Honest government is all that we ask for. To be free from threats harassment and intimidation from those acting under color of law. When those who are charged with enforcing the law engage in corruption, fraud or illegal behavior we look for the Public Integrity Bureau to ensure that the rule of law applies.
On March 3, 2017, Maurice Love, a police officer from the City of White Plains, NY who was involved in the killing of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. attended a Dance For Justice that was put together by the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform to raise funds to actualize their goals of working with law enforcement and to affect positive change in the communities of Westchester County.
White Plains Police told Black Westchester, that this officer’s presence was inadvertent and they had no Idea that Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. one of the founders of the coalition, despite the fact he has been one the organization’s most vocal and public figure of all its members, they had no idea he would be in attendance. We believe this to be a flat-out lie as did the Chamberlain Jr., who filed a complaint with the Westchester County District Attorney’s office.
March 28, 2017, Kenneth Chamberlain Junior received a letter from the DA’s Integrity Unit stating that “as a result of their investigation there is legally insufficient evidence to file any criminal charges against members of the White Plains Police Department.”
This determination sounds oh so familiar anytime a civilian makes a complaint against a police officer. To Chamberlain Jr. and others, it looks like Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino may be in fact following in the shoes of his predecessor, Janet DiFiore, who told the press, the use of the word Nigga was a means to distract Mr. Chamberlain while they gain entrance to his apartment and not a hate crime. There is nothing new under the sun.
If the situation had been reversed and Mr. Chamberlain had shown up at and event, where he may have been directly or indirectly involved in the harming of an officer, would there be sufficient evidence to file criminal charges; I believe there would be. As far as the investigation goes who did you interview, did you speak with anyone that attended the event; did you even speak to Mr. Chamberlain?
We asked Mr. Chamberlain and he said that no one from the DA’s office called him in to ask him anything about the incident in question. When we asked Mr. Chamberlain why doesn’t he think this happened he stated that;
“I have always said that race and class play a major role in how cases are dealt with in this city and many others like it and it is my belief that if Kenneth Chamberlain’s last name was Bernstein, Greenberg, or Cohen not only would this harassment complaint be handled differently but the summary execution of my father would have been handled differently.” Chamberlain went on to say that “ this doesn’t make me feel any safer in this city and while I may fear for my safety I will still stand on the front line and be an advocate for positive change.”
BW was unable to reach out to the Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino for comment but will me extending an invitation for him to appear on an upcoming episode of People Before Politics Radio to discuss this and other issues.
AJ Woodson
AJ Woodson is the Editor-In-Chief of Black Westchester and Co-Owner of Urban Soul Media Group, the parent company, Host & Producer of the People Before Politics Radio Show. AJ is a Father, Brother, An Author, Journalism Fellow (Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism), Hip-Hop Artist - one third of the legendary underground rap group JVC FORCE known for the single Strong Island, Radio Personality, Hip-Hop Historian, Documentarian, Activist, Criminal Justice Advocate and Freelance Journalist whose byline has appeared in several print publications and online sites including The Source, Vibe, the Village Voice, Upscale, Sonicnet.com, Launch.com, Rolling Out Newspaper, Daily Challenge Newspaper, Spiritual Minded Magazine, Word Up! Magazine, On The Go Magazine and several others.
