| When a police officer loses faith in the system |
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Which is worse policy brutality or police cover ups after an incident of police brutality has occurred? It appears that they have become acts one and two in recent beatings on the streets and jails of Denver. The Denver Policy Department (DPD) has recently been hit; pardon my use of the nomenclature, with a barrage of complaints from community groups insisting that five years of policy accountability may be go down the drain if cops beating heads doesn’t stop. Heightened suspicion, paranoid reactions and lack of confianza in the Chicana/o community towards the DPD has resurfaced.
The community discussion held a couple of weeks ago with the Chief of Police and his cadre of commanding officers was management impressionism extraordinaire as commanders solemnly swore that they are constantly preaching safety to the choir. The outcomes are saying something different. Police officers have paradoxically become the victimizers. To the chagrin of the officers, the DeHerrera family was present, ready to tell another version of the story.
I could never fathom receiving a phone call from my son as he is being beaten viciously by police officers on the streets. Can you imagine what the pounding of saps against a defenseless body would sound like? Can you imagine the anger, hurt, and powerlessness a parent would feel listening to the thumping sounds of batons and flesh? R. Anthony DeHerrera, a veteran police officer once dedicated to the philosophy of police “protecting people, not property,” experienced this one Saturday night.
DeHerrera’s letter written to Denver Chief of Police, Gerald Whitman detailed the evening when he received a disturbing phone call from his son. He vividly describes the assault as his son lay helpless and vulnerable on the streets bludgeoned by night sticks and saps. DeHerrera also wrote, “While still on the phone with Michael, I heard a male voice state, ‘drop the phone mf’ and then I heard a THUD. I knew Michael had been hit…When I [finally] saw Michael [his son] I was shocked, horrified and scared; his face was totally swollen and bruised, and it looked deformed. There were bumps all over his face; his face was swollen and blackened. He had stitches above his left eye, his mouth was bleeding and busted up, two teeth had been chipped, his arms and legs were bruised and cut”
In reference to the letter, the Chief stated that he had never seen or received such a letter. DeHerrera produced another letter from the DPD stating that Whitman had received the letter, apparently with his signature. Whitman shunned it off as public relations strategies in dealing with these cases. Either communication is almost broken down completely or DPD condones beatings, following by cover ups. If you recollect, the entire beating was taped. DeHerrera has since seen the tape and commented, “It was one of the sickest displays of law enforcement I have ever seen.”
What has become apparent is that too much time elapses between beatings and internal investigations while families and communities wait in angst to scrutinize video clippings. One has to wonder if videos have been doctored up before they are released. Ironically, in some of the cases, the real doctors have not been called in as protagonists until death results. The recent Marvin Booker death is a case in point.
Who are the guardians, if any, at the front gates determining who is psychologically and emotionally fit to be a police officer and who will continue to support institutional brutality because of some personality disorder? Sociopaths come in all shapes, colors and sizes and abhor any personality tests that place them under glass. The problem is that they are often so slick that even the best tests cannot discern those that can become decent and honest police officers and those that will continue to live out their Wyatt Earp and Rambo fantasies.
My heart goes out to the DeHerrera family. I could feel their pain as they began to tell their story which was cut short. Lucky for the DPD; it was not ready for a monkey trial on the night of the meeting. Activists have heard the familiar tunes of police brutality too often.
The DeHerrera trips to Denver on the night that their son was brutalized and on the evening of the meeting were not in vain. They just reinforce how justice systems transform from serving people to serving hate and racial profiling. The community activists wanted justice but were treated to bureaucratic malaise with false promises regarding the men in blue.
DeHerrera stated in a letter to Chief Whitman, “This whole situation has caused me to view my commitment to law enforcement in a whole new manner. I do not have any faith in the justice system anymore, and it is thanks to YOUR officers.” This is what happens when a police officer with an honorable background loses faith in the system.
Dr. Ramón Del Castillo is an independent journalist.
© 2010 The Weekly Issue/El Semanario, Inc.
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