The Advocate

It happened in San Leandro back in 2011 with Dewayne Stancill . A highly regarded Black police officer forced out because of racism, politics, and corruption. Now, here we are in 2024 having deja vu. Former SLPD Chief Abdul Pridgen has been fired by the city under, to put it mildly, suspicious circumstances without any actual evidence of wrongdoing having been provided with the specter of expensive litigation looming ahead. I guess I'll weigh in on this with what I know, especially now that Pridgen is officially out. What I have learned is based on information from my own sources, some of whom took great risks to reach out to me, so I can't even share all of what they told me, let alone independently verify all of it. At the same time, because the city is point-blank refusing to release responsive records under the California Public Records Act, despite repeated attempts to get them to do so, even what has been shared publicly is difficult to confirm or deny. So, please, like ...

This is something many suspected but only known to a few. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley colluded with local police unions (including the SLPOA) to smear political opponent Pamela Price who wants to clean up law enforcement in our county. Among the alleged violations, "O'Malley's deputy prosecutors also monitored Price's political activities "during work hours," which "constitutes an in-kind contribution" and should have been reported by the O'Malley campaign committee and even the DA's office. Coordinating campaign ads, fundraising and other activities using government letterhead, time and emails all on company time, violate state campaign laws." Learn more at  KTVU  and WaPo . Please sign and circulate the petition demanding accountability for these violations election law and state ethics requirements. Their joint misconduct shows how much both offices think they are above the law. Hopefully, exposure of this sc...

(Picture by Sheyda Sabetian.) SLPD Sergeant Robert Sanchez has been charged with embezzling and misappropriation of public funds. In plain language: Sanchez was stealing through fraud and corruption. Local news reports are available at here and here . However, I’m sure many of you – like me – found out via the city’s Nixle alert system. What’s interesting is how San Leandro Mayor Pauline Cutter and San Leandro Police Chief Jeff Tudor were able to make such timely and heartfelt statements when it comes to misconduct over money, but not for the murders of Steven Taylor or Anthony Gomez. Indeed, I wonder why immediate action can be taken in the case of this property crime but not for violent crime against innocent citizens? It took months of public pressure, letters, petitions, social media campaigns, and video evidence, as well as a bevy of new laws based on the burgeoning outcry against police brutality just for Jason Fletcher to be charged for killing Steven Taylor. Either the law gov...