Welcome to SB shirts causing commotion

Activists: Shirt tatters image

POLICE: The chief's vow to increase sensitivity is undermined by other activities, they say.

10:00 PM PST on Saturday, January 26, 2008

By CHRIS RICHARD
The Press-Enterprise

San Bernardino Police Chief Mike Billdt's promise to boost sensitivity training and conflict-resolution courses for his officers is long overdue, community activists from the city's predominantly black and Latino neighborhood say.

But they see a contradiction between the chief's promises and the attitude evinced in a T-shirt designed and sold by a veteran San Bernardino police officer.

The shirt, which the officer has sold to colleagues, features two buzzards, one with a red bandana and the other in blue. Those are the signature colors of the Bloods and Crips street gangs.





A T-shirt designed and sold by a San Bernardino police officer that pokes fun at the city's violent crime rate has some black and Latino residents of the city's Westside upset.

Above the shirt's breast pocket, one of the pistol-toting vultures perches on a "Welcome to San Bernardino, California" sign. The census number is crossed out several times, dropping from 200,000 to a big red 187. That's the California Penal Code citation for murder.

Activists say the shirt belittles the grief that gang violence has caused black and Latino families. They also question links between the city police union and Joseph Turner, an anti-illegal immigration crusader who has been accused of race baiting.

Billdt said he can't bar officers from expressing their opinions off duty, but he's trying hard to earn the trust of Westside residents through policy changes on the job.

At a Jan. 15 meeting led by a U.S. Department of Justice mediator, Billdt vowed to expand a sensitivity program that involves touring the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Billdt also said he'll start programs in conflict resolution and avoiding racial profiling in February.

Linda Heart, who helped organize a series of community forums that led to that meeting, said the promises don't mesh with evidence of bigotry among rank-and-file officers.

"If you're talking about building bridges, don't burn them down before you build them," she said.

Former San Bernardino City Council candidate Carolyn Tillman said the T-shirt undermines the chief's efforts at conciliation.

"We can stand in a circle and sing 'Kumbaya,' but African Americans remember that historically in this country, there have been officers who belonged to the KKK and other hate groups," she said. "This kind of thing, which mocks and stereotypes people, could lead you to believe those elements still exist."

In a brief conversation outside his home Tuesday, Officer Lyle Reyes, who designed and sold the T-shirts, said he did not have time for an interview. He requested a reporter's telephone number, but did not call. Reyes did not respond to a follow-up telephone call Tuesday evening.

Officers have used T-shirts to comment on San Bernardino issues previously. The last occasion was in 1995, when shirts went on sale at police union headquarters, noting an irony in San Bernardino's title as an "All-American City."

At the time, the city's crime rate was soaring. In response, a police officer designed a shirt decorated with images of buzzards. "All-American City" was crossed out and replaced with "Murder City." The shirts raised $10,000 for a memorial to slain officers, then-police union President Steve Filson said at the time.

"It probably wasn't the brightest idea for police officers to be making jokes like that," Filson said Monday. "Gallows humor is what it was. I think the problem with the new shirts is the red and blue being associated with Crips and Bloods."
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Current union President Rich Lawhead disavowed the shirts and said he has told Reyes not to sell them at any union facility or function.

Billdt said the shirts are offensive, but he has no authority to stop Reyes as long as he doesn't sell them on department property or while on duty.

"I have to uphold the law, and whether or not I approve of what they may say, police officers have First Amendment rights like anyone else," he said.

Still, department regulations do require San Bernardino officers to obtain written permission from their division supervisors and the chief of police for any off-duty employment.

On Tuesday, Assistant Police Chief Frank Mankin said he would need clearance from the city attorney before he could say whether Reyes had obtained such permission. In response to a follow-up call late Wednesday, Mankin said he had not received a response from the city attorney and could not comment.

Tillman said another sign of bias within the department is the police union's endorsement of Joseph Turner, an anti-illegal immigration activist who has been accused of race baiting, in last November's election for city clerk. On Jan. 1, Turner went to work as a union consultant.

Turner is the founder of Save Our State, a fiercely anti-illegal-immigration group. He has accused illegal immigrants of turning California into "a Third World cesspool." In interviews Monday and Tuesday, Turner and Lawhead said Turner's focus is on legality, not race.

"Name me one thing Joseph Turner has done that is racial," Lawhead said. "Joe's an educated guy who has innovative ideas about attacking problems in this community."

Walter Hawkins, education chairman and first vice president of the Westside Action Group, said the officers' union should consider Turner's public image.

"What you need to understand is, San Bernardino is largely a nonwhite city," he said. "If they want their image to be one of acceptance, of being part of the community, but they bring someone on board who antagonizes the majority of the city's population, that's not solving the problem."

Some officers say activists should address lawlessness on city streets.

"These days, as officers, we're inundated with racial sensitivity training," said Travis Walker, a veteran black detective assigned to the Westside.

"But when I was growing up, we were taught to respect police officers. We were taught to respect our elders. I truly think we've gotten away from having respect for one another. And that's really at the root of many of our social ills," Walker said

LOL @ THOSE SHIRTS...YOU KNOW SHIT IS BAD WHEN U HAVE THE COPS PUSHIN SHIT LIKE THAT...