Council Member Kenneth Harris met with Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm on Tuesday to discuss police arrest policies, on the heels of an emotional City Council meeting at which Harris introduced a resolution calling for an investigation into arrest quotas.
Tuesday?s meeting, which took place at the district offices of state Sen. Joan Carter Conway, was termed by Harris as “productive.”
“Commissioner Hamm promised to look into all the arrests that have been brought to my attention,” said Harris, D-District 4.
“I will now be dealing with the commissioner directly,” he said.
Harris said the meeting with Hamm was arranged after Harris expresseddissatisfaction with a response to his inquiry to Deputy Commissioner Marcus Brown about police arrest policies. In the letter, Brown said other council members had contacted him requesting that more officers be assigned to their districts.
“If you do not want police to enforce quality of life crimes in your district, they would be glad to have the added enforcement in theirs,” Brown?s letter stated.
Harris called the letter an insult.
“One, he didn?t answer my questions; two, I was insulted,” Harris said.
Police spokesman Matt Jablow said that the letter has been misinterpreted and that the department would never reassign officers based on a council member?s inquiry. “We would never, ever do that,” Jablow said.
Other council members joined Harris in criticizing Brown?s letter. “I really think it was insulting, to be honest with you. He should have just answered the councilman,” said City Council Member Bernard “Jack” Young, D-District 12.
“It sends the message to the council to ?mind your business, and we?ll run the Police Department,? ” he said.
City Council President Sheila Dixon said she has concerns about the wording of the letter and will meet with Brown to discuss it. “It was inappropriate the way it was worded,” she said.
For now, Harris is satisfied that Hamm has addressed his concerns, but he?s not ruling out further investigations. “We represent the citizens as elected officials,” he said. “We have the right to ask questions.”
