Local trust in police examined after several recent officer arrests
In a nine-day span last month, four different police officers were arrested in Fayette and Greene counties for alleged misconduct.
Bruce Antkowiak, professor and program director of the criminology, law, and society program at St. Vincent College, said an inundation of police-related controversies across the country in recent months 鈥� most recently in Baltimore where six police face charges in a man鈥檚 death 鈥� doesn鈥檛 bode especially well for police anywhere, including areas that have endured frequent officer arrests.
鈥淭he potential ramifications are people not responding to police, not providing assistance to them, juries being skeptical of police,鈥� Antkowiak said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 too early to say.鈥�
Antkowiak emphasized that police departments should embrace tools that represent transparency, such as body cameras, if they want to assure citizens they have nothing to hide.
He said the 鈥淐SI effect鈥� 鈥� the belief among some jurors that all cases must include definitive forensic evidence due to the depiction of crime investigations on television shows like CSI 鈥� could extend to video of all police actions in the future.
鈥淐ameras and video surveillance have changed things in multiple ways,鈥� Antkowiak said. 鈥淚n the future, there will be an expectation of video. People will say, 鈥榊ou say my car was weaving down the highway, well, show the video of it.鈥� Prosecutors are going to have to say why they don鈥檛 have that.鈥�
Connellsville mayor Greg Lincoln is concerned that his police officers will feel pressure now that smartphone and video technologies have raised standards of police transparency.
鈥淣ow with smartphones, law enforcement officers are put under pressure and being watched 24/7,鈥� Lincoln said. 鈥淥ur police officers are put into very stressful situations. I鈥檓 worried that second-guessing will get them hurt or killed.鈥�
Kami Chavis Simmons, director of the criminal justice program at Wake Forest University, said that extensive screening and training processes and periodic evaluations of officer candidates could help police departments avoid 鈥渁 few bad eggs spoiling the bunch鈥� with abuse of policing power.
Such abuse has been alleged in several local officer arrests.
Ryan Thomas Reese, a former Connellsville police sergeant, was charged with having sexual contact with a girl, starting when she was 16, in exchange for a deal on drug charges for her and her boyfriend. Former Masontown police officer Robert Lee Kelly Jr. faces charges for allegedly stealing a shotgun from the evidence room of the borough鈥檚 police department and having other sawed-off shotguns without the proper permits.Both men were indicted by a state grand jury investigating current and former members of the Fayette County drug task force.
Federal prosecutors filed charges against former Redstone Township police officer Norman Howard for allegedly punching a man in the face with a closed fist in 2013, and falsifying a police report to say the man resisted arrest.
And on April 14, former Waynesburg police officer Asa Winters was charged with burglary, simple assault and public intoxication for an incident that occurred while he was an active member of the borough鈥檚 department.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very unfortunate when somebody in law enforcement makes that profession look bad in the public eye,鈥� Lincoln said.
Lincoln said that Connellsville鈥檚 14 full-time police officers are evaluated regularly by Connellsville police Chief James Capitos and that a state civil service board presents three top candidates for vacant officer positions to Connellsville City Council, which then selects an officer to hire from a list of the three top candidates following interviews and a patrolman鈥檚 exam.
Likewise, Masontown Mayor Toni Petrus said full-time Masontown police officer candidates are hired according to civil service guidelines, though part-time candidates are not. In Redstone Township, Supervisor George Matis said there is no civil service component to the hiring process. Both Petrus and Matis said their municipalities do due diligence by extensively reviewing qualifications and past experience.
According to Matis, township supervisors evaluate their one part-time and two full-time officers on a yearly basis. Petrus said Masontown鈥檚 five full-time and two part-time officers are not evaluated periodically after being hired.
Petrus said that community involvement is an important part of local police duty, adding that Masontown officers read Dr. Seuss books to Masontown Elementary students and are a presence at parades in the borough, activities she hopes will help maintain mutual trust between police and citizens.
鈥淐itizens have to have trust in police,鈥� Petrus said.