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| NEWS > 15 March 2007 |
Other related articles:
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Worcester Telegram - Worcester
15 March 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Worcester Police Department, M
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Activist presses police compla
WORCESTER— A community activist and the police chief remain at odds over the status of a citizen complaint against two police officers.
Kevin Ksen, an activist in the Piedmont Street neighborhood, argues the complaint is a matter of integrity in the Police Department and its citizen complaint process.
But Police Chief Gary J. Gemme upheld the professionalism of his department and its Bureau of Professional Standards, saying Mr. Ksen has an anti-police agenda and that he himself has failed to follow through on his own complaint, delaying any progress on the investigation.
At issue is an internal affairs complaint Mr. Ksen filed against Officers Michael Tarckini and Mark Rojas after he was arrested in September for trespassing at 5 Sycamore St., a known drug house. Mr. Ksen complains he was passing out fliers promoting a rally against the presence of Fox television cameras shooting video for its “COPS” show when the two officers appeared at the scene.
The officers said in a report that they were reacting to neighborhood complaints of loitering and drug dealing at the property — and on the property owner’s behalf — when Mr. Ksen interfered with questioning of people at the area.
Mr. Ksen said the officers swore at him and erased footage on his camera when he tried to take pictures of their response to the scene. Eventually, Mr. Ksen was arrested.
Last month, charges of resisting arrest and trespassing were continued without pleas or findings.
Mr. Ksen and Matt Feinstein, a fellow activist who was with him when he was arrested, filed an internal affairs complaint against the officers, saying they were unjustly arrested and that police interfered with their rights. Last month, they called on the Human Rights Commission to get involved. They also called for the end of a police practice requiring people who file complaints to be interviewed alone.
Mr. Ksen stresses he has worked well with police before on neighborhood issues, but that he feels an obligation to file complaints when he sees misconduct.
“I filed a complaint on how I was mistreated,” he said.
But Chief Gemme said Mr. Ksen has wrongfully accused police of improper actions before. Chief Gemme also said that his Bureau of Professional Standards had already, long before Mr. Ksen was arrested, contacted Mr. Ksen on behalf of police officers who complained he had interfered with crime scenes before.
“I think he comes with a clear agenda,” the chief said.
Mr. Ksen countered that he was at the Sycamore Street address before police arrived, and that they saw him walk there, so he questioned how he could have interfered.
“My work in this community has been for years working with the Police Department through crime watch and neighborhood groups,” Mr. Ksen said. “I don’t feel like filing a police complaint is interfering with their work.”
In the most recent development, Mr. Ksen has sent a letter to the city manager requesting access to any records of the internal affairs investigation into his complaint against the officers. The letter, signed by Mr. Ksen and Mr. Feinstein, argues he should have access to the investigation based on a letter he received stating the investigation was completed without a finding.
But the chief argued the investigation was never completed, but declared “Exceptionally Cleared,” because of a lack of cooperation from Mr. Ksen. Specifically, Mr. Ksen has refused to be interviewed by Bureau of Professional Standards investigators after he was told a friend couldn’t sit in on the interview.
“We’re conducting the investigation, not the person complaining,” the chief said. “We send people to school, train them and make sure they’re acting on behalf of the best practices. We set standards for our investigation.”
Mr. Ksen had tried to bring the Rev. Jose Encarnacion to his interview, but was told he couldn’t bring anyone so he didn’t follow through, losing faith in the process, he said. The chief said he would allow the reverend during the interview process, but that he wouldn’t allow a friend. Mr. Ksen never indicated who he would bring to the interview at the time he made the request, and so the department refused to allow any random person during the interview, the chief said.
The chief has said that the investigation would move forward if Mr. Ksen would offer his testimony, and said he told the reverend the same. Mr. Ksen said he was never told that by the chief, however, and so requested the records on what has happened in the investigation so far.
“We have a system in place where anyone making a complaint has an opportunity to be heard in an unbiased investigation,” the chief said. “We’re a professional police department.”
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