NEWS & LETTERS, October - November 2008
Community rallies against brutal cops
Memphis, Tenn.--On June 12, a videotape was leaked showing another egregious act of police brutality--a transgendered Black woman being beaten by a white officer in the lobby of the Shelby County Jail. A second officer held the woman down while the first put on a pair of latex gloves and beat his victim with handcuffs used as brass knuckles. At no time did the victim engage in any violence.
I'm involved with the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center and the Women's Action Coalition. We called a meeting on June 18, which drew over 70. We drafted demands for officer sensitivity training on LGBTQ issues, public disclosure of alleged cases of brutality, and independent oversight of the Memphis Police Department. Because the police attacked the victim in the jail lobby--where they knew they were being videotaped--we knew this incident pointed to a broader pattern of abuse. We also wanted an investigation of:
• the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, as several Sheriff's Department employees can be seen loitering in the background of the videoed beating.
• the county medical staff because the nurse on the scene ignored the injured woman. She suffered lacerations on her head and face and had mace sprayed in her eyes. Instead, the nurse "treated" the officer's "injury"--a scrape on the back of his neck.
We decided to convene a public forum for victims of police brutality to share their stories with the community and to demand accountablity.
We met throughout the summer, including meeting with the officer in charge of the police academy, who promised that he would pass our concerns along to Larry Godwin, Director of the Memphis Police Department. We won't accept a mere four hours of sensitivity training, lumping in LGBTQ with issues of gender, race, etc., given only to new recruits. Tellingly, however, that officer has since been embroiled in a sexual scandal, so he has not been pursuing our demands.
Godwin first claimed to welcome independent oversight, then denied any need for it in interviews later. Approaching the City Council about passing a resolution for an external investigation of the Memphis Police Department's human rights policies and practices, we found a vocal ally in Councilwoman Janis Fullilove. She even came to one of our community meetings to offer her support and put us in touch with the director of the Citizens' Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB).
An "independent oversight" for the Memphis Police Department, CLERB has been stifled by various factors, including the fact that its charter only permits it to review investigations that have already been made by the MPD's Internal Affairs Bureau. A bureaucratic nightmare awaits citizens who want to make claims against the Memphis police. First, a citizen must file a report with the IAB. If the IAB refuses to investigate, as it most often does, there is no further recourse. The CLERB has no government resources and only one paid staff person, and has no right to enforce its findings. There is not one case of the police acting on a CLERB recommendation.
In August, Fullilove sponsored a resolution before the Memphis City Council calling for an external investigation of the Memphis Police Department and asking for a strengthened CLERB to provide citizen oversight "with some teeth," as she puts it. The resolution passed the first of three readings. The long work of ridding the Memphis Police Department of corrupt and abusive officers has just begun, but our group is happy that our initial attempts have been somewhat successful.
--Amy
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