Page 15 - KPA OCT 2, 2015

U.S. NEWS A3
Friday 2 October 2015

NYPD announces reforms in At Press Time:

response to a critical report Gunman Opens Fire at Oregon

TOM HAYS College; At Least 10 Dead
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Amid concerns about excessive Continued from front was in a freshman writing blood on her,” she said.
force, the New York Police Department unveiled a class when a shot came Some students were in tears
new program on Thursday to document physical en- It was not immediately through the window and as they left. Police lined up
counters officers have with the public and to discour- clear whether that num- hit the teacher in the head. students in a parking lot
age using force in the first place. ber included the gunman. The gunman then entered with their hands over their
The 35,000-officer department, the nation’s largest, State police Lt. Bill Fugate the Snyder Hall classroom heads and searched them
touted the initiative as a way to track and analyze all told KATU-TV that at least and told people to get on before they were bused
instances when force is used and said it will use the the floor, she told the Rose- with faculty to the nearby
data to adjust training and identify problem officers.
Police officials conceded that under current proce- People hold signs for free rides as friends and family wait for students at the local fairgrounds after
dures, instances of force sometimes go unreported. a deadly shooting at Umpqua Community College, in Roseburg, Ore., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015.
Under the new policy, the department won’t wait for
a death or serious injury or an allegation of abuse to (AP Photo/Ryan Kang)
initiate an inquiry, Assistant Chief Kevin Ward said at a
news conference. 20 others were hurt. burg News-Review news- county fairgrounds, where
“If we use force, we will document it,” said Ward, “It’s been a terrible day,” paper. He told people to counselors were available
who’s spearheading the effort. “We will investigate it.” a grim-faced Douglas stand up and state their re- and some parents waited
Police officials likened the approach to one they credit County Sheriff John Hanlin ligion before opening fire. for their children.
with dramatically reducing instances of when officers said at a news conference. Next door, students heard Jessica Chandler of Myrtle
fire their guns. Those shootings totaled 79 in 2014, a re- “Certainly this is a huge a loud thud and then a vol- Creek, south of Roseburg,
cord low. shock to our community.” ley of gunfire, Brady Wind- was at the fairgrounds
According to a summary, the new guidelines will em- Hours after the attack, a vis- er, 23, told the newspaper. desperately seeking infor-
phasize “the duty of all members to protect human ibly angry President Barack Students scrambled “like mation about her 18-year-
life, including people in their custody” and promote Obama spoke to reporters, ants, people screaming, old daughter, Rebecka
the use of verbal techniques to head off a physical saying the U.S. is becoming ‘Get out!’” Winder said. Carnes.
encounter. numb to mass shootings He said one woman swam “I don’t know where she is. I
The overhaul “sends a message to all New Yorkers that and that the shooters have across a creek to get don’t know if she’s wound-
we’re going to enforce the law, but we’re going to “sickness” in their minds. away. ed. I have no idea where
do it in a way that only uses that force which is neces- Repeating his support for The sheriff said officers had she’s at,” Chandler said.
sary,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. tighter gun-control mea- a shootout with the gun- Carnes’ best friend told
The measures were announced the same day the sures, the president said man, but it was not clear if Chandler that her daugh-
city’s inspector general, Philip Eure, released a report thoughts and prayers are he was killed by authorities ter had been flown by he-
faulting the NYPD for not doing more to combat ex- no longer enough in such or whether he took his own licopter to a hospital, but
cessive force. At a separate press briefing, Eure told situations because they life. she had not been able to
reporters that compared to some other big-city police do nothing to stop similar The gunfire sparked panic find her at area medical
departments, the NYPD “was living a little bit in the attacks from happening as students ran for safety centers.
Dark Ages with respect to its use-of-force policies.” a few weeks or months and police and ambulanc- Interim college President
Asked about Eure’s comment, Police Commissioner later. He challenged vot- es rushed to the scene. Rita Cavin said it was awful
William Bratton insisted the department has been ag- ers wanting to confront the Lorie Andrews, who lives to watch families waiting
gressively revamping its policies for well over a year. problem to vote for elect- across the street from for the last bus of survivors
The examination of the NYPD’s record on force comes ed officials who will act. the campus, heard what and their loved ones were
in the wake of the police chokehold death of Eric Gar- Police began receiving sounded like fireworks and not on it.
ner in 2014 and a rough takedown and handcuffing calls about a campus then saw police cruisers “This is a tragedy and
of former professional tennis star James Blake after of- shooting at 10:38 a.m. The streaming in. She spoke an anomaly,” she said.
ficers mistook him for a criminal suspect in September. school has a single un- with students as they left. “We have a wonderful,
Both were videotaped and remain under official re- armed security guard. “One girl came out warm, loving and friendly
view; neither was part of the analysis. Kortney Moore, 18, said she wrapped in a blanket with campus.”q
Eure’s report criticized the department for not giving
officers clear-cut guidelines on what constitutes exces-
sive force and for often declining to discipline them
when they cross the line.
A rulebook for the NYPD “is completely silent on what
actions constitute ‘force,’” the report said. The rules
prohibit excessive force “while offering no clarity on
what constitutes ‘excessive force,’” it added.
The analysis also found that from 2010 through 2014,
the NYPD opted not to punish officers in 37 of 104 cas-
es with evidence of excessive force.
“In a number of cases, the department has failed to
meet its fundamental obligation to police itself,” the
report said.
There are also several examples of officers being in a
position to intervene and potentially stop excessive
force but choosing not to, the review said.
It cites a video showing an officer punching a cyclist in
the face four times on a Queens street after the man
refused to produce his identification as another officer
stands a few feet away with his thumbs hooked in his
belt. q