At a Police Complaints Authority (PCA) town meeting at the Santa Cruz Fire Station on Wednesday night, Director David West appealed to victims of police mistreatment to avoid publicising their ordeals in the media and to instead discreetly lodge their complaints with the PCA.
From the authority's perspective, that approach would promise a more effective investigation of officers who would be officially unaware until matters became actionable. That might make sense for the PCA boss, but for the victims of such abuse, the motivation to air their grouses publicly is less a matter of having charges laid than it is a need to make offenders think twice before engaging with them again, while sharing their embarrassment and pain with sympathetic ears.
That the hosts of such programmes, including our own CNC3's Crime Watch, offer concern and empathy for the victims suggests that a public purging of the shame and anger associated with perceived injustice is a compelling proposition. For Mr West to make a winning case for the services of the PCA, he must deliver results that are satisfactory for those who lodge complaints with the authority.
On Wednesday night, Mr West had an opportunity to live that dilemma in real time with Jerome Phyars, a fireman captured in a video allegedly being beaten by police officers who was later charged with resisting arrest and obscene language.At the town meeting, the PCA director had suggested to Mr Phyars and co-accused Dawud Mohammed that they should have filed a report with the PCA instead of attempting to try their case on television.
Both men appeared at the meeting and at the end of the discussion, assured that they could get an outcome, made their official report to the authority.The PCA has been managing a heavy caseload and this year alone, 26 cases have been sent to the acting Commissioner of Police and 200 files have been closed. Mr West admitted to a backlog of matters going back to 2014 which are still to be dealt with.
The PCA, however, continues to face a challenge in effectively identifying itself in the public mind as an independent watchdog body, and not an agency of the Police Service doing "himself told himself" investigations, he admitted.
That impression will only be changed when the authority can point to a track record of efficiently investigating and delivering satisfactory results for those who lodge complaints. At the Santa Cruz Fire Station, Mr West stepped out from behind his desk to capture some of the energy of such interpersonal contact. "We don't fear anyone," he told his audience, "we have your back and we will do the best for you...I was appalled when I saw that video of the fireman being abused."
Mr West can point to the stemming of infusions of bad blood into the service with the halting and pending revision of the system for recruiting Special Reserve Police, and has identified the need for officers to be better trained in handling mentally ill and physically challenged people.
But without the allure of the bright lights of television, the obverse of the measured, carefully researched investigations expected of the PCA, Mr West may just have to live with the rivalry of televised testimony. But, he can show that he will seriously and fairly investigate the cases.It's a more incremental way to earn respect and reputation, but it is, ultimately, the most important one.