Features

The March 4 Undercurrents column by J.Douglas Allen-Taylor (“When Objective Investigators Become Activists”) contains some serious mis-statements and factual errors that require correction.  

First and foremost, the incident that took place at Pat McCullough’s residence was not a “vigilante shooting” but an act of self-defense by a man rushed on his own property by five or six young men, one of whom attacked him, aided by others who were throwing objects at and cornering him between his car and his house, 20 feet up his driveway. The incident began when one of them said “there’s the snitch” when he was walking to his car to go shopping. 

Second, the incident had nothing to do with the Shattuck Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council (misidentified as the “North Central Oakland NCPC,” a non-existent organization). Pat McCullough’s activities have been, as correctly characterized by Lt. Green, mostly solitary and focused on his end of 59th Street, so much so that he was not even involved in the nuisance lawsuit against two households at the other end of the block where Melvin McHenry lives, households that spawned much of the drug dealing and violence that plagues 59th Street and the surrounding area. Pat is a homebody devoted to his family and concerned about things going on outside his house that affect him and his family.  

Third, in the 10 years he has lived on 59th Street, Pat McCullough has never been accused of assault nor charged with any crime. He has, however, been attacked once before and threatened by drug dealers who do not appreciate his frequent calls to the police. The last attack by the late Wayne Camper a year and a half ago was almost identical to the recent one and led to the prosecution of Camper by the district attorney because of the egregious nature of the intimidation and physical attack on McCullough by Camper and two associates, again on McCullough’s property. That attack left McCullough with seven stitches and the fear that he might not survive while it was going on. The trial was not completed because Camper died on the street while it was in progress, a victim of the border war of that year. Mr. Allen-Taylor’s omission of this formative event suggests that either he did not do his homework or perhaps is himself biased in the way that he suggests the police are in their handling of this matter.  

And that brings up an important fourth matter, the police. It is important to note that Lt. Green, who has publicly defended McCullough, is not one of the responding officers who took statements and wrote up reports about the shooting. His opinions are not part of the official record. He is the commander of the Crime Reduction Team and the Problem Solving (community policing) Officers who work on the priorities and projects identified by the NCPCs. The responding officers wrote up the official reports and are responsible for their accuracy. Officers assigned to conduct the follow-up investigation are from the Criminal Investigations Division with a different commander again. Though people would like to believe that police departments are a united team, they are bureaucracies in most big cities, with one bureau working independently of the others. Criminal charges are drawn up by the district attorney, who relies on police reports in deciding whether to charge anyone with a crime. To date no charges have been brought, suggesting that this is not a slam-dunk case of vigilante aggression as Mr. Allen-Taylor incorrectly asserts. 

A fifth mischaracterization is the non-representative character of the NCPC, implying that community policing represents the interests of a small, exclusive group. The fact is that the entire population of the beat is invited to participate in the community policing process. For the annual meeting, when representatives are elected to work with the police in the monthly meetings, invitations go out to every address in the beat, normally about 3,000 for Beat 11. Like our political elections, not everyone responds by attending and voting, nor can they be forced to participate. Does this mean we do not have a democratic form of government? The ones who do choose to participate decide the policies and activities of community policing in the beat. Their charge is to develop policies and actions that benefit the entire population of the beat with the exception of the criminals who bring violence and drugs into the streets of our neighborhoods.  

The Shattuck NCPC has worked with Pat McCullough on the issues of crime on 59th Street and the traffic barrier at the Shattuck end, two issues that affected him and the block powerfully. It would not be correct to say that he is an active participant in daily and monthly NCPC activities. As stated before, the NCPC works for the interests of the entire beat and relies on group action and partnering with the police and other city agencies. It will protect and defend any citizen in the beat who is threatened or attacked by criminals as Pat McCullough was twice. The NCPC came forward both times, and will again. Intimidation and retaliation are the chilling threat and debilitating nightmare to citizens working to end street-level crime of the type that 59th Street experiences. The police and citizens alike recognize this fact and respond to retaliation with a zero tolerance policy, as they should and must if community policing is going to succeed in its perennial effort to improve the quality of life in the city’s 57 beats. Community policing is official city policy. Lt. Green’s actions are consistent with that policy and in no way jeopardize the legal process as Mr. Allen-Taylor asserts. 

The way that citizens from other areas of the city have rallied around Pat McCullough, without even knowing him, demonstrates the widespread understanding of the importance of citizens being able to work with the police to eliminate street level crime without the fear of retaliation. The incident on 59th St. is all about citizen action, criminal retaliation, and the right of a citizen to defend himself and his family from harm when attacked. Law-abiding citizens do not accuse a person of being a snitch and then attack him as a group and threaten to shoot him. The situation at its most basic starts from that simple fact.  

Don Link is the chair of the Shattuck Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council. h