NAACP, Cops Lobby for Audio-Taping of Police Stops Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - mnovick@laedu.lalc.k12.ca.us Thu Feb 5 01:24:56 1998 NAACP, police lobby for tape recordings By Christopher Keough TRIBUNE-REVIEW Despite what has become an adversarial relationship, local police and the black community might end up as partners in an effort to improve public safety and police accountability. The Western Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association is extending a hand to the Pittsburgh NAACP in hopes the two groups can work together to gain permission for police to make audio recordings during traffic stops. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the president of the city's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called for Gov. Tom Ridge and the General Assembly to authorize the use of audio recording devices during police stops. Chiefs of Police Association President Floyd M. Nevling heard Tim Stevens' call and said he thinks the NAACP can help with his group's endeavor to accomplish the same goal. Nevling, who serves as chief of police in Pleasant Hills, said two bills are pending in the General Assembly. Nevling's association favors a Senate bill sponsored by state Sen. James Gerlach, a Republican from Chester County. Senate Bill 1075 would allow video and audio recordings by law enforcement officers as exceptions to the Pennsylvania Wire Tap Act. Nevling said he has not contacted Stevens to discuss joining forces, but he thinks the NAACP's clout among legislators and potential funding sources could be of help. Not only would police like to have the right to tape sound, but many small police departments need financial aid to buy recording devices. "They are willing to promote the idea and we support it too," Nevling said. "Use your influence to not only say how it should be. Use your influence to get it." Findlay Township Police Chief Paul Wilks said he has tried repeatedly to contact Stevens on behalf of the police chiefs' group, but without success. Tim Stevens said he "was pleasantly surprised" to hear the police chiefs were interested in a partnership and said he plans to discuss the idea with the NAACP board. "I think it's a potentially historic opportunity for two groups that don't always work together to have an opportunity to do so," Stevens said. The partnership could help improve relationships between the black community and police, he added. Stevens emphasized the NAACP is not an enemy of police, but only of "bad police," which audiotaping would help weed out. "I'm sure good police are not happy with the imaging that some of these situations have brought to the police. And I'm sure many of them would like to see opportunities where the police image can be cleaned up a bit," Stevens said. He made his plea for police audiotaping in light of the continuing controversy surrounding the death of black motorist Jonny Gammage, who was killed during a 1995 traffic stop confrontation with five white suburban police officers in Pittsburgh's Overbrook section. One officer has been acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in the case; two others will go on trial for a third time. Two officers were not charged. Stevens has said use of video and audio recordings would compel police to act professionally. If the police cars that responded early that October morning three years ago had had recording equipment, Gammage might still be alive, Stevens said. Nevling said recordings would answer some questions surrounding Gammage's death. "Certainly it's a factor," he said. "I'm sure that things would be a lot clearer." Wilks said recording a traffic stop, without the consent of the second party or a court order, violates the Pennsylvania Wire Tap Act. Since his department battled allegations of improper officer conduct in 1991 and 1992, Wilks has made it a personal quest to win the right to record sound. Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington are the only states that do not allow police to make audiotapes during traffic stops, Wilks said. He said police officers are at risk of false accusations of misconduct without tapes that show and tell what really happened in a police cruiser or on the street. "Right now in Pennsylvania, if you have the wherewithal to do it and you want to set up the cops for a fall, you will succeed," Wilks said. Gerlach said his bill remains in the Senate Judiciary Committee, but he has been working with state House members to reconcile their House Bill 1258 with the end he seeks. Audio recordings of police activities would provide a tool for prosecutors, as well as protection for police and any victims of police misconduct, Gerlach said. "It's a truth-finder, there's no doubt about it," the senator said. "You can have a lot of eyewitness accounts, but even those who say what they see can be in error on occasion." ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-02.05.98-01:38:17-25993