| Booker gave the department star treatment in his February State of the City address, which touted construction of a state-of-the-art precinct in the South Ward. But a new building is only as good as the professionalism of the officers in it.
And Newark's police have not consistently demonstrated professionalism. Officers in 2008 pulled over two teenage Pop Warner football players and their young coach, and without cause drew their weapons, searched the teenagers roughly, and verbally abused them. Last April, the ACLU-NJ sued on their behalf.
Before that, the ACLU-NJ filed a suit on behalf of Roberto Lima, a newspaper publisher who voluntarily helped police by showing them photos his staff took of a crime scene. Rather than commend him, they detained him and violated his free press rights, demanding that the paper relinquish all copies of the photos.
Unfortunately, these kinds of problems are not new to Newark. The ACLU-NJ, founded 50 years ago, was in its infancy when Newark's streets blazed in 1967, sparked by anger over widespread injustice and unchecked police brutality. Our volunteers combed Newark cataloguing abuses. Newark citizens had endured police officers' beatings, intimidation and use of racial epithets. The department refused to arrest officers who committed crimes against residents, instead compiling dossiers on civil rights leaders. One ACLU-NJ lawsuit during that period asked the federal government to take over the department until it was reformed.
But reform is taking longer than we ever imagined. To this day systemic reform remains elusive despite a long, well-documented rap sheet of abuses. Newark Police lack best practices that have improved other departments' performance, including better training, record-keeping, and control over officer integrity.
None of the reforms the ACLU-NJ seeks should be new to Mayor Booker. When he hired expert consultants to thoroughly review police operations in 2007, they recommended the same reforms as the ACLU-NJ. One measure - dashboard cameras - has proven to help departments around the country verify the word of both officers and the public. However, none of the 40 otherwise state-of-the-art cruisers Newark recently purchased had this technology, despite being a recognized benchmark for accountability.
In Newark, Booker alone has authority to make the most important move toward accountability: establishing an independent monitor - armed with an all-access pass - to check the city's police force. The position would make citizens safer, save taxpayers millions, and protect the majority of officers who do a good job but risk their reputations because the city fails to address the individual officers who cause the bulk of problems. As the State Police can attest, an independent monitor brings positive changes for officers and citizens alike.
Though both city council and community members have called for an independent monitor with teeth, Mayor Booker won't bite. Monitoring and reform only came to the state police once the federal government intervened. Unless Booker starts taking criminal acts by police as seriously as he does criminal acts by citizens, that may be the Newark Police's fate as well.
In the meantime, Newarkers are losing trust in their police department. Diana Taylor lost hers last spring when the police stopped her, taunted her, debased her, and dismissed her.
"They took away my rights, my dignity, and made me afraid to walk down the street," she says.
She's not talking about criminals; she's talking about the police. For Diana Taylor - and for too many Newarkers - it's sometimes hard to tell the difference. |
