The Internationally renowned group, Human Rights Watch, calls abuse by law enforcement one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in our country today. In their report, Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States, they found that in the 14 major cities investigated there was a lack of public accountability and disclosure coupled with a persistent failure to investigate much less prosecute officers who commit human rights violations.

This report included two major California cities, Los Angeles and San Francisco but unfortunately not Sacramento. I have no doubt that the problems faced by citizens of Sacramento and other California cities and counties would have been as apparent as those exposed in the cities investigated.

There recommendations included the following:

(1) Stopping all federal aid to state, county and city law enforcement that cannot show they are making concerted efforts to respect human rights and quash abuse of power by the officers within those agencies. This would be a revolutionary step as my reading suggests that in order to meet this guideline law enforcement departments around the country would have to put together a plan of action and document that the plan is implemented and monitored.

(2) HRW calls for the creation and strengthening of Civilian review groups, creation of a system to identify officers who have an excessive number of civilian complaints and the creation of a special prosecutor’s office for prosecution of officers who commit criminal acts.

Imagine for a moment that you are the district attorney and you are suddenly required to investigate an officer who you and other from your department have worked with for years because he is accused of using deadly force unnecessarily. It is human nature to be lenient to those we have relationships with even if those relations are casual working interactions. A completely detached IAD and SPO is the only logical answer to insure justice is done as we demand.

(3) They recommended that human rights covenants be implemented as the U.S. is obligated to uphold international human rights standards which often provide greater protections than U.S. law.

I believe it is a sad state of affairs when the international community puts a greater value on our rights than those in power within our country. We should all stop reading and bow our heads in a moment of shame.

More information can be located thru our search engine.