The Advocate

Credit to the Bay Area News Group and The San Francisco Chronicle . "San Leandro to pay $3.9 million settlement amid claims officers beat, tased mentally disabled man in 2019. The settlement marks at least the sixth time either officer has been sued over their actions as police officers in the East Bay San Leandro is expected to pay $3.9 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit claiming the city’s police officers brutally beat a mentally disabled man in 2019, causing his brain to bleed so badly that he suffered repeated strokes. The city’s payout comes nearly five years after Sorrell Shiflett, 37, was tased and bludgeoned by two San Leandro police officers while walking with his cousin through a neighborhood in search of a friend’s house, according to the federal lawsuit. The case marks at least the sixth time that either officer — Ismael Navarro or Anthony Pantoja — has been named in a lawsuit claiming they acted violently while working for multiple police departments ac...

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 ...

( View member roster here ) I signed up for the San Leandro Police Chief's Advisory Board to serve my community. I have been working as an advocate, organizer, and activist  here for years, often at the forefront of reimagining public safety and implementing police reform . For my efforts, I've received death threats, racist and antisemitic slurs against my family, having my home and children's daycare doxxed, abusive harassment, swatting attacks, and even attempts to get me fired from my job. Police officers have tried to intimidate me, stalked me outside my home, and attempted to entrap me at community events. So I asked Chief Pridgen why would he want me on the board? His answer was that he wanted to hear from a diverse group of perspectives, that he valued different voices and opinions. He said that he knew how much I cared about San Leandro, that I had a principled and important point of view to share. So, in that spirit of good faith, I accepted his invitation and ...

I recently took a ride-along with a sergeant of the San Leandro Police Department. The revelations that occurred left me pensive and unsettled as I challenged and was challenged about basic principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Yet, at the end of our four-hour appointment, I was able to shake hands with a person whom I disagree with on levels so fundamental that it was a wonder we were able to stay in the same car for 10 minutes. Whether that’s a testament to the sergeant, myself, both of us, or some higher power, I leave for you to discern. But let me back up a bit and provide some context. While this was my first ride-along with SLPD, it wasn’t my first ride-along with law enforcement. I’ve taken ride-alongs with police departments in Costa Mesa (CA), Billings (MT), Las Vegas (NV), Harrison (AR), and Scranton (PA), as well as Border Patrol and the Sheriffs in Imperial County (CA). I’ve also been a victim or almost a victim of many different crimes from childhood t...

Last month, San Leandro's City Council voted to establish a Community Police Review Board (CPRB) as part of citywide efforts to reimagine public safety in our city. This was a huge win for the people of San Leandro and we think a party is in order! Please join us to celebrate what we achieved together at Drake's Barrelhouse on 1933 Davis beginning at 3 PM on May 29. Drake's is family-friendly, so Feel free to bring your under-21's small, medium, and/or large. Donations are welcome and encouraged (but not required). All proceeds go towards a scholarship for a San Leandro resident to attend the  National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) Conference this September. This is our chance to thank you all in person for your support over these past two years—and to talk about the next steps for a successful rollout of the CPRB. ​What we need   is  a strong, diverse pool of applicants from the community to serve on the Board. The  deadlin...

(Photos of SLPD in 2013, courtesy of Urban Shield.) Cops are not supposed to be soldiers. City streets are not a battlefield. Police are not meant to be military occupation. Law enforcement has become increasingly militarized over the years to the point that it is often hard to tell the difference between them. Here in San Leandro, our police department is finally moving to comply with Assembly Bill 481, an act to help change this trend. Accordingly, the city has publicized a list of all the military equipment that SLPD possesses and uses , including chemical agents like tear gas, grenades like flashbangs, and heavily modified AR-15-style assault rifles. The latter are especially troubling because they are owned by individual officers, not the department itself. Indeed, the use of personal non-standard equipment of this nature is troubling, to say the least, given the lack of extensive rationale to justify their use. Notably, command staff asserted that SLPD, purportedly, did not ...