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Police review panel is toothless kitten
Chris Churchill, The Advocate
Published 12:00 a.m., Sunday, May 27, 2012

ALBANY — The car, occupied by two women, sat stopped alongside Western Avenue. An Albany police officer stood by the driver's window, asking questions.

"Do I know you?"

"Where do you live?"

"Where do you work?"

"What's your phone number?"

"How much do you weigh?"

To the women in the car, Kimberly Roche and her younger sister Kathleen, the officer's questions seemed wholly inappropriate, too personal for a routine traffic stop. And it wasn't just the questions, Kim Roche says, but the way they were asked.

"He was just being a bully," the 43-year-old says. "He was being a bully from the minute he opened his mouth."

Roche complained to the department, but the Albany resident got no response. Then, in January, her experience was detailed in an Advocate column written by Cathy Woodruff, my predecessor.

Police then took the allegations more seriously. Roche's complaints were investigated by the department and placed before the Citizens' Police Review Board.

The department found nothing improper with the way Roche was questioned. You're probably not surprised.

Still, Roche thought the citizens' board, charged with monitoring how cops treat regular people, might see things her way..........................>>>>.....................>>>>....................Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/loca.....02.php#ixzz1w4T5Mudq