Post by KC on Mar 7, 2006 0:00:22 GMT -5
03/06/2006 - FBI investigates 3 Macomb complaints over tactic tied to Abu Ghraib scandal; police deny allegations.
The FBI's Detroit office has confirmed it was investigating three allegations of Macomb County law enforcement officers using hoods on people in custody. Should the process of 'hooding' be prohibited?
As Joe Hurst tells it, once the pillowcase had been pulled over his head, questions started flashing through his mind quickly and crazily.
"Am I going to get shot? Who are these people? What's happening? What are they going to do?" he remembers thinking, now more than two years after his gambling arrest by Fraser police.
Hurst claims he was the victim of a tactic that police in Metro Detroit adamantly deny using -- the practice of placing bags, pillowcases or jackets over the heads of people being detained. Otherwise known as "hooding," it's an image more associated with the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, not southeast Michigan.
Late last month, the FBI's Detroit office confirmed it was investigating three allegations of Macomb County law enforcement officers using hoods on people in custody.
Local and state officials were quick to cry foul, saying they had not been contacted about the FBI's investigation and that no complaints had ever been filed with them.
Law enforcement professionals say the controversial action is neither taught nor even mentioned in their training, and certainly never practiced.
Now it's the latest complaint with racial undertones in Macomb County, though some of those making allegations -- including Hurst -- are white.
"It's definitely not our policy to do that," said Fraser Police Lt. George Rouhib, who headed the investigation into Hurst's arrest. "We would never condone a policy like that."
But since the FBI confirmed its initial investigation into the allegations, it has received two additional complaints.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court in Detroit alleges hooding was among the "terrorist tactics" used in a 2001 Mount Clemens drug raid.
A drug task force called COMET -- comprising local, county and state police -- is being sued over use of excessive force.
During the raid, officers placed coats over the heads of suspects lying face-down on the ground during a two-hour search, the suit alleges.
COMET officials have declined comment on the suit.
Hooding not taught in class
The Michigan State Police Academy, which trains officers across Michigan, does not cover hooding as a technique in its Raid Entry School, nor does it mention it as a prohibited tactic.
"You can't lay out policies for every single, solitary thing that might come up," said Melody Kindraka, a spokeswoman for the state police. "We base our policies on what our officers should be doing, not what they shouldn't."
A civil rights group, the Macomb County Ministerial Alliance, brought the first three complaints to the attention of state investigators. Now the American Civil Liberties Union plans to investigate one of the original complaints and is involved with the District Court civil case.
Hurst's complaint about his treatment by Fraser officers is one of two new complaints that the ministerial alliance has forwarded to the FBI.
He will plead guilty this month to running a gambling operation out of a friend's Sterling Heights apartment. With a marijuana conviction from the early 1990s, he is facing a possible minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Hurst never filed a complaint with Fraser Police regarding his treatment.
"I thought it was a common police procedure," he said of the estimated 25 seconds he lay with his hands restrained behind his back and a pillowcase over his head. "I've come to the conclusion that officers can do whatever they want, whether it's right or wrong."
Rouhib said he was not present at Hurst's arrest, but he denied that anything was placed over Hurst's head. He said the complaint is likely the product of an angry man facing prison time.
"It's just not true," Rouhib said. "It blows my mind that he would be making allegations like these."
The lawsuit filed against COMET members alleges that on Feb. 15, 2001, officers broke down the door of Mount Clemens resident David Kniffen's apartment without identifying themselves. All wore masks, the suit contends.
Kniffen initially thought he was being robbed, and after asking for identification, he was kicked in the head and body by one or more officers, according to the suit. Kniffen and another man had coats placed over their heads for most of the two-hour search, it said.
Reports are rare
Reports of police using hoods on raids are rare, according to both civil rights and law enforcement officials. Kary Moss, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said her office is aware of the complaints out of Macomb County, but no others in Michigan.
Several law enforcement experts said placing a bag over the head of a suspect is not technically illegal. However, the stigma attached to the act automatically raises red flags.
"It was something that became famous when the Ku Klux Klan came to prominence," said Carl Taylor, a criminologist and professor at Michigan State University. "You see it in the movie 'Birth of a Nation'
"The act itself is terrorism. It's a tactic where once that bag is over your head, you can't see what's going on. You can hear all sorts of things You're truly in the dark."
Part of the FBI's investigation, according to bureau spokeswoman Dawn Clenney, is sorting out whether a crime has been committed.
"We'll be looking into the circumstances surrounding it if it happened," she said. "What took place, why it was done we're trying to get to the bottom of it."
Human rights organizations have made it clear they believe hooding should not be tolerated. In January 2002, Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan wrote that the practice "generally may constitute cruel treatment," since " keeping prisoners hooded or blindfolded also prevents them from observing or identifying any custody officials who may engage in abuses."
The international exposure brought to the practice of hooding may be the reason behind the recent allegations, according to one county official. Macomb County Commissioner Phil DiMaria has been in law enforcement for 20 years -- with much of that time spent doing undercover narcotics work for the city of Troy.
"I believe that it is happening," he said. "I figure you may have people picking up on the things they see happening in Iraq."
Bill Terrill, an assistant professor specializing in police use of force at the Michigan State University's School of Criminal Justice, said a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case held that officers' behavior must be "objectively reasonable."
Terrill said there are some situations -- such as protecting the identities of informants or undercover officers -- in which obstructing someone's view could be seen as objectively reasonable. A former military policeman whose research has allowed him to participate in raids with law enforcement agencies, Terrill said: "I've never even heard of (hooding) being discussed as a potential strategy."
Fraser's Rouhib said protecting officers' identities is often a concern. But there are better ways of doing it than putting a bag over someone's head, he said.
"We can lay them down on the floor or we can stand them in the corner like a little kid," he said. "Or we can have our officers wear masks -- like a longer ski mask. There are other ways for us to protect identities than to put a bag over someone's head."
Some have gone further
Since the FBI first confirmed its investigation, Macomb County law enforcement officials have denied their officers use hooding as a tactic. But what made the situation particularly exasperating for police was that those making the allegations were never identified.
Some police officials have gone further with their complaints, particularly since the allegations were first forwarded to the state's Civil Rights Commission by the county ministerial alliance.
"How do you defend yourself against the indefensible?" asked Macomb Undersheriff Kent Lagerquist. "I think the end goal of this group was to stir up a reaction from the public and create the impression that there's something wrong."
Sheriff Mark Hackel has charged alliance members, particularly spokesman Greg Murray, with playing politics and using the race card. He and Murray have taken verbal shots at each other in public forums and through the press.
But this situation shouldn't be muddied by race, Murray said.
"The charge that we're making a race issue out of this plays to an audience that the Sheriff's Department hopes will focus on something other than this practice (hooding)," Murray said.
The FBI's Detroit office has confirmed it was investigating three allegations of Macomb County law enforcement officers using hoods on people in custody. Should the process of 'hooding' be prohibited?
As Joe Hurst tells it, once the pillowcase had been pulled over his head, questions started flashing through his mind quickly and crazily.
"Am I going to get shot? Who are these people? What's happening? What are they going to do?" he remembers thinking, now more than two years after his gambling arrest by Fraser police.
Hurst claims he was the victim of a tactic that police in Metro Detroit adamantly deny using -- the practice of placing bags, pillowcases or jackets over the heads of people being detained. Otherwise known as "hooding," it's an image more associated with the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, not southeast Michigan.
Late last month, the FBI's Detroit office confirmed it was investigating three allegations of Macomb County law enforcement officers using hoods on people in custody.
Local and state officials were quick to cry foul, saying they had not been contacted about the FBI's investigation and that no complaints had ever been filed with them.
Law enforcement professionals say the controversial action is neither taught nor even mentioned in their training, and certainly never practiced.
Now it's the latest complaint with racial undertones in Macomb County, though some of those making allegations -- including Hurst -- are white.
"It's definitely not our policy to do that," said Fraser Police Lt. George Rouhib, who headed the investigation into Hurst's arrest. "We would never condone a policy like that."
But since the FBI confirmed its initial investigation into the allegations, it has received two additional complaints.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court in Detroit alleges hooding was among the "terrorist tactics" used in a 2001 Mount Clemens drug raid.
A drug task force called COMET -- comprising local, county and state police -- is being sued over use of excessive force.
During the raid, officers placed coats over the heads of suspects lying face-down on the ground during a two-hour search, the suit alleges.
COMET officials have declined comment on the suit.
Hooding not taught in class
The Michigan State Police Academy, which trains officers across Michigan, does not cover hooding as a technique in its Raid Entry School, nor does it mention it as a prohibited tactic.
"You can't lay out policies for every single, solitary thing that might come up," said Melody Kindraka, a spokeswoman for the state police. "We base our policies on what our officers should be doing, not what they shouldn't."
A civil rights group, the Macomb County Ministerial Alliance, brought the first three complaints to the attention of state investigators. Now the American Civil Liberties Union plans to investigate one of the original complaints and is involved with the District Court civil case.
Hurst's complaint about his treatment by Fraser officers is one of two new complaints that the ministerial alliance has forwarded to the FBI.
He will plead guilty this month to running a gambling operation out of a friend's Sterling Heights apartment. With a marijuana conviction from the early 1990s, he is facing a possible minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Hurst never filed a complaint with Fraser Police regarding his treatment.
"I thought it was a common police procedure," he said of the estimated 25 seconds he lay with his hands restrained behind his back and a pillowcase over his head. "I've come to the conclusion that officers can do whatever they want, whether it's right or wrong."
Rouhib said he was not present at Hurst's arrest, but he denied that anything was placed over Hurst's head. He said the complaint is likely the product of an angry man facing prison time.
"It's just not true," Rouhib said. "It blows my mind that he would be making allegations like these."
The lawsuit filed against COMET members alleges that on Feb. 15, 2001, officers broke down the door of Mount Clemens resident David Kniffen's apartment without identifying themselves. All wore masks, the suit contends.
Kniffen initially thought he was being robbed, and after asking for identification, he was kicked in the head and body by one or more officers, according to the suit. Kniffen and another man had coats placed over their heads for most of the two-hour search, it said.
Reports are rare
Reports of police using hoods on raids are rare, according to both civil rights and law enforcement officials. Kary Moss, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said her office is aware of the complaints out of Macomb County, but no others in Michigan.
Several law enforcement experts said placing a bag over the head of a suspect is not technically illegal. However, the stigma attached to the act automatically raises red flags.
"It was something that became famous when the Ku Klux Klan came to prominence," said Carl Taylor, a criminologist and professor at Michigan State University. "You see it in the movie 'Birth of a Nation'
"The act itself is terrorism. It's a tactic where once that bag is over your head, you can't see what's going on. You can hear all sorts of things You're truly in the dark."
Part of the FBI's investigation, according to bureau spokeswoman Dawn Clenney, is sorting out whether a crime has been committed.
"We'll be looking into the circumstances surrounding it if it happened," she said. "What took place, why it was done we're trying to get to the bottom of it."
Human rights organizations have made it clear they believe hooding should not be tolerated. In January 2002, Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan wrote that the practice "generally may constitute cruel treatment," since " keeping prisoners hooded or blindfolded also prevents them from observing or identifying any custody officials who may engage in abuses."
The international exposure brought to the practice of hooding may be the reason behind the recent allegations, according to one county official. Macomb County Commissioner Phil DiMaria has been in law enforcement for 20 years -- with much of that time spent doing undercover narcotics work for the city of Troy.
"I believe that it is happening," he said. "I figure you may have people picking up on the things they see happening in Iraq."
Bill Terrill, an assistant professor specializing in police use of force at the Michigan State University's School of Criminal Justice, said a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case held that officers' behavior must be "objectively reasonable."
Terrill said there are some situations -- such as protecting the identities of informants or undercover officers -- in which obstructing someone's view could be seen as objectively reasonable. A former military policeman whose research has allowed him to participate in raids with law enforcement agencies, Terrill said: "I've never even heard of (hooding) being discussed as a potential strategy."
Fraser's Rouhib said protecting officers' identities is often a concern. But there are better ways of doing it than putting a bag over someone's head, he said.
"We can lay them down on the floor or we can stand them in the corner like a little kid," he said. "Or we can have our officers wear masks -- like a longer ski mask. There are other ways for us to protect identities than to put a bag over someone's head."
Some have gone further
Since the FBI first confirmed its investigation, Macomb County law enforcement officials have denied their officers use hooding as a tactic. But what made the situation particularly exasperating for police was that those making the allegations were never identified.
Some police officials have gone further with their complaints, particularly since the allegations were first forwarded to the state's Civil Rights Commission by the county ministerial alliance.
"How do you defend yourself against the indefensible?" asked Macomb Undersheriff Kent Lagerquist. "I think the end goal of this group was to stir up a reaction from the public and create the impression that there's something wrong."
Sheriff Mark Hackel has charged alliance members, particularly spokesman Greg Murray, with playing politics and using the race card. He and Murray have taken verbal shots at each other in public forums and through the press.
But this situation shouldn't be muddied by race, Murray said.
"The charge that we're making a race issue out of this plays to an audience that the Sheriff's Department hopes will focus on something other than this practice (hooding)," Murray said.