From:
Jim DeMaegt
Law Offices of James DeMaegt
500 W. Queen St. #3
Inglewood, CA 90301
310-673-4302
fax 310-673-9672
jdemaegt@sbcglobal.net
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INGLEWOOD NEEDS AN ELECTED CIVILIAN POLICE REVIEW BOARD
The current Inglewood City Ordinance establishing a "Citizen Police Oversight Commission" is a sham, a hoax and an attempt to deceive and defraud the people of Inglewood.
The Ordinance claims to establish an "Independent Investigator" but examination of the Ordinance reveals that the so called "Independent Investigator" is required to be a Captain in the Inglewood Police Department and that he (or she) reports to and is supervised by the City Administrative Officer.
The "Oversight Commission" can recommend prosecution of problem police officers but only if the Inglewood City Attorney approves such recommendations.
The "Oversight Commission" can recommend disciplinary action against problem police officers but again only if the City Administrative Office agrees and the City Administrative Office "shall have final disciplinary authority"
In short the "Citizen" Oversight Commission is really only the same old story of the police and the city officials policing themselves
Unless an ELECTED Civilian Police Review Board is established we will not have a trustworthy mechanism to assure that the recent atrocities of police abuse resulting in the killing of three people by the Inglewood Police in the last three months will be stopped.
WE NEED A POLICE REVIEW BOARD THAT IS DIRECTLY ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE OF INGLEWOOD AND THAT IS RESPONSIBLE ONLY TO THE PEOPLE OF INGLEWOOD THROUGH ELECTION BY THE PEOPLE AND RECALL BY THE PEOPLE.
Any other type of police review board or commission is ultimately a servant of the political establishment and not a real solution to the problem of police abuse.
We need an Elected Civilian Police Review Board that is the actual boss of the police rather than a police "Oversight Commission" that is, in the final analysis, really just a powerless advisor to the police chief, the city manager or to the mayor and city council.
In order to establish such an ELECTED CIVILIAN POLICE REVIEW BOARD it must be approved by the citizens of Inglewood through a Charter Amendment. We need to propose such a Charter Amendment and begin the campaign to establish such an ELECTED CIVILIAN POLICE REVIEW BOARD immediately. Our lives and the lives of our neighbors and our children depend on a real and significant change in the powers that control the Inglewood Police Department. The Inglewood Police Department absolutely must be controlled directly by the people of Inglewood.
DEMAND AN ELECTED POLICE REVIEW BOARD IN INGLEWOOD!
[Committee to Establish an Elected Civilian Police Review Board]
(310) 673-4302