Week
of
8/29/97:		 As the condition of alleged police brutality victim Abner Louima worsens, what message would you deliver to the New York City police panel empowered "to promote a dialog with the police"?



Name: B O P
Email: NYBop@hotmail.com
Response: Not a damn thing!!! It is a bogus panel put together by a racist mayor (Rudolph Giuliani) as a last-ditch effort to clean up his image! If he is really serious about halting police brutality, he should properly fund an independant Civilian Complaint Review Board, not give it a dismally small budget and definitely not stock it with Cop-lovers indifferent to the suffering of mostly Black and Brown citizens!!!


Name:
Email: Gensvc@aol.com
Response: First to everyone stating the officers have a hard job. That exactly what it is, A JOB! When anyone finds that their JOB has become too hard or they are too stressed or they are too afraid, do what anyone else would do, change jobs. I do not accept the excuse for the treatment of officers abusing any citizen regardless of color. No one is drafted at birth or picked from some work pool to be a cop, if they are afraid, tired, etc. change jobs.


Name: Concerned but Considerate
Email:
Response: In response to the issue of police brutality, I must say that I am at odds with the whole issue. On the one hand, we have men and women who put their lives on the line each and every day to protect and uphold the law so that you and I can walk the streets with some level of comfort. On the other hand, it is my opinion that you also have officers working the streets who pose a serious threat to our communities. For the first reason, I raise the issue of those officers who are new to the urban community and the issues. Second, you have officers who were brought-up in these areas and know how quickly a situation can turn deadly, and they are afraid for their lives. As a resident of Washington, D.C., I have seen one time too many what disregard some have for the police department. Although this group is a minority, their actions manifest fear in the hearts of those officers that have to patrol our streets. To disolve some of the fear and hostility that rage in our communities, communication filled with sincerity has to be first on the agenda. Also, there has to be a level of two-way compassion. The officers must remember that the streets do not belong to them and their job is to serve and protect. Not to harrass, brutalize, disrespect and even kill. But, by the same token, we as a community have to be ever mindful that the temperature and mood of the streets have changes. Officers are dying every day to protect our communties. With this comes an unusual level of fear.


Name: Damien Francois
Email:
Response: My message to the police would be actually to Black people and minorites that it is IMPERATIVE that we unite if only for one minute to create an agenda. An Agenda that will vote out Gulliani and demand that the police in our communities look more like us. Additionally, it would be an agenda that forces anyone who does not respect or continue to attempt ot destroy us will have to pay a price, even a simple economic action like boycott the racists papers like the Daily News, would not only send a poweful message it would have a rippling effect and produce results no amount of talking to the police will achieve.


Name: The Main Man From B-land Now AJ in the O>A>K
Email: ajohnson@heald.edu
Response: What does any expect in Hell. Anything goes-is the way it seems.


Name: Nicole Watford
Email:
Response: When the average hard-working citizen becomes afraid of the police, there's a problem. A big problem! It has become such a national problem that it has been televised on the soap opera, 'As the World Turns' for millions of people to recognize. No one, regardless of race, sex and status, should be tormented, harrassed and humiliated by the police. I have a close friend who was recently mistaken by the police as a professional bank robber. His family was traveling from South Carolina to Florida on I95 the evening the nightmare occured. Two patrol cars pulled behind their truck in the center lane yelling, "stop!, stop the vehicle, now." One officer exclaimed to the male driver, "get out with your hands on top your head." Without hesitation, my friend followed the order as another officer questioned his wife from the passanger-side window. By this time, the three young children in the back were crying hysterically, wondering why their daddy was lying in the middle of the street. Needless to say, the family was released after a series of questions and merely checking such basics as vehicle registration. I suggested they sue the police department as the doctor does on 'As the World Turns'. Not so much for money as to taking a stand. Maybe suing the police department would relay a message saying, "Yes, you are an officer of the law, but no--you may not violate me or my family.


Name: Nnamdi Nzingha
Email:
Response: I would respectfully tell the commission that if police brutality continues...The day might come when the police are the targets of organized community retaliation and innocent officers will be hurt In many communities across America, the tension between the police and citizens is extremely high. Who knows what will set the whole thing off!


Name: Solomon Landers
Email: Numberup@worldnet.att.net
Response: The mission of the police is to serve and to protect the community. All officers must be made aware of the critical difference between vengeance and justice. Each officer is sworn to uphold the law -- justice -- not to exact vengeance. The community can never feel safe about a department whose officers make criminals of themselves by overstepping the law and treating citizens with disrespect. The police must truly be a part of the community and not an occupying army. SWIFT disciplinary and legal action must be taken against any officer who tarnishes his badge by brutality. Only such swift action can restore a community's faith in the department.


Name:
Email: Blkcat411@aol.com
Response: For cops anywhere to do these things means that there is some kind of a message issuing from the top that says it is okay. I feel the way people of color are portrayed as deviants that cause all of the problems in an otherwise perfect society, is a large part of the problem. This erroneous perception by the larger society causes people to think it is okay that the police roughs up suspects. It takes something like the abner loumia case in N.Y. or the Rodney King case in L.A. to capture the nation's attention on this issue. I can remember being a child in the 70's and knowing teenage black boys that were taken off and beaten by police who said they were getting them for the stuff they were doing but hadn't been caught yet. This is nothing new..it has always been open season by the law enforcement agents on people of color. I don't know if this is some kind of 'keep them in line' mentality or what. But I do know that the larger society accepts it as normal. I mean people of color are committing all the crime and making America a bad place to live in right?...So they should be punished..America has always scapegoated those they considered to be 'other' for any social problems that exist...That won't change until the larger perception changes. We are human beings and you don't treat human beings like less than animals, that is what the panel needs to strongly express to the powers that be.


Name: babatunde
Email: kynaki@aol.com.
Response: I believe we should police the police ourselves!!! Members of the black panther collective are already monitoring the police with video cameras. I think this panel should look into expanding this practice of observing the police on the streets, We should use the technology such as video tapes, mini recorders, etc.


Name: Ravenex
Email: Ravenex@webtv.net
Response: If Abner Louima should die, God forbid, the death sentence should be mandatory for the four sc**-buckets who think the world is their private playground. How crazy have white males become who think they can kill, maim and destroy African-American men and other people at their personal whim? Hang by the scrotum until dead!!


Name: Ray
Email: ray2@gol.com
Response: The punishment should be immediate dissmissal, followed by a jail sentence (reflecting the seriousness of the crime). Many good officers witness henious acts by their peers. However, ratting on your colleagues is not an acceptable option. Additionally, there are more than a few seriously mentally unbalanced guys walking around in police uniforms. What to do about it ? Get tough on abusive cops. It would take a brave mayor to take such a step, but in the long run, it would do a lot of good. Giulliani CAN do it, and he should at least start talking about it in the same tough way he talks about addressing crime. He would win by a landslide !!