NEW YORK (MintPress) — It has not been a good month for the NYPD and the nearby EHPD in East Haven, Connecticut. East Haven Police Chief Leonard Gallo resigned this week amidst a federal investigation into widespread allegations that four members of his department took part in racial profiling and intimidating members of minority groups.
Gallo, who had been in the job for 14 years, was suspended in April 2010 after the FBI launched the investigation into whether his subordinates harassed Hispanic residents by using excessive force, conducting illegal searches and making false reports to put them behind bars.
He was reinstated that November, however, after a friend of his, Joseph Maturo, won the race for Mayor of East Haven. Maturo came under fire last week for a remark he made in a TV interview; when the reporter asked him what he was doing for the Latino community today, he responded, “I might have tacos when I go home. I’m not quite sure yet.”
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East Haven arrests
The FBI arrested the three officers and a sergeant last week, charging them with deprivation of rights, conspiracy against rights and obstruction. The Justice Department said in its report that “life was made miserable for Hispanics,” and that there were “serious deficiencies” in the way the East Haven department was run.
Gallo was cited as part of a conspiracy to deprive Hispanics of their rights but was not charged with any crimes. His lawyer says he is innocent of all wrongdoing.
Still, things could get worse for the Police Chief, who will officially end his term on Friday. Members of the East Haven Board of Police Commissioners, which oversees the department, say he should be fired instead of being allowed to resign and plan to introduce a resolution calling for his dismissal. If Gallo were to be fired his benefits would be reduced by about $130,000 because he would not be allowed to claim for unused sick leave and holiday time.
Advocacy group Reform Immigration for America posted “Victory: Police Chief is out” on its website shortly after Gallo’s resignation and wrote that it was “thanks to more than 15,000 signatures on our petition calling on East Haven Mayor Maturo to fire Chief Gallo.” It continued,
“Let’s be clear: Chief Gallo resigned because his department had a history of racism and that those issues have not been seriously addressed.”
The group says it is committed to holding the mayor and the town’s police department accountable moving forward and is demanding that the Hispanic community be involved in the process of selecting a new Police Chief and that the Justice Department take part as well.
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Is Ray Kelly next?
Meanwhile in New York, pressure is mounting for the resignation or firing of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly for his role in his own department’s racial profiling and actions against the city’s American Muslim community. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is organizing a Rally for Justice this Friday to demonstrate against recent NYPD misconduct.
The NYPD has been widely criticized for revelations that the department and the CIA were tracing and monitoring minority groups and that it screened an anti-Muslim film in front of more than 1,000 officers who were undergoing counter terrorism training.
In a posting on its website, CAIR said “The NYPD has transgressed all boundaries of respect for our community, namely in their instillation of spying and surveillance programs…. known as the ‘Demographics Unit’ and more recently in the use of the anti-Muslim film, ‘The Third Jihad,’ in NYPD training…..Most disappointingly is the participation of current police commissioner Ray Kelly in the video which he had denied.”
CAIR says it will continue to protest the lack of accountability on the part of Commissioner Kelly.
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Bronx police story
Kelly’s troubles got even worse with the recent online posting of a video showing a teenager in the Bronx borough of New York City being beaten by police officers. The video shows Jateik Reed, 19, being pushed to the ground by officers before being punched, kicked and hit with batons.
Reed was arrested last Thursday on charges of robbery, possession of marijuana and crack cocaine and assaulting a police officer. According to the criminal complaint, after the arrest, an officer needed stitches for a cut on his nose.
But Reed’s family says it is a case of police brutality at its worst. When Reed’s mother, brother and friend went to the local police precinct to inquire about the arrest they were arrested as well. A criminal complaint says the family members attacked officers, but they deny that.
The family has hired a civil attorney and plans to sue the city, the NYPD and all the officers involved in the incident. The Bronx district attorney and the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau are now investigating the actions of the police officers.
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The disappearance of the “NYPD”
Kelly is at least taking some steps to stem the public outcry against the NYPD. Under a new directive, he has forbidden the 35,000 members of the city’s police force from owning any T-shirts, jackets, pins, pens, or any other item, aside from their own uniform, with the NYPD letters or insignia on them.
The restrictions were apparently drawn up after a recent incident in which Kelly saw a police officer wearing a T-Shirt that read “NYPD” above the military quote “Kill them all and let God sort them out.”
Source: MintPress
Original video as posted on http://worldstarhiphop.com