SOUL-SEARCHING AFTER POLICE SHOOTING OF UNARMED MAN IN IRVINGTON

IRVINGTON, N.J., May 4 — The dance is played out daily here on the streets
of Irvington's troubled East Ward. From their cruisers, police officers
scrutinize faces in this drug-ravaged neighborhood, trying to discern
suspect from civilian. And from sidewalks and street corners, residents
stare right back. The people and their police — together in a circle of
suspicion.

Ruben Douglas, an East Ward resident who works for the Department of Motor
Vehicles, said that there was a certain gaze that came from some officers
when they spotted a young man wearing nice clothes or driving a late-model
car in his neighborhood. "They automatically think he has to be a drug
dealer," Mr. Douglas said.

Across town, Steven Palamara, who spent more than 20 years behind the wheel
of those cruisers as an officer and the last six as chief of the
Irvington's 190-member police force, offers a wan shake of his head when
asked about such complaints.

"Officers today, they're the hero, they're the bad guy, they're the good
guy each and every call they go on," Chief Palamara said. "Sometimes,
you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. Hopefully, they go away
leaving a positive image, a professional image with whatever they're
dealing with."

He paused, then added, "The system isn't perfect."

It is, however, being put to the test here after the death last Monday of
Bilal Dashawn Colbert, 29, an unarmed motorist who was shot and killed by
Officer William Mildon during a traffic stop.

Mr. Colbert, who the police said was driving a car with a stolen license
plate, was about to pull away from the curb to take his fiancee's two
daughters to school when Officer Mildon approached. The police said that
Mr. Colbert refused Officer Mildon's request to shut off the car's engine
and instead put the vehicle in reverse and prepared to flee.

As the car began to back up, the police said, Officer Mildon fired one
shot, which struck Mr. Colbert in the neck. The Irvington Police Department
and the Essex County prosecutor's office are both looking into the incident
to determine whether Officer Mildon acted properly. (Officer Mildon was
cleared of any wrongdoing in the 1997 shooting death of another black
motorist during a traffic stop a block from the intersection where Mr.
Colbert was killed.) The United States Justice Department has also offered
its assistance.

Even as the formal investigations continue, this working-class township of
60,000 people just across Newark's western border has begun a measure of
soul-searching and a re-examination of the relationship between the police
and some residents, who have long complained of unfair, excessively harsh
treatment by officers — assertions the department vehemently denies.

After N.A.A.C.P. leaders suggested that the shooting was racially motivated
— Mr. Colbert was black, Officer Mildon is white — Mayor Sara B. Bost
acknowledged that the town's police force had "systemic problems" and vowed
to try a variety of approaches, including department-wide sensitivity
training, to address them.

"We're all looking for a spirit of calm, a spirit not only to resolve the
current issue at hand but to resolve all the issues in the Township of
Irvington," Ms. Bost said.

While acknowledging that it was important to foster that spirit, Officer
Mildon's lawyer, Patrick P. Toscano Jr., strongly denied that race played a
role in the shooting. "I take extreme umbrage for anybody to infer that
Officer Mildon's actions were precipitated by any racial animus," he said.

Mr. Toscano said that Officer Mildon fired his weapon shortly after Mr.
Colbert told his fiancee's daughters — ages 8 and 10 — to jump out of the
car as he prepared to put the vehicle in reverse. He added that Officer
Mildon had believed that either the girls or the officer himself or
children heading for classes at the nearby Grove Street Grammar School
might have been hurt as Mr. Colbert's car backed away.

"The way I see it thus far, not only did he save his own life, but he saved
the life of an 8-year-old child and possibly other children," Mr. Toscano said.

Today, Mr. Toscano filed a defamation suit against the Rev. William
Rutherford, president of the state conference of the N.A.A.C.P., for
calling Officer Mildon a "racist" and a "murderer." Mr. Rutherford also
asserted on Wednesday that Officer Mildon had harassed Mr. Colbert for a
year before the shooting. Mr. Toscano denied that the officer had a
vendetta against Mr. Colbert.

"For Mr. Rutherford to infer that he heard through the grapevine that
Officer Mildon targeted this individual is reckless, untrue and accordingly
defamatory," Mr. Toscano said.

Unfounded or not, such reports are given great credence in the East Ward,
where Mr. Colbert's death is seen as emblematic of the strained relations
between residents and the police. Already many neighborhood residents — who
speak of Mr. Colbert with hushed voices — are treating him as a
neighborhood martyr.

Mr. Colbert's fiancee, Tashonda Boyd, said she first met him almost 10
years ago in the same bowling alley in Union where she now works as a
cashier. Mr. Colbert saw his share of trouble, Ms. Boyd said.

He served a prison sentence on narcotics charges and was due to appear in
court on additional drug charges in June. However, she added, he recently
became more determined to leave his past behind. The reason: their
3-month-old son, Bilal Colbert Jr.

"Basically, after the baby was born, he was trying to better his life,"
said Ms. Boyd.

Although Mr. Colbert did not have a steady job, Ms. Boyd said he had wanted
to be a barber and had spent much of his time trying to learn the trade at
the Nubian Kuts hair salon on Springfield Avenue in Newark. There, friends
remembered Mr. Colbert as an avid bowler, a fan of the PlayStation 2 video
game system and a man who was trying to find his way after prison.

"He was most definitely trying to turn his life around, staying to himself,
looking for jobs, staying out of trouble," said Leon Turner, 35, a barber
at the shop who had known Mr. Colbert for a decade. "I always tried to keep
him focused on things, to keep his mind out of trouble" — or out of "the
game," as many here refer to the drug trade and street life that
accompanies it.

Mr. Turner said, "I told him it's easy to get in the game, but it's hard to
get out."