that there are no witnesses but that people do not know or trust police and therefore do not come forward. 31 Luke Nichols, a member of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, stated that police brutality was never a serious problem, rather the problem is unequal treatment such as stopping only black citizens for routine traffic checks or not taking crime in the black community seriously. He stated that the community wants the "after hours joints," gambling and drug dealing out of the community but they also want the police to respect everyone's rights when 32 they come into the community. Sonny Foster, a member of the Board of Directors of Urban League, stated that he believes the black community is more supportive of the police than any other segment of Omaha. Mr. Foster asserted that black citizens want crime out of their neighborhoods but they also want their constitutional rights respected. 33 Similar sentiments were expressed by Wayne Tyndall, Director of the American Indian Center of Omaha. Mr. Tyndall said he realized that in encounters with the police American Indians were not entirely blameless, but even if there is cause for arrest, they should be treated fairly and not 34 harassed. Many in the community expressed support for the police. Rita Garcia of the Indian-Chicano Health Center reported her clients had not complained about 35 the police and that she thought bilingual services were adequate. Mr. Plaza said he thought the Hispanic community sees the police as friendly and helpful and that bilingual services are adequate.36 Mr. Ramirez, however, was of the opinion that language problems do occur that cause simple situations, like issuing a traffic ticket, to escalate into serious problems.37 Debbie Brockman, coordinator of a coalition of neighborhood associations called IMPACT, told staff that on the whole people are sympathetic to the police and understand what they face on the street. She believes the community wants more personal contact and "humanism" from the officers.38 Carl Christian of the Bedford Place Neighborhood Council told staff that members of the neighborhood association are satisfied so long as 39 they are treated with respect. Elbert Ross of the Binney-West-Spencer Neighborhood Association told staff he was brought up at a time when "you knew if you did wrong you would go to jail." He believes people should realize law enforcement officers have a job to do. 40 Several community leaders agreed with George Garnett who said the new public safety director, Joe Friend, gave the impression of being responsive and accessible and was sensitive to the issues involved in police-community relations.41 Two people, James Hart of the NAACP and Debbie Brockman, coordinator of IMPACT, noted that the new public safety director is trying to improve police-community relations by communication with the black community--attending community meetings and making public statements in support of change.42 Several citizens expressed the opinion that the current city administration appeared to be more concerned about police-community relations than others in the past. 43 Many interviewed said the police chief and other city officials set the tone for the police division when dealing with citizens, that in effect the attitude of the officer on the street reflects the attitude of their supervisors.44 Robert Broom commented that a new chief will have to make clear that racial slurs, verbal abuse, excessive force and similar tactics will not be tolerated and that offending officers will be disciplined.45 Alvin Goodwin, Jr., of the Omaha Economic Development Corporation and Mary Jane Harvey, Associate Executive of the Presbytery of Missouri River Valley, 46 expressed similar sentiments. Commenting on the current status of relations from the point of view of the police, Acting Chief Jack Swanson said the number one goal of the division is "maintaining an orderly city." He said that "every attempt is made to get people to like the way we do it." He remarked that it is difficult to know how many of the problems with police community-relations are perceived and how many are real. However, the acting chief said if police-community relations are perceived as bad then there is still a serious problem in the area. He said that in Omaha "there is a feeling--a perception that police officers are insensitive to minorities."47 Bernie Simon, president of the Omaha city council, said that while he believes some improvement could be made in police-community relations, he does not believe the situation is as bad as some people think. 48 Omaha Mayor Mike Boyle told staff that on police-community relations, "we have a long way to go" but he believes improvement is being made. 49 Notes 1. Omaha World-Herald, Oct. 1, 1965. 2. Sun, Dec. 9, 1965. 3. Ibid. 4. Sun, July 7, 1966. 5. Omaha World-Herald, Mar. 9, 1968. 6. Omaha World-Herald, Mar. 27, 1968. 7. Omaha World-Herald, July 9, 1968. 8. Sun, Sept. 4, 1969. 9. Omaha World-Herald, Aug. 20, 1969. 10. Omaha World-Herald, Jan. 30, 1970. 11. Omaha World-Herald, Aug. nd, 1970. 12. Sun, Nov. 26, 1970. 13. League of Women Voters, A Study of Police-Community Relations in Omaha, Publication No. 71-1, 1970. 14. Omaha World-Herald, June 8, 1974. 15. Mayor's Task Force on Police-Community Relations, The First Report and Recommendations of the Mayor's Task Force on Police-Community Relations, p. 1, Feb. 20, 1975. 16. Omaha World-Herald, Jan. 14, 1980. 17. Omaha World-Herald, Feb. 10, 1980. 18. Omaha World-Herald, Oct. 24, 1980. 19. Omaha World-Herald, Nov. 6, 1980. 20. Omaha World-Herald, Nov. 12, 1980. 21. Ibid. 22. Wilda Stephenson, telephone interview, Nov. 17, 1981. 23. Robert Broom, interview in Omaha, Sept. 24, 1981. 24. Joe Ramirez, interview in Omaha, Sept. 24, 1981. 25. I.C. Plaza, interview in Omaha, Sept. 24, 1981. 26. Francis Smith and others, interview in Omaha, Aug. 27, 1981. 27. Bernice Dodd, interview in Omaha, Sept. 24, 1981. 28. James Hart, interview in Omaha, Aug. 27, 1981. 29. Sonny Foster, interview in Omaha, Aug. 28, 1981. 42. James Hart, interview in Omaha, Aug. 27, 1981; and Debbie Brockman, 43. Dorothy Galloway, interview in Omaha, Aug. 27, 1981; Luke Nichols, interview in Omaha, Aug. 27, 1981; George Garnett, interview in Omaha, Aug. 28, 1981; Jerry Elrod, interview in Omaha, Sept. 23, 1981; Joseph Forbes, interview in Omaha, Sept. 23, 1981; Sonny Foster, interview in Omaha, Aug. 8, 1981. 44. George Garnett, interview in Omaha, Aug. 8, 1981; Marvin McClarty, interview in Omaha, Sept. 23, 1981; Alvin Goodwin, Jr., telephone interview, Nov. 5, 1981; Marvin McClarty, Robert Dacus, James Patterson, interview in Omaha, Dec. 8, 1981. |