Following Shooting, City Will Review Police Policies
At the request of Mayor Tom Roach, the White Plains Common Council voted May 8 to make funding available for consulting services to conduct a review and analysis and provide a report relating to police policies, practices and procedures in the city. The action was requested following the Westchester County grand jury’s decision not to pursue criminal charges against White Plains Police Officer Anthony Carelli, or any of the other officers involved, for the November 19 shooting and resulting death of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., in his home at the Winbrook housing community on South Lexington Avenue.
During the “Citizens To Be Heard” segment before the regular meeting, members of the black community in White Plains and their supporters packed the room. Chamberlain’s son, Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., asked the mayor and council to suspend all the officers involved in the incident pending the outcome of a federal criminal investigation initiated after the county decided not to pursue charges. “A lack of a criminal indictment sends a message to the minority communities of this city,” Chamberlain Jr. said. “The use of city funds to pursue an independent investigation is not enough.”
Members of the black community had also come to support White Plains Police Officer Michael Hannon, who asked for disciplinary action to be taken against White Plains Assistant Police Chief Anne FitzSimmons, Hannon’s boss, who allegedly threw a chair at his back at the White Plains Police Station last September, causing injuries. The Westchester County District Attorney’s office decided not to press charges against FitzSimmons.
Officer Hannon described the ongoing pain of his injuries, the loss of three months of work and five months of physical therapy. “During my time out of work I was never contacted by any City of White Plains administration official or any City of White Plains official in regard to the incident or the status of my recovery. I do not only blame Anne FitzSimmons, assistant chief of police, I also blame all those who sanctioned her behavior by refusing to investigate. I am now embarrassed to wear the shield of the White Plains police and it is due to the way upper management handles various issues,” Hannon told the mayor and council.
A gathering of pastors at the podium, from churches in the black community, brought a show of solidarity for both Chamberlain Sr. and Chamberlain Jr., as well as Officer Hannon. They called both situations morally unacceptable. Referring to a particular racial slur used by at least one police officer during the events that lead up to Chamberlain Sr.’s death on November 19, they said the use of hate language in some communities is considered a hate crime. They blamed the officers on the scene for escalating the situation, saying the police treated Chamberlain Sr. like a trapped animal.
Mayor Roach said he will enter into an agreement with Maria R. Haberfeld, a dean at John Jay College, who will have a panel of law enforcement experts to review the policies and procedures of the White Plains Police Department – recruiting, hiring, training, dealing with emotionally disturbed persons and other issues. “That report will be prepared and presented directly to me and will be shared with the council and with the public when we receive it. As with anything else we do in this city, we are always looking for ways to do things better and when we have a tragedy such as we suffered I think it is important that we take a look at the way we do things and be sure we are doing them well,” Roach said.
As the council prepared to cast their votes on the resolution, Councilman David Buchwald said, “There is no doubt that what happened on November 19th, the death of Mr. Chamberlain, was a tragedy. Following developments like these, it is important to make sure that every best practice was in place. The video tape, in many respects, shows police officers responding to a very difficult situation. There’s nothing routine about the job they face, and I’m grateful for the work that our White Plains Police Officers do. It is, though, important to our city and to the success of our police bureau that everyone in our community have confidence in our police safety procedures. The action we take tonight is about determining what are the best practices and protocols for situations of this type and to do that having an outside, independent review makes a lot of sense.”
