SLPOA President Lies on Local Podcast

If you live in San Leandro and don't listen to The Marinade with Lee Thomas, I highly recommend you add it to your list and start digging in with gusto! You can listen to them at Apple Podcasts.

Thomas offers a unique blend of delicious BBQ and political discourse. In fact, he might be the only media outlet offering anything remotely resembling real talk about politics in San Leandro. So far his guest have included entertaining and informative appearances from Mayor Cutter, Surlene Grant, Peter Oshinski, and the latest with San Leandro Police Officers' Association President, Mike Olivera.

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Unfortunately, instead of hitting a savory-sweet spot, Olivera comes off as bland as if he was reading from a poorly prepared press release. As usual from the police union, we get the classic copaganda of lies and scare tactics coupled with a complete lack of self-reflection or self-awareness.

But this isn't surprising. This is the same Mike Olivera who helped cover up the murder of Anthony Gomez. This is the same Mike Olivera who nearly choked an older Black man to death during a simple traffic stop.

And this isn't surprising from the SLPOA either. They've lied to the public before and they don't seem keen on stopping anytime soon. They defended Jason Fletcher's murder of Steven Taylor. They defended Anthony Pantoja assaulting kids of color riding their bikes and shooting an unarmed suspect in the back. They defended Daniel Fernandes harassing and abusing our homeless neighbors. This is the same SLPOA that has chosen the "thin blue line" and the "blue wall of silence" over their oaths to protect and serve.

 

During the podcast, Olivera shared a story about one of his earliest encounters with law enforcement and criminals in San Leandro. It's a feel-good piece that completely misses the mark. Olivera doesn't reflect for even a moment about what it means for thousands of residents over generations of time who have never had a good experience with SLPD.

This is actually an important point too, because it taps into a dangerous myth that the SLPOA has used repeatedly to maintain their stranglehold on city politics. The nostalgia for the seeming safety of halcyon times in the past is an implicit bias that needs to be examined critically. The idea that San Leandro was safer back in the day is concerning when we remember that this yearning was when San Leandro was extremely racist and overwhelmingly White. It's also wrong. Crime was actually worse back in the day!

So let's break down a few of these myths that Olivera parrots in the podcast:

1. He repeatedly tells us that "there's been a huge jump in violent crime, and you can debate the numbers which have changed over time because you have decriminalized some things so the numbers are skewed and then there's how you report it ... violent crime is on the rise and it's worse than I've ever seen in 22 plus years."

This is false. Crime overall is down and has been trending down for the last 10 years or more. Even the spike in certain crimes hasn't changed that people in San Leandro are actually less likely to be victims of crime than before.

Also, the only thing that has been decriminalized is marijuana, because it's safe, has medicinal value, and provides sustainable income for our local economy. The only other reforms have been to change whether some crimes are charged as misdemeanors or felonies, which isn't decriminalization. So what is Olivera talking about? Because it's more than a little concerning when a police officer at his level of experience either doesn't know what he's talking about, or he does and is willfully lying to the public. 

Then there's the reporting issue. Which numbers are being skewed? Our crime analyst, Denise Joseph, has repeatedly confirmed in-person, in written reports, and in our crime stats portal, that crime overall is down. Only a few specific types of crimes have risen, and most of them are non-violent, with the notable exception of anti-Asian attacks that trace back to the resurgence of White Supremacy under Trump. Is the SLPOA's position that SLPD's own data is unreliable? If so, then why hasn't that been reported to the California DOJ as required by state law? If not, then why is SLPOA lying about our numbers?

2. Olivera says the city needs not 90 officers, not 100, not 110, but 200 officers. Putting that into budgetary perspective, Olivera is asking for us to allocate over $90 million per fiscal year. 

What is the justification for this? We've already debunked the lie that crime is up. So what is the reason? Is it our shrinking arrest rates? Is it our terrible case clearance rates? Is it because we continue to ask police to do jobs they're not trained for, that they're unqualified for, and that other professionals can do better and more cost-effectively? Do we really need 200 officers responding to fireworks complaints, traffic infractions, people playing music too loud, reports of "kids on bikes," mental health checks, and social work for the homeless?

Maybe, just maybe, we should consider why police spend only about 4% of their time responding to violent crimes and what jobs they're actually doing right now before we give SLPD tens of millions more of people's tax dollars. Also, let's not forget that the SLPOA has a financial incentive for suddenly doubling the department's budget, which provides them with increased membership dues and even more lucrative contracts.

3. The challenges Olivera sees facing SLPD are remarkably out of step with the times and especially with the people of San Leandro. His response is almost comically corporate, "staffing, funding, and training."

Call me provincial, but I think the murders, brutality, misconduct, embezzlement, and fraud would be the top challenges. We have had a 400% increase in homicides starting in August 2019 and all of them were caused by SLPD officers. (Notably, it would've been 500%, but the innocent White man they shot, managed to survive.)

But okay, then what about restoring trust with the community, improving relations with BIPOC, LGBTQ+, youth, immigrants, refugees, the homeless, and the mentally ill? No...? Okay, what about implementing effective oversight to ensure officers and residents get a fair shake when it comes to allegations of misconduct? Also no...?? What about revelations that SLPD is been a partner in a widespread propaganda scheme and the SLPOA, among other police unions, have been colluding in violating campaign finance and election laws? Still no...???

4. Another common complaint that Olivera raises is the allegation that "the environment is making hiring harder, that people don't want to do the job ... Defunding the police isn't working ... Officers are fleeing those departments."

Again, more lies and the receipts are revealing. In fact, SLPD officers, including rookies, actually are among the highest-paid employees in the city, even when accounting for the cost of living in the Bay Area. On top of that, police overtime schemes allow them to siphon huge amounts of extra pay on top of their regular salary.

Also, defunding has been working since 1967 when leaders in one of Pittsburgh’s Black communities, the Hill District, created Freedom House Ambulance Services (FHAS) and it still works today, whether you're talking about the reconstruction of Camden, New Jersey's entire police department, the implementation of the SF Street Crisis Response Team, CAHOOTS in Eugene, Oregon, or just increasing access to social services in general. Learn more here. Also, let's be clear here “[d]efund the police” means reallocating or redirecting funding away from the police department to other government agencies funded by the local municipality. That’s it. It’s that simple." 

5. At one point, there's a hypothetical posited from cohost Steve Tavares. "Let's say you get your officers but you also get the reforms people are asking for, are you taking that deal? Olivera says, "no."

I think that makes it pretty clear that the SLPOA isn't interested in partnering with the community about anything. So let's stop pretending there's any good faith on the part of the police union and start holding them accountable for the bad apples they are helping to rot through our entire department.

6. The remainder is a collection of comments Olivera made during the podcast that wouldn't withstand the scrutiny of a gentle breeze.

"We all know each other and understand each other so we feel safe." Or, and this is just a thought, but maybe SLPD could stop killing civilians, brutalizing them, defrauding the public, and getting caught in scandal after scandal so they could actually spend more time just doing the basic duties of their job first.

"A lot of the hold up [on SLPD] is 'misinformation,'" which is ironic given the misinformation peddled by the SLPOA.

"A lot of the voters didn't realize how important it was to get out and vote last election ... the people just need to show up and vote for the right thing," with the unspoken assumption that brutal, ineffective overpolicing is the "right thing."

"Law and order." Because, sure, why not invoke the catchphrase that stood for our bloody history of racial oppression and police violence.

"The loud voices that are being heard I don't think is the majority." You mean BIPOC, LGBTQ+, youth, immigrants, refugees, and the disabled? You mean the people San Leandro historically oppressed and ignored? Because you can't have it both ways. Either we're the progressive, diverse city we're allegedly proud of, or we're still the same conservative White haven of racial exclusion that we were as recently as the early 2000s.

"We've always been a professional police department." I'm not sure how you can even look at the laundry list of scandals from just the past 10 years and not laugh in Olivera's face, let alone the past 20 or 30 years.

"We have to make changes." The glaring lack of specificity tells you all you need to know which changes he's talking about and none of them are about meaningful reform.

A lot of the things being said [about SLPD] are untrue." Again, the glaring lack of specificity. This time it leaves it unclear what specific things are being said that are untrue. Oliver should have the guts to at least say what he means.

"Preservation of life is the first priority." Whose lives? Because it sure wasn't Steven Taylor, Anthony Gomez, Vasquinho Bettencourt, or hundreds of others listed in IA investigations and misconduct insurance claims. Let's be clear about whose lives we're prioritizing preserving, because on one side we have civilians and on the other we have officers sworn to protect and serve them. So, why the disparity in how they respond negatively to BIPOC, LGBTQ+, youth, immigrants, refugees, people with mental illness, and the homeless?

"[People] should feel safe if you're not doing anything wrong." Tell that to Emerald Black. Tell that to Jose Maravilla Perez Jr.. Tell that to Gwendolyn Killings, Deandre Calhoun, Ron Franklin, James Dias, Andre Petre, Mitchell and Christian Marquez, Simon and Henry Aguirre, Alfred Flanigan, Barbara Silva, Nathaniel Willingham, Belinda K. and J.H., Tom Kunich, Robert Lawrence Williams, Michael Woody, Steven Mengel, Alice Bias, and John Berry. Do we really need to teach this to a veteran cop that they aren't supposed to profile people? Do we really need to explain to the SLPOA President that they're not supposed to kill or brutalize guilty people either?

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Ultimately, I think our neighbor and local law enforcement oversight expert Bob Bailey said it best when summing this episode up:

"POA President’s stance is not surprising but very revealing- wants “unity” and unqualified support for more police staffing, resources and training - but won’t say what reforms they would support even if granted their wishlist of more, more, more; won’t acknowledge there have been critical incidents where officer conduct has seriously eroded trust for many in the community and summarily dismisses and disrespects those legitimate voices —  and rather than invite an honest dialogue he instead proclaims that those critical of the police just need to be persuaded they are wrong; places officer safety above all else, without even welcoming investments in social services that might reduce harm to police and residents alike (no doubt seeing the City budget as a zero sum game where PD needs come first); and continuing throughout to irresponsibly fan fear of violent crime (“the worst I’ve ever seen in 22 years!” - simply not supported by the facts!)."

Now that we've got that straightened out, let's get to work.

Take note and take care.