By Goia Von Staden. Originally published in Daily Cal
Councilmember Kate Harrison hosted a town hall meeting Wednesday to discuss Berkeley Police Department’s policies on transparency, use of force and surveillance.
The panel for the open forum consisted of Harrison, Police Review Commission Chair George Lippman and Tracy Rosenberg, a citizen activist with Oakland Privacy, an organization that aims to defend citizens’ rights to privacy. The panel discussed how to best protect civil rights and liberties when considering police transparency, use of force and surveillance techniques. Continue reading Berkeley Officials Call for Increased Transparency on Police Use of Force→
The famously liberal East Bay city of Berkeley has been engaged in a lengthy dispute about the release of a Center for Policing Equity analysis of police stop data that indicated significant racial profiling.
The decision to release the report went all the way to the City Council which overrode the Chief of Police to make the report public.
Here it is. The report is preceded by a memo from the Berkeley Police Chief explaining his thoughts and concerns about the draft report.
It is probably fair to say that most, if not all, municipal police departments would yield similar or worse results when stop data is analyzed. It is to Berkeley’s credit that they proceeded with the report. Now the question is what will be done as a result.
Posted by Christine Joy Ferrer on April 13th, 2009
Editor’s Note: Early morning on New Year’s Day, 22-year-old Oscar Grant III was shot and killed in Oakland, California by a Bay Area Rapid Transit agency police officer. Grant was unarmed. The young black man’s arms shackled behind his back. His face—pressed down against the cement. Onlookers video-phoned the horrific spectacle as his life was taken from him.
Over three dozen artists have contributed to the Oscar Grant Memorial Arts Project. Our goal was to gather the creative works dedicated to Oscar Grant from artists, musicians, writers, photographers and others. Any form of creative expression was accepted– a video of a dance work, audio, song, poster, photo, etc. Selected portfolio work will be featured in several Bay Area publications (print and online). Continue reading Oscar Grant Memorial Arts Project→
The fake conversation about Ferguson goes like this: The grand jury heard the evidence. They declined to indict. The riots are happening because some people don’t like the result.
The January meeting of the Urban Area Strategic Initiative (UASI) featured this informative slide show about how the Bay Area’s fusion centers work together.
For more on fusion centers and how they work, check out this Media Alliance article “Fusing California” on the fusion center network.
San Leandro residents sounded off Thursday night about the potential purchase of an armored transport known as a BearCat, objecting to what they say is the militarization of local law enforcement
More than 100 people came out to the San Leandro Senior Center to get a look at the vehicle, called a MedEvac, which is advertised as “an armored Response & Rescue SWAT truck” and which police say will be used primarily for rescue operations throughout the region. Protesters chanted “No Thanks, No Tanks,” while police officials showed off two stretchers from the vehicle. Continue reading San Leandro Police Face Opposition in Push for New Armored Vehicle→
