police misconduct

Photos of San Leandro Undercover Police Officers

Photos of San Leandro Undercover Police Officers Civil Liberties, Police, Schools No Responses »

Dec 222015

These are three of the four undercover officers which a parent recognized at the last San Leandro School Board meetings. Parents and children rallied against a program that will put police officers in the classroom to try to gain the trust of students so that they will snitch on one another. There were about forty parents and children protesting and speaking out against this program, and at least nine San Leandro Police officers, both in uniform and out, assigned to monitor them.

As the undercover police officers were not recognized until after the rally, it’s possible that some of them mixed with parents and kids pretending to be one of us. They may have tried to get information out of us, or even to suggest the commission of disruptive actions. If you were at the rally and recognize any of these three officers, or if you have photos of the rally or the school board meeting, please e-mail me.

San Leandro Undercover Police Officers This man, seated in the center of the last row, is one of the SLPD undercover officers.

SLPD Sargent Troy Young was seated at the far right on the last row. He turned his face around when he saw this camera, but was recognized by one of the parents anyway. Here is a photo of him before he grew his beard and went undercover.

The SLPD had two SUVs parked across the street with officers monitoring the rally. One was marked and had police in uniform, the other one was this one.

Note: I thought carefully before publishing these photos, given that I did not want to endanger the undercover police officers. I decided to publish them, however, because

1) I think there is a real and great danger to our civil liberties when police feel free to infiltrate peaceful political rallies. I can’t think of any legitimate reason why the SLPD wold put undercover officers (not just officer in plain clothing, but officers who are officially working undercover) to monitor us. I’ve written to Mayor Pauline Cutter asking for explanations and received no answer.

and

2) If SLPD undercover police officers can so easily and readily be spotted by a parent, they don’t stand a chance of not being recognized by actual criminals. By exposing them here and letting them know their cover was so easily blown, I may be saving their lives.

City Manager Chris Zapata at Fault for Police Chief’s Unethical Behavior

City Manager Chris Zapata at Fault for Police Chief’s Unethical Behavior Short Notes 1 Response »

Nov 122013

This letter was published by the San Leandro Times on Nov. 7, 2013

Editor:

Chief of Police Sandra Spagnoli is out of control. Endangering the lives of children by canceling the crossing guards at the Safe Streets Halloween event is only her latest stunt. Previous examples include using department resources to unlawfully lobby the City Council, falsely arresting people for sex crimes and eliminating Internal Affairs.

The Chief also has the habit of providing the City Council with false information, what City Manager Chris Zapata labels “mis-speaking.” The Chief, for example, told the Council that the SLPD needed to search the backyards of chicken owners’ homes without a warrant because they get an average of one complaint a week about chickens. A public records search showed just a single complaint filed in the last two years.

The Chief also “mis-spoke” about the number of license plate scanners the Department has (5, not 3), the dangers of over-pollination (none outside strawberry greenhouses), the effects of medical marijuana dispensaries on crime (none) and the effectiveness of surveillance cameras in reducing and solving crimes (very low to none). Just last week, she blamed the increase in crime in San Leandro to prisoners being released early due to realignment; trouble is, law enforcement data shows there have been no such early releases.

“Mis-speaking” to the City Council and lobbying during work hours show a lack of respect for the Mayor and Council members and for the democratic process itself. It’s up to City Manager Zapata to hold her accountable and assure she behaves legally and ethically in her job. The fact that he has failed to do so suggests he lacks the leadership skills necessary for his own position.

The City Council should keep this in mind as they evaluate Zapata’s performance in the upcoming months.

Margarita Lacabe, San Leandro

Update: On this week San Leandro Times, POA President Isaac Benabou not-quite-responds to my letter by praising his boss, Chief Sandra Spagnoli, and accusing me of “misleading” readers. Alas, he does not substantiate his allegation and the only factual assertion he makes in disagreement with my letter, that surveillance cameras “greatly assist” in preventing and solving crimes is wrong. I call on Mr. Benabou to explain his allegations or otherwise apologize. Here is his letter:

Editor:

This is a reply to last week’s letter to the editor “Accuses Police Chief of Being ‘Out of Control’,” Letters, Nov. 7.”

I am writing this letter to the editor as the voice for the San Leandro Police Officer’s Association. This is my first correspondence to the San Leandro Times as the POA President.

Each week I make a point to read every letter sent to the editor with specific interest in articles that pertain to the Police Department. From time to time there are misleading letters written and published and often by the same author.

In last week’s letter to the editor, the writer expressed her disapproval our of City’s Police Chief and City Manager. There are more to her dislikes for these officials than were mentioned in her letter and my professionalism acts as a barrier to my emotions.

There comes a time when enough is enough! As a 20-year employee of this agency, I’ve never seen so many positive changes and improvements than I have seen in the past three years. A Professional Standards Unit, Chief’s Advisory Board and the creation and implementation of United for Safety is just the beginning.

We have embraced technology by joining facebook, twitter, Nixel, and creating an easy-to-use SLPD Smartphone application, all in an attempt to be more transparent with the community. Yes, technology includes surveillance cameras and license plate readers which both greatly assist in solving and preventing crime.

These are just a few programs implemented over the past three years, all accomplished under the current Police Administration led by Chief Sandra Spagnoli.

So, to the fair and impartial readers out there, please take with a grain of salt the comments and accusations expressed in last week’s letter and know that every hard working member of my organization is committed to the safety and service of the citizens of San Leandro.

— Isaac Benabou, President

Chief of Police Sandra Spagnoli Gets Caught Lying to City Council

Chief of Police Sandra Spagnoli Gets Caught Lying to City Council City Hall, Police 11 Responses »

Sep 052013

Police Chief Sandra Spagnoli

But will the Council and City Manager let her get away with it?

Tuesday night, San Leandro Police Chief Sandra Spagnoli was caught lying to the San Leandro City Council several times.

Two lies are so blatant, that there can be now wiggle room around them.

1 – She told the City Council that the SLPD only has one police car equipped with license plate scanners mounted on them. But as Mike Katz-Lacabe, my husband pointed out, it has 3. He’s taken pictures of them, in case there are any questions.

2- She told the Council that license plate scanners only get the “photo of the license plate”. Again, a lie, as the license plate picture below shows.

Now, these are by no means the first lies the Chief tells the Council. She’s lied about the effects of marijuana dispensary on crime and she lied about how long license plate information is kept for, for example.

And as Councilmember Jim Prola pointed out when I brought this matter up to him, last night she repeatedly tried to mislead the Council (Prola wouldn’t commit to using the word “lie”) when she claimed that license plate data had to be retained for a year because they are sharing it with the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (everyone who drives in San Leandro is a suspected terrorist, it would seem). Under questioning by Prola, the representative from the Center reluctantly admitted the Council could set whatever term in wanted for keeping the data.

And she’s lied directly to the community about things such as how realignment works.

But the thing about these two lies last night is that there is no room for ambiguity. Either license scanners only take pictures of the license plates as she claims or they don’t, as the picture shows. Either there is one car with a scanner or there are three, as the other photos we have show.

The City Council knows now without a shadow of a doubt the the Chief of Police has so little respect for them that she will lie and lie to their faces. Meanwhile, she asks them to “trust her”.

Mayor Cassidy wanted to see one of the “audits” on the Police Department, done after an SLPD narcotics officer was convicted of selling drugs to an informer. The Chief denied him access to it, claiming it has sensitive information. “You have to trust on your Chief of Police” she said. But how can the Council – and the citizens of San Leandro – trust a Chief who has repeatedly been caught lying?

I don’t have much admiration four our City Council. But do any of them have any self-respect? They must know the Chief doesn’t have any for them – otherwise she wouldn’t lie – and yet they let her get away with this type of behavior.

I have a call to the office of City Manager Chris Zapata for comments. Zapata is ultimately her boss. Is she lying with his knowledge? His approval? Is she completely insubordinate?

I have also contacted the Mayor and City Council for comment. I will update this article if I hear back.

Time to clean up the San Leandro Police Department

Time to clean up the San Leandro Police Department Featured, Police 10 Responses »

Jun 132011

SLPD officers involved in fatal shooting identified.

Anthony Morgan and Ryan Gill have record of police brutality.

The arrest of San Leandro Police Officer Jason Fredriksson for furnishing marijuana to a confidential informant with whom he was having an affair has put the San Leandro Police Department (SLPD) in the spotlight. In its wake, there have been several allegations of misconduct by Fredriksson and other San Leandro police officers. The SLPD has responded with its usual wall of silence and the City Council continues to look the other way. It’s hard to know how deep the problems at the SLPD are, but it’s becoming more and more clear than the Fredriksson case may be the tip of the iceberg.

Gwendolyn Killings

In late December 2010, a San Leandro police officer shot to death Gwendolyn Killings, an African-American woman from Hayward. Killings was driving a car that had been reported stolen earlier in the day; SLPD officers spotted it and chased it until it crashed just after the Oakland border, near the San Leandro city limits. The passenger got out of the car and fled. The two officers got out of their own car; one officer chased the escaping passenger while the other approached the stopped car. That officer shot and killed Killings while she was in the car. The police would later say that the officer was afraid Killings would put the car in reverse and hit his partner. However, witnesses said the car was boxed in and couldn’t go anywhere. The SLPD has not disputed that account. The case is being investigated by the Oakland police as the shooting happened in Oakland, but no report has been released so far.

The Oakland Police, however, have released documents identifying Ryan Gill and Anthony Morgan as the two SLPD officers involved in the incident. We don’t know at this point which officer shot Killings but both officers have a history of allegations of police misconduct that should concern anyone interested in having a clean police department.

San Leandro Police Officer Ryan Gill

Ryan Gill, 33, is an affable and well-liked officer. He was named San Leandro Officer of the year in April 2011 and is admired for his broad knowledge and as a mentor of younger officers. He started his police career in the Oakland Police Department and was there for 7 years – which casts doubts on how objectively Oakland PD will investigate their former colleague. In 2003, Gill shot to death an unarmed man. Gill and his partner entered the apartment of the victim while he was sleeping, woke him up and claim they were trying to restraint him when he struggled and tried to get Gill’s gun. Both Gill and his partner shot him. The City of Oakland settled the ensuing lawsuit. In another lawsuit settled by Oakland, Gill was accused of beating a man while arresting him. In a third incident, Gill walked out of a review board conduct hearing where he was to be questioned about a charge of falsely arresting a teenager after his partner ram a car into him.

San Leandro Police Officer Anthony Morgan

Gill’s partner, Anthony Morgan, has spent less time in the press but probably just as much in the courtroom. A quick search of the district court’s database shows two recent lawsuits against Morgan for police brutality. One was settled, but the other one is still open.

Unfortunately, the Killings shooting has not been the only recent killing at the hands of San Leandro Police. In 2005, SLPD officers tasered a man to death; the city settled that lawsuit for nearly $400,000. And Morgan is far from being the only SLPD officer with a history of brutality. Tricia Hynes, the lawyer most often appointed by Meyers Nave to represent the city in litigation, boasts on her webpage of how – thanks to her representation – the City of San Leandro only had to pay a few hundred thousand dollars in damages to seven plaintiffs who were beaten by a dozen SLPD officers while searching a home during a 4th of July party. She is even prouder of another case in which the brutal beating of an unarmed man by SLPD officers only cost the city $20,000.

Gill was hired by then-Police Chief Dale Attarian, an old-style San Leandro cop during whose tenure the City was subjected to multiple lawsuits for civil rights violations, sexual harassment and discrimination and police brutality. Attarian was hired by former City Manager John Jermanis, himself a product of the old-all-white-boys network that ruled San Leandro for decades. Jermanis’ hand-picked successor, Steve Hollister, was a former policeman and did not keep a close eye on the SLPD. Under both men, SPLD officers learned that they could do as they pleased with almost no risk of consequences.

SLPD Chief Sandra Spagnoli

It’s a new day in town, however. Sandra Spagnoli was recently hired as Police Chief with the express purpose of reforming the department – at least ridding it of its culture of sexual harassment. It is too soon to know whether she’ll undertake real, rather than purely cosmetic reforms. So far the indications are mixed – Spagnoli investigated the allegations against Fredriksson, but only after an independent witness had contacted multiple authorities with his accusations. Spagnoli has done nothing to discipline the handler of a police dog that got loose and killed another dog earlier in the year – and Gill was named “officer of the year” after Spagnoli became Chief.

San Leandro needs more than a perhaps-well-intentioned Chief of Police to clean up the Police Department of any criminality or maverick behavior by its officers. It needs elected officials willing to tackle the issue of the police head on. This is hard, because politicians usually kowtow to the police union in order to get their support during elections – Council members Ursula Reed and Joyce Starosciak, in particular, have relied on heavy police support for their campaigns. Starosciak herself is married to an Alameda County Deputy Sheriff. However, even the strongest police advocates should note that a department that allows criminal behavior and abuse by its members tarnishes both the city and the institution of the police itself.

The City of San Leandro needs to do two things to nip this problem in the bud. One is to appoint a strong City Manager with experience dealing with insubordinate Police Departments. The other is to form a Citizens Police Oversight Commission (aka Review Board) to evaluate complaints of police misconduct, help set hiring practices and discipline standards and act as a liaison with the community. Currently, the city of Oakland is considering following San Francisco in getting private citizens to investigate allegations of Police misconduct, we might want to look into that as well. While Police Officers are protected by an incredibly generous bill of rights, a Citizens Commission could at least identify systematic problems within the police department and push for their resolution.

The question is whether the City Council has the political will to push for a meaningful review of what’s really going on at the Police Department, or whether the powers-that-be in San Leandro will just hope that the community forgets about the recent incidents and pray that there are no big scandals during their term of office.

SLPD: Tell us about your experiences.

SLPD: Tell us about your experiences. Police 3 Responses »

May 232011

The San Leandro Police Department has had a checkered history. Until the 1980s, the Police Department was instrumental in keeping San Leandro white by following and harassing black people who came to town. While the Department diversified in the 90s, it’s still overwhelmingly white and male. In recent years, it’s been the object of sexual harassment lawsuits both by female officers and private citizens. While we haven’t had any widespread scandals, there have been grumblings here are and there about police misconduct and racism. The shooting of an unarmed woman late last year and the mauling of a dog by an SLPD dog – and the complete lack of accountability by the officers involved, also raise concerns about the professionalism of the Police Department.

Personally, my experiences with the SLPD have mostly been positive. Officers have been professional and somewhat helpful in the few personal encounters I’ve had with them. However, I am concerned about the pettiness of the Police Union and its members. They’ve been boycotting the Zocalo Coffeehouse for more than a year because its owner, Tim Holmes, was the campaign manager for Stephen Cassidy’s successful Mayoral run. Cassidy advocated for Officers to pay their own share of pension contributions. The Police’s pettiness turned dangerous when they did not show up to direct traffic at the 2010 annual Safe Streets, Safe Treats Halloween event, organized by Holmes and other businesses in the Dutton/Bancroft area. That meant that hundreds of children were left to cross two very busy streets without any help. The Police had helped with traffic every year since the event was started, and had said they would be there last year as well. It’s one thing to be mad at a business owner, but to put the lives of hundreds of children at risk because of your personal grudge is unconscionable. I’ve recently experienced the Police Union’s lack of professionalism myself. When I publicly questioned the excuse given by Police officers as to why most of them do not live in town, Mike Sobek, the head of the union, “suggested” I move out of town.

But my limited experiences, or the few accounts of such experiences found online, paint a very partial picture. I’d like to hear from all readers about their experiences, whether bad or good, professional or unprofessional – as well as their suggestions as to what could be done to improve the SLPD. So, if you have something to say, post it as a comment. You can do so anonymously if you like.