Oscar Grant Aftermath: Scathing Review of BART Police

Since our main focus is the correctional system, we haven't blogged in depth about the Oscar Grant shooting and its aftermath. However, the broad nature of our correctional crisis makes all stages of the criminal process - including policing - inexorably linked to each other. Therefore, we thought that some updates may be interesting to our readers.

Today, NOBLE (the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives) published its scathing review of BART police management, training and procedures. The full report can be downloaded here.

Among other things, the report points out to antiquated policing techniques, such as an emphasis on car patrols and very low visibility on the trains, tracks, and parking lots. Training is abysmal, there are no specialized units such as a SWAT team, and the protocols for use of force are sorely deficient.

If anyone is interested in hearing more, the report will be the subject of a public meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday in the BART board room, Kaiser Center 20th Street Mall, Third Floor, 344 20th St., Oakland. I called NOBLE this morning, and they seem to be interested in helping make things better.

Progressive Lawyering Day 2009

Following up on this week's posts on minors in California's criminal justice system, this Saturday there will be a panel on the San Francisco police's interrogation of immigrant youth, featuring Supervisor David Campos. The panel is part of Progressive Lawyering Day 2009, hosted by the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. The day also features a keynote lecture from civil rights attorney John Burris.

Here's the full schedule for the event, 10a-6p Sat 10/3 at UC-Hastings, 198 McAllister St., SF:
10:00am Registration/Free Breakfast
10:30-12:00 2 Panels: Transgender Advocacy & SF Police Interrogation of Immigrant Youth feat. SF Supervisor David Campos
12:00-1:00 Free Lunch
1:00-2:30 2 Panels: Alien Tort Claims Act & Everything You Wanted to Know About Fellowships
3:00-4:30 Key Note Speaker John Burris (attorney for the family of Oscar Grant)
4:30-6:00 Reception with free food/drinks

Facebook invite here. Note that CLE credits are available for both afternoon panels.

Drug Dealing in The TL: A Presentation

Tonight the Tenderloin Station held a meeting at the Community Room at 301 Eddy St where guest speakers ADA Sharon Woo (head of narcotics unit) and Judge Ron Albers (Head of the Community Justice Center Court) had a chance to address about 50 members of the TL community regarding concerns about how drug dealing is dealt with in the TL.

An officer (I am a poor reporter) started the presentation stating that, although police chief Gascon could not make it, the recent sweeps of drug dealers in the TL (reported in other articles here on the blog) had been such a success that the Sheriff pods are too full and the police have been asked to back off from making so many arrests. However that moratorium on drug sweeps is likely to end as there are three major police operations scheduled for October 1st(!)

Sharon Woo then began her portion of the talk with a presentation of statistics that she had run regarding arrests made in the TL and the subsequent actions taken by the DA's office. Woo stated that 81% of the cases that had come to the DA's office for felony drug sales and possession had been charged by the DA and an additional 10% of cases resulted in probation violations, meaning that 91% of those types of cases had sort of action taken on them by the DA. Woo added that most of those offenders were kept in custody and if they were released on OR they were given stay away orders to stay away from the area where they were picked up. Woo also rebutted the presumption that most of the dealing that occurred in the TL was the result of people from outside the County by giving a statistic that 67% of those picked up for dealing in the TL were from SF County. Woo stated that she was very pleased with these numbers.

Judge Albers then gave a presentation regarding the CJC wherein he outlined the purposes of the CJC (to address the concerns of the community by looking at the root causes of the types of crime committed in the TL and address the behavioral issues of the persons committing those crimes) and how the CJC is designed to treat those individuals (increased emphasis on social services and addiction treatment programs, and uniquely tailored strategic plans for different types of offenders). Judge Albers placed emphasis on the fact that about 2/3 of the people that he sees in the CJC have addiction issues, about 50% have mental health issues, and overall about 80% have one or the other, or both. The emphasis in the presentation given by Judge Albers seemed to be on letting the community know exactly what the CJC was doing and that the concerns of the community about rampant drug dealing and use are being addressed

The members of the community present reflected many different points of view from "I have seen no difference whatsoever since the drug sweeps" to "the new enforcement scheme seems to be making a big difference." Some people were frustrated with the inability to go into their homes without being harassed by drug dealers and users and seemed to be advocating for a more strict enforcement scheme. Others felt that the CJC was a good approach to dealing with drug problems: "You need to combat the demand, and when you get rid of the demand for drugs you will see the suppliers leave" one woman said, turning to Ms. Woo "Do you want some crack?" Though asking an Assistant DA if they want any crack seems rather odd, the point seemed to support the position of the CJC: If you treat the addiction you will get rid of the crime that goes along with it.

More on Minors: Failing Report Cards for Juvenile Institutions

(Preston Juvenile Facility images courtesy Center of Juvenile and Criminal Justice, at http://www.cjcj.org).

As Jesse pointed out in a recent blog post, our general concerns about the California correctional crisis are warranted especially with regard to our treatment of minors. Much of the recent attention to the crisis concerned adult institutions exclusively; however, given the connection between age and crime, and the difficulties in rehabilitating adults, juvenile institutions have an enormous potential as centers of rehabilitation, and could provide a turning point away from criminal career.

What are our juvenile institutions like? A recent report by Books Not Bars paints a rather grim picture. The organization examined six California juvenile institutions to the Missouri Model and issued report cards for them. Sadly, all institutions miserably failed to prove adequate; the report finds conditions to be abysmal, and not conducive in the least to rehabilitation. Dated building standards, remoteness from family, chaotic and violent environments, and a paucity of rehabilitative programs, do not bode well for the future of juvenile corrections, or for a decline in adult criminal careers. Books Not Bars should be commended for bringing these invisible problems to light and raising awareness to this sad state of affairs.

More on Sex Offender Monitoring

The CDCR website reports on the Adult Parole Division's Operation "Eagle Eye", which consists of GPS monitoring of sex offenders in state fairs. We've already discussed California's fascination with GPS monitoring, its promise and discontents. Here's the newest in that vein:

Every sex offender on active parole has GPS monitoring as part of their supervision requirements. Any sex offender parolee who entered the fair zone set off an alarm notifying parole agents of their whereabouts. Once a notification was received, on-site CDCR parole agents tracked an offender's movement and investigated if any law, parole violation or any public safety issue existed. During the various runs of the fairs, CDCR parole agents received numerous zone alerts, which culminated in parolee arrests for violations of special conditions of parole.

"When it comes to the supervision of sex offenders, we cannot and will not compromise public safety," said Marvin Speed, District Parole Administrator. "Operation Eagle Eye was so beneficial to enhancing public safety that we will replicate the operation at other venues."

Is Incarcerating Minors an Even More Wasteful Crisis?

WireTap Magazine has a great interview with Liz Ryan of the Campaign for Youth Justice. CYFJ argues that incarcerating minors does not work (does not reduce recidivism, does not deter crime), is very unsafe, and is unfair.

According to the California Attorney General's Criminal Justice Statistics Center, in 2005 the state of California incarcerated juveniles at a rate of 23.8 per 100,000 at-risk population, compared to 131.9 for adults. In particular, in 2005 California arrested juveniles for drugs at a rate of 486.9 per 100,000 at-risk population, versus 1173.5 adults.

Minors are arguably the most vulnerable members of our prison population. In a recent post, California Corrections Crisis points out that Zimbabwe has just decided to release all minors from all prisons to reduce overcrowding. Since California is having trouble finding 40,000 inmates to release, perhaps we should consider releasing all inmates under 18 years age.

Parole Documentary from Prisons Under Pressure

I have been pleasantly surprised by the CCPOA-funded documentary series Prisons Under Pressure. The series is a bit dramatic in terms of editing and presentation, and somewhat shallow in its coverage of the broader social issues, but actually provides a lot of interesting information and includes some fascinating interviews. Episode 4, which you can see here, discusses the dysfunctionalities of parole in California and examines the roots behind the success of some programs. The video includes interesting interviews with Mimi Silbert from the Delancey Street Foundation and with Harriet Salarno from Crime Victims United of California.

While the CCPOA's political power and relationship with governors since the 1980s has been criticized by some as a major contributor to the ratcheting up of sentencing, and their involvement in funding political campaigns (such as the Three Strikes Law and the No on 5 campaign) a source of concern, I think they should be commended for funding this documentary, as well as for their public support for a sentencing commission.