To: Darlene Harris, President of Pittsburgh City Council and City Council Members

 

In partnership with “The Campaign for Justice” the Black Political Empowerment Project (B-PEP) wishes to express its concerns over the present state of police community relations in Pittsburgh.  The beating and hospitalization of unarmed CAPA High School honor student Jordan Miles on the night of January 12, 2009 by undercover police officers Michael Saldutte, Richard Ewing and David Sisak has created a further break in police-community relations in the Pittsburgh community. In the opinion of the B-PEP Planning Council and many Pittsburgh citizens of all races have found it more than difficult to find any reasonable explanation for these three armed police officers, two of whom have had training in the martial arts and one of whom teaches police officers self defense, to have not been able to have brought Jordan Miles into custody, if they felt they needed to do so, without causing him serious bodily harm.  The fact that these three officers weigh approximately six hundred (600) or more pounds while Mr. Miles weighs but one hundred fifty (150) pounds (at 5’ 6 ˝”)  makes the beating of Jordan Miles even more difficult to comprehend or accept.  With the aforementioned information, for the Fraternal Order of Police to have attempted to urge District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala, Jr. to re-file charges against Jordan Miles following the dismissal of charges by a city magistrate has merely added to the community furor over the behavior of the involved police officers.

For the Fraternal Order of Police to then produce, sell and wear the “Our Three Brothers” tee-shirts in the Saturday, March 13, 2010  St. Patrick’s Day Parade, not only violated the parade’s policy and tradition of having a non-political parade, it further exacerbated community feelings and reactions to an already volatile situation. Some viewed the action as racist, some viewed the wearing of these tee-shirts as adding ‘fuel to the fire’, some viewed this act as insulting and intimidating, and as an ‘in your face’ act to many of the citizens of Pittsburgh.  We are certain that if someone new in town were viewing the parade they may have very well thought that Jordan Miles had put Officers Saldutte, Ewing and Sisak in the hospital, versus the officers having put an unarmed Mr. Miles into the hospital.  For the officers to have viewed the dismissal of charges, through a court of law, with such disrespect is sad and disheartening.  We feel these officers, who participated in the parade and wearing the tee-shirts in question should be charged with conduct unbecoming an officer. 

We feel that Officers Saldutte, Ewing and Sisak should be charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, perjury, and false swearing.    The conduct exhibited by these officers on the night of January 12, 2010 cannot be tolerated, nor accepted as behavior to be emulated by other officers of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.

What has added further anger and upset too many Pittsburgh citizens was the fact that these same officers were given public commendations on Friday, March 19th while supposedly on a suspended leave status and while under suspicion for possible police misconduct.  Even if these officers had earned the commendations for whatever positive work they may have provided the City of Pittsburgh in the past, this was NOT the time to honor these men.  Their commendations could have been mailed to them or possibly given them after this current case was fully resolved.   After all, they are currently the focus of a federal grand jury investigation for possible violation of Jordan Miles civil rights and abuse of police powers.  It is obvious to any lay person who has viewed the troubling pictures of Jordan Miles following his arrest that, minimally, excessive force was used to arrest him. This may not be a legally binding statement, but it is definitely a logical statement.  The giving of commendations at this very sensitive time was a public relations nightmare for police-community relations!

We further urgently request that the revamping of police training in terms of the issues of racial and ethnic profiling be given a top priority status, as is the need for expanded training in police community-relations and sensitivity training with regard to racial issues in general.  Furthermore, the current statistics which show that currently only 11.33% of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police force is African American and that since May 2001 only 3.60% of the police cadets have been African American glaringly state the immediate need to revamp the  police recruitment process, as well as the Pittsburgh Civil Service policies and procedures and  the police cadet interview process. Diversity cannot be just a slogan, but a reality within the racial make-up of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.  This current case surrounding the Jordan Miles incident also clearly points to the need expedite of the adoption of the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission (PLEAC) standards which will hopefully help guarantee a more professional police force in Pittsburgh.

We ask for the support of all area elected officials to do what is necessary to correct a truly shameful situation in our city.

Sincerely,

 

Tim Stevens, Chairman

The Black Political Empowerment Project