Mark-Anthony Johnson, Author at Dignity and Power Now

What’s the Deal with Subpoena Power?

What is subpoena power?

A subpoena is a request under penalty. There are two types of subpoenas. The first requires you to testify in front of a court and the second requires you to produce documents, materials, or other evidence. Without subpoena power the civilian oversight commission could ask the LASD for documents and they could lawfully say “no.” With subpoena power the civilian oversight commission could subpoena documents from the LASD and they would have to comply or face a criminal penalty. Subpoenas are the difference between asking and telling. Subpoena power is power.

Why does the civilian oversight commission need subpoena power?

The LASD has a long history of secrecy, misclassification, and “losing” reports. For example, LASD keeps 30% of the L.A. County homicide and death cases on security holds. That is a significant amount of information withheld from the public! The current Inspector General whose job it is to audit and investigate the department’s handling of complaints has been very public with his inability to access reports. The things that the LASD wants to keep hidden are precisely the things that the civilian oversight commission needs to find out. Subpoena power is necessary for transparency and accountability.

With subpoena power can the commission discipline deputies?

To be clear, subpoena power does not give the commission the power to discipline anyone. State law prevents disciplining deputies via a commission. However with subpoena power the civilian oversight commission can compile data, create legitimate reports, and offer recommendations backed by evidence that will incite a high level of consideration from the board of supervisors and sheriff – who can discipline deputies. Subpoena power is the difference between making a blind recommendation and a credible argument.

So how can the civilian oversight commission get subpoena power?

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors are in the position to do the necessary things to ensure the commission has the opportunity to have subpoena power. They have the power to put a charter amendment on the ballot that the county would then vote on.

If you want the civilian oversight commission to have the ability to make influential arguments based on evidence then tell your working group representative and county district supervisor to put a charter amendment on the ballot so that we the people can vote for subpoena power.

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Civilian Review Board: TAKE ACTION!

Where We’ve Come

For over two years the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence in L.A. Jails has been fighting for an independent civilian review board of the sheriff’s department. When the C2ESV first began no one believed in the concept but we continued to build and fight to ensure sheriff accountability was ultimately put in the hands of the community. The result has been a county wide movement to ensure that the community is legally empowered with the tools necessary to prevent sheriff abuse, demand transparency, and enact accountability by sheriff personnel that harm our loved ones inside the county jail. On December 9th of 2014, the county Board of Supervisors voted to implement a civilian oversight commission! This victory is huge and now we need to work hard to protect our vision of a civilian commission that hold the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department accountable!

Where We Are Now

The December 9th vote created a working group that is responsible for establishing the powers, responsibilities, and composition of the oversight commission. Over the next month this working group will meet to draft a proposal for the county Board of Supervisors to approve. We need your help! There are 7 members of the commission and we need to let them know that the community wants a board with the legal backing to hold the largest sheriff’s department in the county accountable. We have five non-negotioable demands:

Subpoena power
Composed of 9 members, 4 community appointed
Independent legal counsel
No law enforcement or retired law enforcement
Direct the functions of the Inspector General

How You Can Help

We need you to call the working group members and let them know that you believe effective civilian oversight must include the five characteristics laid out above. The functions, powers, and composition of the commission cannot be shaped without the input of the community that has been fighting for effective oversight for over the last two years. Contact the working group members below:

1) DEAN HANSELL, former Federal Trade Commission prosecutor (310) 785-4665
2) NEAL TYLER, current LASD chief (323) 526-5122
3) HERNAN VERA, public interest lawyer (526) 882-6286
4) MAX HUNTSMAN, Inspector General (213) 974-6100
5) LES ROBBINS, 30-year LASD deputy veteran (323) 213-4005
6) VINCENT HARRIS, Senior Advisor to Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas (213) 974-2222
7) BRENT BRAUN, former FBI agent and campaigned for Sheriff McDonnell (310) 871-6431

For more on civilian review boards please see our FAQ here.

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Statement on Non-Indictment of Darren Wilson

After over 100 days of protest and direct action in Ferguson, the grand jury has decided not to indict Darren Wilson.

In this moment I feel angry.

In this moment, I am not suprised.

The non-indictment of Darren Wilson was meant to make Black folks feel powerless. It was meant to solidify the collective trauma of Mike Brown’s murder in our bodies as a deterrant against any action that fundamentaly questions the epidemic of anti Black state violence. The next 48 hours will be a critical expression of Black folks resilience. As folks take part in actions across the country and in Los Angeles, Dignity and Power Now supports and will continue to push forward demands that foster the long term well being of Black people, including the call for end to state violence and the dismantling of law enforcement agencies that participate in the killing of any and all Black people.

Signing off from Cuba.

Photo: Fibonacci Blue

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Racial Discrimination: A Worldwide Issue, an LA Epidemic

In the UK, without “reasonable suspicion” as a law enforcement policy, Black people are 35x more likely to be stopped and questioned by police. With the policy in place, Black folks are 7x more likely than white people to be stopped and questioned. This statistic was presented to us at special convening of international “experts” on racism, hosted by Mutuma Ruteere, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenohobia and Related intolerance. I was excited to represent DPN at this convening for a two-day discussion on conditions and best practices for combating racial discrimination. Across the two day convening the statistic stuck with me for two reasons: 1) It points out how real anti-blackness is as an international practice in law enforcement, and 2) Racial profiling is much harder to track and monitor in the jail setting because it requires that that law enforcement be invested in tracking its own personnel’s racist practices. I can’t see the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department doing that.

Me and Kristina Ronnquist representing DPN’s Building Resilience at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland

Dignity and Power Now has been prioritizing the international human rights framework this year; including our shadow report we submitted to the UN as part of a review of US compliance with the international convention of eliminating racial discrimination. Our report focused on abuses and discrimination of Black people with mental health conditions in the jails and pointed out the same dilemma I mentioned above. The dilemma being that behind the jail walls the ever present violence against Black and Brown people is invisible. One of the clearest examples of this is the tremendous lack of data and tracking on racial and gender discrimination as well as human rights violations behind the jail walls.

The recent Department of Justice critique of the Los Angeles County Jails as unconstitutional is important but the United States is not immune to human rights violations. Our loved ones coming out of the jails know this. Our loved ones who are still inside know this. As we move forward with our campaign to win civilian oversight, stop the $2 billion jail plan, and win mental health diversion that decarcerates Black and Brown people from the county jail system, DPN is invested in protecting the civil and human rights of all incarcerated people.

Mark-Anthony Johnson, Author at Dignity and Power Now - Page 3 of 3