Conference on police misconduct
held at A&T University
go to story

Activists sentenced for civil disobedience
to close the School of the Americas

Columbus, Georgia, Jan. 29—Forty-two human rights advocates facing federal charges for civil disobedience to close the School of the Americas were tried this week in Columbus, GA. They were among 10,000 who gathered in November, 2002 to expose what they call a double standard in the “war on terrorism,” and to call for the closure of the School of the Americas (SOA), renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC). The defendants peacefully crossed onto the grounds of Fort Benning, the site of the school.

So far all of the defendants have either pled or were found guilty of trespass. Sentences ranged from twelve months probation to six months in federal prison with fines. Two defendants reported to prison immediately, and the rest will self-report.

The group included eight Catholic nuns, a priest, a reverend, four veterans, union organizers, students, and others. Thirty-five more defendants will begin trial on Feb. 10, facing the same trespass charge.

“Those who speak out for justice are facing prison time while SOA-trained torturers and assassins are operating with impunity,” said SOA Watch founder Fr. Roy Bourgeois.

The defendants testified in court against a double standard in the “war on terrorism,” offering evidence to put the SOA/WHISC and US foreign policy on trial. The SOA/WHISC is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers. In 1996 the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals used at the school that advocated the use of torture, extortion, and execution. In a new report, the human rights advocacy organization Amnesty International calls for a suspension of training at the SOA/WHISC, and an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the school. Amnesty refutes the claim that the WHISC is a new institution, stating that WHISC “is essentially the same school as SOA, with the same primary mission…”

Previous to this week’s verdicts, nearly one hundred people have served a total of over fifty years for engaging in nonviolent resistance in a broad-based campaign to close the school.

Source: SOA Watch

back to top

Conference on police misconduct
held at A&T University

By Liz Allen

Greensboro, North Carolina, Jan. 18 (AGR)-- The Martin Luther King Saturday Conference held at historical A&T University, the birthplace of the civil rights sit-ins, addressed police misconduct against those who are in a state of mental disturbance. Tales of police violence against mentally disturbed people were shared by family members and Chapel Hill-based attorney Alan McSurely, who is representing several such people whom he called, “my friends I have never met.” Brenda Howerton, whose son was killed by police, said, “We speak out for fear that somebody else’s child, somebody else’s father, brother is going to have to deal with this...It is not something that happens in a vacuum, it’s something that happens in a community.”

Professor Michael Avery was the featured speaker. Avery is president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild, author of the law article “Unreasonable Seizures of Unreasonable People” and co-author of Police Misconduct, a book McSurely, in his introduction of Avery, referred to as “the lawyer’s bible.”

In his presentation Avery explained that since the 1980’s mental hospitals have downsized their patient care by half a million people, due to regulations made by then-President Reagan. Alternatives to mental hospitals were supposed to be developed so that the mentally ill could receive some type of health care, but “the second half of the project never actually happened” and the police became the only agency tracking people with no access to treatment. Avery asserts that the police should be well-trained in crisis prevention and intervention.

“The average police officer never has to fire his weapon except at a firing range. Shooting criminals is a rare occurrence, but dealing with mentally disturbed people is a frequent occurrence for police officers,” said Avery.

Seven percent of all police calls involve a mental health emergency, and a survey of police officers in Birmingham, Knoxville, and Memphis found that on average an officer responds to six calls a month relating to a mental disturbance. Therefore, officers must be trained and held accountable in how to deal with mentally disturbed people to avoid the unnecessary violence and loss of life families are currently experiencing when a loved one in need of medical attention is mishandled by the police.

Training is based on several primary goals. The number one goal is to minimize the use of violence, which umbrellas the goals of protecting the safety of the public (including the subject of the call), protecting the safety of the officer, and dealing with the situation in a humane manner. Ideally, when police are called, they are informed of the situation they are about to encounter; specifically if they are dealing with a mentally disturbed person. On the way to the scene the officers should be making plans about how they intend to handle the situation. When police approach people who are mentally disturbed in a threatening way, a method commonly used to deal with criminal incidents, the disturbed person is likely to become more withdrawn, paranoid and uncooperative. When approaching the scene police should try to stay in the background as much as possible.

“Maybe park around the block and walk to the scene,” Avery suggested, “Anything to not escalate the situation.”

There should always be two responding officers, but whatever number, only one should come in contact with the person having the mental emergency. According to Avery, the contact officer should be empathetic, asking questions like “What’s on your mind?” but should avoid showing the person her weapon, since it is only likely to escalate the situation. The other officer or officers’ responsibility is to clear out space for conversation, dispersing the crowd.

Avery also emphasizes the need to let the situation take as much time as possible, because most people who are upset eventually calm down; Avery asserted four, six, eight hours of calm negotiation is not unreasonable to avoid violence and loss of life.

“This advice is frequently ignored, of course; police generally try and resolve the situation as quickly as possible,” Avery explained.

Unfortunately, as stories told by family members at the conference illustrated, oftentimes either one officer or an entire SWAT team shows up to handle the situation and disregards the above mentioned guidelines. This type of reaction can overwhelm the person experiencing a mental disturbance. Only one officer on the scene may lead to the officer feeling threatened and overreacting.

The stories of NC residents Gil Barber and Daryl Howerton, Black men who were shot and killed within seconds by an individual officer while naked and disoriented, attest to the danger of a single officer dealing with the situation. Rocky Lewis told of how his father William, another NC resident, was shot three times and killed on his front porch after two hours of negotiation with a SWAT unit that responded to a call reporting that William Lewis was suicidal.

Accountability is an important factor in preventing the use of excessive force. The test the court system uses to determine the culpability of an officer is to determine if the officer acted reasonably considering the “totality” of the circumstances such as if the person offended has committed a crime or is trying to escape. However, Avery points out, a shortcoming of this test is that training is not taken into account when examining cases where excessive force has been used against people who are mentally or emotionally disturbed. The courts say this is because the officer must make “split second” judgments, a line of reasoning Avery refers to as “the myth of split second decision making.” Avery argues that officers should use their training as a base in which to make their judgments and decisions, no matter how quick, and if an officer acts in a way that causes the situation to escalate then they should be held accountable.

Part of the purpose of the conference was to reach out to lawyers who can help in the struggle against police brutality. Butch Barber, Gil Barber’s father, addressed the lawyers present, “Don’t be afraid to ask for grassroots help. A grassroots organization can be eyes and ears for you.” The Barbers are members of the Triad Chapter of the October 22 Coalition against Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, who co-sponsored the event with Copwatch, NC Chapter National Lawyers Guild and the NC A&T Sophmore Class. Issues also addressed at the conference included the need to be vocal and take to the streets, to influence judges to hold police accountable, and the problem of tax money being used to militarize police rather than improve salaries or training.



back to top