I write hot from the fray. I attended today’s City Council meeting which was expected to feature a face-off between conservatives accused of misogynist and other kinds of abusive attacks on the six current councilors, all females; and progressives and liberals supporting everything which these female Councilors have done (or not). That kind of polarized and ad hominem contention is, to my way of thinking, merely “an expense of spirit in a waste of shame.” What matters is not what is between peoples’ legs but what is between their ears. So my criticism of City Council, especially its six Councilors, focuses only on their performance.
In this context, I delivered the following testimony on a citizen proposal for a citizens’ police review board. The facts as I cite them are true; the inferences as I draw them are fair. If applause is any indicator, it was well received by much of the audience; if stony faced silence is any indicator, it was not well received by Councilors. Win some; lose some.
Mayor, Councilors, my name is Michael Hays. From 1973 to 2007, when I moved to Las Cruces, I was a civic activist or writer in Colorado Springs, Colorado; McLean, Virginia; Cleveland Heights, Ohio; and Ashland, Oregon.
Nothing in my background prepared me for a city with a government scornful of its citizens and duplicitous in its professed commitment to transparency and accountability. Item: officials have not explained or even announced the departure of the City Attorney. Ironically, several Councilors have told me that I am naïve for not knowing that they do much of their work out of public sight. If so, the effects are also out of public sight. So much for transparency and so little for accountability.
Despite Council’s talk about police reform in the past two or three years, not one Council member has publicly moved a single reform for a vote.
Despite Council’s talk about transparency and accountability, not one Council member has publicly asked about cases of citizens abused or killed by police officers.
Not one has asked about the K-9 mauling of a citizen after he had surrendered.
Not one has asked about Officer Jared Cosper’s killing of Amelia Baca. Not one has asked why Police Chief Miguel Dominguez, who initially touted himself as “Mr. Transparency,” instigated a week-delayed, biased PR film instead of issuing a prompt, truthful statement of facts. Not one has asked why the LCPD did not charge Cosper. Not one has asked why the LCPD, despite a conflict of interest, led and participated in the task force review of a purportedly independent investigation of the killing. Not one asked why the case was referred outside LCPD’s jurisdiction. Not one has asked why Cosper was returned to duty.
Such questions and their answers would provide the kinds of information which city and police officials release elsewhere in major cases. The refusal of Las Cruces officials and officers to inform the public about these and other cases shows their contempt, hypocrisy, and complicity in cover-ups. It also shows their priority: protecting police, not the public.
Given this Council’s dereliction of duty, responsible citizens are proposing a citizens’ police review board to perform a public service which Council refuses to perform. Given its inaction which tolerates police abuse and killing, I believe that Council will continue to resist a board which would, at least, make such information available to the public. So, given this chance to do right, I believe that this Council will persist in doing wrong.
Thank you.
That’s all folks! (And probably enough!)
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