Pubdate: Wed, 21 Jun 2000
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Author: Redditt Otis Hudson

COMMUNITY REVIEW BOARDS ARE NEEDED NOW

LAW ENFORCEMENT

IT is abundantly clear at this point: Any community that has a police
department should have a community review of that service. It is a matter of
life and death.

We have heard reasonable explanation after reasonable explanation about why
unarmed person after unarmed person is dead. What is reasonable to believe
is that some law-enforcement officers and some in the larger criminal
justice system far too often function within a mindset that sees
African-Americans and other minorities as expendable, worthless human beings
whose elimination - using any means - brings no legal or moral cost.

We can be eliminated from viability with pathetically unbalanced laws, as
with the now well-documented disparate sentencing standards for different
drug-related offenses, which rushes African-Americans into the business
stream of prisons for profit. Or weapons can be drawn and bullets brazenly
fired into unarmed bodies, and those who fire know they will be supported in
the processes that follow. They will find support in the law-enforcement
community, support to a significant extent in public opinion and, most
important, support in our courts, which continually sanction even the most
excessive exercise of police power.

We need to establish independent civilian review boards and do it now.

Such boards are the best chance that communities will have to ensure that
their members are valued. Many groups do not see themselves represented in
the processes used to review the conduct of officers responsible for serving
them. This democracy was set up wisely, using a system of checks and
balances. There is no place where a check on power is more warranted.

Some people argue that the interests of law enforcement agencies would be
compromised with the establishment of independent civilian review boards.
They say they oppose such boards because confidentiality and investigative
integrity would be endangered. These issues are far outweighed by society's
interest in protecting human rights and freedoms.

We are living in a reality where a local law enforcement official recently
described the shooting death of yet another unarmed black man at the hands
of police as "unintended, not a mistake." To hell with that statement.
Ronald Beasley was not even a suspect.

Even if the intent of the statement was to cover his people, a basic respect
for life should have precluded it. Whose life would that spokesman respect?
And how are people supposed to hear that and believe that this official and
his set of people will provide a fair and impartial investigation?

I am sick of seeing power freely and arrogantly abused. Surely those in law
enforcement will ask for an opportunity to account fully for themselves,
wanting not to be judged too harshly until we know everything about an
incident. They deserve that. When will those in law enforcement consistently
provide the same opportunity to African-Americans and other minorities, or
poor whites and others with limited resources or immigrants new to the
community? An independent review board will help them provide it. If you
shoot people to death - unarmed and innocent people - and then revile those
who challenge your actions, you alone should not be responsible for
characterizing the act.

As we bring an end to the sad parade of human rights abuse that is being
featured nationally, we must not see the situation through pitifully narrow
lenses that divide issues and people into liberal or conservative; Muslim,
Christian or Jewish. We should not ask, "Who is saying this, a white person
or a black person?" Having been blessed with the miracle of life, don't
reduce living to that.

If you believe that all of us have the right to have ourselves and our
communities valued, respected and defended, now would be a good time to
stand up for what you believe in. Wherever you find yourself, no matter who
is around you or what they might do to you personally or materially, stand
up for what you believe is right. Immediately critical to the effort is that
my many colleagues and friends in law enforcement act on principle and not
just on power.

Redditt Otis Hudson, a former city police officer, is a job developer with
Better Family Life, St. Louis.
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