STEIN, HONKALA
DEPLORE SHOOTING OF UNARMED CITIZENS: Say nation
must invest in communities, not violence

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein extended her sympathies today to the family of Manuel Diaz, the 25 year-old resident of Anaheim, California who was shot to death by Anaheim police on Saturday. The circumstances of the shooting are unEnter Your Emailder investigation, but it has been reported that Diaz was unarmed at the time of the shooting. When protesting citizens appeared at an Anaheim police station during a press conference, police responded to reported bottle and rock throwing with rubber bullets, pepper spray and a police dog unleashed on the crowd, which included terrified parents and children who were peacefully protesting.

Stein said, "Shooting of unarmed people is intolerable, and cannot be allowed to become a routine feature of urban policing. And police brutality towards innocent bystanders in a protest cannot be accepted.”

Saturday’s fatal police shooting was compounded by a second police shooting death on Sunday of another Latino man, Joel Acevedo, allegedly during what police claim was a suspected car robbery in which the suspect shot at them, though the circumstances have not yet been clarified.

These deaths follow 6 additional officer-involved shootings this year, and many in previous years, in the city of Anaheim, many of which were said to involve unarmed residents.   

“These incidents are deeply disturbing. Especially in the wake of recent cases of police and para-police racial brutality and profiling - including the Trayvon Martin and Kenneth Chamberlain murders, and the growing controversy over Stop-and-Frisk in NY City that targets largely African American and Latino youth for degrading searches. We join the call of the Latino civil rights group, Presente, for the state attorney to conduct a full investigation into this very troubling pattern of police-involved violence.”    

“Regardless of the circumstances of any particular incident, it is clear that the police force in Anaheim, and in many other communities, have lost the confidence of the community, and we need to find new ways to re-establish public trust - through mutual respect. We must protect public safety while making sure our police forces are not employed as agents of fear."  

Green Party vice presidential candidate Cheri Honkala commented on the clash between demonstrators and police, saying that, "When police appear to be killing people who are simply scared or committing minor offenses, the community has a responsibility to show up and demand answers. They shouldn't be met with pepper spray, rubber bullets, and police dogs. We have to recognize the legitimacy of the concerns that are driving protests and give people a fair hearing. We respect the difficult job that the police have when a protest begins, but respect is a two-way street. Police have to respect, and defend, the right of people to be heard."

Stein observed that, "Urban communities across America are in crisis. Disinvestment, unemployment, and lack of health care are corroding the very fabric of society while Washington targets trillions of dollars to bailing out Wall Street banks and subsidizing well-connected business interests. The President plays golf with international bankers and then announces his plans to stabilize their bad investments. Meanwhile, our inner city communities are crying out for help, and getting mostly budget cuts and austerity programs. Money is poured into militarization of police forces and building more prisons rather than addressing the source of the problems."

"This is not an acceptable course for America" Stein continued. "It is not leading us toward the nation we can be, and should be. We need a change in priorities. We need to put people first, and make the investment in America that will never be made by the Wall Street financiers.  Healthy communities are an imperative, not something that can wait for some future date after Wall Street is taken care of. Too many lives are being lost for us to tolerate further delay. We need a Green New Deal that will heal our wounds, employ our community members, and lift the fear that hangs like a cloud over our city streets."

Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform
c/o Dr. LeRoy Haynes, Jr., Allen Temple, 503-287-0261

NEWS ITEM For immediate release  July 13, 2012

SYSTEM GRAVELY BROKEN: RESPONSES TO CHASSE DISCIPLINE REVERSAL

Yesterday, the news revealed that the two officers who had been disciplined in
the brutal beating death of James Chasse, Jr. were ordered to have their
records expunged and back payments made for the 80 hours each was suspended. 
Participants in the Albina Ministerial Alliance (AMA) Coalition for Justice and
Police Reform responded to the information with the message that the system is
gravely broken. Members of Chasse's family also weighed in with their thoughts.

Rev. Dr. LeRoy Haynes, Jr, Chair, AMA Coalition for Justice and Police Reform:

"This decision shows that the supposedly neutral arbitrators are unfairly
biased towards the police. In every case where an officer has been disciplined
for deadly force, the arbitrators have overturned the findings. Nobody has 100%
track record, not even Perry Mason. We must get the undue influence of the
Portland Police Association neutralized in the next contract negotiations so we
can truly have community control of the police."

Dan Handelman, Portland Copwatch, member of the AMA Coalition steering
committee:

"It seems that the City messed up (again!) by not sustaining a broad enough
number of policy violations, and doing a poor job of defending their actions in
suspending the officers. The arbitrator repeatedly notes how Sgt. Nice and
Officer Humphreys' actions led to a tragedy, but doesn't acknowledge thathttp://www.theportlandalliance.org/writingresource/
therefore they appropriately should have been disciplined."

James Chasse, Sr., father of James Chasse, Jr.:

"I think the type of [administrative action] shows a strong interrelation
between the city attorney's office and police whether still listed as union
members, or not. I have to believe the [administrative action] was weak by
directive, and the contracts entered into with the union probably encourage
weak managerial control by the people being served. Obviously the contracts
were written to help cause the kind of arbitration answers, but the city
attorney's office is probably very much entwined in the shame of the city's
works.

"I also believe mayoral candidates should be pressed as to what they would do
to fix the situation. Most who I explain James's mechanical skill and strength
- could not lift 35 lbs, wonder what Portland wants them to think. [That]
someone would be 'mistaken' for a criminal, run, be beaten, transported like
James was, [will] possibly cause a disgust on the face of the rest of the
country when people research it. Is that what a new mayor wants?"

Mark Chasse, brother of James Chasse, Jr.:

"The police's power to use deadly force against its citizens is an awesome
power and should carry an enormous responsibility. In Portland, however, the
police still do not even receive employment reviews, much less any other real
oversight. I am saddened but not completely surprised that the Portland Police
have continued to fight against any responsibility for what they did to my
brother, this arbitration being only the most recent example. Apparently, two
weeks' leave was too severe of a punishment for beating my brother to death and
ensuring that he did not get proper medical treatment for the gruesome injuries
they inflicted on him.

"It is unlikely that the Portland Police will ever regain the respect of the
citizens of Portland until they stop fighting all efforts at real police
accountability. I hope that this longstanding Bureau/union policy will change,
as it would be in everybody's interests."

For more information contact Dr. LeRoy Haynes at 503-287-0261.
Too Many Killings.  It is time to stop the killing! Our police force have not been held accountable in Portland and they
feel entitled to shoot first and ask questions later.  When we criticize police abuse, rogue officers who are still on this 
force, say "Don't Choke 'Em, Smoke 'Em.  Or 100 officers turn out wearing T-Shirts saying, "We are Officer Humphrey. 
(Humphrey was one of three officers who beat unarmed James Chasse to death, in broad daylight, in front of five witnesses.

It it is easy to see why police feel entitled to commit murder.  If the police only choke, beat-up, or seriously injure

a citizen, and the citizen lives to talk about it, the officers may get in trouble.  But if they simply kill the inconvenient

citizen, this makes it simple.  The dead cannot testify and our officers know they will not have to answer for the killing.