Politics

Police Convictions Difficult to Come By

Published

9 years ago

July 17, 2015

A partnership between the local NAACP and Miami-Dade State Attorney highlights a lack of police prosecution

By Derek Joy
Special to the NNPA from The Miami Times

Attendees to a NAACP Justice For All Forum at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Miami Gardens last week heard how difficult it is to prosecute a police officer by law enforcement officials.

“We see the need for healing in our community. There has not been a prosecution of a police since 1989 – city of Miami police officer William Lozano. Why is that?” said Ruben Carter, a member of Antioch and chairman of the local NAACP Criminal Justice Committee, who organized and moderated the forum. “Justice For All is dedicated to addressing police involved shootings, make sure we understand the process involved in these shootings. We’ve also identified ways to reduce police shootings and citizens shootings.”

While police-involved shootings commanded the major portion of attention at the forum, there was recognition of citizens-involved shootings, such as the one only days before at an Opa-locka apartment complex where four juveniles were shot in drive-by shootings.

Assistant Miami-Dade State Attorney Don Horn won a conviction of Lozano, only to see the conviction overturned by an Appellate Court. Horn recalled the case subsequently was retried with a verdict of acquittal.

“One of the worst things that happened with the Lozano case is that . . . the Appellate Court reversed the verdict by saying we didn’t have a right to present some of the evidence,” said Horn. “The courts gutted law on us the second time around. We took it to Orlando and lost. That was based on training in ‘shoot, no shoot’ scenarios. The Appellate Court said you can’t use knowledge of police training as evidence to prosecute. So, it was considered legally justified. We don’t think it was necessary.”

Reports show that Lozano stepped in front of a fleeing Clement Lloyd on a motorcycle with Alan Blanchard as a passenger, took a position and fired his weapon. Lloyd was hit and killed as his motorcycle crashed and killed Blanchard.

The argument was that Lozano put himself in danger by stepping in front of the motorcycle. That was not a part of police training. And the Appellate Court reversed the verdict based on that fact of inadmissible evidence.

Audience members wanted to know why the court would exclude evidence that would convict a police officer for using excessive force to kill a suspect unnecessarily. Others said it was an excuse to justify murder by police officers in giving them a defense that puts them above the law.

“It’s not easy to prosecute a police. The overwhelming majority of police officers are good, honest, hard-working professionals. Like any other profession, I have to prosecute bad lawyers and police,” said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.

“It’s heartbreaking. It’s not easy. You have to look at the mother or father of the victim and say we don’t have a case. We explain other alternatives. But that doesn’t help look them in the eye and say a crime hasn’t been committed under the law.”

The forum came out of a partnership with the NAACP and the State Attorney’s office.

Reverend Arthur Jackson III, who offered a prayer to convene the meeting on June 30, highlighted several events locally and around the nation that embrace issues for which this forum was organized to address.

“Our coming together at a time like this is very crucial. We don’t have to look very far outside our community, around the country, to see the things going on. We definitely need prayer.”

Jackson, as did Miami-Dade County NAACP Vice President Brad Brown, spoke to the events in Baltimore, Md., Charleston, South Carolina and Ferguson, Mo., among other incidents in which young Black American males were killed by police officers.

Brown cited racist displays by police officers in Miami Beach and Broward County and findings of the U. S. Justice Department, which cited excessive force and Fourth Amendment violations by officers in the city of Miami Police Department.

“Miami is not without its difficult times,” said Brown.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

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April 26, 2024

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MAYOR BREED ANNOUNCES $53 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMELESS PROGRAMS

San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the city a $53.7 million grant to support efforts to renew and expand critical services and housing for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

Published

6 days ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

Mayor London Breed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications, mayorspressoffice@sfgov.org

***PRESS RELEASE***

MAYOR BREED ANNOUNCES $53 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMELESS PROGRAMS

HUD’s Continuum of Care grant will support the City’s range of critical services and programs, including permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and improved access to housing for survivors of domestic violence

San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the city a $53.7 million grant to support efforts to renew and expand critical services and housing for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program is designed to support local programs with the goal of ending homelessness for individuals, families, and Transitional Age Youth.

This funding supports the city’s ongoing efforts that have helped more than 15,000 people exit homelessness since 2018 through City programs including direct housing placements and relocation assistance. During that time San Francisco has also increased housing slots by 50%. San Francisco has the most permanent supportive housing of any county in the Bay Area, and the second most slots per capita than any city in the country.

“In San Francisco, we have worked aggressively to increase housing, shelter, and services for people experiencing homelessness, and we are building on these efforts every day,” said Mayor London Breed. “Every day our encampment outreach workers are going out to bring people indoors and our City workers are connecting people to housing and shelter. This support from the federal government is critical and will allow us to serve people in need and address encampments in our neighborhoods.”

The funding towards supporting the renewal projects in San Francisco include financial support for a mix of permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and transitional housing projects. In addition, the CoC award will support Coordinated Entry projects to centralize the City’s various efforts to address homelessness. This includes $2.1 million in funding for the Coordinated Entry system to improve access to housing for youth and survivors of domestic violence.

“This is a good day for San Francisco,” said Shireen McSpadden, executive director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “HUD’s Continuum of Care funding provides vital resources to a diversity of programs and projects that have helped people to stabilize in our community. This funding is a testament to our work and the work of our nonprofit partners.”

The 2024 Continuum of Care Renewal Awards Include:

$42.2 million for 29 renewal PSH projects that serve chronically homeless, veterans, and youth
$318,000 for one new PSH project, which will provide 98 affordable homes for low-income seniors in the Richmond District
$445,00 for one Transitional Housing (TH) project serving youth
$6.4 million dedicated to four Rapid Rehousing (RRH) projects that serve families, youth, and survivors of domestic violence
$750,00 for two Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) projects
$2.1 million for three Coordinated Entry projects that serve families, youth, chronically homeless, and survivors of domestic violence

In addition, the 2023 CoC Planning Grant, now increased to $1,500,000 from $1,250,000, was also approved. Planning grants are submitted non-competitively and may be used to carry out the duties of operating a CoC, such as system evaluation and planning, monitoring, project and system performance improvement, providing trainings, partner collaborations, and conducting the PIT Count.

“We are very appreciative of HUD’s support in fulfilling our funding request for these critically important projects for San Francisco that help so many people trying to exit homelessness,” said Del Seymour, co-chair of the Local Homeless Coordinating Board. “This funding will make a real difference to people seeking services and support in their journey out of homelessness.”

In comparison to last year’s competition, this represents a $770,000 increase in funding, due to a new PSH project that was funded, an increase in some unit type Fair Market Rents (FMRs) and the larger CoC Planning Grant. In a year where more projects had to compete nationally against other communities, this represents a significant increase.

Nationally, HUD awarded nearly $3.16 billion for over 7,000 local homeless housing and service programs including new projects and renewals across the United States.