By John Seiler

When my work is done today, I’m heading off to Starbucks to patronize their fine coffee. Three of their ships are half a mile of where I live.

That’s because today is the day gun-rights advocates are saying “Thank you!” to Starbucks for not buckling before immense pressure from Second Amendment fanatics. The fanatics demanded that Starbucks ban all guns from their shops.

Feb. 22 was chosen because it often is written 2-22 — the 2’s standing for the Second Amendment “right to keep and bear arms,” the foundation of all our sacred American liberties. If you can’t defend yourself against tyranny, what good are all the other rights, such as for speech, religion, assembly, etc.?

Starbucks’ position is simple: It follows local gun laws.

So in Arizona, a civilized place where any law-abiding citizen can carry a concealed weapon without even getting a permit from the state, Starbucks says it’s OK to bring your gun into their store. That also means the stores are safer, especially today, because any potential terrorist or robber knows he immediately would be aerated by the patrons.

California cronyism

Things are different in the California autocracy. Last year, “open carry” of firearms, which are displayed for all to see, was banned by the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown. The state keeps sliding toward a North Korean level of abuse of citizens’ liberties.

“Conceal-carry” — where the gun is hidden — long has been allowed only by permit. And permits in most places are give out only to the sheriff’s cronies and campaign donors. The L.A. Weekly just reported:

“The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department is known in gun-rights circles for being stingy with concealed-weapons permits. Sheriff Lee Baca has total discretion over who is allowed to get a permit, and he hasn’t given out many.

“As of May 2012, only 341 people had been granted them, according to sheriff’s records. Compare that with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which had 1,754 permit holders in 2011, despite a population of just 2 million people to L.A.’s 10 million. The Kern County Sheriff granted even more, with 3,564 permit holders in a population of 800,000 people.

“In L.A. County, records show, most of the permits go to judges and reserve deputies. But there is another group that seems to have better luck than most in obtaining permits: friends of Lee Baca. Those who’ve given the sheriff gifts or donated to his campaign are disproportionately represented on the roster of permit holders.

“Chuck Michel, a gun-rights attorney who has pushed for greater access to concealed-weapons permits, says practices in many ‘anti-gun’ jurisdictions are ‘corrupted by favoritism and cronyism.'”

That pretty much sums up California government in most respects: “favoritism and cronyism.”

But a least today I will strike a blow for honesty and freedom by sipping a coffee (Tall, black) at Starbucks.

Editor’s note: This is the second part of a three-part series on how the homeless and mentally ill are treated in California. Part One was about the Kelly Thomas beating and death.

July 9, 2012

By Tori Richards

Welcome to 450 Bauchet St., a 10-acre compound in the heart of downtown Los Angeles that is the world’s biggest jail.

Known as Twin Towers, it has a population greater than many small towns, with 3,911 inmates, 900 staff, and even its own hospital.

But it also has another distinction: the world’s largest mental institution.

Housed in one wing and encompassing four floors, the mental health ward tends to approximately 1,200 inmates with psychiatric problems. Several hundred more of the most severe cases are located in the hospital.

California is now a state where the police — not doctors or counselors — are the front lines to millions of mentally ill who have no other recourse than to end up in the jails.

“Sheriff Baca has frequently commented that the mentally ill belong in a mental institution,” said Capt. Mike Parker. “In law enforcement we deal with things because other aspects of society have failed. You have a system not addressing the need. “In the end, law enforcement is the last stop. We’re not looking for that responsibility; it was given to us.”

A breakdown in the system has led to a large population of the mentally ill who turn to crime or simply wander the streets homeless, a recipe for disaster.

Just look at the case of Kelly Thomas, a 37-year-old schizophrenic homeless man who belonged in a mental care facility rather than on the streets.

His run-in with Fullerton police one year ago resulted in his beating death at the hands of officers ill equipped to deal with a person who had a mental disability.

In California, the severely mentally ill are four times more likely to be in jail than a hospital or clinic, a recent report found.

A task force comprised of doctors, lawyers and mental health organizations completed the 30-month study and released their report in March. It criticized the state for its failures, mentioning Thomas as an example where little has been done to safeguard rights, protect the mentally ill and provide prompt treatment.

The study found that mental illness accounts for 33 percent of the homeless, 20 percent of incarcerated inmates and death comes 25 years earlier than the general population.

How It Got This Way

In 1968, the California Legislature passed a law that required a judge’s order to involuntarily commit mental patients as an end to the earlier horrors where people were thrown into institutions against their will, never to emerge.

The law also ordered counties to open treatment centers and promised matching state funds of 90 percent to assist in paying for a host of new drugs that tamed psychoses, effectively keeping many would-be patients out of institutions.

In keeping with this mandate, Gov. Ronald Reagan started closing state-run mental hospitals and vetoed measures that would pass that funding on to the counties so they could deal with the issue locally.

Then Reagan became president and he slashed aid to mental health programs effectively ending any federally sponsored clinics. The burden was almost entirely on local jurisdictions.

But most counties lacked the resources to start their own programs. More and more people decided to live on the streets when they weren’t getting regular medication.

Voters approved Proposition 63 in 2004, the Mental Health Services Act, which raised taxes 1 percentage point on those making $1 million or more a year; and earmarks $1 billion a year for services. Gov. Jerry Brown also promised to overhaul the mental health system when he was elected, but the state continues to operate in the red.

A current law that expires this year may be extended, allowing judges to order the mentally ill to take medication and to receive outpatient recovery.

A Novel Approach

As the burden of caring for psychiatric patients began shifting to local communities, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department took notice. A leader in law enforcement, it became the first agency in the nation to dedicate police officers to specifically help the mentally ill.

“We receive training regarding dealing with the mentally ill; there is the unpredictability factor,” Parker said. “This is a very complex issue; it’s not quickly solved even with money or resources. It has to do with human rights vs. the right to not be forced to go into a mental institution. That’s the way the law is right now.”

Law enforcement straddles the line between a) helping people who are deemed unfit under Section 5150 of the state Welfare and Institutions Code — a danger to themselves, others, or gravely disabled; and b) and someone who is mentally ill but has committed a crime.

Both segments can be detained, the former for up to 72 hours at a mental facility and the latter in a jail cell awaiting a decision by the district attorney whether to file charges.

“Psychiatrists and psychologists work years to where they get a doctorate to deal with this issue in a controlled setting,” Parker said. “What does law enforcement get?”

The mental ward at Twin Towers is comprised of inmates who have committed felonies. An average length of stay is 50 days, so, “It’s not a lot of time to heal something,” Parker said.

About 20 years ago, the Sheriff’s Department initiated the Mental Evaluation Team, which has deputies assigned to handle calls involving people exhibiting psychological problems. It was the first such program in the nation.

Five deputies are partnered with clinicians from the county health department to get the mentally ill the help they need.

Deputy Greg Plamondon has been assigned to the unit for 17 years. He has won his department’s Humanitarian Award for going beyond the scope of his job. Most notably:

* An elderly woman who was living in filth and couldn’t deal with reality when her dog died was taken to a mental hospital by Plamondon. He brought her valuables with her and visited her there until she died six months later.

* A homeless man with a long history of mental illness had severe leg infections, so Plamondon had him committed to a psychiatric hold so that he could get care. Sometime later Plamondon saw him again and the wounds were worse, so the deputy spent months trying to learn his identity and Social Security number so the man could get benefits. The man later moved into a nursing facility.

* Plamondon was asked to locate a woman’s brother who was living on the streets. He was found on a curb in the pouring rain, unable to care for himself and suffering from hypothermia. Plamondon placed him on an involuntary hold so he could get medical and psychological help. The man ended up staying 30 days.

It takes longer

“A lot of officers don’t want to deal with this; it takes a little bit longer than a regular call and you need patience,” said Plamondon one afternoon after he had spent the entire day dealing with a man who had been making terrorist threats. “It’s a good fit for me; I like talking to people.”

He said he has a rapport with the mentally ill that he meets on the streets and often runs into the same people.

“About 75 percent of the homeless have some sort of diagnosis of mental illness,” he said. “It’s rare to convince them to get off the street. On several occasions, we’ve been able to get them into a board and care where they have food and shelter provided for them instead of shagging cans at risk of getting beaten up or worse by someone who doesn’t want them around.”

Part Three Coming Soon: A government review organization issues its use of force report on the Kelly Thomas death.

Editor’s note: Today marks a year since Kelly Thomas, an unarmed homeless man, was severely beaten by Fullerton police. He died five days later. This is the first of a three-part series.

July 5, 2012

By Tori Richards

An outside investigation into whether police officers violated policy leading up to the beating death of homeless man Kelly Thomas will be completed shortly. If consistent with preliminary findings, the investigation will lambast the Fullerton Police Department for a series of blunders.

A CalWatchDog.com investigation has found that, not only have the officers’ actions violated the city’s police policy manual, they are in sharp contrast to another police agency that encounters the homeless at a rate hundreds of percentage points higher, but without a record of violence.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department — a model agency in its dealings with the homeless — has more than 2,000 encounters a month and runs a groundbreaking program that seeks to aid that sector, rather than incarcerate them.

“The International Association of Chiefs of Police gave its highest award to the LASD in 1996 because we partnered law enforcement with mental health and social workers to work together and identify people living on the streets and provide opportunities to them,” said Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Parker.

That was 16 years ago and LASD is still going strong. Numerous police agencies have followed their lead and initiated their own polices, including Fullerton.

But on July 5, 2011, none of that seemed to matter when Thomas had a fatal run-in with six police officers at a Fullerton bus depot. The 37-year-old man was a schizophrenic who preferred living on the streets to a structured life indoors where he took his medicine.

He was a non-violent person who loved to read, had a great sense of humor with those who knew him and had a quiet and reserved personality for those who didn’t.

On that night a witness saw him trying the door handles of several cars and called police to report the suspicious activity. First on the scene was Officer Manuel Ramos, who could be heard on a police surveillance tape talking about how he had encountered Thomas in the past. Thomas was given a series of commands that he attempted to follow, none of it seeming to appease Ramos, who became increasingly aggressive.

Ramos then asked to look through a backpack that Thomas was carrying and was given permission. Fellow officer Joe Wolfe arrived on the scene and searched the backpack, locating mail addressed to another individual. The two officers conferred and then Ramos donned a pair of black latex gloves, telling Thomas he was going to “F— you up.”

This prompted Thomas to try to escape. But he was tackled by Wolfe, who gave him a baton blow to the leg so severe that the “whack” sound could be clearly heard on digital recorders the officers were wearing. A beating ensued that was magnified when four additional officers arrived and piled onto Thomas so hard that he later died due to lack of oxygen.

All the while, Thomas pleaded for help, repeatedly apologized and cried out in pain.

Murder charge

Ramos was charged with second degree murder. Another officer, Jay Cicinelli, was charged with manslaughter for repeatedly bashing Thomas’ head with a Taser gun to the extent that he lost an eye.

A video and audio tape of the gruesome attack was played in court before a judge, who ordered the pair to stand trial.

Much like LAPD with the Rodney King beating in 1992, Police Chief Michael Sellers did little to respond to public outcry after the incident made national news. And also like the LAPD’s Chief Daryl Gates, Sellers’ actions later cost him his job. Three city council members who participated in a cover-up and defended the officers were recalled in June by voters.

The city hired Los Angeles County’s Office of Independent Review to look at the actions of the officers to see whether they violated police policy. OIR was formed as an impartial investigative agency formed in the wake of LAPD’s Rampart Scandal, where officers falsified reports and engaged in rogue shootings.

Michael Gennaco, OIR’s lead attorney, told CalWatchDog.com that his report should be released within the next week and would be public. A preliminary six-page report was released in February that criticized the police department in two areas.

The first was the release of an unflattering Thomas booking photo from a 2009 trespassing arrest. Gennaco took issue with the fact that the photo — showing a disheveled Thomas — was released at all because the deceased Thomas was a victim rather than a suspect. The photo could have been released “to portray Mr. Thomas in a negative light,” Gennaco wrote.

Secondly, Fullerton PD told the media that two of its officers had suffered “possible broken bones” during the beating when it was later deemed that no such injuries existed.

“The correction caused some members of the public to question the veracity of the Department and created a belief by some that the Department intentionally tried to fabricate or exaggerate the officers’ injuries in an effort to create sympathy for them,” Gennaco wrote.

This over-exaggeration of officers’ injuries was consistent with their actions at the scene when a paramedic arrived and was directed to treat several officers with minor scrapes instead of tending to a mortally wounded Thomas crumpled in a heap nearby.

The Fullerton Police Department Policy Manual

Section 464 of the manual, titled “Homeless Persons,” is a 2-1/2 page edict meant to “ensure that personnel understand the needs and rights of the homeless and to establish procedures to guide officers during all contacts with the homeless.”

The tone of the manual is written in a manner to aid the homeless rather than treat them as suspects.

Specifically:

“Officers are encouraged to contact the homeless for purposes of rendering aid, support and for community-oriented policing purposes. Nothing in this policy is meant to dissuade an officer from taking reasonable enforcement action when facts support a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. 

“However, when encountering a homeless person who has committed a non-violent misdemeanor and continued freedom is not likely to result in a continuation of the offense or breach of the peace, officers are encouraged to consider long-term solutions to problems that may relate to the homeless, such as shelter referrals and counseling in lieu of physical arrest.”

In Thomas’s case, he was not involved in any type of violent offense, so he would fall under the above mandate to be referred to a shelter rather than beaten up and killed, said attorney Brian Gurwitz, a former prosecutor.

“Trying to open car doors could be auto tampering, which is a misdemeanor,” said Gurwitz, who has been retained by Thomas’s mother. “The papers he had appeared to be junk. Under no circumstances would it be violent, even possibility of stolen property would be non-violent. No DA would ever file this as a felony.”

It turns out that the mail Thomas was carrying that apparently escalated the events was later found to be discarded in the trash by its owner. But Ramos and his colleagues did not take the time to determine this before the beating began.

“He liked to read,” said Thomas’ father, Ron. “He had a Bible with him that he always read. The letters he found, they were just something else for him to read.”

Another mandate of section 464 calls for the appointment of a homeless liaison officer. The department has employed Cpl. John “J.D.” DeCaprio in this position for several years and he has built relationships with many in the homeless community, including Thomas.

DeCaprio has even been known to spend his own money to buy toiletries and clothes for many of the people he encounters on the streets, said Fullerton police spokesperson Jeff Stuart.

Unfortunately for Kelly Thomas, the city only has one such officer assigned to this duty and J.D. wasn’t working the night of July 5.

“DeCaprio said he never had to put cuffs on [Kelly] and that he always did everything that DeCaprio wanted him to,” Ron Thomas said. “They had a good relationship. DeCaprio did tell me that if he was on duty that night, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Section 464 is summed up with this passage under the subhead of “Other Considerations”:

“Homeless members of the community will receive the same level and quality of service provided to other members of the community. The fact that a victim or witness is homeless can, however, require special considerations for a successful investigation and prosecution.”

A Sharp Contrast: the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

Back in 1995, the homeless population was a huge problem in Los Angeles. They blocked businesses, aggressively panhandled and created an environmental hazard. Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Parker was then a sergeant at the West Hollywood station and had a real empathy for that segment of the population.

The city of West Hollywood got a matching funds federal grant and started a community policing program as a way to offer help. The Sheriff’s Department surveyed the public to find out issues of concern. Then it partnered with a local shelter to locate, identify and assist homeless who were willing to accept help.

“Those who were creating the nuisances were a small percentage causing the majority of the complaints,” Parker said. “It’s very expensive to incarcerate them as opposed to sending them to a homeless shelter. None of us enjoyed taking people to jail for panhandling. What we’re trying to do is focus on the root of the problem.”

Working in teams with mental health professionals and social workers, the deputies were so successful that the program soon became a pet project of Chief Lee Baca, who would later become sheriff. He expanded it countywide and also focused on rehabilitation efforts if a homeless person was incarcerated.

“The first two minutes after they walk out [of jail] are the most important ones; it decides which way they are going to go,” Parker said. “We have arrangements with veteran and volunteer organizations to pick up inmates willing to change their lives and take them to shelters so they can work on getting back into society.”

In 2000, Baca initiated a program to cut through the bureaucracy to help the homeless obtain Social Security cards and identification cards so they would be able to work.

“Sheriff Baca has taken a lead on this; he wants to address this situation so that it doesn’t involve incarceration,” Parker said.

COMING ON MONDAY: The mentally ill homeless: A problem the state of California has absconded and left not to medical personnel but to local law enforcement.