A blog about Business & Finance, Neighborhoods, and News.
|
What can I do about my neighbor's overflowing trash cans? Is a Sam's Club coming to Renfro and Rosedale? What happened to the trees near the Ben Austin Senior Center? Why no flag at Hart Park? How would you describe Bakersfield's “spirituality”? Who is going to save the Highway 99 oleanders? What's up with DirectTV and local hi-def channels? Is it illegal to turn without signaling? Is Bass Pro Shops still coming to town? Where's the dirt from the 178/Fairfax highway exchange going? June 06 July 06 August 06 September 06 October 06 November 06 December 06 January 07 February 07 March 07 April 07 May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 |
|
|
Who is on the BPD's shooting review board and how does it work?
Editor's note:
This answer first appeared in June, 2005, but it is still applicable today. In light of Monday's officer-involved shooting, we felt it was worth publishing again.
Q: Who do the Bakersfield Police (or Sheriff) Shooting Review Boards consist of?
What protocol do they use to determine if a shooting was justifiable or not?
They seem to always rule a police shooting "justified."
Jana Byers
Answer: Bakersfield Police Department spokeswoman Mary DeGeare responded:
The Review Board consists of members of the Bakersfield Police Department Command Staff which normally includes four captains and the assistant chief. After considering all of the information presented to them the board will make a recommendation to the chief of police who has the final decision as to whether the shooting was justified.
There are two sides to an Officer Involved Shooting (OIS) investigation. There is the criminal side, which is conducted by the Investigations Division and there is the administrative side which is conducted by Internal Affairs. The criminal investigation is to determine criminal culpability on behalf of the suspect and officer and is submitted to the District Attorney's Office for complaint. The administrative investigation is presented to the Review Board and the chief to assist them in determining whether the officer's actions were within state and federal guidelines and department policy.
Once both investigations are complete, the administrative side of the OIS team will present all of the evidence to the Review Board. Once the evidence is presented, the Review Board convenes to discuss the information and as a group make a determination as to whether the officer's actions were within state and federal guidelines and department policy.
Officer involved shootings are not always ruled within state and federal guidelines and department policy. In 2004, the department had one officer involved shooting which was not within state and federal guidelines and department policy. There have also been officer involved shootings which have been determined to be outside of department policy. In these cases the recommendations ranged from remedial training to disciplinary action.
5 comments from 5 users
1
posted by
onefine49er
on Sep 26, 2006 at 02:31 PM
I dont care who is on the review board as long as officers are out there taking care of the bad guys I think they are justified. I would rather take a stray bullet in the ankle then to have the robber rob me and leave me for dead. I think it is justified as long as they are persuing a criminal.
posted by
anonymous
on Sep 26, 2006 at 03:07 PM
Actually there are no shooting review Boards in Kern County, but there is one guy with a well worn rubber stamp, a five day gold fishing pass, coffee and a huge bear claw.
It sound like a joke but is is a joke made up of ex-cops who never did anything wrong in the "Day" so they see nothing wrong now. One minor questionable shooting in over forty years now there is a creditable rrecord given the nature of the job. The latest shooting for instance is by Sgt. bang, bang Scott who has eight notches on his iron, 40 fishing days and eight bears claws during his career following graduation from the Dick Cheney marksmanship academy. Actually I also agree with the first writer I too would rather he take a stray bullet in the ankle than to have the robber escape from the patrol car and hurt him. As for taking care of the bad guys, with guys like Scott, you need a program to keep track on who is who. Well not to worry I think shooting are justified as long as the public condones them and makes them feel safer. As for pursuing a criminal, there are pursuits and their are pursuits, but in Kern a bullet out runs a perp anytime, and there is no need to stay in shape! posted by
anonymous
on Sep 29, 2006 at 09:55 AM
Is it possible to list or link to the specific Federal, State(Texas??) and BP Departmental guidelines used in determining the justification for an officer to fire on a citizen? Is there any State or Federal oversite of the determinations made by the local police(and DA)? Based on the information reported in the Californian((no doubt provided by BPD's PR department(with extreme prejudice?)) the officer fired on an occupant of a car of joyriding teenagers who had stolen their parent's car. Now some parents may think the shooting was justisfied...but to use deadly force in this case seems to be, at least, a lack of good judgement. I'm a 60 year old, unable to run, law abiding citizen and I'm scared to death of the BPD's officers because of their reputation of having an apparent departmental policy of shooting at anybody "suspected" (in the dark) of commiting a crime, i.e., shoot 1st then ask questions. However I understand but, don't condone, with budget constraints and all, that bullets are cheaper than hiring and training mentally and physically qualified officers. Should it surprise any citizen how much the city pays for liability insurance premiums to cover injured persons of these accidental shootings? I would hope that the Californian chooses to apply compentent and unbiased investigative journalistic principals to the followup to this story.
posted by
monroe
on Oct 1, 2006 at 06:05 AM
Maybe "onefine49er" would have had a different opinion if the "stray bullet" would have hit the guy's forehead rather than his ankle! Untrained, arrogant, callous and cowardly, best describes the officers in Kern County. BPD and KCSO are all "reviewed" by their peers, who have as much to lose as the shooter!? When will the citizens of this wild west county wake up? With former cowboy Sparks and his public statement saying in effect, shoot first and ask questions later, likely not any time soon!!! Some day, someone, hopefully, will make an effort. Until then, better duck and cover! posted by
NancyII
on Oct 1, 2006 at 07:26 AM
Since this question was posted on a blog of people who apparently are NOT privy to the workings of the review board, I thought I'd post a ittle cop humor.Police Comment Transcriptions The following 15 Police Comments were taken from actual police car videos around the country... #15. "Relax; the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch out after you wear them awhile." #14. "Take your hands off the car, and I'll make your birth certificate a worthless document." #13. "If you run, you'll only go to jail tired." #12. "Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? In case you didn't know, that¹s the average speed of a 9 mm bullet fired from my gun." #11. "So you don't know how fast you were going. I guess that means I can write anything I want on the ticket, huh?" #10. "Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I am the shift supervisor?" #9. "Warning? You want a warning? O.K., I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket." #8. "The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Is Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?" #7. "Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy, and step in monkey poop." #6. "Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven." #5. "No, sir, we don't have quotas anymore. We used to have quotas, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we want." #4. "Just how big were those two beers?" #3. "In God we trust, all others we run through CPIC/NCIC." #2. "I'm glad to hear the Chief of Police is a good personal friend of yours. At least you know someone who can post your bail." And ... THE BEST ONE! #1 "You didn't think we gave pretty women tickets? You're right, we don't - Sign here."
1
Our readers recommend: |
