Eyes wide open

What should citizen oversight of law enforcement look like?

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Particularly since Michael Brown’s death at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri, a national dialogue has been taking place regarding the creation of citizen oversight boards to monitor law enforcement. In this, the fifth installment of Fatal Encounters, the Reno News & Review’s series on issues of deadly police violence, we’ve assembled a panel of people who, for various reasons, have reached the national stage with regard to police violence.

Our panel includes Brian Buchner, president of NACOLE, National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, which has engaged with the city of Ferguson to develop a new citizen oversight committee in that community. Pete Eyre is co-founder of Cop Block, a national decentralized project that focuses on police accountability. Pamela J. Meanes is president of the National Bar Association and active in the recent actions in Ferguson, Missouri. Jonathan S. Taylor is a professor at California State University, Fullerton, who’s been active in issues of police violence, particularly following the brutal crackdown on the Occupy Movement and the killing of the mentally ill man Kelly Thomas in 2011.

This conversation, due to technical problems, took place in two instances, which were combined. All the participants were asked five questions, of which they were informed in advance.

For the rest of the story, visit the Reno News & Review site


 

The two faces of David Krambs

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Officer-involved homicides tend to be black-and-white affairs. Police offer one view of a death, usually a snapshot of a few minutes. Friends and family offer a movie view of a life. People remember mostly the good of dead friends and family, but it’s the police version that usually gets told by the media.

David Krambs was 33 years old. He was about 5-feet-10 inches, about 195 pounds. Light complexion, short, brown hair, brown eyes, no glasses. He lived down the street from Reno High in a little gray corner house at 1401 Elizabeth St. He used to program for IGT, but he was unemployed in February of last year.
For the rest of the story, visit the Reno News & Review site.


Public eyes

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During this election season, Washoe County Sheriff candidates Tim Kuzanek and Chuck Allen have offered some responses that have bearing on how they feel about citizen oversight of police. Here is what we’ve gathered:

These questions were asked of the candidates for sheriff by the RN&R before the primary: In light of the problems with officer-involved shootings happening in places like Albuquerque, New Mexico, would you be amenable to modifying Washoe County’s officer-involved shooting protocol membership to include a non-law enforcement member? Why or why not?
For the rest of the story, visit the Reno News & Review site.

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