Fresno disbands cop unit - December, 6, 2001
The Fresno Police Department's
Violent Crimes Suppression Unit, a quick-strike, almost paramilitary team
of 20 to 30 submachine-gun-wielding officers born at a time when the city's
annual murder rate was pushing 100, will cease to exist April 1.Police
Chief Jerry Dyer announced the unit's demise Wednesday during a meeting
with The Bee's editorial board where he unveiled his reorganization plans
for the department.The VCSU was created in December 1994 by then-Chief
Ed Winchester when Fresno was suffering so much violent crime that some
community leaders worried the city was on the verge of anarchy.The unit,
designed to fight violent, gun-toting criminals on their own turf, has
done its job to such an extent that the department now can move on to other
law enforcement strategies, Dyer said."They've been a very good unit, especially
in times when crime was really out of control in this city," he said. "...
But, crime is not out of control in this city any longer."The department
will continue to aggressively fight violent crime, but responsibilities
now shouldered by a separate, centralized VCSU will be dispersed to the
city's five policing districts as part of his decentralization efforts,
Dyer said.Also, Dyer said he is adding 57 officers to patrol, adding 25
investigators and tripling the number of officers downtown to 18.Dyer said
these changes involve reassignments, not new hires.City spokesman Randy
Reed said Mayor Alan Autry is aware of Dyer's plan. The mayor is "confident"
that Dyer is making the right decision, Reed said.Officers in the VCSU,
as it often is called, wear special uniforms and are armed with the kind
of automatic and semiautomatic weapons usually associated with a standing
army. The high-profile unit with its dramatic mission attracted attention
from the national media, where pundits debated the "militarization of Main
Street."In less than four months, the unit will exist nowhere except in
the dusty annals of Fresno history. Said Dyer: "You will not see them patrolling
in the manner they have in the past."At times, this aggressive manner --
described as "kick butts and take names" by a former police officer --
generated charges from Police Department critics that VCSU was itself out
of control. Some called it a "rogue" unit, having law unto itself.Whether
this was the case or, as Dyer contends, the VCSU's tough and dangerous
job inevitably led it into some gray areas, perhaps will always be grist
for debate.However, there is no doubt that the unit found itself at the
center of several high-profile lawsuits in its brief life.In two of the
lawsuits, as Dyer is quick to note, the city was exonerated. In October
2000, four police officers were exonerated in the wrongful-death lawsuit
in the 1997 killing of William Lee Fowler Jr.This June, six officers were
absolved of any wrongdoing in the shooting death of former pro football
player Tom Neville in 1998. Members of the VCSU were involved in both fatal
shootings.In September 2000, former VCSU member Myrna Loran won a $450,000
settlement from the city over her accusations of sexual harassment and
hostile work environment.Dyer said the lawsuits didn't affect his decision.
Rather, it was his desire to create a different perception of the Police
Department: "I don't want to project an image, by any means, that we're
going to be soft on crime. Because we're not. But, at the same time, I
recognize that ... we have to do everything we can to open up lines of
communication [and] make the public feel they're not being policed through
Force. "We're not a police state. All of those things play a role" in the
decision.Loran, who is no longer a Fresno police officer, called her former
unit's demise "overdue."She said the VCSU once played an important role
in the war on crime, but its effectiveness was compromised by mismanagement
and officers who, caught up with power and pressure, lost sight of their
true mission."You're on an adrenaline run.