San Jose police taking steps to ease Latino leaders' concerns
By Rodney Foo
Mercury News
Article Launched: 03/30/2007 11:45:11 AM PDT


Addressing a roomful of Latino leaders, San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis today announced his office plans to streamline the complaint process against officers and enhance cultural sensitivity training.

Davis' unusual news conference came as the Mexican consulate and a county supervisor have raised concerns about the police treatment of Latino and African Americans. Since becoming head of the 1,350-officer force three years ago, Davis has called just a handful of news conferences.

Davis pledged he will meet monthly with La Raza Roundtable, a Latino civil rights group, over the next six months to discuss progress on monitoring and changing police behavior. The chief said his staff is studying how 17 other police departments handle complaints against officers. He expects the survey to be completed in May. At one point Thursday, it appeared there would be dueling news conferences on the allegations that some officers mistreat Latinos.

Tuesday, some Latino leaders announced a news conference scheduled for noon today in front of City Hall to discuss "police abuse" and urge Mayor Chuck Reed and the city council to "take a leadership role on the unabated police brutality cases."

Thursday, Davis announced his own news conference at 11:30 a.m. today involving other Latino leaders at the Center for Training and Careers.

But after some behind-the-scenes talks, the news conference announced by the Latino groups was combined with Davis' event.

Among those in attendance were Davis, Reed, county Supervisor Blanca Alvarado and Mexican Consul Bruno Figueroa.

The news conference was an outgrowth of two separate events last week involving police and the Latino community.

First, police released an unprecedented statistical report that revealed Latinos represented more than half of the use-of-force arrests in San Jose. It also suggested that African Americans were subjected to use of force outside of statistical norms.

The report did show that less than 5 percent of 34,000 arrests resulted in force being used - control holds, batons, pepper spray, Tasers.

Instead of the numbers bolstering the department's contention that officers seldom resort to force, it fueled the suspicions of civil rights groups that Latinos and blacks are apt to be targeted for abuse.

A day after the report, Figueroa released a statement urging police to respect Latinos while citing the July 30 arrests of Asencsion Calderon, a San Jose tire store owner, and his nephew, Samuel Santana, as a case of excessive force.

According to Figueroa, Calderson had merely stopped and asked an officer what was going on with Santana, who was being questioned about a traffic violation on Alum Rock Avenue, when he was allegedly attacked by officers, including one who reportedly called Santana, a U.S. citizen, a "wetback."

Both Calderon and Santana were arrested on a misdemeanor charge of resisting or obstructing a police officer.

Calderon and Santana eventually had charges against them dismissed after a Superior Court judge declared a mistrial.

An internal affairs investigation into the incident has not been completed. Meanwhile, Calderon is deciding whether to sue police.

In the statement released today, Garza also said: "`La Raza Roundtable would like to go on record, we do not condone any misconduct or mistreatment by police officers to any resident in the city of San Jose. Over-representation of Latinos and African Americans in the detention system has always been in the forefront of our agenda and is an ongoing issue that is being addressed by La Raza Roundtable."

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_5558028