Meet Your SMC Campus Police
NEWS: On Thursday last at 11:15 am, there was a “spoken word” event at the Santa Monica College Clocktower, sponsored by the SMC Associated Students, ICC and the campus club A.L.A.S.(Association of Latino American Students). Billed as “Celebrating Spoken Word Through Unity and Diversity” and featuring paid performers “Tiwatunali,” plus unpaid performances by SMC students, the event was a mix of poetry and words of “revolution.” But the real drama featured the repressive and intimidating misconduct of SMC officers Malone, Hearn, and Champagne.
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(click to watch)The video above is just a two and a half minute snippet of footage taken by this author of the three officers. Watch, in particular, how Officer Malone reacts to SMC student Gaily Ezer, 19, as she shares a particular passage (Article 19) from the pocket edition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) on December 10, 1948) she had with her.
During the first half of the video, the audio of the exchange between the officers and Ezer is overwhelmed by the public address system amplifying the words of Tiwatunali. But during the second half, you can hear Malone bully and threaten Ezer with arrest, coupled with his unwillingness to respond to her pleas for clarification of his words.
Formal complaints are being filed with the Santa Monica College police department, the Los Angeles District Attorney, and the California Attorney General based on words and actions taken by the aforementioned officers this day.
Furthermore, well-known civil rights and police misconduct expert, attorney Steve Yagman, is being sought for representation.
May 27th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
I know many students AND PROFESSORS who have been victims of SMC police actions. Your coverage could finally blow the roof off this open secret. Keep after them.
June 12th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
I recently received a ticket for not wearing my seatbelt… around 3:15PM. Problem? No except that I was wearing my seatbelt. Secondly the young and overzealous officer of the smc police… pulled a “california” roll through the intersection of Pico and 16th (while the middle school was getting out) to pursue me with flashing lights ablaze. Well, I promise to take this matter up in court. But I am curious beyond belief about this interest of smc police has with the “safety of citizens” merely passing through the neighborhood. A bit of “tax collecting” going on? Does any one know exactly what is the jurisdiction of the semi trained officers are? I have recently read the penal and educational code that empowers them to serve as Peace Officers or at least with the authority to as if they were real police. Does anyone know about how and where they are trained? Is this vigilance for minor traffic matters, you see the genius is that a seatbelt ticket is not a moving violation, no points… I would love to hear from any one else about incidence specific to my experience. Is this a trend a mere fractal moment? A big show of a little authority?
July 10th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Geoff you are fickin nuts