Krasny's Track Record

Krasny's Track Record

You probably already have some idea what Ann Arbor's men in blue have been doing under the leadership of the city's Chief of Police, Walter Krasny.

One of the things they haven't been doing is enforcing the local Human Rights Ordinance, which, among other things, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual preference.

Following police refusal to enforce the sexual preference portion of the Ordinance in the Rubaiyat case (in which a local bar owner tried to prevent lesbian women from dancing together), the Human Rights Party Council members, Jerry DeGrieck and Nancy Wechsler, brought in a resolution to fire Krasny. Mayor Stephenson, exercising his right to control the Council agenda for the first time, refused to allow the resolution to be placed on the official agenda.

In a move to bring the resolution to the public's attention, the HRP Council members moved to make the Krasny firing an amendment to another Council resolution on sewerage at the Council meeting on March 18. Of course, the amendment was defeated, but we thought SUN readers should get a glimpse at the activities which Krasny has promoted in his "glorious" career as police chief. The following is the complete text of the resolution to fire Walter Krasny:

Resolution Terminating the Employment of Walter Krasny as Chief of Police

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has failed to instruct police officers of Ann Arbor to enforce the Human Rights Ordinance duly passed by the City Council of Ann Arbor, contrary to his oath of office and his duties as a City employee, most recently with regard to discrimination unlawfully practiced against the gay population of Ann Arbor; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has been at the head of a police force that has consistently practiced a policy of harassment and brutality against the gay population; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has consistently exhibited a contemptuous attitude toward the legitimate inquiries of duly elected members of the City Council of Ann Arbor as to the policies, practices, and priorities of the Police Department; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has been at the head of a police force that has consistently had a policy of harassment and brutality toward members of the black community; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny, in conjunction with this policy. has assisted in the cover-up beatings of such black residents as Thadeus R. Harrison and Joseph Harrison, and assisted in the concealment of the selective brutality and arrests of black students in the public schools during racial incidents in those schools, thus further inflaming racial tensions; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has been at the head of a police force which has exhibited an attitude of contempt toward women in Ann Arbor, most notably reflected in the sexist manner in which the Police Department has dealt with the crime of rape; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has failed to recruit anything approaching a fair number of women and black police officers, although given the practices of his department it would be hard to see why a concerned woman or black person would want to join the department; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has been at the head of a police force which consistently practiced a policy of harassment against the University students of Ann Arbor, especially black students; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has been at the head of a police force which has been more interested in harassing marijuana users than real criminals, including carefully timed raids on underground newspaper houses and dormitories as a political technique to support reactionary drug laws and reactionary City Council candidates; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has consciously contributed to the climate of misinformation surrounding marijuana by inflammatory public statements before the 1973 Blues and Jazz Festival; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny contributed to the cover-up of the true facts surrounding the death of Dirk Fisher, who was fatally assaulted for walking the streets of Ann Arbor with his arm around another man, but whose death was attributed by Krasny to an "overdose" of LSD, a medical impossibility; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has been at the head of a police force which has recently taken on a policy of harassment of bicyclists a safe and efficient form of transportation in comparison to the unsafe automobile; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has allowed the Police Department to participate in surveillance of political groups solely because the views of these groups are not consistent with the authoritarian proto-fascism of our so-called law-enforcement institutions and has cooperated with other government agencies in such unconstitutional political surveillance; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has authorized the Pólice Department to assist management in instances of labor disputes where strike-breakers have been brought in to take the jobs of strikers; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has been at the head of a police force which has a policy of harassment of automobile drivers in low income neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has continually made it impossible for members of City Council to properly evaluate the police budget by instituting so-called re-organization plans which disguise where money is being spent; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has presided over a police force which has the distinction of being the chief contributor to the City's financial crisis by being the largest over-spender of budget monies; and

WHEREAS, Walter Krasny has continually resisted any form of community control, and even knowledge of the policies, priorities and procedures of the Ann Arbor Police Department; and

WHEREAS, City Council has the ultimate responsibility for the law enforcement policies (and thus the personnel of the Police Department) of the City;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT;

1. The employment of Walter Krasny be immediately terminated for the reasons stated above.

proposed by Councilpeople

Jerry DeGrieck & Nancy Wechsler