From Sunday’s Daily Progress:
City considers review panel for police: Wheelchair incident prompts latest call
By Seth Rose
Remember the “wheelchair incident”? Of course you do. These are two excerpts from the article– I’m completely slanting this according to my view, so please do NOT think I’m being objective in the least.
When you have that type of system in place, it raises the credibility of the police department, Councilor Julian Taliaferro said.
I don’t see this as an indication of a lack of trust in the police department, Mayor Dave Norris said. It’s just another layer of review that helps instill community confidence, support and accountability.
Cynical commentary: Well, maybe they’ll review some protocols between the interviews and photo shoots.
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Tagged as: Charlottesville, Police
if it’s not about re-establishing trust then why bother to starting the review panel, Mayor Norris.? This is a blatant attempt to minimize an unpleasant situation. The seems very little doubt that the thin blue takes care of it’s own.
For what my hot-headed left-wing comments are worth… The pigs, *ahem* I mean police, and everyone invovled with this incident on the government’s side have irretrievably screwed the pooch on this one.
Really - ticket the guy in the wheelchair that you hit with your police cruiser?!?!? Who the hell signed off on that ticket? I mean, the Commonwealth’s Attorney could have chosen not to take this one to court.
What the hell type of society do we live in where the cop wasn’t ashamed and embarassed? I would have apologized profusely and offered to pay for any damages or injuries were I the Chief of Police. But I guess that’s because I have a … ummmm.. what’s that thing again?
Oh yeah - conscience. The panel would have also accepted the answer soul.
there’s no “lack of trust” but they feel a need to “instill community confidence, support and accountability.”
wait a minute… i’m confused…
simple, admittance of guilt would make a civil case an open and shut affair. Cha-ching
yeah, what oy said. gotta love it.
You can call them pigs and question their integrity all you want, and any of us could, from the comfort of our keyboards, find reasons to second-guess any number of the thousands of the decisions made by our 100+ police officers in a given month. (I personally would have preferred that either both parties, or neither party, be ticketed in the Mitchell incident.) But if you look at the totality of the work that the Charlottesville Police do, their effectiveness in addressing crime, and the fact that they do in fact have a track record of thoroughly investigating and prosecuting their own, you might find it’s a little more difficult to condemn them in such harsh terms. Do I have trust and confidence in the Charlottesville police? Yes. Do I think re-instating a civilian review process (which I initially recommended back in 2006, well before the Mitchell incident) would help the community at large to develop more trust and confidence in the Charlottesville police? Yes. Why is this confusing?
Dave, I agree with you.
I think the police do a good job in this town overall and we have a tendency to call out their flaws even when they probably do the right thing 99.99% of the time. It’s easy for people to sling names when they don’t have to be in that position.
For the same reason I said the wheelchair incident looked like an honest (but funny) mistake.
The civilian review board should be the City Council. You were elected to represent us. Why are there layers and layers of government?..so that no one is truly accountable. Chief Longo and his officers do a great job. I doubt those who mistrust and lack confidence in the police will be converted by a civilian review board. Peace
The issue is whether the police are treating themselves differently than they do ordinary citizens. If so, they are abusing their powers. And that’s something we all need to be concerned with no matter how benevolent and brave the police are most of the time
I’d like to know, in what percentage of accidents involving a car hitting a jay-walking pedestrian, is the pedestrian ticketed? (My hunch is that it’s not too high.)
Was the cop disciplined for taking his eyes off the road?
Was he disciplined for moving the victim without stabilizing his neck?
While we’re on the subject: How often do the police ticket/arrest people for violating the law against cursing? My guess: Never, unless the object of the curse is a cop.
People have a right to be angry. Even if the cops are good folks 99.99% of the time they still must be held accountable. I don’t commit crimes 99.99% of the time, but I don’t think that fact would immunize me from arrest and prosecution were I caught during that 0.01% of the time.
I agree with Silmo.
The accident has become an issue. Let’s overreact by establishing a new layer of government so that we are protected from 0.01% of our police officers, who were involved in an accident. The officers are, and should be held accountable by the escalating level of authority above them…Chief Longo and the City Council. Peace
Dave, on June 11, I wrote:
Just want to put on the record that this is, to me, an isolated case. The article is capitalizing on the importance of the public’s perception in the reincarnation then underscoring the lack of authority of the committee to discipline officers. If it’s objective, not so good for the city. If it’s editorializing, not so good for the reader. Does that help?
All that having been said, it is an absolute honor to have you personally take the time to comment on the site. Your service to Charlottesville over the years has been outstanding, and I can’t imagine a better civic leader than one who cares enough to visit cvillain.com and defend his city’s finest. Now, in the grand tradition of welcoming new visitors to the site, “Welcome to the party, please help yourself to Kool-Aid and ants on a log, and don’t mind our three-legged dog Limp Biscuit.”
Thanks Lilith, that does help, and I think we’re actually on the same page with regard to being disinterested in empty political gestures. And thanks for the kind welcome! Cvillain is quite the happening place, I see. Must be the Kool-Aid.