Tensions laid bare as panelists
and public talk ‘Policing in Paradise’
BY TERRY SCHMIDA
A microcosm of the debate on race and the law currently taking place over dinner tables, and the airwaves across the country was held Monday evening at the Harvey Government Center in Key West.
Dozens of concerned citizens gathered in the Board of County Commissioners meeting room to watch a panel including writer Barbara Ehrenreich, and Key West Police Department Chief Donie Lee hash out the most explosive issues of the day. The get-together, entitled “Policing in Paradise”, was sponsored by the Florida Keys chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and counted the organization’s Florida Executive Director Howard Simon, as a panelist.
Though the exchanges between public officials and the constituents they serve was cordial for the most part, it was clear that there were tensions lurking beneath the pleasant veneer, with the death of Charles Eimers in Key West Police custody playing the role of the elephant in the room.
Ehrenreich’s numerous books, including “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America,” and “Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream”, have positioned her as one of the most respected international social critics of the day. Her status as a former resident of Key West and Sugarloaf Key gave her local credibility Monday, as she discussed the increasing criminalization of poverty and the mass incarceration of impoverished citizens.
“Being black or brown” while poor, Ehrenreich asserted, “puts you at risk of falling into the criminal justice system” in a society that prefers to build beds in prisons, rather than in mental health facilities. “We do have debtors prisons in this country today,” she added. And it’s all being made possible by “offender-funded law-enforcement,” that adds insult to injury by charging the inmate room and board, while they’re doing time for the crime of being homeless.
In one instance, Ehrenreich recalled, a homeless woman was arrested for not paying for her homeless sons’ room and board, while they were locked up for . . . you guessed it: being homeless. The woman’s sentence? Jail time. And a bill at the end of it all, to pay for her living expenses.
Another panelist, Chief Assistant Public Defender Patricia Gibson, agreed with Ehrenreich that the situation has become Kafkaesque, and is getting worse all the time.
Gibson noted that Monroe County has, by far, the highest suicide rate in the state, and other statistics show major mental health issues among homeless residents that simply aren’t being addressed by current policies, which lock them up, let them out, and then repeat the vicious cycle, over, and over, and over again. Especially, once more, for people of color, and other minorities.
More than half of Gibson’s current 20 client caseload struggle with mental illness and/or substance abuse issues, she said. Authorities need to “get them help, instead of criminalizing them,” she pleaded.
On the subject of the disproportionate number of crack cocaine arrests made in Bahama Village, the traditionally black neighborhood in Key West, panelist Clayton Lopez, who represents the area at the Key West city commission was forced to agree with a statement that most residents see the police as an “occupying force,” rather than allies in the fight against crime. He refused to “bash” the cops, however, and seemed to agree with members of the public who blamed the spending priorities of the Board of County Commissioners, rather than the police, who don’t make policy, or the city commission, which has very limited power to affect change.
Lopez also said he doesn’t believe black citizens are any more likely to do drugs than their white counterparts, yet the battleground for street arrests remains his predominantly black neighborhood.
Chief Donie Lee stressed the difficult challenge his officers face, as society depends on them more and more to enforce laws that used to fall under the auspices of long-closed mental health facilities.
However, he also explained that most of the crack arrests are taking place in Bahama Village, because “that’s where people know to buy crack,” a remark which drew comment from both Ehrenreich and Lopez.
“That’s kind of interesting,” Ehrenreich opined, adding that street drug sales are a typical feature of “many communities hard-pressed to find employment.”
To this, Lopez responded, “true statement.”
Some sparks flew during the two-hour meeting when a reporter from an online publication known to aggressively cover local police issues asked Lee point-blank why the chief refused to grant interviews to his organ.
Lee replied that the publication had an “agenda” and that he had no problem dealing with other media outlets.
At that point a woman in the audience stood up and declared that Lee’s answer “scared” her, drawing applause.
“The fact that you don’t take the [publication] seriously . . . scares me. I don’t think you’re accountable. You’re missing part of the voice of the community.”
Also serving on the panel was Citizen Review Board Director Larry Beaver, who reported that complaints against Key West Police officers are down dramatically since the body was voted into existence in 2002.
[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]
No Comment