I found that the belief by some members of the commission that the Phoenix City Council and mayor were almost powerless to do anything about police abuses. To be misguided. Yes ... the council and the mayor are not dictators and must follow the law but ...even with a "City Manager" style of government that does not preclude nor change the fact that our council and mayor our elected representatives and ... whether we like it or not our de-facto moral leaders when it comes to issues such as discrimination, poverty and police abuse.
Even if ... we really believed our city elected leaders of Phoenix were almost powerless to do anything about police abuses ... they could for example proclaim their own views as private citizens their belief that reforms would be needed and ...if the city charter says they can't as elected leaders it doesn't say anything about them doing something as citizens because that is their First Amendment right.
http://www.examiner.com/...
In addition .. to give more impetus and backing to the community some friends and I have initiated 3 city of Phoenix measures that each need approximately a minimum of 25,000 signatures to get on the ballot here they are : on Public Banking, Police Cameras and Citizen Citizen Complaint Review Boards based on the New York City model.
In addition ... at the state level we have initiated political action committee and petition to require county attorneys not handle alleged police felonies before Grand Juries but rather ...Independent Special Prosecutors instead to handle those cases.
Leonard Clark :)
12-16-14