Blacks Plan to Air Gripes About Police : Meeting Set in Effort to Ease Tension Building Since Officer Riggs’ Death

In an effort to cool tensions between police officers and San Diego’s black community that have flared up since the March 31 fatal shooting of police Officer Thomas Riggs, black leaders have scheduled a “town meeting” at which residents of Southeast San Diego can air their complaints about police behavior.

The meeting, set for 7 p.m. Thursday at Lincoln High School, was announced Friday by members of the Southeast San Diego Interdenominational Alliance, working in conjunction with the Black Federation of San Diego and the Urban League.

Black leaders said the meeting was prompted by escalating dissatisfaction with the conduct and attitudes of police officers in Southeast San Diego since the night when Sagon Penn, 23, fought with Riggs. Officer Donovan Jacobs and Sara Pina-Ruiz, a civilian riding along with the officers, were wounded in the incident. Witnesses said the officers provoked Penn before the shootings, using abusive language and striking him with their night sticks and their fists.

In the weeks since the incident, other residents of Southeast San Diego have complained that police officers--particularly since the shooting--have been quick to use profanity, racial slurs and physical force in their dealings with the black community. The Urban League has reported that the number of complaints of police harassment it receives has increased tenfold since the shooting.

“We’ve had a heightening number of individual calls, most of them concerning the way police approach citizens in the community,” said Rudy Johnson, president of the San Diego Urban League. “I think people are more sensitive in terms of how they’re approached by police officers . . . and officers are more concerned about their safety and have adopted new strategies.”

Black Federation spokeswoman Kathy Rollins said the increase in citizen complaints since the shooting reflects a deeper rift between police and the black community that has been widening for quite some time.

“There were things happening before that incident,” Rollins said. “It’s just that the Sagon Penn case crystallized the issue because it was so dramatic. It was a life-and-death situation.”

However, Deputy Chief Norm Stamper, who will represent the department at Thursday’s meeting, said he had not been aware of increased tensions between the police and the black community until two days ago.

Thursday “was the first time we heard that black leaders were upset with us as an administration,” Stamper said. “We simply have not been extended an invitation or given any information about the community’s concerns.”

The police were not officially invited to the meeting, but black leaders said they were welcome to attend as members of the community.

“What we don’t want is a debate, where both the police and the members of the community assume a defensive position,” said Robert Tambuzi, a member of the Black Leadership Council. “What we want to come out of this is that the perceived tension between the police and the black community can be actualized through these citizens’ personal testimony.”

Stamper agrees. “I see my role Thursday as that of a listener,” he said. “I have things to say, but if the community wants to air their grievances, I think the best thing I can do is to sit back and listen.”

What he will hear, black leaders predict, is that many residents of Southeast San Diego believe officers have adopted a “get tough” attitude in the wake of the shootings that is provoking more violent reaction than it is preventing.

“It’s something you cringe at when you hear that someone’s going to ‘get tough,’ ” Rollins said. “That’s a cop-out. The police have had problems, but it’s not because they’ve been too soft, too sensitive or too concerned with the community. The problem is they haven’t been concerned with human relations and, because of that, the number of people harmed has escalated.”

Stamper said that the department has not abandoned its policy of “community-oriented policing,” though he said officers have become more safety conscious.

“It’s not so much a ‘get tough’ policy as it is a ‘get safe’ policy,” he said, adding that those who perceive San Diego police as aggressive must be educated about the need for strong law enforcement.

“They have to know that officers have to conduct themselves safely, and that means they have to have the upper hand in contacts. A weak, nervous or ineffective officer is an unsafe officer. . . . It’s a tough job, and it takes tough people to do it effectively.”

Stamper stressed that department policy prohibits police from using profanity or ethnic slurs to intimidate the people they contact and that the policy is enforced stringently, despite objections from officers.

“They think we are too responsive and that we take too many citizen complaints,” he said. “ . . . But if (officers) ain’t doing it the way they’re supposed to be doing it, we’re going to do something about it.”

To avoid violent confrontations with police, Stamper recommends that members of the black community cooperate fully when contacted by officers.

“If an officer asks you to do something that perhaps you don’t want to do, do it,” he said. “Then, if you think the officer has been rude or abusive or excessive, call us. . . . Citizens have to realize they are dealing with armed police officers who have a very tough job to do.”