FIRING OF MOUNT VERNON'S TOP COP POLICE COMMISSIONER CARL BELL DRAWS OUTRAGE AT COUNCIL MEETING

Mount Vernon Mayor Ernie Davis (left) Former Mount Vernon Police Commissioner Carl Bell (right).

 The firing of Mount Vernon Police Commissioner Carl Bell by Mayor Ernie Davis continues to be a hot-button issue in the city nearly a month after Bell was let go.

Damon Jones, a Mount Vernon resident and the head of the Westchester chapter of Blacks in Law Enforcement, criticized Bell's termination as he addressed the City Council during its meeting Wednesday.

"How are we going to fire a commissioner who is holding officers to accountability?" he asked. "There are some police officers that are out of control."

He said the victims of police brutality are African-American.

"The only people they're abusing are people who look like us," he said.

Davis, who has sole responsibility over the police commissioner, has refused to comment on why Bell was fired -- an issue that Samuel Rivers questioned.

"An answer from the mayor that he doesn't discuss personnel matters is not good enough," Rivers said.

None of the council's five members addressed Bell's firing. Council member Roberta Apuzzo, the head of the City Council's Public Safety Committee, said she was "looking forward to having a dialogue" with Jones.

"I've been around here since 1986, and we've had 12 police commissioners. Something's wrong with that equation," City Council President Yuhanna Edwards said.

Jones said he plans to write letters to the Department of Justice's civil rights division about police abuse of Mount Vernon residents.

In a Monday letter to Mount Vernon city Attorney Nichelle Johnson, Jones said the organization would continue to question the motive behind Bell's firing.

"This has completely jeopardized the process of accountability and transparency in the Mount Vernon Police Department," Jones said.

Several members of the police force are under investigation.