SLPD

Mayor Cassidy, What’s your policy on following City Policy?

Mayor Cassidy, What’s your policy on following City Policy? Short Notes No Responses »

Nov 232013

I posted this on Mayor Stephen Cassidy’s Facebook page. I don’t believe he will answer, but I wanted to give him the opportunity to do so before I write a more comprehensive blog article on the subject. Cassidy has also failed to answer questions on the dangers of flooding in the San Leandro shoreline and on what actual gang activity in San Leandro is.

Question
What is the city’s policy on following City Council policy? As you know, I wrote to you and the City Attorney pointing out how the San Leandro Police Department was commonly violating the social media policy passed by the City Council.

As you also know, the response by the City Attorney was to acknowledge this fact and say that the social media policy would be changed to accommodate SLPD practice. As far as I know this hasn’t happened, but the Police and you, yourself, continue to systematically violate it. For example, you just posted a photo of a meeting that includes four identifiable individuals, including Oakland’s Mayor Jean Quan. By the City’s policy, you should have gotten the expressed permission of each one of them before posting it. Did you do so?

So my question to you is: what is your policy and the City’s policy on following City Council policies? Are policies approved by the City Council recommendations, guidelines, hopes, or what exactly?

I think San Leandro citizens have the right to know why you pass policies but will not actually follow them.

Racism Quietly Flourishes in San Leandro

Racism Quietly Flourishes in San Leandro Community 51 Responses »

Nov 132013

Neighbors Call Police for “Walking While Black”

The warning came in a neighborhood bulletin board. A female resident of the the mostly-white Estudillo Estates neighborhood, had seen three men in their twenties, two of them black, walking down her street. She did not recognize them. Some time later, she saw them again. This time they were walking on the same direction, but on the other side of the street. She was kicking herself for not having called the police on them. Surely they were casing houses. Mind you, she did not say she had seen them look at homes carefully, check out doors or windows, or do anything other than walk down the street. But the mere presence of a mixed-race group of young men, walking down a street, is “suspicious.”

That a white lady in once lily-white San Leandro may hold those views probably should not surprise anyone. What did surprise me was how popular her views proved among members of the bulletin board. “Yes,” was the common thread in the responses, “the men were suspicious and the police should be called on them.” “I would have done the same.” “Thank you for alerting us.”

I was alone in suggesting that walking twice down a street is not suspicious. People do it all the time and there are a myriad of reasons why you’d do it – from taking a walk around the neighborhood, to canvassing, evangelizing or even getting lost. And, indeed, if it was I, a white-looking woman, rather than a mixed-race group of men in their twenties, nobody would have thought twice of it.

My comments, however, were met with derision. How dare I suggest that it’s racist to call the police on young men for walking down the street! One of the men was white, after all.

This attitude prevails in San Leandro because it’s constantly fueled by the Police Department. The SLPD tells neighbors to report anyone “suspicious.” The avoid the word “black or Latino,’ and instead use words like “people you don’t recognize” as a euphemism for “people who don’t belong”. Of course, it behooves the Chief to fuel racial tensions in the community. If nothing else, it will lead to more crime and more resources for her Department.

That said, I don’t believe that the majority of San Leandrans are racist. But I do think the best way to stand up against racism is to challenge it.

UPDATE: Everyone is welcomed to comment on this and every other posting. But San Leandro Talk does not accept anonymous comments. Please use your full, real name.

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

San Leandro Resident Accuses Chief Spagnoli of Misinformation

San Leandro Resident Accuses Chief Spagnoli of Misinformation City Hall, Police, Transparency 2 Responses »

Oct 292013

San Leandro resident Cynthia Chandler posted this open letter today to Mayor Stephen Cassidy‘s Facebook page. Ms Chandler is a professor of law at Golden Gate University.

As a survivor of violence and as a resident concerned with public safety and ensuring our city uses its resources wisely, I am concerned that Chief Spagnoli is engaging in hyperbole and misinformation to promote her personal agenda. I am writing to ask you to take action by ensuring police chiefs are not permitted to craft city ordinances (advise, but not craft).

Last night at the District 5 & 6 community meeting, Chief Spagnoli reiterated a false statement that I have heard her make before in public — that rising crime in San Leandro is due to early releases of prisoners. Yet, the department’s data presented at the meeting showed no statistically significant rise in crime (and burglary data was not even disaggregated for commercial burglary, which includes shoplifting). And California realignment law does not allow for early release of prisoners.

I asked the Chief if she could direct me to a law or reference supporting her claim of early releases occurring under realignment, because as an attorney I am familiar with criminal codes and policy. She sent me to the California Police Chief’s Association website and accused me of being a State propagandist, supporting the State’s laws and agenda. I thought as a peace officer that her job IS to enforce State law, not create her own. And when I went to that website, all links confirmed that there have been no, and there is no provision for, early releases.

The Chief made clear to me that she has her own personal agenda in conflict with State law. I also am concerned that she in intentionally working to boost fears among our community to build political support for her own agenda. This agenda was made clear in her inclusion into the recent chicken and bee policy of an arguably unconstitutional clause allowing for cause-less searches of permit holders yards, for any reason.

I moved to San Leandro because it offered a safe community. I want to make sure our resources are used wisely and impactfully. Consistent deference to police and the ever increase of the police budget’s portion of the general fund has contributed to our present lack of funding for roads, economic development, and fire also needed for safety. Allowing our codes to be constructed by any police chief presents a conflict of checks and balances over police power. Will you support an ordinance to control police powers by not allowing police to craft our ordinances?

A letter to the City of Oakland: Please Take our Police Chief, Sandra Spagnoli

A letter to the City of Oakland: Please Take our Police Chief, Sandra Spagnoli People, Police No Responses »

Oct 292013

Police Chief Sandra Spagnoli

Dear City of Oakland:

I know you are looking for a new Police Chief. Please take ours! SLPD Chief Sandra Spagnoli doesn’t work cheap and crime may have gone up under her, but she speaks well and smiles enough. Surely appearances do count. She fooled us, she can fool your residents as well.

Spagnoli is a hard worker (sure, she has about 90 days off a year, in addition to weekends, but that’s standard for public executives) and has an unmitigated commitment to social cleansing. She doesn’t discriminate between gays, the mentally ill, blacks, liberals or even gun-advocates – in her book everyone is a criminal that needs to be put down. Dirty cops, however, are to be left alone – at least until they are so overt in their dealings that citizens end up alerting the Mayor and the DA. But if you want your racial tensions – in particular those between blacks and Asians – to rise, she has a recipe for that!

One teenzy weenzy little problem with Spagnoli is that she’s not particularly married to facts. I mean she loves facts, as long as she gets to invent them, but independently gathered and confirmed facts are nasty things that get in the way of actual police work. Police Chiefs’ opinions should be trusted without question, and if reality interferes with your trust, then you really should disavow reality.

Take for example her claim that crime rates have gone up in San Leandro because of the release of prisoners due to re-alignment. It’s a good story, one that she can use to get surveillance cameras that she can use to spy on troublemakers (aka community activists), so why should the fact that there has been no early release of prisoners stop her from telling it? Or take her opinion that marijuana is a gateway drug and that marijuana dispensaries attract crime – sure, the studies that look at the actual data show that those are myths, but shouldn’t her intuition count for more than pesky studies? Her latest kick is surveillance cameras. She knows in her gut that they work and we should believe her despite all the data that shows that they neither prevent nor help solve crimes.

You should also not hold it against her that she often makes false statements to the City Council. It’s not as if the Council would rely on what she says in order to pass the ordinances she advocates, right? For example, can we really blame her for telling the Council her office received one complaint a week about backyard chickens, when in reality they only have records about one complaint being filed in the last two years? She needed the Council to have a good excuse to give the Police access to people’s backyards without probable cause in violation of the 4th amendment, so can she be blamed for a little white lie? And why does the Council need to know exactly how many license plate cameras the Police Department has? So what if it’s 5 rather than the 3 she acknowledged? They’re both single digits, right?

Look, our City Manager, Chris Zapata, is perfectly OK with her “truth impairment” as is our Mayor, Stephen Cassidy. Surely the Oakland City Council and Mayor Quan won’t have higher standards than their San Leandro equivalents.

There are many more things that you can praise Sandra Spagnoli for. She has no patience for street musicians or artists – if you want someone to intimidate your budding arts community, she’s the woman for you. And she has pretty much eliminated all complaints against SLPD officers. Sure, she did it by getting rid of the Internal Affairs Department, but the non-numbers of complaints speak for themselves. Finally, she is so committed to her law enforcement job, that she doesn’t let the law stand on her way. Really, do you want a Police Officer who respects the law or someone who catches others not doing it?

So in my name and in that of many, many, many other citizens of San Leandro, I ask you, I plead with you, I beg you to hire her and get her off our hands.

Sincerely,

Margarita Lacabe

PS I forgot to mention that Chief Spagnoli is already very experienced with the Oakland crime problem. Indeed, when she’s not blaming realignment for San Leandro’s crime problem, she’s blaming Oakland. She already has a plan to put surveillance cameras aimed at the Oakland border to know which of your miscreant citizens dare to come into our town.

Spagnoli also has a plan to deal with youth crime: eliminate youth. She tried to put it into effect on Halloween when, after promising crossing guards for a Trick-or-Treat events put out by local businesses, she prohibited them at the last minute. Unfortunately for the Chief, nobody got killed, but I know she won’t let that deter her from finding ways to endanger kids’ lives n the future.

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