The Capital Times
Citizens of Sudan
Photo by Kathryn Herr
By Osman Abdalla
Staff Reporter
oaalo6@psu.edu
The Sudanese people are look
ing for any exit from their devas
tating civil war. They are support
ing the ongoing peace agree
ment between the National
Assembly Government (NAG)
and the Sudanese People
Liberation Army (SPLA) eagerly
without considering the negative
aspects of the agreement.
However, this ongoing peace
agreement would be responsible
for an extremely immense quag
mire for the Sudanese people
because it would create severe
suffering for a majority of citizens
of Sudan, lead to other types of
rebellion, and make the eventual
dismantling of Sudan inevitable.
First, the ongoing civil war
would create severe suffering for
the majority of Sudanese people
because of unequal division of
resources. For example, the
annual national income, which is
used to run public services in the
country, is about one billion U.S
dollars. The peace agreement
would cut this income in half. The
first half is for six million people
in the south, due to the Peace
Agreement, and the rest, which
New York City police officer shares experience with PSH students
By Nat Melincove
Staff Reporter
ncml2B@psu.edu
Former New York City police
officer John “Jack” Dempsey
remembers the civil strife of the
1960’5. The smell of the fires lin
gering in the Bronx, teenage
boys destroying their own neigh
borhoods and mothers unable to
get baby formula because the
local bodegas had been burnt
down. His part in the police pres
ence that abated a riot in one
neighborhood is his fondest
memory because he received
something police officers rarely
receive. A woman who lived in
the secured neighborhood told
Dempsey, “Thanks for being
here.”
He also worked a peace protest
turned student takeover at
Columbia University in 1968. On
the front lines of the protest,
Dempsey was fully clad in riot
gear when a female protester
handed him a flower. He threw it
to the ground in disgust and she
began to cry. As Dempsey
recalled, “We didn’t communi
cate back then, we hated. We
were in different worlds.”
Nineteen years later, while a
student at Harvard University, he
met another woman from the
is about $5OO million, is for the
other parts of the country. As for
the south, its portion would
enable it to do everything it
wants. However, the other parts
of the country would experience
severe shortage in income,
which would lead to an even
deeper deterioration of its public
service. Added to that is the mis
representation that other states
are suffering from, which has
been even worse after the Peace
Agreement.
Similarly, the peace agreement
would lead to other rebellions in
the other regions of Sudan
because they would want to get
the same consideration. As an
example of that possibility, the
civil war in Darfur state, which
became an official opposition
recently, also would get the same
consideration as the southern
Sudanese because both regions
have about seven million people.
If the Darfur state received half of
the Sudanese government por
tion, it would leave $250 million
dollars for the 18 million people
in the other regions. Definitely,
this $250 million would not be
worth anything compared to the
needs of the other regions.
Lastly, this peace agreement
would make the dismantling of
Sudan inevitable because it
weakens the patriotism and
strengthens the racism and reli
gious zealots. I would say, after
this agreement, any group in any
region would follow the same
token. It would raise either
racism or religious problems in
order to get the same rights as
the southern region did. The
agreement would lead to a
decline in Sudanese patriotism
and promote racism and reli
gious zealots.
In short, the Sudanese people
protest and he said to her, “I did
n’t understand you then.”
This is the type of real-life police
expertise Professor Dempsey
brought to students at the
Morrison Gallery on a recent visit
to Penn State Harrisburg.
Approximately 35 students gath
ered to hear the 24-year veteran
of the NYPD relay his personal
experience in the field of polic
ing.
Dempsey retired from police
work in 1988 after being recog
nized seven times for meritorious
and excellent police duty. He
climbed the chain of command,
eventually achieving the rank of
captain. Before his retirement, he
took advantage of the education
al opportunities the job made
available. He received a
Master’s in Public Administration
from Harvard University’s presti
gious John F. Kennedy School of
Business.
This was a coup for a kid grow
ing up on the mean streets of the
South Bronx. “A prestigious uni
versity was beyond our dreams
and hopes,” said Dempsey. “The
reality was trying to stay out of
jail.”
After his graduation from high
school, his mother told him to go
downtown, see “the man” and
get a job. Traveling the subway,
trying to avoid eye contact as all
New Yorkers are trained to do,
look for end to turmoil and suffering
would become more and more
fanatic about their race (African
or Arabian) and their specific
geographic area (tribal territory)
rather than to the whole country
because they would feel that this
is the only way to guarantee their
rights.
In my viewpoint, the reason
able solution for the ongoing
problem is that the Sudanese
people must:
1- Get rid of President Omar
Hassan Albashir and his hench
men that form the power. They
have failed to rule well and to
save the unity of country as a
microcosm of Africa. They are
also prompting racism as a
means of beating back rebellions
and beating down those who dis
agree with the party line.
2- Avoid relying on the current
Uma Party as national party to
serve on behalf of the country.
They fostered the racism in the
country by establishing Al-
Tajamo Al-Arabi in the mid-eight
ies, which harms the country with
its discriminatory motives.
3- Reject any unreasonable
demands or conditions by any
opponent or proponent of the
government’s policy that jeop
ardize the unity of the country.
4- Abolish any unofficial militia,
such as Al-Tajamo Al-Arabi mili
tias (Janjaweed), that were
formed by the Uma party and
legitimized by NAG. These par
ties were formed to fight along
with the National Army in the civil
war because it ruined the
National Army institution by
destroying civilian property. They
also suppor discrimination,
crime, and genocide against
civilians in Darfur.
5- Compel all opposition leaders,
particularly Dr. John Grang, to be
objective in their demands of
power and the national wealth
distribution. Alscf, it is important
to be cautious not only of the
rights of the opposition, but also
of those of the Sudanese people.
If the Sudanese people do not
consider these points and take
action in the best interest of the
country, Sudan will experience
extreme suffering, dismantling,
civil war, or more rebellions.
Look for Osman’s new
column ‘World View’
comming to the Capital
Times in issue #4
he came across a poster that
read “The NYPD wants you.” The
$4,000 a year salary, 20 annual
vacation days and retirement
with half-pay were too good to
pass up, and in 1964, Dempsey
joined the force.
Dempsey began his second
career, that of a college profes
sor, in 1988 at SUNY-Suffolk
County. In 2003, he became a
professor of criminal justice and
public administration at SUNY-
“Treat victims like you would want
your mother to be treated by
Empire State in New York City.
He has authored two textbooks,
An Intro to Policing, currently in
its third edition, and Intro to
Investigations, in its second edi
tion. He also lectures to students
across the country on the formal
and real workings of the police
system.
Dr. Jim Ruiz, professor of crim
inal justice at PSH and long-time
friend of Dempsey, organized the
lecture. He said, “I use his text
book because I’ve been exposed
to him for so long and his
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Maps of Sudan courtesy of Google Images
Photo by James Nachtwey. Courtesy of Time Magazine
thoughts are more about polic
ing, dealing with people on a per
sonal level, and not law enforce-
ment.”
Senior Behavioral Science
major Jim Michaels agreed. “He
humanizes police work and what
they experience-the good and
the bad. [He is] very honest, he
told it like it was,” said Michaels.
The honest reflection of his
years as a police officer in the big
city is the reason Ruiz, a former
another cop.”
-Prof. Jack Dempsey
police officer in New Orleans,
was excited to have Dempsey as
a speaker. “They (students) don’t
have the exposure to the types of
experience Jack has,” Ruiz said.
“Our (Dempsey and Ruiz) experi
ences with big city policing are
unique to this area.”
Senior Criminal Justice major
Jennifer Smith enjoyed
Dempsey’s up-front delivery. “He
brought a part of himself to the
presentation. He didn’t 8.5., he
was a straight shooter,” said
Smith.
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Dempsey explained to the audi
ence the break down of police
work. Ninety percent of the offi
cer’s time is hanging out and
being observant. Nine percent is
the arrests, the part that most
people associate with police
work. The other one percent is
sheer terror.
He spoke vividly of the police
officers that did their job on 9/11.
An officer is on his beat, a plane
goes into the building and every
one is looking to the police offi-
cer. “It’s a different type of job,”
he said. “Everybody’s running
out (of the buildings), and you're
(the police) going in. That’s
what kind of job it is." He noted
that we don't think much about
all the people that lived because
of all those who ran into the
building.
He also talked to the audience
about the role of being a cop and
the effect it has on the individual.
“As a cop, you’re society’s handi
man. You take care of the stuff
they don’t want to take care of,”
he said.
He also said that the job affects
cops mentally. Not all the out
comes are happy, unlike the
pseudo-world of policing that is
seen on television. The rates of
suicide, alcoholism and divorce
among police officers are some
of the highest in society.
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Dempsey was not immune. “The
streets have no respect for cops.
They eat you up,” he said.
Dempsey gave the students
tips on dealing with the effects of
the street by advising them to
pick positive, experienced role
models in life. And he challenged
them to earn the respect of the
people. “Treat victims like you
would want your mother to be
treated by another cop.”
Above all, he stressed that cops
need to depersonalize them
selves from the ugly situations
they face. He said, “Police work
is not a 24-hour a day job. It’s
not a way of life.” Officers must
have something in life other than
the police department.
Dempsey’s way included positive
role models, advice and the love
of many people, especially his
family, whom he mentions every
chance he gets.
Despite his realization that the
police department and police
work were not the easiest jobs,
Dempsey couldn’t think of anoth
er job he would rather do. He
stressed the simple things that
make police work great, the
times when no one is watching.
The times an officer can help a
victim of theft retrieve those irre
placeable family photos in their
wallet or purse.
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