Our View - Curfew to curb crime in city's southeast side?

Printed in the Iowa City Press-Citizen, Aug. 18, 2009.

"I feel like this neighborhood is out of control," said Brandi Mastain during a meeting Saturday in which more than 120 Grant Wood neighborhood residents met at Fairmeadows Park to share concerns about the neighborhood.

For months, Mastain and other residents have been expressing their frustrations about:

• Being awakened many times during the night by rowdy neighbors,

• Children being left on their own to roam at all hours,

• Streets and sidewalks being blocked by large groups of teens, and

• Gunfire -- most recently in the area of Lakeside Drive and Regal Lane about 11 p.m. Aug. 5.

The participants gave a variety of perspectives on the causes and solutions for the neighborhood's safety issues:

• Some said the issues were more important than the binge and underage drinking issues downtown.

• Some challenged the Iowa City Council's priorities by questioning the benefits of parks and bike paths if people are afraid to walk down the street.

• Others encouraged their neighbors to call the police if they see a gathering of kids they are concerned about.

• And still others expressed their discomfort at all the hyped-up language of "that side" or "those people."

Several neighbors said they have appreciated how, since the reports of shots fired on the Aug. 5, the police department has assigned additional investigators and patrols to the southeast side. But the police cannot maintain those patrols without additional staffing -- especially when university classes start up soon and the downtown pedestrian mall again fills with mobs of college-aged bar patrons at various stages of inebriation.

Indeed, the current laws on the books don't seem enough to turn the tide in the neighborhood.

While some neighbors were calling on the Iowa City Council to impose a curfew, Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine said he would prefer the council pass a delinquent behavior ordinance. Rather than lock down on every teenager in the city, such an ordinance would allow the police to focus on the juveniles who are causing problems.

Hargadine, who was scheduled to discuss the issue with the Iowa City Council Monday night, makes a good case for the benefits of a delinquency behavior ordinance over those of a curfew. Charges under the delinquency ordinance wouldn't be required to be sent to the magistrate court, as those under the curfew would be. Instead, the ordinance he has in mind would give the juvenile court system jurisdiction. To be used most effectively, the ordinance would require Iowa City police and juvenile court officers to improve their communication -- which as been less than ideal in the past -- but Hargadine said some preliminary steps to that effect have been taken.

Although we understand the appeal of the delinquency ordinance over that of a curfew -- and although something needs to be done to address these public safety concerns -- the council still has to ask many questions and to hammer out many details if it decides to follow the chief's recommendation. Specifically, because police officers would have discretion on whether the ordinance has been broken, the council will have to consider how to address the inevitable disproportionate implementation of the ordinance in some neighborhoods and on specific racial or socio-economic groups.

In the meantime, we commend the organizers of and participants in Saturday's forum for facilitating such a candid discussion. We urge them to keep working on this until all discussion leads to practical solutions and broader community involvement.

Our View - Once shooting probe is completed, officials must release all details

Printed Iowa City Press-Citizen, Aug. 1, 2009.

HOMICIDE, n. The slaying of one human being by another. There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable, and praiseworthy, but it makes no great difference to the person slain whether he fell by one kind or another -- the classification is for advantage of the lawyers." -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" (1911).

There nothing good about the shooting of a homeless Sudanese refugee by a 24-year veteran of the Johnson County Sheriff's Department. And while the Iowa City police and state agencies investigate the shooting, the local community is left to debate which of the four labels listed above should be attached to the death.

Initial police reports say that on July 24, 26-year-old John Deng got into an argument with 63-year-old John Bohnenkamp -- an argument that turned physical and resulted in Bohnenkamp being stabbed. Deputy Terry Stotler then lethally shot Deng after the man made what the plain-clothed officer perceived as a threatening move toward Bohnenkamp.

The situation is further complicated politically because Deng -- who has a list of encounters with Iowa City police stretching back two years -- had no known address for at least five months. A newly formed community group, Iowa Citizens for Social Change, already has been pressing the police to release more information about the shooting.

Because this is a community where many can recall vividly a police shooting 13 years ago, we too hope the reports from the police and state investigators will answer all of the community's questions. We urge investigators, after they have completed their investigations and announced their conclusions, to make public as much information as possible.

In the meantime, here are the answers to some of the questions the community has been asking over the past week.

Questions authorities have answered:

• Stotler is a civil deputy. What exactly does a civil deputy do? Why are they in plain clothes? And how much training do they have to carry a gun?

Civil deputies are responsible for serving court summons, documents and eviction notices. They have as much training as any other deputies, but they normally perform their duties in plain clothes, carrying only a badge, a gun and handcuffs. A uniformed officer, in contrast, typically would have access to pepper spray, a Taser or a night stick.

• Who will make the final determination of whether Stotler's shooting of Deng was justifiable?

Once local authorities have completed their investigation -- with the inclusion of an autopsy and toxicology report -- the updated materials will be sent to the state attorney general's office. Officials in that office will determine whether Stotler could have reasonably perceived that he or another person was under the threat of deadly force. They will make the decision on whether to file criminal charges against Stotler.

• What information from the investigation will be made public?

If charges are filed against Stotler, then information from the investigation could be made public through testimony and court evidence. If no charges are filed, we hope the state still provides more than enough information to justify the decision.

Questions still being investigated:

• Had Deng been drinking or using drugs?

The toxicology reports won't be back for weeks.

• How much (if any) had Bohnenkamp been drinking before he confronted Deng for breaking bottles on the 300 block of Prentiss Street?

We don't know.

• What was said to escalate the confrontation so quickly?

Bohnenkamp has offered no comment on the incident.

• Did Stotler identify himself as a police officer when he drew his gun?

According to police, several witnesses say that he did.

• Did Deng have a knife in his hand when Stotler shot him? And was he acting in a threatening manner?

According to police, several witnesses say that he did have a knife and was being threatening. Two men told another media outlet that Deng was not being threatening. The police have recovered the knife, but they said they are not releasing a description of the knife because the matter is still under investigation.

Questions that require more police, media and public research:

• If Deng is one of the "lost boys of the Sudan," how did he end up in Iowa City? Why did he stay? Why didn't his family know that he was homeless?

This could be an interesting story. There are many books and films about the more than 27,000 boys who were displaced and orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War. Through help from the public, the police recently notified Deng's family members who came to Iowa City to identify the body.

However Deng came to Iowa City, he has had several run-ins with the Iowa City police in the past two years. Police records show he was arrested for public intoxication on July 11 by Iowa City police, his third such offense since March 2008. Deng was arrested for drunken driving in August 2007 by Iowa City police and has several other offenses on his record, including a charge of disorderly conduct -- fighting or violent behavior stemming from a June 2007 incident.

• How well did Deng speak and understand English?

Iowa City Police Sgt. Troy Kelsay said, despite being born in another country, Deng seemed to have an understanding of the English language in his past experiences with the Iowa City police. Crissy Canganelli, the director of Shelter House, said the shelter staff ranked Deng as a 5 out of 10 in terms of language ability, with 10 being fluent.