THE BATTALION
TUESDAY. AUGUST 14. 1979
Page 2
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Philadelphia charged
for condoning brutality
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Justice
Department Monday charged the
city of Philadelphia and Mayor
Frank Rizzo with systematically
condoning police brutality ranging
from shootings to beatings.
In an unprecedented move to halt
civil rights abuses by law enforce
ment officers, the government filed
suit alleging that entrenched city
policies “directly contribute” to
such brutality in Philadelphia.
The suit was filed in U.S. district
court in Philadelphia, plagued in re
cent years with an estimated 1,200
brutality complaints a year, 75 in
volving police shootings. Victims of
the shootings, the suit says, are
overwhelmingly black or Hispanic.
It names as defendants the city,
Rizzo — once a detective and later
the city’s police commissioner —
current Police Commissioner
Joseph O’Neill and 18 other top city
officials.
They are accused of condoning
policies that permit police to com
mit random beatings, unjustified
shootings and other flagrant civil
rights violations.
In Philadelphia, Deputy Mayor
Tony Zecca quoted Rizzo as saying
of the suit, “We welcome it.”
Zecca declined comment for him
self, other than to call the suit
‘‘ludicrous.’’
Rizzo told the U.S. civil rights
commission at hearings last April: “I
don’t see any problem with police
misconduct.” He said the problem
is “all media generated. ”
But the suit cites evidence that
ONeill viewed a videotape of a
police officer beating a passive,
handcuffed prisoner, yet took no ac
tion. The prisoner, following dis
cussions with police, never filed a
complaint.
It says some officers have been
commended and promoted after
abusing people, including six detec
tives who were convicted of beating
confessions out of an innocent arson
suspect in 1975. All six have been
promoted within the department.
The suit, filed following a
months-long investigation by special
litigation counsel Louis M.
Thrasher, lists a number of police
and city policies that have helped
covered up the abuses. Among
them:
—Brutality investigators “inten
tionally fail to develop evidence that
would impeach the credibility of the
officers. ”
—Charges are filed against
victims of police beatings to support
an officer’s explanation for abusing a
person or to intimidate victims not
to complain about brutality.
—O’Neill and his top deputies
discuss conclusions of internal brut
ality investigations in advance and
altered them to suit their own
views.
—Investigators take statements
from witnesses to police shootings
“in a manner calculated to justify
the shooting,” and sometimes tip off
the shooting officers to evidence
gathered before the officers are
questioned.
—Brutality victims often are
pressured to take lie detector tests,
while the offending officers or police
who witness the abuses are not.
—Investigators accept “implausi
ble accounts” by police officers for
brutality.
—The city changed its policies
last year so. its jails no longer ask
newly received prisoners about
their injuries, or report or photo
graph the injuries. Such photo
graphs had previously provided in
criminating evidence againt police.
— Decisions on discipline often
are reached in consultation with
O’Neill before investigations are
completed.
—The police department has a
“purposefully fragmented” ap
proach to brutality investigations,
including a conflict of interest. Its
homicide and detective divisions are
assigned to prepare prosecutions of
criminal suspects, but also must in
vestigate the officers who beat those
suspects at the time of arrest.
The suit says only in the rarest
cases have officers been disciphned
for on-duty actions.
fupfnamha
Eddie Dominguez 66
Joe Arciniega ‘74
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