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Coming soon to a college near you; How to be arrested 101
Legitimizing police brutality in the City of Schenectady
By Pat Zollinger

     I woke up this morning with this thought in mind that I would write a commentary about an article I’d seen in the Daily Gazette.  But had I really seen the article or was it some dream I’d had. Surely it couldn’t have been so, an article with the theme of “how to be arrested” instead of getting the crap pounded out of you by the Schenectady Police Department.

     But it wasn’t a dream. The article appeared in the newspaper on Sunday, May 30, 2010 when all of the normal people were planning for church, picnics and parade attendance and I was anticipating getting some work done.  Its title was “Avoid being roughed up by the cops, panel urges” and it was written by Kathleen Moore. What surprised me even more (no pun intended) was that it was laid out on the top of the first page of the Sunday Gazette.

The article starts out with:
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One Schenectady man suffered a broken and dislocated arm for insisting on locking his door. Another ended up at Ellis Hospital with pepper spray in his eyes and a swollen, bruised knee for telling police that he had to turn off his oven.
Situations like these have become the most common cause of police brutality claims in Schenectady. Nearly half of the 100 cases reviewed by the Civilian Police Review Board each year involve suspects who were physically and painfully restrained when they felt they had legitimate reasons to ignore an officer’s commands.


      Well, I guess being roughed up by the Schenectady police should be at the tops of anyone’s minds and the Civilian Police Review Board, put into place by the Schenectady City Council through legislation several years ago is now calling for the public to be “taught” on how to behave so that your cops don’t break your arms or dislocate your shoulders when they decide to put the handcuffs on you. According to the article that’s because about half the cases they get to review are all about the pain that can be inflicted upon you by the cops under the guise of you resisting arrest.

     Then the article continues with:
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“It’s probably every other case, the person felt justified leaving,” said Civilian Police Review Board member Fred Lee. The number of resisting arrest complaints is so high that the review board is considering an educational campaign to teach people how to act while being arrested. “We almost need a course in it,” Lee said. “It’s one of the things we talk about at the Review Board. It’s the job of the Civilian Police Review Board to educate the general public. And these cases, they’re often.”


     It’s my understanding that Fred Lee is also the President of SUN (Schenectady United Neighborhoods), has formed the “New Hamilton Hill Neighborhood Association” and considers himself somewhat of an advocate. As it looks now, instead of reviewing the police brutality cases, he is advocating for the cops and blaming the victim of police brutality. I don’t see where it’s the Civilian Police Review Board’s job to educate the public. It’s a throw back of the crime of brutality to blame the victim, which is no different than blaming a rape victim for that crime.

      The article continues with:
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The scenario begins with police arriving at a suspect’s home and interviewing him or her outside.  Eventually, police believe they have reason to make an arrest.
It’s at this point that some suspects begin to talk about their oven. Or the need to lock their door, call the baby sitter to watch the kids, pick up their wallet — the list goes on and on. Just as they do in every case, police say no.
Are we to believe this scenario? If the cop has a warrant for someone’s arrest, they don’t just go to the home and interview them outside. They have a warrant that should be signed by a judge, right? As far as my understanding of the process goes, unless they arrest you in a car for alleged drunk or drugged driving, or they get you out on the street during an act of riot or vandalism, or they arrive once you’ve been caught stealing, they have to have a warrant and they have to tell you that they have a warrant.  They have to have a reason to knock on your door and arrest you. And why couldn’t you tell the cop you will go to the police department promptly to turn yourself in? Lots of politicians and lawyers do just that.

     And so it continues:
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It’s a case of mutual distrust — the suspect does not believe the officer is taking the situation seriously. The officer, in turn, does not believe the suspect has a legitimate excuse that warrants a delay.
Mutual distrust? No, I would say that the officer is exerting his or her perceived authority over the so called “perp.” That is what the cop can do and is backed up merely by having a gun and having taken an oath which we all know in Schenectady is a crock. If you are arrested in your home you have the right to an attorney, to keep your mouth shut and to be treated with respect and that respect includes you being able to turn off the oven or quickly arrange for a sitter. There is no reason why the cops could not accompany you inside the house so that you can ensure its safety and security.

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“We have cases where they have gone in the front door and run out the back,” said Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett. “People have run into the house desperate and taken pills, grabbed a gun and killed themselves. Or they take someone hostage.” Usually the suspect tries to escape, he said.
“But they can come back out with a gun or a knife,” he said. So police are trained to never let the arrestee get away. “The bottom line is, when police command you to do something, you have an obligation to do it,” he said.

     Have we truly had these types of cases in the City of Schenectady? Perhaps we have, but not so many that it would be notable. We’ve had high speed chases where the cops have been told to “stand down” in order to prevent fatalities. But the numbers do not balance out the brutality inflicted.  Wayne Bennett also advises landlords to walk the mean streets of Hamilton Hill to find out about potential tenants. I personally don’t put any credence or credibility into what Schenectady’s Public Safety Commissioner has to say.

The article continues with one victim’s recollection:
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“I asked to go back inside to turn off the oven,” said Justin Brown, who was arrested on a charge of sending a harassing text to an acquaintance. “The officer said no, you’re standing here talking to me.” Brown insisted. The officer told him to stay put. “So I said, ‘I’ll be right back,’ ” Brown said. As he remembers it, the officers reacted instantly. They pushed him down and grabbed his arms, trying to handcuff him. “I panicked,” Brown said. “I was like, ‘Get off of me!’ ”
He wrapped his hand around the front railing of his porch. Police pepper sprayed him, placed a boot on his head and handcuffed him as he sobbed and begged them to stop hurting him, he said.
It was, to him, a wholly unexpected reaction to a simple request.
There was no reason why this officer and his /her partner could not have gone right inside with this person. Instead, they beat the crap out of him and pepper spray him just for good measure. That’s the mentality of your Schenectady Police Department and not only do they have this newspaper and city’s justifying their bad actions, they have the police commissioner justifying it too when he is quoted in the article next as saying:
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But that’s only because he genuinely intended to turn off his oven, Bennett said. “They’re not looking at it from the police officer’s point of view. They know what their intention is, but the police officer doesn’t.”


     Since when does any regular person look at anything from a police officer’s point of view? Is that even possible? Surely I understand the training and the potential for danger that comes with a cop’s job, but they are supposed to be at or above the law and shouldn’t be beating the crap out of regular folks and getting away with what amounts to brutality.

     Continuing with Wayne Bennett:  
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He advised residents to obey police, submit to being handcuffed and then ask the officer to turn off the oven or complete any other necessary task to make their property safe while they are gone.  “Most cops, if it’s a matter of security of the home, they’ll get that done,” Bennett said. “They’re not unreasonable requests — once the situation is under control.”
But some say the police could defuse those situations by reassuring the resident immediately, rather than simply ordering them to stay put.  Lee said he’s seen police do that effectively. “They say, ‘We’ll have plenty of time to take care of that,’ ” Lee said. “Very calming verbiage, I think that’s very important.”

     Okay, so what’s it going to be? Is it a “he does, she does” scenario? Do we ask them or do they tell us? Being arrested can be a terrifying event for a person. If the cop is supposed to be in control of the situation, and Fred Lee himself says that some cops can effectively calm a situation, then why is Bennett justifying the actions of a brutal cop? Where does training the public on how to be arrested do anything to help a brutal cop? And a very telling statement by Bennett is “most cops.” So he is admitting that there are some cops that won’t.

     Another victim’s experience is relayed:
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That would have helped Michael Campo, who told police he simply wanted to lock his door before being arrested. He was charged with destruction of personal property for placing a former roommate’s belongings on the curb.
He said he would have been willing to let the officer close the door — but the officer refused to do it. Campo was on his front porch, his door ajar behind him. “I said, ‘All I have to do is just pull the door shut,’ ” Campo said. “He said, ‘No, you’re not.’ I said, ‘Excuse me, I’m protecting my belongings.’”
Campo grabbed his doorknob. The arresting officer grabbed him.
“He threw me down. Then he’s on top of me. He pulled my arm back. He dislocated and broke my arm,” Campo said. “Then I was handcuffed. There wasn’t anything I could do, and he had the nerve to take off my glasses so the pepper spray went into my eyes.”
Campo suspects the officer pepper-sprayed him to get back at him for a sarcastic remark. (The officer asked him if he was a smart-aleck. Campo admitted he said the officer wouldn’t be able to tell.)

     This is another clear example of alleged police brutality in the City of Schenectady.  A broken arm and pepper spray damage to his face? Of course it can only be proven in a court of law and that only comes with a 50/50 chance. Could some of our cops be taking themselves a bit too seriously? When it comes down to their actually inflicting painful physical injury, I’d say they were. Doesn’t our court system mandate “anger management courses” for some criminals? Of course they do. Why doesn’t part of the training that we taxpayers pay so dearly for include anger management for cops?

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But Lee said they could have avoided being pepper-sprayed and wrestled to the ground if they had understood how the arrest process works. “Obey their orders. There will be plenty of time to talk about it afterward,” Lee said.
Hello Fred Lee. Michael Campo wasn’t pepper-sprayed until AFTER he was thrown to the ground, his shoulder dislocated, and his arm was broken, and all because he grabbed his doorknob? Seriously, why is this arresting officer still on the job? What does it take? Actual video like what was filmed of the newly fired cop kicking his handcuffed victim in the back seat of the police car? Sure, there’ll be plenty of time to talk afterwards. In the hospital emergency room hopefully with a well trained lawyer experienced in police brutality cases.

     Fred continues with:
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He wants to begin a class — perhaps at youth agencies — called “How to be Arrested.” Without a class, Lee said many residents react naturally when they panic like Brown during an arrest. “The big picture is, I think Americans really relish our freedom. We bristle at the thought of anyone saying we have to stop, that our freedom will be taken away, even if only for a moment,” Lee said. “That angers us.”
What planet are you living on Fred? So you want to start a class on how to be arrested, perhaps at youth agencies. That’s a good one, start a class to teach the youth of our society how to possibly not get hurt by the cops before or after they’ve been arrested. How would that prevent the pepper-spray after the handcuffs are on?

     People do act naturally when they get arrested but it has nothing to do with Americans relishing our freedoms (which by the way are disappearing at an alarming rate). You Fred, may bristle at anyone telling you to stop, but Michael Campo simply wanted to close his door and Justin Brown wanted to turn off his oven.  For their relishing of freedom they got pepper-sprayed and broken bones.

     When is the insanity going to stop? When are people in our community going to say “Hey, enough with the police brutality, enough with elected and appointed officials justifying every atrocity committed by our police department? Oh sure, eight of them are in line to be fired and five have been so far, but what is really the excuse (and those excusing them) for the cops to physically assault people they’ve come to arrest?

The article concludes with:
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Campo filed a complaint in his arrest, and Brown is preparing paperwork to do so. In the meantime, Campo pleaded guilty to a lower charge of disorderly conduct.
Both men were also charged with resisting arrest. Campo’s resisting charge was dropped. Brown is awaiting a court date.
If Campo filed a complaint with the Civilian Police Review Board we can already anticipate nothing happening. Hopefully both men will retain attorneys who are expert in police brutality cases, and get changes of venue away from the City of Schenectady and our elected justice system.

http://www.schenectadyinformer.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1275433350/

The crime is only going to get worse with the City/PD's position on this. The city is filled with scumbags with guns and we are attacking our police officers. We will never be able to attract good police officers as long as the Mayor uses their demise for personal political gain. If the Mayor truly wants to succeed he will get behind the cops and help them clean up the neighborhoods to make them attractive to working class families instead of using the police as whipping boys.

He can say the City is in a Renaissance but its a smokescreen. Property taxes and crime are at record levels. The two blocks that have been rebuilt with multimillion dollar bribes for businesses to come to the city and handouts look nice, but have disrupted the local economy and will never stay viable once the handouts end.

Time to get rid of the politicians and bring in some regular people who actually care and aren't looking for a 100 k political job.

...yeah Source, but some of them are just rotten apples, lets be real. That latest idiot that got fired showed up at my business one day when there was a contractor there with an equipment trailer (front end loader)and got really rude, threatening to have it towed off the side street, claiming it had been parked there for 4 or 5 days (when in fact it had been 24 hours) I didn't argue with him, I just asked him nicely that he be allowed to finish the job and that he had no better place to park the trailer and that it was not blocking anyone's driveway or any egress. The fact that he was there for a day was enough to get him piqued, and having Maine plates made him reallly suspicious that there was illegality involved. Apparently he wasn't aware of the huge number of trailer owners nationwide that register trailers in Maine through the mail to save thousands on DMV fees.

Anyway...

What a rude and disrespectful jerk he was. I never forgot the name on his badge since my dealing with the police in the city have been nothing but excellent in almost 20 years. Ultimately he desisted, but he was in a rare mood to bust balls. And I recognize that this clown was and is an exception. And the exceptions need to go because they stink the whole department up, and the good cops will agree- no one wants dirtbags and jerks ruining the rep of the whole department because then you have to work under that cloud of suspicion from the public. It is only the hardline knuckleheads that want to circle wagons around a guy like him.

Okay Bumble if this guy was bad thats fine. But don't dismiss my point. The criminals have taken over the city, and the city administration is going after the cops and giving the criminals the upper hand. The cops will just keep driving if when people who are resisting arrested get the upper hand over them.

Sorry about your trailer, but frankly I'm just sick of the crime.

I agree. But I guess I could not convey to you his as$hole attitude without you being there. This was a guy who was showing himself to be abnormal for no reason whatsoever. The city had grounds to fire him and guess what- the cops I mentioned this too all agree.

To the point-What was this horse's as$ worried about some landscape trailer being parked on a street for more than 24 hours (I am really not sure what law the contractor was breaking, actually) while there are dirt bags galore running rampant everywhere you look!?

They need to focus on empowering the police to arrest these jerks. They shouldn't crucify all the police, but the bad apples need to rot somewhere outside the barrel.