A Shocking Display of Police Behavior...

I have been debating whether an incident that occurred yesterday at a very large, well attended meeting of very powerful local movers and shakers should be mentioned publicly because a gentleman who was the target of a police "dog and pony show" at this meeting has suffered enough embarrassment and shame already. But the almost unbelievable display of police behavior leaves me no alternative. Here's a description - rather sanitized - of the meeting and event in question, according to the Nashville City Paper:

Criminal justice system frustrated with chronic homeless offenders By: Christine Buttorff, news correspondent Posted: Thursday, August 21, 2008 12:43 am Members of Davidson County’s Criminal Justice system are frustrated with habitual misdemeanor offenders who are homeless. As evidence of that frustration, a West Precinct sergeant brought with him a drunken homeless man in handcuffs — who had been arrested earlier in the day — to a meeting Wednesday of stakeholders involved in homelessness issues. “The point is to put a real face to a real person,” explained Sgt. Mikell Wiggs. “The police response to that is arrest because of quality of life issues because of what happens when they get drunk. People, frankly, do not want to go to a park and have to step over this guy.” The homeless man, Scott Gilliland, who said he was from Mississippi, has been arrested 24 times this year on 44 charges. Although Wiggs’ point was made, many at he meeting decried the move as inappropriate and Gilliland was taken out of the room. Nearly 50 homeless advocates, elected officials, members of social service agencies, downtown residents and business owners and representatives from the mayor’s and Congressman Jim Cooper’s office, met at the East Park Community Center to hear Nashville Mental Health Court Judge Dan Eisenstein’s views on how to help the problem. While Gilliland’s arrests may seem high, he’s below the average for the 10 most chronic offenders in the Central Precinct, Metro Police numbers show. “Year-to-date, those 10 people have been arrested 325 times,” said Central Precinct Cmdr. Damian Huggins. “That’s 32 times a police officer has been taken off the street arresting this person and then re-arresting this person.” Huggins wants to institute a “chronic offender” law similar to one currently in place in Florida. It would require longer sentences to allow individuals to sober up. Huggins said judges could divert the person into rehab or counseling instead of the jail time. However, there are still a few solutions, as seen from the various attempts to create a comprehensive approach to homelessness under former Mayor Bill Purcell, who oversaw the creation of the Homelessness Commission. That agency still meets and now deals with trying to build housing units where homeless individuals can also receive services including counseling and job training. Eisenstein directed yesterday’s meeting, where he said that he’s been trying for two years to create a coordinated approach to helping those constantly re-entering his courtroom. “This group that’s here today, they’re very familiar with the process,” Eisenstein said. “They’re very familiar with the agencies. They know what the services are. The problem has been no one has stepped up to the plate and said, ‘I’m going to work with an individual.’” Eisenstein said trying to establish some sort of consortium to act as a clearinghouse for services hasn’t worked. He says community organizations such as churches could adopt a specific individual and help sort through the various issues that often contribute to a person’s homelessness. Those range from family problems to drug or alcohol abuse. Communication also remains a problem, he said. Often a person can be receiving services from one organization that other groups may not be aware of. “For example, the Drug and Alcohol Council is set up to do drug and alcohol counseling,” Eisenstein said. “Well the person might have another issue that they’re not familiar with …so they might not call upon that other agency to get involved.” Eisenstein says he has assisted eight to 12 people regain their footing, often through coordinating with family members in other cities. “I’m terribly frustrated,” he said, saying that it can be done, but it takes a lot of work to shepherd someone through this process. “I don’t believe we’ve really tried.” END

Now let me share with you exactly how this all went down. The good Sgt. Wiggs didn't simply arrive at the meeting with "a drunken homeless man in handcuffs." What actually occurred was that the meeting had been underway for ja few minutes in a packed room and Judge Eisenstein had actually turned the meeting over to Commander Damian Huggins and his right-hand man to present their "10 most chronic arrestees" spiel: a discussion of 10 individuals whose pictures were blown up and plastered on a wall and under each picture was a listing of all their arrests. While this discussion was occurring, Huggins assistant sidled over to the side door of the room and peeked out, then quickly stepped out of the way. At that point, an intoxicated man walked through the doorway and was obviously shocked by what awaited him; a crowded roomful of very powerful local citizens and policymakers. The poor sod was then led like a slave at auction up to a chair near the speaking area and forced to sit, on display, as dozens of eyes examined him from head to toe while the good officer told folks in the room that "this is what we have to deal with every day. Usually we also find a crack pipe in their pocket, too." I'll spare you the rest of the officer's words, but you get the picture. Reaction was swift; Steve Reiter, well-known homeless advocate and no stranger himself to law enforcement's sometimes heavy hand, spoke out first, stating that "this is inappropriate." To his credit, Judge Eisenstein agreed, stating unequivocally that he had no knowledge the police were going to do this. Commander Huggins, in a fashion befitting a top political official, passed the buck onto his subordinates, stating he also didn't know this was going to happen. The man was finally led out, at which point, according to an anonymous source, the Judge "rambled on for about an hour, claiming that none of us had any money to do the things the Homelessness Commission wanted to get done and so we had to figure out something else." MDHA Homeless Services Guru Clifton Harris attempted to convince judge Eisenstein and attendees that the work of local agencies and outreach workers had seen significant successes in the past 12 months. The good judge didn't seem interested and basically cut Mr. Harris off in order to tell the room that in a nutshell, we would instead need to work on one person at a time. Whatthehell? If I didn't absolutely know better, given that comment I'd swear the Judge had had a couple of huge pulls from the same bottle as the man they'd dragged in off the street... Ultimately, the meeting could best be described as a venting session for Esienstien as he expressed frustration at the difficulties and obstacles that WE have been screaming about while facing every day working with folks on the streets, and all you have to do is to scroll backward through this blog to understand what those are. Now, before I say anything else, I would like to ask a question here: regarding the officer who commandeered and paraded a defenseless, handcuffed man around a room (that had no connection with a jail or a courthouse) like a piece of meat to be stared at, judged, and sold to the highest bidder, if commander Huggins had nothing to do with the situation and recognized too how "inappropiate" this action by his sargeant was, surely a reprimand is in order for the offending officer? While I clearly understand the frustration of local police in this matter, there was simply no point at all in using this man for a dog and pony show. I also know police sometimes attempt to sensationalize situations in order to sway public opinion, but from the gasps and comments in the room, this clearly backfired on them. Sadly, I'm not horribly surprised at this behavior, especially now that the Nashville Homeless Power Project is not in a position to respond with protests and press releases describing what transpired I am however sickened and shamed, both for the man who endured this and for the rest of the good police officers on the force who work every day to bring true service and protection to all Nashville's citizens. I'm also saddened that the judge, who I've known to be a fair and decent man willing to help in any way possible to get things done, was so quick to summarily dismiss the efforts of countless local agencies and direct service providers, not to mention the great successes of the SOAR program at Park Center. His comments, aside from being wildly inaccurate, especially about people "stepping up to the plate" and "working with an individual" belittle, minimize and mock the hard work I - and every other person who devotes their time providing services to the homeless - put onto the street, individual by individual, over the past year. Let me tell you, it has been one shitty week for people who are homeless and those who try to assist them. Unfortunately, the week ain't over yet and there's another meeting scheduled for tomorrow that is shaping up to be every bit as ugly as this one was yesterday. Where are the members of the Nashville Homeless Power Project when you really need them? Stay tuned.....