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. . PAINE COLLEGE LIBRARY nn T JIIhIiL PAINE CCLL GE CAMPUS . , 'Oj ff \\ dli!A —1 THE PEOPLE’S PAPER d (( 20C)) NATIONAL BLACK NEWS SERVICE .W/ \\ // MEMBER V j. , *C/ Vol. 3 DOI Report Shows Liquor And Gambling Laws Vigorously Enforced In Black Community Only The State Division of Investigation report released this week showed that local police had taken “a less than vigorous approach to inf or cement of the laws surrounding gambling, liquor, prostitution and drugs.” The report stated that regarding liquor violations and gambling, law enforcement was “racial” and “an overwhelming number of people arrested for liquor violations during 1972-73 were Black.” The report showed that Sheriff Desegregates Cars, Seeks Affirmative Action Officer Sheriff William A. Anderson annouced Tuesday that the sheriffs department is looking for an Affirmative Action officer, begun hiring women nad integrated its cars. The Richmond Sheriff s Department has issued and placed on all its bullentin boards the following policies and practices of the Richmond County Sheriffs Dept, are to recruit, interview and hire employees of the department without regard to race, creed, color, sex or national origin and to treat them equally with respect to compensation nd * opportunities for advancement including upgrading promotions and transfers. f 1! 11 11 ■ ■ uE NAACMJFE MEMBERSHIPS Charles Walker presents plaque to American Legion Post Commander Ben Williams for the Post’s $500.00 lifetime membership in the NAACP. Joyce Tutt (below) pins award on Rev. C.S. Hamilton for his lifetime membership. Awards were made at mass meeting Sunday night at Tabernacle Baptist Church. (See related photos page 6 ) Hip ' 1 ■ W 7 " i < PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! < < We want to print your news. But we MUST have > lit by NOON TUESDAY in order for it to be> J printed that week. There can be NO exceptions. J ■ Please co-operate with us so we can better serve# ■you. ■ during 1972, 128 persons were arrested for liquor violations. Os this number, 115 were Black and 13 were white. In 1973, 61 persons were arrested for violation of liquor laws and all 61 were Black. In citing gambling violations, the report said, “There seems to be a tendency on the part of the police department to concentrate its enforcement in a few places” (virtually all in the Black community). These are places that were raided “more than once” for “Equal encouragement will be extended to all employees to prepare themselves to assume job responsibilities suitable to their abilities, talents and interests.” A search is underway at the present time for a person to assume the duties of an affirmative action officer who will report directly to the Sheriff. It should be noted that strides have been made in this area during this year. The number of minority employees in the department comes within 5 percent of reflecting the population percentages in the area patrolled by the department; the department P.O. Box 953 gambling: 1219V4 Augusta Avenue, 900 block of Walton Way (Possible Gub?), 1400 block of Linden St. (1448 Red Door Club), 1400 block of Dunn’s Lane, Monument and Board (John’s Bar), 1132 Lenox Lane, 1237 Steiner Ave., 711 and 1105 King St., Rouletts Lane (Blue Room), 1100 block 9th St., 1 Gwinnett St., and 848 Barnes St. Almost all the 103 persons arrested for gambling in 1973 were Black. The report charged that Augusta has open has hired and deputized eight women; and females for the first time are serving as dispatchers. In the area of training, four females recently graduated from he CSRA law enforcement school. Two of these are Black and two are white. There are presently three females attending the academy, two of which are Black. “Our patrol cars recently were integrated. At the present time no Black deputies are paired. 1 am proud to say that this move was received and is being carried out in a most harmonious manner. “After a period of THE NAACP MEETS The local chapter of the October 29th 7:30 p.m. at the NAACP will meet Monday Tabernacle Baptist Church. Everyone welcome. Dr. Howard Jordan (L) chats with Dr. and Mrs. Canute Richardson prior to reinterment ceremonies for Colonel William Few last Friday. Few is a signer of the U.S. Dr. Richardson is a member of the State Bicentennial Commission. Dr. Jordan represented the State Board of Regents. Ceremonies marking the States ConstiUituu, were held reinterment of Colonel William at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Few, Jr. (1748-1828), one of SEE REINTERMENT Georgia’s signers of the United Page 6 IDJ r ■■■ > nRHHI Art Professor Alice R. Davis inspects exhibit sponsored by The Black Women For Progress held Saturday at the Pilgrim Civic Center. (See related photos page 5) prostitution, open lottery operation and readily-obtainable narcotics. Mayor Lewis A. Newman received the report from Georgia DOI Director William F. Beardsley last Wednesday, but did not release it to the press until Monday. The mayor said he wanted time to study the report. “A particular handicap encountered by DOI investigators was the lack of orientation and training the affirmative action officer will be given the duties of recruiting and recommending all qualified applicants for hiring. He will formulate an affirmative action plan, and will be charged with implementing it. Although we are now issuing the equal opportunities statement, I believe we are merely making formal many of the policies we have been following for some time. This has been due to our feeling of professional pride and to the high regard our law enforcement men and women have for each other,” Anderson concluded. Augusta, Georgia confidence placed in all law enforcement by those who were interviewed. This was particularly true in the Black community where a deep seated fear of the police department is evident. Even those people with well-documented and specific information on violations of the law by members of the law enforcement community are hesistant to give this information to the DOL They are in fear of reprisal by certain law enforcement officers. Generally speaking, there is an absence of confidence and trust in the police department by the Black community,” the report said. The investigation was originally called for by City Councilwoman Carrie J. Mays. The report contained four sections -a “synopsis,” a “discussion” of the DOI findings, “recommendations” to correct the situation and statistical bases for some of the division’s conclusions. In a letter to the Mayor, Beardsley explained that his division “looked at the illegal services arena to include prostitution, , gtmbUng and drugs.” He said the report is limited to “Those places where lack of enforcement thrust has contributed to a general disregard for existing laws. “We further point out that the situation which we observed in Augusta is not basically one of lack of police effort,” the letter states. “The regional populace has condoned victimless crime by allowing certain persons with a criminal intent to become omnipotent in the influence they exert upon those who would enforce the law.” DOI agents “moved freely among the criminal elements” to gather impressions of law enforcement, the report says. “Such contact at the street level indicated a general distrust and lack of respect for those charged with enforcement of vice laws in Augusta. Stories of brutality and unprofessional conduct are so frequent and standardized that they cannot be overlooked,” the report continues. It points out that some of the reports of “brutality and unprofessional conduct" could have been “stories and rumors”. However, when several different agents reports identical stories coming from different segments of the community, we must consider them valid. “Certain members of the law enforcement community in Augusta and Richmond County have rendered themselves ineffective in controlling some crimes by consorting with known prostitutes and, in several documented cases, sexual favors from prostitutes. These accusations are outlined and substantiated and will be presented in more depth under separate cover to the proper judicial body for possible prosecution,” the report said. Last Wednesday, Beardsley told newsmen an “investigative report” is to be turned over to District Attorney Richard E. Allen “in about two weeks”. That report would contain such evidence of wrongdoing, he said. “Investigators have readily sensed a prevailing feeling of helplessness among the qualified and concerned police officers in Augusta. They generally feel that it is impossible to adequately and impartially enforce vice laws due to the influence exerted upon superiors by certain political and criminal figures,” the report continues. The report calls Augusta “wide open” for prostitution. “Prostitutes solicit openly in the bars and clubs of both the city and county with little fear of law enforcement officials “Many of the prostitutes in Augusta solicit their clientele in city bars and then go to motels in the county. There seems to be an efficient network (composed of club personnel) for moving prostitutes from one bar to another to contact customers,” the report says. The report singles out the Shirley Hotel as being “infamous” as a “brothel”. “There have been numerous arrests in the (Shirley) Hotel but there is no evident effort on the part of the city to curtail this activity. This, perhaps, is understandable since certain city officials have told DOI agents they saw no harm in a little prostitution. (There officials are identified in a report to the District Attorney),” the report continues. “Prostitution will continue to flourish as long as city officials view it as a more or less benevolent evil and make no effort to control it,” the report continues. The DOI found “widespread disregard of liquor laws” in the area, the report says. It says some bars have “a regular clientele of prostitutes, gamblers, pimps and drug pushers. Some bars are managed by persons with criminal records who are still involved in illegal activity. There is little or no enforcement of age restrictions, and individuals under 18 years of age have been employed as waiters and bartenders.” “An examination of Augusta police gambling arrests gives absolutely no indication of any lottery activity in the city,” the report says. “Lottery operations were carried on openly and with little fear of interference from police authorities. It is felt that the federal investigation has only scratched the surface of gambling activity in Augusta. Illegal gambling will probably continue as long as city and police officials have a laissez faire attitude about he so-called victimless crimes.” The report says “recent statements” by police officials which “indicated that there was no heroin problem in the city or county” were inaccurate. Agents’ investigations during a five-day period “resulted in some 61 separate violations; 48 of these violations and 25 defendants were arrested for the sale of herion. The purchases ranged from small-user quantities to significate amounts of the drug. These cases were made with relative ease on the streets. Our agents indicate that the supply is plentiful,” the report says. DOI officials included a recommendation that an “anti-crime intelligence unit” be established in the District Attorney’s office, with the responsibility of “investigating, identifying, exposing and prosecuting organized criminal activity in Richmond County and its hinterlands.” It recommends a citizens crime commission be established “to act as a spokesman for the community concerning law enforcement problems and law enforcement goals.” A third suggestion is to implement a Metropolitan Enforcement Group, composed of city and county personnel, maintaining contact with vice agents in surrounding counties. The report also recommends EDITORIAL Will Augusta Choose Life or Death? It is time for Augusta to take a good look at itself, face itself, no matter how it hurts, make the necessary corrections, and move on. to become the kind of city that we say we want. No matter how you cut it, the recent DOI report is a serious indictment against local law enforcement and the city of Augusta. And now everybody is pointing the finger at everyone else, since someone has to be responsible. The facts documented in the DOI report are really no news to anyone, at least not in the Black community. The Black community has always complained of police brutality. But we are always told that there may be “a few rotten apples”. Or that police are to a certain extent “bullies by nature”. But no one has ever cared enough about police beating US to put a stop to iL Traditionally, it is those who beat us the most who get promoted the fastest. It was refreshing to learn last week that two white officers were honored for trying to save the lives of two Black men. The white policeman has always been the physical symbol of white authority and hate in the Black community. He is the LAW. He can (and does) break the law whenever he wants to. He can, at will, register all of his hatred for our race upside our heads, or, when convenient, execute us. And it is all legal. There is literally no point in having a trial. It is only upon occasion, when some outside force, like the DOI or a federal judge, comes in that there might be some justice. Augusta city officials, county officials, business community and news media constantly whitewash discrimination. As soon as a federal judge orders justice then the impression that local officials try to give is tha they really wanted justice all the time. When Judge Alimo found the Augusta Police Department guilty of blatant discrimination, the response was, No bo y discriminated intentionally.” Are we also supposed to believe that segregation and slavery were accidential. While we, too, recognize that there are many decent, dedicated law enforcement officers, we also recognize that there is racism, discrimination and corruption, and it goes all the way to the top. If there is proper leadership at the top, the rest of the force will fall in line. We have to be offended, though not surprised, that most of the law enforcement by the vice squad for gambling and liquor violations has been against Black people. We recall that of those recently sent to prison for gambling, all except one were Black. The people who really profited from the gambling are still on the streets. When Blacks fail to respond positively to police, it is not apathy. It is intelligence. We have always urged respect for the law. But we have also insisted that respect must be earned. And it won’t happen by people referring to police as “Augusta’s finest”. Finest what? It is significant that the DOI report points out that the resources of the DOI are available to any law enforcement agency that requests them. But the report underlines, “this division bus received no request from the Augusta Police Department or the Richmond County Sheriffs Office to assist in drug investigations in their jurisdictions.” The question is, Why Not? Even more serious than the “less than vigorous” law enforcement in Augusta is the disregard for talents and viewpoints of its Black citizens. John Ruffin aiggested is the disregard for talents and viewpoints of its Black citizens. John Ruffin suggested long before the DOI report that an anti-organized Both of these are recommended in the DOI report. If Augusta had accepted these suggestions from these Black leaders, it would not have to consider them at this late date. Unfortunately, Blacks have to spend so much time fighting racial discrimination that little time is left for constructive planning. This is a waste of time, energy and talenL And Augusta sorely needs this leadership. It is time that local officials squarely face racial discrimination, actively seek it out and destroy it, for it is the cancer that is destroying the very life-line of this community. October 25, 1973 No. 32 involvement of the CSRA Planning and Development Commission to bring about a rapport between law enforcement agencies.