Reisig, Prieto seek AG’s help in pepper-spraying probe
Citing the potential “statewide ramifications” of their investigation, Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig and Sheriff Ed Prieto jointly requested Tuesday the state attorney general’s involvement in a probe into the Nov. 18 pepper-spraying of protesters by police at UC Davis.
“While the traditional indicia requiring the attorney general’s involvement, conflict or lack of resources, may not be present in this matter, these events are not traditional in nature and call for an examination of events that have statewide ramifications,” says a letter to Attorney General Kamala Harris, signed by Reisig and Prieto.
“In the absence of such action it is our belief that the public’s confidence in the conclusions reached may be significantly undermined,” the letter continues.
No decision has been made by the AG’s office. “We’ve received the letter and are reviewing it,” Harris spokeswoman Lynda Gledhill said Wednesday.
In other developments Tuesday:
* A task force examining what led to seated, unarmed protesters being pepper-sprayed may take more than 30 days to complete its work;
* UC Davis announced an independent fact-finding investigation;
* Chancellor Linda Katehi received the support of many at a faculty and staff town hall meeting; and
* Protesters vowed to occupy Dutton Hall for two weeks.
Reisig and Prieto’s request to Harris also cites the fact that the issues being investigated occurred on a UC campus — one of 10 throughout the state, all of which are likely to be affected by the results of the examination.
The letter went on to say that resources and potential conflicts may prove to be issues in the investigation after all.
“It has also become apparent that neither the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department, nor the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office possess the resources necessary to conduct the ‘quick’ review that both you and the public are expecting,” the letter says.
“Furthermore, because the Yolo County legal and law-enforcement communities are relatively small, there are multiple perceived and/or possible legal conflicts that are likely to arise and undermine the effectiveness of any findings.”
The request was hailed by Adam Thongsavat, president of the Associated Students of UC Davis, which called for the AG’s participation in the investigation days after the pepper-spraying made international news.
“It’s going to give tremendous legitimacy to this report,” Thongsavat said. “We just want the truth, and I applaud the DA and the sheriff for realizing this is a state issue.”
Meanwhile, Lynn Tierney, associate vice president of communications for the UC Office of the President, said a task force announced by Katehi in the hours after the pepper-spraying may need longer to do its work.
“I think we’re going to have to push back those recommendations,” Tierney said. “I don’t want to change the timing, but I also wouldn’t want them to rush their conclusions.”
Tierney made her comments in response to requests for information about contract negotiations between UCOP and former Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton.
UC President Mark Yudof announced the selection of Bratton on Nov. 22. His contract gives him 30 days to do his work before handing it over to a task force headed by former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso.
Composed of UCD students, faculty, staff and community members, the task force will review Bratton’s report, then submit recommendations to Katehi. In turn, she will draw up a plan of action for Yudof.
Katehi has said she looked forward to having the report “as swift as possible, ideally” by Dec. 21, or within 30 days of her request to Yudof requesting a task force.
“You want it to stay within the chancellor’s wishes,” Tierney said, “but you also want it to be thorough and considered.”
The Council of UC Faculty Associations has criticized the decision to hire Bratton, the chairman of Kroll, a security company, which it says has provided services to at least three UC campuses in recent years.
Tierney said Kroll possesses “expertise in a variety of areas, including the most current policing trends” and in “specialty policing,” like policing college campuses.
“They work with police departments around the world,” she said. “The singular expertise that they have is working with policing crowds and protests. That’s one of the reasons we brought them in.”
Reynoso will not be paid to lead the task force, Tierney said.
Also on Tuesday, UCD announced outside investigators will have unrestricted access to employees and witnesses of the events on the Quad, as well as to documents, videos, photographs and other evidence.
Their goal will be “to inform the campus of the appropriate action it should take with respect to its employees,” according to the university.
UCD’s police chief, Annette Spicuzza; Lt. John Pike, the incident commander; and another unnamed officer have been placed on administrative leave.
The university has not yet released a timeline for completion of the investigation, the name of the investigating firm or information about its fee.
Three other probes are planned:
* The UCD Academic Senate has announced it will form a committee to investigate what happened on Nov. 18. A special meeting of the faculty’s representative assembly will meet on Friday morning.
* The state Assembly and Senate have announced a joint legislative hearing, set for Dec. 14, into use of force on the Davis campus as well as what happened Nov. 9 at UC Berkeley, when officers jabbed Occupy protesters, most of them students and faculty, with batons.
* Yudof has appointed UC General Counsel Charles Robinson and UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Christopher Edley Jr. to lead a systemwide look of protocols and policies for policing protests.
— Enterprise staff writer Lauren Keene contributed to this report; reach her at lkeene@davisenterprise.net. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene. Reach Cory Golden at cgolden@davisenterprise.net or (530) 747-8046. Follow him on Twitter at @cory_golden
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Posted by Cory Golden
on Nov 29 2011.
Last Login: Mon 21 May 2012 03:57:15 PM PDT
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“Citing the potential “statewide ramifications” of their investigation, Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig and Sheriff Ed Prieto jointly requested Tuesday the state Attorney General’s involvement in a probe into the Nov. 18 pepper-spraying of protesters by police at UC Davis.”
Never mind that what the DA and the Sheriff are saying above is a complete non-sequitur, I am glad they are turning to AG Kamala Harris. It is just what I told them to do 8 days ago.
There is a much more sensible reason that a higher, outside authority needs to take the lead when investigating allegations of police misconduct: the DA and the Sheriff have what amounts to a conflict of interest.
Mr. Reisig relies on cooperation from all local law enforcement agencies in our county to investigate cases and to then turn their facts over to him. Every time there is a criminal trial, the DA needs the local cops to testify. They play a crucial role in every prosecution. A district attorney cannot be effective if he does not have a good working relationship with every local law enforcement agency in his jurisdiction.
If the DA prosecutes a local police officer or comes down hard on a local police agency, he risks harming his future cooperation with that agency and possibly will earn the rancor of other local agencies.
The Sheriff has a similar conflict: his agency works hand in hand with every police force in Yolo County. They are all in mutual aid relationships. Not only will investigating the UCD PD harm Mr. Prieto’s relationship with the university cops, but inevitably when cops are investigating other cops, they will be biased to some extent in favor of their fellow cops.
AG Harris has none of these conflicts. Moreover, she was elected by a (bare) majority of Californians. She has the imprimatur of the office of the Attorney General. She is the one who Mr. Yudof should have turned to from the start.
[...] investigation into the November 18 pepper-spraying of student protesters by campus police officers, The Davis Enterprise reported. Several other inquires are under way, including one by a task force appointed at the [...]