Law and order in Claremont

Dear Editor:

When the City Manager falsely accuses a resident of violent acts and when a Police Department fails to carry out its law and order responsibility to the residents, immediate action is needed to stop further damage to the relationship between the government and the people in Claremont. 

The extent to which these actions and inactions have harmed Claremont residents became clear at [Tuesday’s] City Council meeting where the focus of extensive public comment was the conduct of these two institutions in the events surrounding the healthcare forum held in the Padua Room of the Hughes Center on August 27th.

Damaging the credibility of both: The City Manager, Jeff Parker, in his weekly report to Claremont of September 3rd accused a Claremont resident, Mr. Mann, of physically attacking the man who repeatedly disrupted the forum, Mr. Charles Cox. 

Mr. Parker’s exact words were “...Mr. Mann grabbed him and threw him to the ground.” Several citizens who were there said this was a false accusation. Indeed, Jim Stripling said that as Mr. Cox was pulling on the door to get back into the meeting, he pulled Mr. Cox’s fingers from the door frame causing him to fall. 

The City Manager did not withdraw his accusation—an accusation that may well be considered an act of defamation. And, several Claremont citizens said the police officer(s) who eventually came to the Hughes Center and wrote the report of the incident refused to record the statements of many witnesses or to even take down their names despite the witnesses’ requests. Clearly, what happened indicates that it would be naive for citizens to trust the accuracy of claims of either the City Manager or the police—a situation harmful to good governance of the city.

Damaging politicization of the City administration and police: As one who has argued in the past that the non-partisan nature of governance in Claremont should be preserved, I was dismayed by the words of the President of the Republican Club during public comment. She suggested the organizers of the event were culpable because one of them went to Mr. Cox and thrust her/his finger in his chest, presumably to dissuade him from further disruptions. 

It was quite clear that her sympathies lay with Mr. Cox. Both the City Manager’s accusations and the conduct of the police reported above appear to have partisan implications, i.e., they held the event’s sponsors and supporters primarily responsible for the “problems” that arose at the meeting. That the administration and the police should appear to become agents of one political party is a development that must be reversed. These institutions should act in the interests of the people of Claremont, rather than in the interests of the Republican or Democratic Party.

Damage to the rule of law in the City:  Both Councilmember Peter Yao at the Neighborhood Forum on September 14th and the City Manager at the City Council meeting on September 23rd said the organizers of the event were told they should arrange their own security. 

What are the implications of what was being asked/demanded of the organizers? Extending the principle underlying the request means that each entity in the City, e.g., business, group, or household, should hire its own “police” to up-hold the law.  Presumably, the rich might be able to do so, but the poor will not be able to afford it. Imagine the kind of community this principle would create. Besides, citizens of Claremont spend more on the Police Department than anything else. If the Department’s purpose is not to foster law and order in the community, why is it there?

The critical need at this juncture is for the two institutions to acknowledge the errors, correct the mistakes, and find out and eliminate the causes. 

A decade ago, the failure of our City government to deal quickly and appropriately with the Landrum case brought immense human and monetary costs to all of us. Let us not repeat the mistakes made then. Action is needed to restore the credibility of the City Manager and Police Department; to get these institutions to act as agents of citizens rather than as agents of a particular political party; and, to stop the current policy of requiring groups to hire their own private security rather than relying on the Police Department to foster law and order in Claremont.

Dean E. McHenry, Jr.
Claremont