Police Brutality

Baltimore police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts announced Friday the creation of a new unit to oversee internal affairs, audits and the writing of police procedures, a move he hopes will strengthen public confidence in his agency. Jeronimo "Jerry" Rodriguez, a 26-year Los Angeles Police Department veteran, was named deputy commissioner in charge of the new Bureau of Professional Standards. Rodriguez will report directly to Batts and joins Deputy Commissioner John Skinner at the top level of Batts' staff.

Baltimore police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts announced Friday the creation of a new unit to oversee internal affairs, audits and the writing of police procedures, a move he hopes will strengthen public confidence in his agency. Jeronimo "Jerry" Rodriguez, a 26-year Los Angeles Police Department veteran, was named deputy commissioner in charge of the new Bureau of Professional Standards. Rodriguez will report directly to Batts and joins Deputy Commissioner John Skinner at the top level of Batts' staff.

Well, I finally switched my position on the Second Amendment, and it's all due to a renegade dirt bag cop who can't control himself ("Officer shoots, kills dog in Arundel," Aug. 4). I'm talking about the piece of garbage who killed a defenseless dog because he didn't like the way it played with other dogs. What a worthless, disgusting excuse for a human being. I hope that the recent rulings by the Supreme Court result in every person carrying a handgun wherever they go. If so, that worthless scumbag would have gotten the punishment he deserves -- to die in a hail of gunfire from decent, law-abiding citizens.

Within an hour after an East Baltimore man died while in police custody, Cortly "C.D. " Witherspoon got an urgent phone call from someone with connections to the family, asking for his help. The next day, Witherspoon, a 30-year-old clergyman and single father, walked the streets conducting what he calls a "community investigation. " Though police said Anthony Anderson had died from choking on drugs, people who said they saw the arrest described an assault. Anderson's death has since been ruled a homicide, and Witherspoon and his bullhorn have been at the center of rallies calling attention to the issue.

As a nonviolent activist, I read with interest your article "Wall Street protesters to target N.Y. police" (Sept. 30). I have had considerable contact with the police on the front lines of various protests over the years, and while most police officers have treated me with respect, on occasion some brutes have revealed their macho side. Unfortunately, the New York City Police Department has an awful reputation for mistreating protesters. Since almost everyone has a camera these days, one would expect the police to be on their best behavior, but some still get out of control, presumably because they do not fear any punishment from their superiors.

About 60 children and adults demonstrated in front of the Anne Arundel County police headquarters in Millersville yesterday evening, protesting alleged police misconduct during an incident at a Crofton skating rink on Sept. 30.Police are conducting an internal investigation of the complaints of police brutality and the use of racial slurs and profanity during the incident at Skate City in which seven people were arrested.Lt. Ronald Bledsoe, a shift commander at the Western District, is heading the investigation.

A county police probe discovered no evidence to substantiate a brutality complaint filed by an Odenton prison guard supervisor.A statement released yesterday said Sgt. Tony Brent Lorick, a prison guard supervisor at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup, fabricated and exaggerated claims of brutality in an early morning raid of his Greyswood Road home."

JOE MADISON, radio talk show host and program manager for WOL/WOLB, has got that Energizer Bunny critter beat by a couple of dozen light years when it comes to pep.Consider this: On Friday, March 19, he did his regular radio show from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. That Sunday, he delivered a speech in Queens, N.Y. The next day, he was one of 146 people arrested when they blocked the doorway to New York City police headquarters at One Police Plaza to protest the shooting...

WASHINGTON -- It seemed like just the sort of police misconduct case that the Justice Department would want to sink its teeth into.A young black man had been shot to death by a police detective on Long Island, N.Y. Witnesses testified that the man, Ricky McCargo, had been unarmed, kneeling on the groundand pleading for his life. When a local grand jury failed to return an indictment against the detective, a state investigation concluded that the prosecutor had "skewed" the evidence in favor of the police.

A Columbia man is suing Howard County for $1.15 million, claiming that the Police Department and other public officials have purposefullybeen "covering up" reported incidents of police brutality.The lawsuit, filed last week in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, alleges that Mickey C. Bowie and his brother, Carl Jonathan Bowie, were severely beaten in a January 1990 brush with county police, who in turn"approved, condoned and ratified all aspects of the police misconduct."Carl Bowie was found hanged to death May 4 at a backstop on an Oakland Mills High School athletic field.

The encounter between police officers and a University of Maryland student after a basketball game in 2010 lasted only 10 seconds, but how a jury interprets those moments, captured on video, will determine the fate of two veteran Prince George's County police officers on trial this week. The officers, Reginald Baker and James J. Harrison, are charged with first-degree assault and misconduct in office. Prosecutor Joseph Ruddy opened the government's case against them Monday by slamming his palm against a wooden railing in a Prince George's County Circuit courtroom, eliciting a loud thwack.

The city's new police commissioner brought his top brass on Wednesday night to meet with the family of Anthony Anderson, the 46-year-old man whose death in police custody last week has raised tensions in East Baltimore , the family's attorney confirmed. J. Wyndal Gordon, an attorney who is representing Anderson's family, said that Anthony W. Batts and members of his command staff visited the Andersons "to extend his condolences. " "We repeated our desire for justice in this case, and got a commitment from him that he will do what he can to ensure justice is served," Gordon said.

In a filthy East Baltimore lot used as a shortcut and as a place to buy heroin, community leaders and relatives of a man who died in police custody railed against the police Tuesday and called for justice in the case. Anthony Anderson, 46, died in this lot Friday night during a routine drug arrest. Police say the circumstances remain under investigation, but people who say they witnessed his death — including his family members — believe he died from injuries sustained while being arrested.

Two activists who entered Baltimore City Hall on Monday afternoon and demanded to speak with the mayor about a wide range of issues affecting city residents were later arrested for trespassing and escorted out of the building in handcuffs. They never met with the mayor. The Rev. Cortly "C.D. " Witherspoon, of the Baltimore chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Sharon Black, of the Baltimore People's Assembly, had wanted to deliver a letter to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake that demanded an "emergency meeting" to discuss police brutality, the closing of recreation centers and fire companies, and the creation of more city jobs programs, according to the letter.

At a time when City Hall is girding for another round of budget battles, spending on lawsuits filed against the Police Department is coming under increased scrutiny. The city's budget office revealed at an investigative hearing Tuesday that it has spent $10.4 million over the past three years — an average of about $3.5 million annually — defending the Baltimore Police Department against lawsuits. Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke called for the hearing over what she called an "especially troubling" trend of the Police Department paying out millions over brutality claims while other parts of the budget, such as recreation centers, suffer cuts.

As a nonviolent activist, I read with interest your article "Wall Street protesters to target N.Y. police" (Sept. 30). I have had considerable contact with the police on the front lines of various protests over the years, and while most police officers have treated me with respect, on occasion some brutes have revealed their macho side. Unfortunately, the New York City Police Department has an awful reputation for mistreating protesters. Since almost everyone has a camera these days, one would expect the police to be on their best behavior, but some still get out of control, presumably because they do not fear any punishment from their superiors.

WHAT WAS WRONG with this picture? It was early July. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had just opened its annual convention in Baltimore. The Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the opening address, railing against the prevalence of police brutality and announcing a protest march against the same on Aug. 26, less than two weeks from now. Also in attendance was African-American film director John Singleton, whose new movie "Shaft" had been released weeks earlier. According to one reporter, several convention attendees pined for Singleton's autograph.

NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said yesterday that the civil rights group would march against police brutality, hold a hearing on military discrimination and reaffirm its support for reparations for slavery at its 88th annual convention.The convention, which begins Saturday in Pittsburgh, is scheduled to include an address by President Clinton and wide-ranging discussions of education policy, including voucher plans, state "takeovers" of urban districts and school busing for desegregation.But Mfume denied recent reports the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was reconsidering its traditional support for integration.

Conservative groups are in an uproar over rapper Common's scheduled attendance at the White House's "Night of Poetry" event this week.  Sarah Palin, The Daily Caller and other right-of-center groups are criticizing a 2007 spoken word performance Common gave as allegedly threatening to police and President George W. Bush.   Nevermind that like most rappers, Common assumes a stage persona and is doing a form of acting while rapping (I seriously doubt a millionaire like Common is roaming the streets looking to shoot cops, as has been implied)

If Ice Cube's career is any indication, the life cycle of a rapper is highly unpredictable. One day you're protesting police brutality, and 20 years later you're playing cute for the "Ramona and Beezus" set. Still, his legacy as one of the pioneers of gangsta rap is cemented, and he's sold millions of albums, including several certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. On Monday, he'll perform at Bourbon Street. Ice Cube, whose real name is O'Shea Jackson, first came to prominence in the late 1980s as part of controversial group N.W.A.