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An article recently appeared in the Daily Planet regarding police rights to challenge Police Review Commission findings (“Court Ruling Hamstrings Police Review Commission,” Aug. 31-Sept. 2). The article was somewhat indignant at the idea that the burden of proof should be on the accuser (Police Review Commissions) and not the accused, (even though this is a fundamental principle of American justice). It is implied that the Berkeley Police Department is insensitive to the public because it challenged 32 of 52 “sustained” complaints filed against it at the PRC. It compares this to numbers from Riverside and San Diego. A closer look at the numbers reveals that the Berkeley Police are not insensitive but rather portions of the public are hypersensitive and distinctly anti-police. 

In Riverside, (a community of 235,000 people) there were 107 complaints filed against the police in 2004, (one for every 2,196 citizens). Twenty-two were sustained by the local Police review Commission. That’s less than 1 sustained complaint to every 10,000 people. The police challenged none of these. 

In San Diego (a community of 2,420,000 people) there were 99 complaints filed against the police in 2004, (one for every 24,444 citizens). Nine were sustained. That’s one sustained complaint to every 268,889 people. The police challenged five of these. 

In Berkeley, a city of 103,000, 154 complaints were filed (one for every 668 citizens). Fifty-two were sustained. That is one for every 1,980 people. The police challenged 32 of these.  

Extrapolating from the Riverside numbers there should be 46 complaints in Berkeley (not 154) with 12 being sustained, not 54. Extrapolating from the San Diego numbers one would expect four complaints annually (not 154) with one sustained every other year instead of 54 per year.  

These numbers mean one of two things. Either Berkeley has a police department that is wildly out of control or a part of its population is markedly anti-police and the PRC is out of control.  

In personal dealings with our police I have found them to be intelligent, thoughtful and responsive. I have seen them exhibit extraordinary patients in dealing with abusive and aggressive individuals. I have seen them give comfort to victims in traffic accidents and help clean up the mess left when a vehicle careened through a fence and garden and nearly struck my house.  

Remember, all this in the town where you can buy a “F_ _ _ the Police” t-shirts on Telegraph Avenue.  

In the Sept. 7 issue of the Daily Planet, Becky O’Malley editorializes that our police are “hostile” and “ineffective” and that the public wants to “…know what is going to be done about the police.”  

Becky had a bad experience with an impatient and impolite officer. Agreed, officers should talk nice to citizens. But citizens in Berkeley need to make our police feel like we are on their side and editors need to make sure there is meaningful and complete analysis of statistics in their newspapers so citizens can draw accurate conclusions form the facts and filter out the ideological slant of the writer. 

Sadly, the very night Ms O’Malley may have been scribing “…Berkeley Police manage to combine ineffectiveness with hostile and belligerent behavior towards innocent citizens…” the police were on Sixth Street (near Delaware Avenue), responding to another fatal shooting. 

Remember Becky: Your bad day is full of poorly written paragraphs and misspelled words. When “Officer Jim______, Badge 114” has a bad day, he may be taking gunfire or comforting the mother of a homicide victim.  

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