Our police department learned from its mistakes, says the Chief

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“We learn from our mistakes.”
Chief DiLuzio
June 3, 2020

The Chief was no doubt referring to this drug raid by City police on April 23, 1997, which ended with a man dead and a house burned down. The City was sued, found guilty, and fined $8m in damages — a giant sum only recently paid off.

As part of  the court judgment, the City Police Department was required to review its policies, procedures, and tactics, which review and subsequent changes resulted in the unusual dual accreditation the department now enjoys and to which the Chief called attention at City Council June 3.

About the guilty verdict, the Morning Call in March 2004 would title an editorial: “Jury sends police a message.”

Message received according to the Chief.

Hirko 1

Hirko 2

Morning Call, April 25, 1997

Published by The Bethlehem Gadfly

Edward J. Gallagher, Bethlehem immigrant, retired, nearly 50 years as Professor of American Literature at Lehigh University, known as "Dr. G" and "Conan the Grammarian" to students, whose virtual world avatar "EdwardScholarhands" stares at you here, has reinvented himself as the Bethlehem Gadfly.

Published

2 thoughts on “Our police department learned from its mistakes, says the Chief”

  1. It’s good that BPD is accredited (as are many or most LV departments). We’re told that this means they meet the highest standards for policing, but what does that actually mean? What are the standards police consider the best? (For example, do those standards allow the use of tear gas? …military-style weapons?)

  2. Just what was learned? Can the Chief go into more detail? What was changed?

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