You may have noticed that I haven’t updated this blog for a while. After four years blogging, I am taking a break from San Leandro politics to recharge. I will be back blogging in a month or two. Update: I’m enjoying my break from San Leandro politics too much. But I’ll be back blogging and more after the kids go back to school in late August.
My husband, Mike Katz-Lacabe, is a human rights and privacy advocate. Several years ago, he discovered that the SLPD was secretly using license plate cameras to photograph both cars and the areas around them – and were keeping those records indefinitely. Since then, police departments have refused to share this data from citizens, but if you drive a car in the Bay Area, you can assume that the police has access to hundreds of photos of your car, you and the area around it. Mike’s activities have been covered by the news media. Here, in reverse chronological order, are stories [Continue Reading]
These are Mike Katz-Lacabe’s tweets from this year’s San Leandro Police Department report on itself to the City Council. While video of the meeting is available online, the Council no longer takes minutes of its meetings. This meeting took place on Feb. 4, 2015. There was no discussion of racial profiling. ⇒ indicates an instance in which San Leandro Police Chief Sandra Spagnoli “misspoke”. My comments are in italics. – San Leandro Police Dept. annual report to the City Council at 7pm tonight at City Hall – 835 E. 14th St. Agenda – San Leandro City Council meeting on annual [Continue Reading]
✚ Please sign the petition asking the American Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross to protect the use of their emblem as a symbol, and not allow its use on police vehicles used to intimidate and assault citizens. Petition at: https://www.change.org/p/international-committee-of-the-red-cross-stop-the-use-of-the-red-cross-emblem-on-para-military-police-vehicles
Fear is a stone throw away from political repression, literally. Update: The closed session meeting was finally cancelled on the day of the vote, but the City Council chambers were filled with police officers in uniform, in order to intimidate public speakers. Two dozen citizens still spoke out against the tank. Only one San Leandro citizen without business ties to the police department spoke in favor of it. Mayor Pauline Cutter has called for a special closed session meeting of the San Leandro City Council tonight, to take place before the Council votes to acquire a BearCat (Ballistic Engineered Armored [Continue Reading]