Pubdate: Thu, 08 Feb 2001
Source: Alameda Times-Star (CA)
Copyright: 2001 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact:  P.O. Box 28884 ,Oakland, CA 94612
Fax: (510) 208-6477
Website: http://www.timesstar.com/
Author: Myrna Bernadel-Huey, Rev.
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n088/a04.html

POLICE TOO AGGRESSIVE

THE DEATH of Oakland Police Department Officer Willie Wilkins by friendly 
fire was a tragic example of what citizens of Oakland have experienced much 
too often and what they have known for a long time: When it comes to their 
overly aggressive style, the OPD simply doesn't get it.

Now, one of their own has become the latest victim of the department's 
policies, style and biases, after perhaps as many as 11 rounds were fired 
against him by two of his fellow officers.

Officer Wilkins isn't the first person to have fallen as a result of an 
overly aggressive department's vigilance in its drug war while it is 
plagued by the all-too-familiar woes of racial profiling. For years, the 
citizens of Oakland have cried out in concern when officers have responded 
with an excess of force.

Too often, what they have received in response has been platitudes at best, 
or re-victimization when accused officers have been acquitted by an 
ineffective, myopic (if not completely blind) and biased internal review 
process. Perhaps Officer Wilkins' death will do what few citizens have 
managed: cause the OPD to seriously and critically examine its 
aggressiveness, and how tragic it becomes for everyone when it is coupled 
with racial and socio-economic bias.

Had Officer Wilkins simply been an ordinary citizen of African descent, I 
doubt sadly that his death would have received such extensive front page 
coverage. Nevertheless, I am glad that it did. I feel both grief and anger 
for his widow and young child. I pray they will experience more justice 
than most Oaklanders do when their family members are either mistreated or 
killed by one of our own officers. Officer Wilkins obviously did not live 
in vain. May his tragic death also not be in vain.

Rev. Myrna Bernadel-Huey, Shattuck Avenue United Methodist Church, Oakland
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