

Those decisions include: the police department's endorsement of Joseph Turner over Rachel Clark for the City of San Bernardino's Clerk position; the endorsing of former city councilwoman Betty Dean Anderson over City Councilman Rikke Van Johnson and finally the holding back, in my opinion, of their endorsement of City Attorney Jim Penman. I believe that they thought that such an endorsement wouldn't fly in view of the fact that Penman is such a fire rod in both the Black and Latino/Hispanic communities when it comes to race relations.

Sgt. Rich Lawhead

The endorsement of Turner over Clark will only add to the division and mistrust between those who took an oath to serve while being paid by the citizens they are sworn to protect; while endorsing Betty Anderson has the potential of reducing the appearance of race-based actions in their decisions on who to support.

I came from the south where the best segregationists in America practiced racial divide politics especially when it came to elections. They knew...and still do...how to throw fish fry parties with all the proper food and drinks designed to convince Black voters to vote their way. Intimidation of Black voters through overt means - extra police presence at polls; or less obvious ways, suggesting that credit or other conveniences would be affected depending on which way they voted, were also common practice. They also knew how to prop up Black candidates to enter races in order to defeat candidates that they disagreed with.

In spite of his infamous quote, "Segregation yesterday, segregation today, segregation forever," even the late Alabama Governor George Wallace knew when he had gone too far. Perhaps some of our local folks should follow his example when it comes showing even a little restraint before they take your personal issues and beliefs too far by using their leadership position inappropriately.

When Penman suggested that Latino/Hispanic families should go back to Mexico, maybe he had gone too far. When he tried to dilute the voting influence of Blacks and Hispanics in 2004 by changing the city Charter and making all elections at large elections, maybe he had gone too far and actually gave up that idea when he was threatened with lawsuits from MALDEF (the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund) and the NAACP for possible civil rights violations.

The police are also making the gap wider by some of the poor judgments in decisions they have made recently, for example: they beat up a parolee, Paul Triplett, last November and as of today no paperwork has been produce to say why. After the beating, Paul was sent to Chino Prison for a few weeks and then released. A few months later Paul was issued a jaywalking ticket walking on a street in his own neighborhood that had no sidewalks, although everyone in that neighborhood are forced to jaywalk he was ticketed.

Then last Thursday the police went to Paul's mother home to arrest him for not showing up for class, a parole violation even though his mother had produced a note stating that he was sick. When the police came to arrest Paul they came with guns drawn; and the only person home was Paul's 13 years old female cousin who was confronted and taken in by police who made it clear that it was a good thing that Paul was not at home because they would have whipped his a** again. They returned last Friday and took him back to Chino.

Another example happened just a few weeks ago when some neighboring citizen had gathered in front of their home to hold a prayer vigil for a neighbor who was killed. The police was called and responded in riot gear. Again guns were drawn resulting in women and children being beaten by officers and a sixteen-year-old boy being arrested. Several of the citizens went to city hall and told their story to the city council in graphic detail including examples of the foul language and name calling by police officers. The incident is currently under investigation by the city council.

Now I am not sure how wide this gap between police and the communities they serve will get, but it appears that the police are out of control and this is scary. When a male officer enters a home with no search warrant with a 13-year-old female and no one else is home that is bad judgment. A whole lot of "what if's" come to mind. As a Black father I am appalled at this officer's actions. I say this officer because I know most of them use better judgment in carrying out their duties. When our citizens cannot gather to pray in public without police disrupting them, this should not be tolerated. This series of bad judgments by a few has the potential of having the same effect on police officers as does a Black person committing a crime and the entire race being labeled as criminals. It is time for the good police officers of San Bernardino to step up and help bring those ‘out of control' officers back before the damaged relationship becomes irreparable.

Happy Birthday 96 to Rev. William Jacks

Rev. William Jacks