Activists Allege Police Harassment

Decrying what they say is a pattern of harassment, use of excessive force and negative stereotyping by local police, members of an Anaheim community activist group said Tuesday they want sensitivity training for officers and the eventual formation of a citizens police review panel.

“We’re not radical vigilantes coming out to say ‘Burn down the police station.’ We recognize that there are a lot of good police officers out there, but there are some bad apples too, and we need to address that,” said Josie Montoya, co-founder of United Neighborhoods, which formed in December in an attempt to improve relations with local police.

At a news conference on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday evening, group members complained of poor relations between police and community members. Montoya and others said police policy calls for officers to stop and question young Latinos who are suspected of gang involvement, and that many are photographed without cause for a police reference guide known as the “gang book.”

Police Capt. Marc Hedgpeth, who watched the news conference from a distance, said he was “shocked and surprised at what was said.” Hedgpeth, who supervises the department’s anti-gang operations, said police have met twice with United Neighborhoods and are willing to meet again “if they have a specific incident to discuss.”

He also said the creation of a citizens review panel was unlikely. “We see no need for it. The Police Department is currently accountable on a number of levels,” he said, citing government agencies from the U.S. Department of Justice to Anaheim City Hall.

Following the announcement, about 25 members of the group filed into City Council chambers. Montoya said she hoped to address the council during its regular Tuesday night meeting.

Lt. Dave Severson, who works with the department’s anti-gang detail and attended United Neighborhood’s two formative meetings in December and January, said he doubted the group had wide support in the Anaheim community.

“There’s hardly been anyone at those meetings,” he said. “The group consists of, I think, six people.”

Severson also said the group’s complaints were too vague to investigate or act upon.

“At each of the meetings, it’s the same issue with broad allegations of abuse,” he said. “They’ve never really been specific, and we’re anxious to hear the specifics.”

Montoya, on the other hand, said the group has dozens of active members from five Anaheim neighborhoods, and has also heard complaints from Latinos in other Orange County cities.

“We are not a Hispanic-rights organization,” she said. “But most of the cases we’ve documented until now involve Hispanics.”

Montoya said the idea for the group grew out of a scene witnessed by a dozen adults at the end of a community picnic in November at an Anaheim park.

According to statements from Montoya and other witnesses, police officers monitored the picnic for more than an hour, then watched a man enter the park with beer and offer it to about a dozen youths associated with the picnic. As he passed out the beer, police swept in, searched the young people, cited five and photographed them for the “gang book.”

Jessica Castro, who witnessed the scene, wrote to Anaheim Police Chief Randall Gaston to complain about the officers’ actions. In response, Gaston sent officers to the first meeting of United Neighborhoods. Montoya said officers who went to the meeting were “defensive and judgmental.”

Severson confirmed the sweep and the citations, but he said “the officers did absolutely nothing wrong.”

Hedgpeth also defended police actions on that day and said they were explained at United Neighborhoods’ first meeting. “We gave them the facts. They didn’t like the facts we gave them,” he said.