Letters to the Editor 12-11-14

Paying for police violence
Editor: Dr. Peter Phillips and the folks at Project Censored recently published an extensive, groundbreaking research piece titled “Law Enforcement-Related Deaths.” In it they document that about 1,500 people die each year in “peace” officer related deaths. The Wall Street Journal this week published its research showing that the FBI’s count of officer related deaths is at least a third shy of the true count. We don’t even keep track of how many die from peace officers’ bullets.
Not surprisingly, the odds of any “peace” officer being criminally indicted and convicted in any state are near zero. Nor do elected officials pay the price as seen by our recent uncontested sheriff’s race and incumbent prosecutor’s rout of her opponent. The conviction of a BART security guard, caught on film shooting a prone, unarmed man, was a rare, rare exception.
That does not mean that courts find “peace” officers entirely blameless.
An entirely different view emerges when civil settlements to victims are considered.
So who pays the price beyond victims and families? Taxpayers. When Rohnert Park police mistook a drunken middle manager with a broomstick for a lethal martial arts expert, the city settled with his widow for $1 million. Add in another half million in legal fees or so and the 15,000-odd homeowners in Rohnert Park had to pony up $100 each to pay the bill. The county settled the “reasonable and justifiable” Jeremiah Chass slaying for $1.75 million and who knows what legal expenses. We have yet to find out what we’ll pay for Andy Lopez and I shudder to think what we’ll pay the next time re-armed officer Gelhaus’ “mean gene” goes off.
Through our tax bills, we know how much we pay for libraries, fire protection, schools and other miscellany. So how about we taxpayers at least get an accounting from civil settlement expenses caused by our law enforcement agencies mailed to us each year under the letterhead of our sheriff? Maybe then the sheriff would put improved lethal force training ahead of coroner’s reports as his “#1 priority.”
Mark Swedlund
Sebastopol