To: President Donald Trump, The Pennsylvania State House, The Pennsylvania State Senate, Governor Tom Wolf, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Nina Simone
It's time to change how police officer complaints and crimes are reviewed. The old way guaranteed an almost 100% exoneration rate because police self-monitored. I propose a new way: We the people review complaints and decide which actions should be taken based on NEW federal guidelines designed to punish constitutional violations and bullying committed by rogue officers, in order to create transparency in government .
Why is this important?
Nina Simone: The purpose of mankind is to be free. Freedom is an idea that is constantly compromised as a result of legislative policy and police who enforce policy designed to infringe on both economic freedom and the natural freedom of every man, woman and child. Considering the large amount of civilian complaints against police officers and the exponentially growing number of violent beatings and deaths at the hands of police, it’s time for a change in thinking, policy and action. Currently, many think is that justice policy is designed to protect the public; the reality is that many of these policies are designed to generate arrests and income for municipalities and judicial officers. The need for policy change is a result of
1. Many judges decide defendant’s fate based on legislative initiative, such as mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines and not judicial precedent
2. There is an obvious conflict of interest present in the judicial system as employees of the justice “process” positions such as police officers, judges, district attorneys and prosecutors work together and have established working relationships. These relationships present a bias when an investigation into police misconduct must be conducted. It is time for a dramatic shift in the rules governing our justice system, specifically allowing police departments to investigate themselves of wrongdoing.
3. The tremendous cost taxpayers are forced to pay the winner of civil law suits against police departments.
from 2010-2014, NYC paid 601 million in lawsuit awards
Chicago paid 249 million in lawsuit awards
L.A. paid 57.1 million in lawsuit awards
Philadelphia paid 54.3 million on lawsuit awards
Washington D.C. paid 30.5 million in lawsuit awards
Taxpayers pay these amounts, not police officers.
4. The lack of punishment for police officers act as a reward for bullying and violations of rights, thereby reinforcing criminal behavior by people sworn to uphold the constitution and protect the Constitution.
The time has come to change the rules, using the rules that currently exist. I propose our federal legislators implement a random number generator, based on the voting population, to be called to decide both complaints against police officers and punishments and penalties for misconduct. The cases heard by the civilian justice patrol will range from complaints to misconduct to killings. The rules will be simple:
The Nina Simone policy is as follows:
• The civilian review task force will be composed of the same people who constitute each municipality’s jury pool.
• If an officer has a complaint lodged against him/her, the civilian task force will determine if the complaint had merit.
• If the complaint has merit, the officer will receive one negative complaint in their permanent file.
• Five merited complaints will result in a two week suspension without pay.
• Ten merited complaints will result in an additional two weeks without pay and probation.
• Fifteen merited complaints will result in termination. once terminated, former officers are permanently barred from police work.
Police officers are not held financially accountable for their violations of individual rights, the taxpayer is. Implementation of this idea, will serve three purposes:
• Saving taxpayer revenue, thereby allowing municipalities to spend this money on infrastructure, summer programs for children; creating employment opportunities or any number of needs the nation's many municipalities have.
• Hiring and retaining qualified police officers.
• Creating trust and transparency between the government and private citizens.
Once the changes are implemented in the review, discipline and cause for termination occur, each citizen in this nation must treat officers with respect and dignity. There has to be an overall acknowledgement and understanding that a police officer’s job is difficult and dangerous, one improper move, the implementation of a mistimed tactic could result in their death. As a result, all citizens are required to respect and comply with a police officer’s request. The proposed change in police misconduct review will no longer will allow citizens be targeted and possibly be arrested and forced to pay fines and other penalties which conveniently find it’s way into the paychecks of people with high ranking positions in the judicial system for different municipalities throughout the nation
1. Many judges decide defendant’s fate based on legislative initiative, such as mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines and not judicial precedent
2. There is an obvious conflict of interest present in the judicial system as employees of the justice “process” positions such as police officers, judges, district attorneys and prosecutors work together and have established working relationships. These relationships present a bias when an investigation into police misconduct must be conducted. It is time for a dramatic shift in the rules governing our justice system, specifically allowing police departments to investigate themselves of wrongdoing.
3. The tremendous cost taxpayers are forced to pay the winner of civil law suits against police departments.
from 2010-2014, NYC paid 601 million in lawsuit awards
Chicago paid 249 million in lawsuit awards
L.A. paid 57.1 million in lawsuit awards
Philadelphia paid 54.3 million on lawsuit awards
Washington D.C. paid 30.5 million in lawsuit awards
Taxpayers pay these amounts, not police officers.
4. The lack of punishment for police officers act as a reward for bullying and violations of rights, thereby reinforcing criminal behavior by people sworn to uphold the constitution and protect the Constitution.
The time has come to change the rules, using the rules that currently exist. I propose our federal legislators implement a random number generator, based on the voting population, to be called to decide both complaints against police officers and punishments and penalties for misconduct. The cases heard by the civilian justice patrol will range from complaints to misconduct to killings. The rules will be simple:
The Nina Simone policy is as follows:
• The civilian review task force will be composed of the same people who constitute each municipality’s jury pool.
• If an officer has a complaint lodged against him/her, the civilian task force will determine if the complaint had merit.
• If the complaint has merit, the officer will receive one negative complaint in their permanent file.
• Five merited complaints will result in a two week suspension without pay.
• Ten merited complaints will result in an additional two weeks without pay and probation.
• Fifteen merited complaints will result in termination. once terminated, former officers are permanently barred from police work.
Police officers are not held financially accountable for their violations of individual rights, the taxpayer is. Implementation of this idea, will serve three purposes:
• Saving taxpayer revenue, thereby allowing municipalities to spend this money on infrastructure, summer programs for children; creating employment opportunities or any number of needs the nation's many municipalities have.
• Hiring and retaining qualified police officers.
• Creating trust and transparency between the government and private citizens.
Once the changes are implemented in the review, discipline and cause for termination occur, each citizen in this nation must treat officers with respect and dignity. There has to be an overall acknowledgement and understanding that a police officer’s job is difficult and dangerous, one improper move, the implementation of a mistimed tactic could result in their death. As a result, all citizens are required to respect and comply with a police officer’s request. The proposed change in police misconduct review will no longer will allow citizens be targeted and possibly be arrested and forced to pay fines and other penalties which conveniently find it’s way into the paychecks of people with high ranking positions in the judicial system for different municipalities throughout the nation