Bell vigil produces frustration and resolve

On the sixth day of a planned 50-day, round-the-clock, non-violent vigil being staged by Sean Bell’s family and friends in front of the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, Bell’s father expressed his growing frustration with the press.
&#8220How do I feel?” William Bell retorted to a reporter who questioned him about the grand jury’s appointment. &#8220How do you think I feel? I can’t believe you just asked me that,” he said, turning and walking away, refusing to answer further questions on Saturday, January 6.
Four days earlier, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown empaneled a grand jury to investigate the November 25 shooting death of the unarmed Bell and his two wounded friends as they departed a Jamaica strip club hours prior to Bell’s wedding.
Against the backdrop of a 12-foot banner designed to appear it had been shot 50 times that bore the younger Bell’s picture and the words &#8220Never Again,” stood a group of about 20 supporters on the sidewalk behind a long police barricade.
Some masked their anger better than others that their calls for the appointment of a special prosecutor to the investigate the case had been ignored, despite their belief that DA Brown works too closely with the police to genuinely and effectively prosecute the men responsible for killing Bell.
&#8220We’re optimistic,” a man in his late thirties who would identify himself only as Ernest said hesitantly before asking a reporter to demonstrate one instance in which police had served jail time for killing an unarmed black man.
&#8220Just check the history,” he continued, giving air to his doubts that any of the five police involved in the shooting will face criminal charges. &#8220According to them, negligence is not a crime,” he continued, explaining that the police had violated protocol by not stopping to assess the situation after firing three shots as they are taught.
In response to this and similar criticisms, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced last Wednesday, January 3 the commissioning of the RAND Corporation, an independent, non-profit policy research institute, to study the department’s firearms training and firearms discharge review process.
&#8220In conducting this review, RAND will examine the quality and completeness of our firearms training program and identify potential improvements in the design and delivery of the curriculum, the technology used, the frequency and duration of training sessions, the tactics and procedures on which the training is based and the Police Department’s firearms discharge review process,” Kelly said.
However, &#8220What is that going to prove?” asked Annette Reid, 63, who said she worked as an education paraprofessional at John Adams High School while Bell was a student there although she did not know him.
&#8220Something is definitely wrong, this keeps happening. They are killing innocent people,” Reid said, indicating that she did not believe that study would affect the outcome of the Bell inquiry.
Jason Powell, a 25-year-old sales representative who said he used to play baseball with Bell, held out in his belief that the justice sought by Bell’s family and friends is forthcoming.
&#8220I know so,” he said, explaining that his faith in God allowed him to believe that justice would ultimately be served in the Bell case as he handed out flyers to lines of slowly passing drivers.
&#8220Come out, come out in support,” he called. &#8220It could be you in the car. It could be your husband. It could be your son in the car.”