Betrayal in Black

by Mark M Bello

  Cedar Ridge is actually ahead of the curve.

  Brooks is pleased to discover his city has already implemented many of the task force proposals. For example, suggestions for improved transparency include body microphones, body cameras, and dash cams. These devices are already affixed to all Cedar Ridge Officers and patrol cars. Brooks is acutely aware these microphones and cameras assist in evidence collection and help control behavior.

  People behave better when they know they are on camera and that goes for both cops and citizens.

  Cedar Ridge does not purchase or employ military-style equipment on its streets, even for use by its elite SWAT unit. The unit does own a spiffy Hummer vehicle, but that’s the only ‘military-style’ equipment that the city owns.

  President Obama once banned the use of certain military-style hardware to local police, but President John rescinded Obama’s executive order when he became president. Brooks and other Cedar Ridge officials firmly believe Obama was correct. Military equipment and weaponry intimidate and alienate members of the community. Citizens are made to feel their police department is some sort of occupying force, which negatively impacts trust between cops and citizens.

  Nobody wants that.

  Brooks skims the pages and comes to the task force’s recommendations on so-called non-lethal weapons. The use of Tasers or stun guns rather than guns is a tricky subject. Brooks recalls certain studies that demonstrate these weapons decrease incidents of officer and citizen injuries and deaths. However, he also knows officers tend to overuse them to obtain compliance from people who aren’t necessarily a threat.

  Tasers or stun guns may cause death and serious injuries from falls, or the electric pulses emitted that override the brain’s control of the body. They do not necessarily prevent the use of lethal force. He believes the issue requires more thought and more study.

  Brooks likes the idea of recruiting and training highly educated officers. He believes this will raise the level of officer performance. The obvious problem with this proposal is cost. It’s difficult to recruit college and postgraduate level officers when the pay is substandard as compared to private sector law enforcement.

  How do you pay new recruits, regardless of academic prowess, more than officers with years of experience, but no college degree? The proposal would result in an increase in pay levels across the board.

  Can the city afford this? Can it afford not to consider it?

  Chief Brooks studies the proposals regarding improved and increased training for officers in employing the use of verbal warnings and warning shots. According to the committee, the goal is for an officer to refrain from using deadly force unless such force is absolutely necessary. The committee report states that a reasonable belief or a suspicion the suspect has a gun, does not meet that standard. Brooks is not convinced this is realistic or consistent with ‘real world’ policing.

  It’s easy to ‘Monday morning quarterback’ these incidents or find shades of grey from an armchair. On the streets, decisions are made in split seconds, with officers and innocent citizens’ lives on the line. Is this realistic?

  He reads on. The panel suggests Marcus Hayes and Randy Jones would still be alive if Jones had better communicated and issued appropriate verbal warnings to Hayes. This is the only category in which the committee refers to the case directly. The committee indicates that Jones should have remained calm and waited for back up. Failing that, however, he still could have issued consistent verbal warnings, followed protocol, fired a warning shot, or shot at a non-vital body part.

  The committee is not convinced Hayes posed any threat to Jones even though Hayes was legally armed. There was no evidence the suspect was dangerous, high on drugs, mentally ill or desperate. However, studies have shown that specific restrictions on police behavior and quality training, communication, and counseling for officers in dealing with disturbed or distraught suspects reduce the number of serious injuries and deaths.

  This training would include what it called ‘inherent bias’ training. Studies have demonstrated many officers subconsciously associate young black men with criminality, and these inherent biases shape whom an officer will stop and whether he or she will presume the potential for criminal behavior.

  Brooks ponders the various recommendations. He’s dubious that a person with some type of inherent bias can be trained to ignore that bias. However, he’s on board with the general concept that de-escalation of deadly altercations is the ultimate goal of all of the task force’s recommendations.

  Chief Brooks is less-than-enthusiastic about the committee’s recommendations for data reporting and civilian oversight. The report suggests officers collect and report data for all people they stop. Report details would include the race or ethnicity of the person stopped, the reason for the stop, and the ultimate disposition of the stop. This would consist of all officer-involved altercations and shootings, whether they are fatal or not.

  According to the committee, collecting this data would help in determining the scope of the problem, creating a best practices model, and holding a bad officer accountable for his or her actions. The goal of this recommendation, like many of the others, was to improve community trust in law enforcement professionals.

  As to civilian oversight, the committee recommends that those overseeing these types of occurrences be consistent with the make-up of the committee itself. In other words, civilians would be part of a blue-ribbon panel that consisted of city officials, police officers, politicians, attorneys, and prominent citizens. Brooks is fine with the idea and with increasing or improving the diversity of the police force and strengthening Internal Affairs. In his opinion, these measures are long overdue.

  Brooks is surprised to learn the committee has included criminal prosecution and civil litigation as potential deterrents to officer-involved violence. While communities often demanded criminal prosecutions for the involved officers, police and internal affairs units often disagree with those demands. Further, Internal Affairs tends to exonerate officers more often than not.

  The committee believes these statistics lead the community to distrust police and Internal Affairs when it comes to cop-on-citizen criminality. Diversifying Internal Affairs and including civilian fact-finders are recommended. When the quest for a criminal indictment fails, the committee believes, the potentially high cost of a civil lawsuit may act as a deterrent to bad officer behavior.

  The committee cites the Hayes vs. Jones, et al lawsuit as an example of a civil lawsuit prompting a community to act. In fact, the committee’s own existence was prompted by Sara Hayes’ decision to sue Officer Jones and the City of Cedar Ridge. Fear of substantial verdicts and public humiliations in court are serious deterrents to appalling police behavior, and these lawsuits must be encouraged, not discouraged, by police hierarchy.

  Brooks chuckles. This could bankrupt a city—I can see myself sitting down at a meeting with Mayor Mendoza and City Council, advising them I encouraged the widow of a citizen to pursue a lawsuit against the city for civil rights violations by the Cedar Ridge Police. How long would I continue to be employed as Chief?

  While it may sound like a good idea in theory, Brooks does not think any city official, anywhere in the world, would encourage civil litigation. As he reflects on the proposal, he is positive Michael Kendell had a hand in its drafting.

  Little does Brooks know it was Bialy, not Kendell, who encouraged Sarah Hayes to pursue this litigation. The top prosecutor even handpicked Zachary Blake to be Sarah’s attorney.

  Whether or not Brooks is willing to admit the truth, statistics demonstrate civil suits do have a positive effect on a city or a police department dealing with a police misconduct scandal. Lawsuits often cause a city to review its police practices or discuss prevention of similar incidents. Hayes v. Jones, et al is a perfect example of this simple truth. The offended community constituency is often assuaged by these commitments to alter future policies and procedures.

  Chief Warren Brooks fini
shes his reading, leans forward, and places the report on his desk. He again leans back in his executive chair, hands clasped behind his head, and spends the next twenty minutes or so staring at the ceiling.

  Interesting reading, but is it doable? To move forward, we must put this case behind us, put the money together, and be done with this thing. It’s going to cost a shitload of money! This tragedy resulted in the formation of the task force, its findings, and recommendations. If our city implements some or all of these proposals, some good may come from this, after all. Will Blake be reasonable?

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  1983 lawsuits haven’t always been an effective deterrent to police brutality or misconduct. However, under recent case law, it is now possible for misconduct victims to sue police departments, imposing liability on the department itself for the misconduct of its’ officers. This more global liability might result from a lack of or a complete failure to train or supervise. It is this type of potential liability that leads a community to establish a committee like the one created by Chief Warren Brooks in Cedar Ridge.

  The downside is that when private information is published in the digital age, good lawyers and private investigators may discover its existence. While after-incident safety measures cannot be used in court (on the theory that they would discourage such safety measures from being implemented), they can certainly be used for value assumptions and settlement leverage.

  Why would a municipality assemble a blue-ribbon committee if no serious systemic problems caused or contributed to the Hayes tragedy?

  The telephone rang in Zachary Blake’s office.

  “Yes, Kristin?”

  “Micah Love is calling for you, Mr. Blake.”

  “Put him through, thank you.”

  “Micah?”

  “Zack, buddy, I’ve got interesting news.”

  Micah’s pumped.

  “What news is that, Micah?”

  “The City of Cedar Ridge has assembled a blue-ribbon committee to study police misconduct and make recommendations.”

  “That is interesting . . .”

  “It gets better. The committee has recently presented city officials with its preliminary findings.”

  “That seems quick; when was this committee assembled?”

  “About nine months ago.”

  “Why am I just hearing about this?”

  “Because the committee’s existence was a well-kept secret, even after it published its recommendations. Apparently, everyone involved signed non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements. Surprisingly, they all kept silent about it for a long time.”

  “It’s impressive they were able to keep the committee secret for that long, No leaks, huh? If that’s true, how did you come by the information?”

  “Because I am a miracle worker. I also have a source with a conscience and a strong desire to see justice done.”

  “And your source?”

  “If I told you I would have to kill you.”

  “I’m not asking for a name. I’m asking about reliability.”

  “Extremely reliable.”

  “Any juicy stuff?”

  “Absolutely. Lots of issues the task force feels need correcting and lots of solutions to correct them. The group was assembled by the Chief of Police and includes a broad cross-section of city officials, former law enforcement types, municipal, state and federal, as well as prominent and ordinary citizens.”

  “Examples?”

  “The main recommendations are improved transparency and communication with the public regarding stops, increased use of Tasers or stun guns rather than firearms, reducing the use of military-style equipment, increased educational standards and more diversity for police recruits, better warnings and alternate weapons training, and an increase in civilian and internal affairs oversight.”

  “What does ‘improved transparency and communication’ look like?”

  “Body microphones and cameras on all officers, dash cams on all vehicles. My source advises Cedar Ridge had all of that before the Hayes shooting.”

  “None of which helped Marcus Hayes.”

  “True, but better warnings and Taser use might have.”

  “How does ‘better warnings’ work?”

  “An officer is trained to use verbal warnings and warning shots and refrain from the use of deadly force until absolutely necessary. Applying the standard to the Hayes case, for instance, my source claims the fact the suspect tells the officer he’s legally armed is not enough justification to even consider lethal force. Some overt threat or action is required to justify that type of force. Appropriate verbal warnings or a warning shot prevents the death of Marcus Hayes.

  “The committee recommends a cooler head and a call for back up. They are very critical of Jones’s use of inconsistent verbal commands. They feel this tragedy would have been prevented if Jones had received proper training. If an officer has no choice but to shoot, the recommendation is to shoot at a non-vital body part. This is all good stuff, Zack.”

  “It sure is. Anything else to report?” Zack urges.

  He’s piqued about the panel and its’ report.

  “Let me read my notes...”

  Zack hears Micah ruffling through note pages.

  “They recommend training to improve recognition when a suspect is under duress or under the influence of alcohol or drugs. And, get this; they recommend something called inherent bias training.”

  “What does that look like?”

  “A bigot will pull over a black guy before he will pull over a white guy. Furthermore, he will presume the black guy is a criminal because of inherent bias. The training focuses on ignoring the bias even if you have it and concentrating on whether someone did something to merit a stop.”

  “Again—good stuff. We need to find a way to get this in, somehow, through the back door.”

  “You’re the legal wiz. I’m your lowly and humble servant. I’m sure you’ll find a way.”

  “Good work, Micah. Just knowing Chief Brooks and other city officials have been given these recommendations and criticisms makes our case stronger. They are getting these critiques from people with no skin in the game, not from attorneys or clients with secondary gain issues.”

  Micah continues to review his notes.

  “Oh . . .” he starts . . .” I almost forgot! You’re going to love this one! The committee feels the threat of criminal prosecution and civil litigation are important deterrents to bad officer behavior. Police officials should embrace litigation as a deterrent rather than discourage litigation. How about them apples?”

  “Seriously?”

  “As a heart attack. The committee believes large verdicts and public humiliations are serious deterrents.”

  “Wow. These findings may be inadmissible, but they certainly create a great political environment for us to pursue this case.”

  “I thought you’d be pleased.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Sarah Hayes is leaving work to pick up her kids at an after-school daycare center located in the Fisher Building. She’s just completed her third day as a tour guide at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on East Warren in Detroit’s Cultural Center.

  This is a plum job for Sarah. African American history is a passion of hers. She majored in History at Wayne State and took every Black history course the school offers. Ironically, her favorite class was Systemic Racism in African American History, taught by Professor Michael Kendell.

  As she approaches her car, she’s thinking about history and the sacrifices made by those who came before her. Sarah’s not old enough to remember separate but equal, colored and white drinking fountains, separate lunch counters, school busing, Rosa Parks, or Martin Luther King, Jr., but as a student of black history, she reads everything she can get her hands on.

  Sarah knows, firsthand, what it’s like to feel inferior, something less valuable. She grew up reading books about white people, watching white television shows, p
laying with white dolls, and going to movies that starred or featured white actors and actresses. Sarah isn’t surprised there are still white supremacists or nationalists in America.

  America, with white and black societal differences in education, media portrayal, neighborhoods, and opportunities, is, in many ways, a white supremacist country. Even black people are conditioned to believe in the superiority of the white race.

  In the early 1600s, my people were hunted and captured in Africa, jammed into slave ships and brought to America in chains, where they were sold into slavery. Finally freed during civil war times, they spent another one hundred years or so facing segregation, lynching, and Jim Crow laws.

  Civil rights legislation in America, the crowning achievement of Martin and others, is only fifty years old. Every time we take two steps forward, we take a step back. The election of a black president should have been a source of pride, honor, and unity. Instead, many use Barak Obama’s victory as a divisive tool. Why should anyone in America be shocked when a white cop murders my husband?

  Sarah starts the car and eases out of her parking space. Her cell phone rings, startling her out of her thoughts. She slides the bar on the screen to answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Sarah?”

  The voice is female, familiar.

  “Yes?”

  “Oh, my God, Sarah!”

  The woman is frantic.

  “She’s gone! She’s wandered away . . . worse . . . someone’s taken her.”

  “Taken who?”

  Sarah is confused.

  Who is this?

  “Who is this?”

  “Dalia at KidCare. Aisha is missing.”

  Sarah’s heart leaves her chest.

  “Missing? What the hell, Dalia—what the hell does that mean?”

  Aisha is her six-year-old daughter.

  “Oh God, oh dear God . . . can’t breathe . . . can’t think . . . what the hell, Dalia!”

  Sarah frantically checks her rear and side-view mirrors and quickly pulls over.