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Champaign Police Chief and City Manager Ask State's Attorney to Drop Eavesdropping Charges Against Martel Miller and Patrick Thompson |
Current rating: 0 |
by Kimberlie Kranich
Email: kakranich (nospam) yahoomail.com (unverified!) |
23 Sep 2004
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In a letter sent to news media today, Champaign City Attorney Steve Carter and Champaign Police Chief RT Finney ask Champaign County State's Attorney John Piland to drop eavesdropping charges against Martel Miller and Patrick Thompson.
Mr. Miller and Mr. Thompson have been video and audio taping Champaign, Urbana and campus police interactions of residents since early summer for an organization they co-founded called, VEYA, Visionaries Educating Youth and Adults.
If convicted, the two men face probation or 4 to 15 years in prison.
The following is the full text of the letter sent to Mr. Piland who is up for re-election this November. |
September 22, 2004
Mr. John Piland
Champaign County State's Attorney
101 east Main Street
Urbana, IL 61801
In re: E. Martel Miller and Patrick Thompson
Case Nos. 04-CF-1482 and 04-CF-1609
Dear Mr. Piland:
The City has attempted to reach a joint statement with you concerning the
issue of the video taping charges lodged in the above cases. We and you have
assumed that representatives of the City and your office have acted in "good
faith" throughout the course of this matter. There is no good reason to
believe otherwise. We regret that we were not able to agree concerning a
joint statement regarding the matter.
We understand, after discussions with you and other police personnel, how
differences developed concerning the filing of charges. We appreciate that
your office pursued charges in good faith and with the understanding that
the Police Department would not have forwarded the reports to your office if
no charges were desired. We recognize that members of our command staff
requested your office to consider filing the charges and that you
accommodated that request. We appreciate that support.
We want to be clear, however, that as a matter of policy, at this time, the
City of Champaign is more interested in pursuing a community centered
approach than in pursuing criminal prosecutions to address citizen
videotaping activities. We note that the video taping activities that are
at issue in this case are relatively new in our community. We believe that
this incident highlights the need for increased dialogue with the members
and leaders of the community. Video taping impacts citizen privacy, the
safety of officers, and the legitimate right of the community to observe and
video record police/citizens contacts in public places. Increased dialogue,
it is hoped, will promote understanding by members of the community and
members of the Police Department of each other's legitimate concerns, and
hopeful result in a clearer understanding regarding video taping of police
activity for al involved and mutual trust.
You indicated in conversations that you had supported the Police Department
in deciding to file the charges recognizing that you alone have the
authority to withdraw the charges. We now request that you do so.
We appreciate all the time you've spent speaking with us about the issues in
the past week. If you have some question about anything in this letter,
please feel free to call either of us.
Very truly yours,
Steve Carter
City Manager
R.T. Finney
Chief of Police |
See also:
http://www.veya.org
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This work is in the public domain. |
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Re: Champaign Police Chief and City Manager Ask State's Attorney to Drop Eavesdropping Charges Against Martel Miller and Patrick Thompson |
by Muck Raker
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Sep 2004
|
Reading between the lines here, it looks like maybe pursuing the eavesdropping charge wasn't on the agenda of Chief Finney and the City establishment, but certainly was a priority for Piland, and maybe some of the commanding officers in the CPD.
Do we smell some dissention in the ranks at the CPD? We don't know much of Finney, except for some published reports of his record down in Carbondale (see http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display_any/13634 ). But in two recent community forums-- one on the taser issue, one held by VEYA -- he seemed to be willingly participating, even if maybe a little taken aback by such determined community involvement.
But some of Chief Finney's officers didn't seem so happy to have to be at these fora and have to be so directly accountable to the concerns of the community, especially residents of Champaign's North End.
It's clear that many of the CPD's officers don't mind at all taking a hard stance with the African-American citizens of Champaign, and I'm guessing they don't want to either justify or apologize for their approach.
I'm not yet willing to declare that Chief Finney is a friend of the people, even ones that are poor and black. But, if we are to take his letter to Piland as true and sincere, then, at least on the surface, it seems like Finney doesn't intend to take quite a hard line approach as Piland and some CPD old-timers.
We do have to remember that the CPD is still guilty of treating African-Americans in the city much more harshly than, say, drunk university students who are engaging in similar, and often worse behavior. Whether or not it's the tone he wants to set, it's all happening on Finney's watch.
Still, dropping the absurd, hyporitical and farcical eavesdropping charges against Miller and Thompson is a good, albeit small, first step. |
