SLPD

My Message to the SLPD: The Bearcat is Not a Good Idea

 My Message to the SLPD: The Bearcat is Not a Good Idea  City Hall, Civil Liberties, Community, Police  2 Responses »
Jan 102015
 

The BearCat that the SLPD is trying to acquire.

This was my speech at the “community meeting” on the SLPD‘s planned acquisition of a Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck (Bearcat).  I addressed my comments to the SLPD, as the City Council has made it clear that their role is simply to rubber stamp any proposal brought by the Police. In other words, we officially have a police state in San Leandro. You can find Tim Holmes remarks here.

While it may seem hard to believe, I appreciate our police officers.    Every single SLPD officer I have met, has treated me with politeness, courtesy and professionalism.  I think most of you are honorable people, trying to do a difficult job to the best of your abilities. And I think you have one of the worst jobs in the world, not because of physical danger, but because of the soul-killing experiences you go through.  I would not want to risk my own humanity by doing that job, and I appreciate those who do.

The problem is not police officers.  The problem is the system under which we all operate. The prison industrial complex requires an ever-increasing supply of people to fill out our private jails and utilize the services of the industries that profit from crime fighting, prisons and prisoners – including, increasingly, the military weapon industry.

As our crime rates go down, the system requires that we both manufacture and inflate the perception of crime.  You play your part by buying into the rhetoric that every citizen you encounter is likely to be dangerous and must be treated accordingly, and by passing those same unjustified fears into the community as a whole.  Because it’s easier for people to fear “the other,” you feed and feed on the racism that is so entrenched in San Leandro to justify both your fear and your brutality.

You want a BearCat.  You want it because it’s cool and it makes you feel macho to drive one and because you think it will make you feel safe.  Ironically, it will do exactly the opposite.

The BearCat is not just a shiny toy, but a symbol that you are no longer just a community police force looking to catch muggers and burglars, but an occupying para-military force whose purpose is to terrorize the population and suppress dissent.  It’s a symbol that you are the Ferguson police, ready to tear gas us and water hose us and shoot us if need be.  It’s a symbol that you are declaring war on us: people of color, activists, students, dissenters.

But when you decide to become a paramilitary force, you also become a target.  You can’t do your job bunkering into that truck and never coming out and you can’t just kill every person you think will be dangerous – though make no mistake, that’s the path you are heading on by militarizing your force.   You will not be safer.

You can only be safer by making others respect you, rather than fear you. By inviting dialogue rather than confrontation. By seeking peace rather than war.

It’s not too late to seek peace together.

 

Jan 8, 5 PM: Thanks but No Tanks! Rally in San Leandro

 Jan 8, 5 PM: Thanks but No Tanks! Rally in San Leandro  Event, Police  No Responses »
Jan 062015
 

bearcat

The San Leandro Police Department  wants to acquire a “Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck” like the one above – pretending that it’s some sort of glorified ambulance. The City Council is set to let them do it.

In reality, BearCat vehicles are used for regular law-enforcement purposes, such as serving warrants for minor crimes and collecting fines, and as intimidation tools against peaceful protesters. They are part of a broader project to militarize the police and use it as a potent repression tool against all sorts of political dissent. This particular model is outfitted with medical equipment inside, so they can sell it as a “Medevac tactical armored vehicle” – despite the fact that it’ll be used by the SLPD and not by medical personnel.

California cities like Davis have said NO to the militarization of police and are giving their tanks back – let’s stop San Leandro from becoming a police state!

The show-n-tell on the BearCat vehicle and the Rally will take place on January 8th at 5 PM at the Senior Center (13909 E. 14th Street, SL). There will be an opportunity to ask questions while looking at the vehicle.  You can expect your interactions with police, to follow this model.

At 6 PM there will be a City Council meeting with a sales pitch by the SLPD, followed by a comment period by the general public. As it’s a City Council meeting rather than a community meeting, there will not be an opportunity for questions to be answered.

Please share this invitation!

ACLU to Look at SLPD’s Use of Social Media to Spy on San Leandro Students

 ACLU to Look at SLPD’s Use of Social Media to Spy on San Leandro Students  Civil Liberties, Legal, Police, Schools  No Responses »
Jan 052015
 

aclustudnetsA lawyer from the ACLU has contacted a member of SAFE and explained that they are starting a review process on the tracking of kids’ online activities and the keeping of records on kids through graduation.   At their last City Council meeting, the Council approved a grant that will provide the San Leandro Police Department with resources to spy on students using social media and to maintain a database of any student behavior that could label a child as being “at risk,” this starting in elementary school.

The ACLU is working to determine if the SLPD’s proposed tracking and monitoring operations will be breaking any laws and if the policies and procedures around such tracking can be clarified in a way to build transparency and trust with the community.

The ACLU asked that we send in any additional information that could be helpful to their review.  This would include official documents on the social media monitoring, but also personal accounts of such experiences.  Please e-mail me anything you would like to pass on to the ACLU.

New City Council Set to Start Year by Violating the Brown Act

 New City Council Set to Start Year by Violating the Brown Act  City Hall  No Responses »
Jan 032015
 

splitlogoCity Manager evaluation, new “Hostage Negotiation” vehicle & new Vice Mayor also on agenda

Update: I have heard back from City Attorney Richard Pio Roda.  He says that the City does not believe that the potential plaintiffs in the case that will be discussed in closed session are aware of the facts and circumstances that will enable their lawsuit.  He confirmed that the case in question did not involve “an accident, disaster, incident, or transaction”, for example, a police shooting, where the potential plaintiff is aware that they have been harmed.

—

The first City Council meeting of the year will be this Monday, January 5th.  It will include new Mayor Pauline Cutter and new Councilmembers Deborah Cox (Dist 1), Lee Thomas (Dist 3) and Corina Lopez (Dist 5).  Councilmembers Ursula Reed (Dist 2) and Jim Prola (Dist 6) have two more years to go before being termed out while Councilmember Benny Lee (Dist 4) is two years into his first term.

The Council Agenda for this Monday is very light and includes 2 closed session items (those that are discussed without the public being present).  It also includes this Council’s first Brown Act violation.

The Brown Act allows a City Council to discuss very few issues in closed session.  One of those is pending litigation against the City (CA Gov code 54956.9), including situations where “based on existing facts and circumstances, there is a significant exposure to litigation against the [City]” (54956.9(d)(2)).  However, the Brown Act also requires that if the “facts and circumstances … that might result in litigation against the [City]  … are known to a potential plaintiff … [these] shall be publicly stated on the agenda or announced“ (54956.9(e)(2)).  Under former Mayor Stephen Cassidy, the Council almost invariably broke this section of the law, and the pattern seems to be set to continue under Mayor Pauline Cutter. However, she’s been advised of the potential violation and she could choose to cure the situation by announcing the facts and circumstances of the potential litigation during Monday’s meeting.

The law does not require that the City announce such “facts and circumstances” if these are not known to the plaintiff, but such situations are rare.  For example, the family of the woman who was shot to death by the San Leandro Police Department less than a month ago, is not only aware of the fact that she was killed, but they have retained an attorney.  If the City Council will be discussing this case in closed session – and if they are not, they definitely should be -, there is no legal reason whatsoever for them to not disclose such fact.
According to the Agenda, the City Council will also meet in closed session to conduct the City Manager‘s evaluation, though given that three of the seven members of the Council have never worked with the City Manager before, it’s difficult to see how they’d be able to conduct and independent evaluation of his performance.

Open session items of interest include:

– The vote for a new Vice-Mayor

– Allocation of $71K (up from $60K) for the SLPD to get a new “hostage negotiation” vehicle.  This is in addition to the paramilitary armored vehicle that the SLPD wants the City to acquire.

– Presentation from Safe Alternatives to Violent Environments, a Fremont-based organization that works with victims of domestic violence.

 

 

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