The Advocate

On June 3, San Leandro for Accountability, Transparency, and Equity (SLATE) is having an informational session as well as volunteer orientation meeting for community police oversight in San Leandro. As you may be aware, our city manager and elected officials are looking at implementing oversight models to incorporate best practices for policing in our city. They have been speaking with community organizers as well as local leaders to solicit our input and expertise. They have also been consulting with the OIR Group, SEED Collaborative, and the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE). While this initiative is not new, recent events locally, regionally, and nationally, have shown the need for meaningful police reform. Indeed, over 250 residents, activists, organizers, leaders, and representatives from community groups in San Leandro have signed an open petition supporting it. WHO: This informational session for anyone who is interested in community police

Recent reporting from The Mercury News shows SLPD as a participant in a disturbing trend of contracting with a glorified propaganda firm known as Critical Incident Videos, LLC. Run by former TV news reporters, this company is contracted with over 100 local law enforcement agencies to help them sway public opinion in order to justify excessive use of force, especially lethal instances of police brutality. The hallmark of their work is “a 3-D map of the scene, 911 dispatch tapes and text set up a narrative before viewers see selected bodycam footage … a police chief or sheriff opens the video explaining why the shooting was justified. Often, the chief is reading from a script written by an outside consultant. The edited camera footage may not even show the actual use of force – an effect far different from a raw cellphone or body cam video of a confrontation that leaves watchers wondering, “Why did they have to shoot?” But here’s the truly shocking and shameful part: “Less than three ho

As many of you may know, juries are a major part of my current career. So, in honor of this year's Juror Appreciation Week mandated by the California Legislature to celebrate those who serve as jurors, I thought I would share some interesting information about juries here and abroad. The first jury trial in America was held in 1630 in Plymouth. The case was that of John Billington who was accused of murdering fellow Mayflower colonist John Newcomin. The jury found the defendant guilty of "willful murder by plain and notorious evidence," and he was executed by hanging. Governor John Bradford later wrote that the jury had taken "all possible pains in the trial." Eliza Stewart Boyd was the first woman in America ever selected to serve on a jury. In March 1870, her name was drawn from the voters’ roll to serve on the grand jury to be convened later that month. Soon after the grand jury was convened, five other Laramie women made history becoming the first women in t

The Oaklandside published a new story on the recently released report by the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division on the mental health resources (or lack thereof) provided by Alameda County. You can read the story here  and the DOJ report here . Of particular interest to my fellow neighbors would be the conditions and practices at John George Psychiatric Pavilion in San Leandro: "An average of 1,111 people experiencing a mental health emergency enter John George Psychiatric Pavilion each month and remain there for up to 72 hours. The San Leandro hospital, which is operated by the county, provides care for people suffering nearly all of the acute psychiatric emergencies in the county. Nearly 240 people a month are admitted to inpatient services at the 80-bed public hospital, where they stay an average of 9 days. Some stay for months while they’re treated. Hundreds lasted for more than 30 days in a two-year period in 2017-2019. The hospital’s inpatient unit is used

Last year, the Alameda County District Attorney's office released its report on the officer-involved shooting and death of Anthony Robert Gomez on June 11, 2019. You can read a copy of it here . Additionally, you can read the original arrest report as well as the internal investigation report . Mr. Gomez had not been charged with a crime. He was unarmed. The pretext for this encounter with Mr. Gomez was a domestic disturbance between himself, his mother, their neighbors, and the neighbors’ children. One of the neighbors called 911 with inflated allegations of a machete-wielding man exposing himself to children. The DA’s report reads like a classic case of an end looking for an excuse for its means, a facade to place around a paper tiger. Here are some of the highlights from this transparent incompetence: 1. No warning before the officer shoots Mr. Gomez in the neck. 2. No deescalation or crisis resolution attempts are captured on bodycam footage or listed in the reports, and oddly

I waited to post until now. I wanted to sit with my feelings about the first official Steven Taylor Day this past April 18, 2021. The day commemorated not his murder by SLPD, but rather his life as a father, a son, a grandson, an artist, an SLHS alumnus, and so much more. He was a human being. His life mattered. It was self-evident, inherent. His worth was more than 40 seconds or $40 dollars of generic retail items. However, because he was a Black man, mentally ill, and homeless, he was discarded, disregarded, callously calculated as less than and less deserving than. Sadly, his story is not unique or even rare. It's why Steven Taylor Day was also made into a memorial for every life, every victim, every survivor, every family touched by police violence. It’s a reminder that racism is not a bygone era or fringe feeling. It was built into the foundations of our nation, intertwined within our institutions, our values, our way of life. So, yes, I wanted to sit with it, because so much