Civil rights groups criticize Justice Department for delaying inquiry into police shootings
February 8, 2012 - 4:11 pm
Two civil rights groups blasted the Department of Justice on Wednesday after the announcement that its Civil Rights Division would not immediately investigate shootings by Las Vegas police and would instead wait to see the results of a separate review of Metropolitan Police Department policies.
"We do not believe that this is a substitute for an investigation," said Richard Boulware, first vice president of the Las Vegas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The groups also called on the community to pressure their congressional representatives and asked for federal officials, including U.S. Attorney Dan Bogden, to get involved.
"I would call upon Mr. Bogden to take a stand," said Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.
Lichtenstein said the "noncommittal" attitude of Bogden and others is "intentionally or unintentionally not helpful and in fact may be an obstruction to moving forward with this process."
Last month, the Las Vegas NAACP and ACLU of Nevada filed a 35-page petition with the Civil Rights Division asking for a "patterns or practice" investigation into systemic civil rights abuses by Las Vegas police. On Tuesday, representatives of the two groups met with Bogden, Boulware said. Bogden gave them a letter from the Civil Rights Division in Washington stating that the team was still reviewing the groups' request and would be watching how Las Vegas police respond to a separate voluntary review of the department.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said Wednesday that the Justice Department unit doing the review, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), would share all documents and findings with the Civil Rights Division.
"We will continue to monitor the matter and be heavily involved in the process," the spokeswoman said.
In a statement, Bogden said: "We are confident that actions outlined by DOJ Civil Rights and the COPS office will lead to a prompt and thorough review of the practices employed by Metro and a fully-vetted determination of whether further action is warranted by the Department of Justice.
"Give the process a chance to work -- criticizing it at this point does nothing to advance the resolution of these issues."
Las Vegas police referred their comments to one made Tuesday expressing support for the process.
The COPS study already has begun and will take at least six months, authorities say. The review will be the first time Las Vegas police have opened themselves up to outsiders to look at the way the agency handles shootings. It is also the first time COPS has done a large-scale study on a subject: The office's purpose is to deliver grant money to improve police departments across the country. At the end of the review, a report will be released detailing potential department faults and areas for improvement.
But the study, unlike a civil rights investigation, will not require Las Vegas police to heed any advice. And the study could depend on what Las Vegas police allow the group to access. Similar studies made by other groups sometimes have required sensitive information such as employee discipline files.
The head of COPS called Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie in November, on the second day of a five-part Review-Journal series on police shootings that highlighted a department reluctant to hold officers accountable for mistakes and unwilling to adopt policies to protect its officers and the public. Las Vegas police had 12 fatal shootings last year, a record for one year for the department.
Lichtenstein and Boulware said the study could be a good thing, but it delays any potential investigation.
"All they've done is announce the fact they're going to do this review and, I think, in the hope that the community and people will be silent, and we're not going to be." Boulware said.
They also were upset that they were never called or consulted by either Justice Department arm. Representatives of both arms were in Las Vegas last week for a conference of police chiefs, but they met only with Gillespie.
Lichtenstein and Boulware said they would be contacting Nevada's congressional delegation for support.
"This isn't an attack on Metro," Lichtenstein said. "It's an attack on certain things that Metro has been doing, certain policies, practices, deficiencies, that need to be fixed."
Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.
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