Page 29 - MIN ON OCT 2, 2015

NYPD announces reforms in U.S. NEWS A3
Friday 2 October 2015
response to a critical report
At Press Time:
TOM HAYS
Associated Press Gunman Opens Fire at Oregon
NEW YORK (AP) — Amid concerns about excessive
force, the New York Police Department unveiled a College; At Least 10 Dead
new program on Thursday to document physical en-
counters officers have with the public and to discour- Continued from front was in a freshman writing blood on her,” she said.
age using force in the first place. class when a shot came Some students were in tears
The 35,000-officer department, the nation’s largest, It was not immediately through the window and as they left. Police lined up
touted the initiative as a way to track and analyze all clear whether that num- hit the teacher in the head. students in a parking lot
instances when force is used and said it will use the ber included the gunman. The gunman then entered with their hands over their
data to adjust training and identify problem officers. State police Lt. Bill Fugate the Snyder Hall classroom heads and searched them
Police officials conceded that under current proce- told KATU-TV that at least and told people to get on before they were bused
dures, instances of force sometimes go unreported. the floor, she told the Rose- with faculty to the nearby
Under the new policy, the department won’t wait for
a death or serious injury or an allegation of abuse to People hold signs for free rides as friends and family wait for students at the local fairgrounds after
initiate an inquiry, Assistant Chief Kevin Ward said at a a deadly shooting at Umpqua Community College, in Roseburg, Ore., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015.
news conference.
“If we use force, we will document it,” said Ward, (AP Photo/Ryan Kang)
who’s spearheading the effort. “We will investigate it.”
Police officials likened the approach to one they credit 20 others were hurt. burg News-Review news- county fairgrounds, where
with dramatically reducing instances of when officers “It’s been a terrible day,” paper. He told people to counselors were available
fire their guns. Those shootings totaled 79 in 2014, a re- a grim-faced Douglas stand up and state their re- and some parents waited
cord low. County Sheriff John Hanlin ligion before opening fire. for their children.
According to a summary, the new guidelines will em- said at a news conference. Next door, students heard Jessica Chandler of Myrtle
phasize “the duty of all members to protect human “Certainly this is a huge a loud thud and then a vol- Creek, south of Roseburg,
life, including people in their custody” and promote shock to our community.” ley of gunfire, Brady Wind- was at the fairgrounds
the use of verbal techniques to head off a physical Hours after the attack, a vis- er, 23, told the newspaper. desperately seeking infor-
encounter. ibly angry President Barack Students scrambled “like mation about her 18-year-
The overhaul “sends a message to all New Yorkers that Obama spoke to reporters, ants, people screaming, old daughter, Rebecka
we’re going to enforce the law, but we’re going to saying the U.S. is becoming ‘Get out!’” Winder said. Carnes.
do it in a way that only uses that force which is neces- numb to mass shootings He said one woman swam “I don’t know where she is. I
sary,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. and that the shooters have across a creek to get don’t know if she’s wound-
The measures were announced the same day the “sickness” in their minds. away. ed. I have no idea where
city’s inspector general, Philip Eure, released a report Repeating his support for The sheriff said officers had she’s at,” Chandler said.
faulting the NYPD for not doing more to combat ex- tighter gun-control mea- a shootout with the gun- Carnes’ best friend told
cessive force. At a separate press briefing, Eure told sures, the president said man, but it was not clear if Chandler that her daugh-
reporters that compared to some other big-city police thoughts and prayers are he was killed by authorities ter had been flown by he-
departments, the NYPD “was living a little bit in the no longer enough in such or whether he took his own licopter to a hospital, but
Dark Ages with respect to its use-of-force policies.” situations because they life. she had not been able to
Asked about Eure’s comment, Police Commissioner do nothing to stop similar The gunfire sparked panic find her at area medical
William Bratton insisted the department has been ag- attacks from happening as students ran for safety centers.
gressively revamping its policies for well over a year. a few weeks or months and police and ambulanc- Interim college President
The examination of the NYPD’s record on force comes later. He challenged vot- es rushed to the scene. Rita Cavin said it was awful
in the wake of the police chokehold death of Eric Gar- ers wanting to confront the Lorie Andrews, who lives to watch families waiting
ner in 2014 and a rough takedown and handcuffing problem to vote for elect- across the street from for the last bus of survivors
of former professional tennis star James Blake after of- ed officials who will act. the campus, heard what and their loved ones were
ficers mistook him for a criminal suspect in September. Police began receiving sounded like fireworks and not on it.
Both were videotaped and remain under official re- calls about a campus then saw police cruisers “This is a tragedy and
view; neither was part of the analysis. shooting at 10:38 a.m. The streaming in. She spoke an anomaly,” she said.
Eure’s report criticized the department for not giving school has a single un- with students as they left. “We have a wonderful,
officers clear-cut guidelines on what constitutes exces- armed security guard. “One girl came out warm, loving and friendly
sive force and for often declining to discipline them Kortney Moore, 18, said she wrapped in a blanket with campus.”q
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