BLACKS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT OF AMERICA

National Information Letter

The Activist

Westchester’s Black Law Enforcement Speak to Pace Students to build better Rela-

tionship Between Law Enforcement and Students

Danroy Henry Killed by Police last year

January 31, 2011, the members of the Westchester Blacks In Law Enforcement (WBLE) spoke to Pace University students at a seminar sponsored by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Kappa Zeta Chapter.

The Seminar was titled “after the flashing lights”. The fraternity members at pace collage wanted to make sure that students understood what they should do when stopped by police on the street or in a driving car. Many students present was friends, teammates and classmates Pace student Danroy “ D.J.” Henry.

Danroy “D.J.” Henry, of Easton, Mass., was killed Sunday, October 17, 2010 after police were called to a distur-bance that spilled out of a Thornwood, N.Y., bar.

Police have stated that Henry, a 20-year-old Pace football player, sped away and hit two officers after a policeman knocked on his car window.

His family’s attorney said that eyewitnesses have contradicted that account and said that paramedics ignored Henry, handcuffed and dying, to attend to injured officers.

The meeting with WBLE and the Pace Students was the first time that any local law enforcement has met with the students of Pace to promote an understanding and relationship with law enforcement since the shooting of D.J. Henry.

With close to 100 students in attendance of all races the program focused on what a person does when stopped by police, a person’s rights while being searched by police and having a mutual respect between law enforcement and the community they serve.

“The Penal Law book should be in every students room”, said Anthony Mitchell, WBLEA President. “Stay calm, don’t over react and pay attention to your surroundings”

Many students questioned why Mt. Pleasant Police are a part of the investigation. WBLEA stood by previous state-ments for a call for a special prosecutor for questionable police shootings. They also petitioned the public to en-courage elected officials to adopt new policies.

“As we stated many times, the police shouldn’t police the police”, said Damon Jones, WBLEA Executive Director. “True transparency is an outside entity to investigate. That’s how trust will remain in the institution”.

The organization was also encouraged to take law enforcement test. “If you want to make a change take the test”, said Anthony Mitchell, “that the best way to change an institution, from the inside” Westchester BLEA and members of Kappa Zeta Chapter

Sen. Webb to push criminal justice reform before exit

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia says he plans to push for passage of crimi-nal justice reform legislation before he leaves the Senate in nearly two years.

Webb contends that the current system incarcerates too many people at too high a cost, with poor results. He said legislation got bogged down last year but that he’s confident it will pass in this session.

“We’re going to get it done,” the 65-year-old Democrat told The Associated Press in a brief phone interview on Friday.

Webb announced this week that he had reintroduced the National Criminal Justice Commission Act to create a panel to review the system and make reform recommendations. He noted that the measure had bipartisan sup-port last year, clearing the Senate Judiciary Committee and passing the full House of Representatives.

The senator’s announcement Wednesday that he would not seek re-election set off a scramble among Democrats to field a candidate who could hold the seat for the party in 2012. Many Democrats hope to recruit former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, to run. The move could further imperil Democrats’ hopes of maintaining their narrow Senate majority.

Webb told the AP that he’s leaving office at the end of a single term because he’s got nothing more to prove.

He said he has accomplished much of what he campaigned on in 2006, when he successfully launched a long-shot bid to unseat then-Sen. George Allen.

Webb laughed off the suggestion that he was influenced by the prospect of a tough rematch against Allen.

“You can’t let this get personal,” he said.

Allen already faces one opponent for the GOP nomination, Vir-ginia tea party activist Jamie Radtke, and others are consider-ing a run.

Webb said he takes pride in several achievements, including sponsoring and guiding a new package of benefits for U.S. mili-tary veterans, the GI Bill of Rights, through Congress three years ago.

He had campaigned against what he believed was an imprudent decision by Republican President George W. Bush to commit U.S. troops into Iraq, a conflict in which Webb’s son fought as a Marine. Webb has seen the drawdown of American combat troops there.

While Webb said in a statement Wednesday that he plans to remain involved in issues, he made clear in the interview that he doesn’t think he has to stay in the Senate to effect change. The Senate, he said, should not become a career.

“My view of this is kind of old school. The way this place was designed, the Senate was sort of the gathering of the citizen-legislators, people who could bring experience from other areas into the national debate,” Webb said.

Another Black Cop Killed- When will it Stop!

MD Cop Killed Outside of Nightclub

Baltimore police say that fellow officers fired the gun shots that killed a plainclothes officer during a melee outside a nightclub.

A 22-year-old civilian was also killed in the early Sunday morning shooting.

Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefield III said on Monday that no civilians fired any shots.

Officer William Torbit Jr. was on duty in plainclothes when he responded to a report of trouble at the club. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi (goo-lee-EHL-mee) says Torbit was trying to break up a fight when he was attacked and pulled out his weapon to defend himself.

At some point after that, officers opened fire, killing the officer. Police say Torbit was wearing his badge but there were no other indicators he was police.

The officers who fired are on administrative leave.

BALTIMORE — A fight at a Baltimore nightclub spilled onto the street early Sunday and led to an eruption of gunfire that killed a police officer and another man and left four people hurt, police said.

One of those wounded also was a police officer, who was shot in the leg, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. Investigators were trying to determine if officers may have fired on a fellow officer whose badge and other identifying markings came off his uniform during the scuffle, he said.

No arrests have been made, but dozens of people were being questioned, Guglielmi said.

“This is an absolutely horrible incident … I prayed we would never lose another offi-cer, but here we are again,” Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said. An off-duty Balti-more detective was killed in October when he was hit in the head during an argument over a parking space.

Authorities said officers arrived at the Select Lounge to find a large fight and called for backup. Investigators still weren’t sure if anyone besides officers had fired their weapons.

“It was a pretty significant fight from what we understand. A large fight and a num-ber of officers responded,” Guglielmi told The Associated Press. “It ultimately spilled outside into the parking lot.”

The police spokesman said the dead officer was 33 and an eight-year veteran of the department but said he likely wouldn’t be identified until Monday. He also did not give the name of the other male victim.

Guglielmi said the second officer was shot in a leg and was expected to recover. The others wounded also were not identified, but the spokesman said they were in their 20s.

Meanwhile, investigators were at the club trying to piece together events.

“We have a lot of ground to cover, a lot of people to talk to,” he said.

Guglielmi said no off-duty Baltimore officers were work-ing security at the club, nor were any in the club. He said he did not know if the club had its own security staff.

At dawn Sunday, police tape surrounded the block of the Select Lounge. No one answered when a reporter knocked on the door and police asked a reporter and photographer to leave.

Officer William Torbit

Police tape also surrounded a parking lot containing about 25 cars and lay in the foyer of the club. The club is in a mixed industrial and residential area not far from the hospital where victims had been taken. It is next to a car wash.

A valet parking sign for the club was knocked down, but there were no readily appar-ent signs of shots fired.

In the parking lot next to the club, police crime lab technicians marked shell casings.

The club’s website describes it as having a sleek, modern design and “catering to a professional, upscale crowd.”

Sunday wasn’t the first time the city’s nightlife has been rocked by shootings. In March, two people were shot outside the Velvet Rope nightclub when a fight inside the club spilled onto the street.

And on June 5, off-duty police officer Gahiji A. Tshamba was out in a neighborhood

known for its nightlife when authorities say he shot and killed an unarmed Iraq war

veteran. Police say Tshamba and Tyrone Brown had gotten into a heated argument

when Tshamba shot Brown 12 times with his department-issued Glock handgun.

Tshamba has been charged with murder.

Secure Communities Program will continue the divide between law enforcement and

the Communities of Color

The Secure Community Program that is promoted by Homeland Security and was adopted by former New York State Governor Paterson in 2010 has drawn opposition from civil rights and immigra-tion advocate organizations throughout New York.

The fingerprint program will allow local police de-partments to send fingerprints of all arrestees to federal immigration databases, with immigrants who are found “deportable” being directly pushed into the deeply flawed detention and deportation system.

When a state signs onto the Secure Communities program, all local law enforcement in that state has to do is arrest someone on a traffic or other of-fense, and their fingerprints will be checked

against immigration databases during booking. When the fingerprint scan gets a “hit,” immigrants can end up getting carted off by Immigration and Customs En-forcement (ICE) agents to an immigration detention center. If they get out on bond, ICE can take them into custody, leaving their criminal cases unresolved. It doesn’t matter if the person was innocent of a criminal charge or if the arrest was a pretext to check immigration status.

Besides eroding community trust with the police, the program has criminalized the immigration detention system with a majority of those caught identified for minor crimes or U.S. citizens. An FOI found that Secure Communities has “misidentified more than 5,800 arrested U.S. citizens as undocumented workers” since 2008. Available evidence shows little accountability and transparency, yet a whopping $200 million has been allocated to Secure Communities, with an eye toward estab-lishing it nationwide in every jail by late 2012.

Recently Immigration and Customs Enforcement met with officials that want to opt out of the Secure Communities enforcement program. Officials from Arlington, Va. met with ICE and representatives from the state of Virginia to figure out the future of the fingerprint-sharing program in the city.

Although ICE previously stated the program was voluntary — even posting documents explaining how communities could opt out that later disappeared. Despite being told that no opt-out is possible, several communities are going forward with the opt-out process laid out by ICE. The first step is a meeting with ICE and state representatives that began in Arlington, Va. San Francisco and Santa Clara, Calif., also are scheduled to meet with ICE officials on Secure Communities.

As a Law Enforcement organization, we fully support any legislation that assists us in doing the job of protecting and serving our communities. However, as current Police, Sheriff and Corrections Officers, assuming more responsibilities of Homeland Security, first 287 G and now Secure Communities presents an added burden and stress to an already difficult job. In fact, a report issued last year by Major Cities’ Chiefs, a group of over 50 big city police chiefs, indicated that “immigration enforcement by local po-lice would likely negatively effect and undermine the level of trust and cooperation be-tween local police and immigrant communities,”.

Damon K. Jones

The Activist

(Mount Vernon, NY) – Westchester County Board of Legislators Vice-Chairman Lyndon Williams (D-Mount Vernon) has sponsored legislation for the County of Westchester to construct a permanent memorial in honor of Mount Vernon Police Officer Christopher Ridley on the plaza in front of the County Office Building located at 85 Court Street in White Plains, New York. Officer Ridley was 23 years old when he intervened on behalf of a Westchester County resident, who was being brutally assaulted, in front of the County Office Building on January 25, 2008. The unfortunate turn of events resulted in Officer Ridley losing his life during his heroic efforts of saving the life of a fellow county resident.

“There is no greater sacrifice one can make than giving his life to save another human being,” said Vice-Chairman Williams. “Three years since the death of Officer Christopher Ridley, it is only fitting and proper that a permanent structure should be erected to honor this cou-rageous young man. Accordingly, I urge my colleagues on the Board of Legislators and County Executive Robert Astorino, to support this legislation signifying that our county will not let the sacrifice and memory of Office Ridley be forgotten.”

“I want to thank County Legislator Lyndon Williams, for sponsoring this legislation,” said Stan Ridley, Detective Ridley’s father. “My son’s life ended at that plaza doing what he stood for and what he died for —- caring for other people. By dedicating that site as Detective Chris-topher A. Ridley Plaza, the Westchester community memorializes my son’s sacrifice and honors the ideals he lived and died for.”

“I applaud the effort of Legislator Williams and the county government”, said Damon Jones, Executive Director of Westchester Blacks in Law Enforcement. “It honors the memory if Detective Ridley and others and reminds us of our duty to find and correct these flaws in the system that is made to protect and serve the people”.

In recognition of Officer Ridley’s heroic efforts, on January 13, 2009, the Westchester County Board of Legislators unanimously approved ACT No. 13-2009 designating the place where this tragic incident occurred: “Christopher Ridley Plaza”. In addition, former County Execu-tive Andrew Spano had a temporary wooden plaque placed on the Plaza signifying the dedication. The wooden plaque was intended to be temporary until a suitable permanent symbol could be installed.

Westchester County Legislator Lyndon Williams Introduces Law to make Per-

manent Memorial for Killed Police Detective Christopher Ridley

Det. Christopher Ridley

Lyndon Williams

Blacks in Law Enforcement of America

National Office

P.O. Box 56553

Washington DC 20040

202-744-2897

info@blacksinlawenforcement.org

New York Office

914– 374-5037

The Activist

It is our duty as peace officers and members of Blacks in Law enforcement of America to continue the fight for freedom, justice, and equality for all

citizens. We will be advocates of law enforcement professionals by establishing continuous training and support. As black law enforcement profes-

sionals, we pledge our time, honor, and talent for the uplifting of our communities. We are truly the leaders of the community, in and out of our blue

uniform.

As civil service officers, it is our duty to uphold the laws of our local, state, and federal governments. However, as natural leaders it is our moral,

ethical, and human duty to reach and teach our families and youth by providing increased involvement and support, thereby enriching lives and en-

hancing our communities.

www.blacksinlawenforcement.org