In the News

SAN JOSE — In a move with no known precedent in its 165-year history, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office is recommending murder charges against three correctional officers in the death of an inmate last week at the main jail, accusing them of viciously beating the man and admitting to using force only after the man was found lifeless in his cell.

Correctional officers Matthew Farris, Jereh Lubrin and Rafael Rodriguez, all of whom have been at their jobs for no more than three years, were arrested Thursday morning and are being held without bail. They work under the Sheriff’s Office but are not fully sworn deputies, and are represented by a separate union. Read More

In the wake of unnerving incidents of police violence against civilians across the country, communities and police departments struggle with how to build trust in the face of what’s perceived as racial or ethnic profiling.

California’s Legislature can take that all-important first step to help by passing Assembly Bill 953.

The bill would require police to keep records of car and pedestrian stops including the race or other identifier of the individual, the reason for the stop, how the person was treated and whether an arrest or citation resulted. Read More

Excessive use of force has long been a problem for the Oakland Police Department, leading to civic distrust, costly lawsuits and the nation’s longest-running federal intervention.

Despite several recent officer-involved shootings, a Chronicle analysis of Oakland Police Department data shows such incidents are becoming less common. Officer-involved shootings, excessive force complaints and incidents in which officers used force have all declined precipitously over the past three years in Oakland. Read More

Citing “deep reservations” with the LAPD’s body camera policy, the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union urged federal officials on Thursday not to give the department money to buy more of the devices.

The ACLU’s 11-page letter sent to Washington, D.C., on Thursday morning was the latest in which the organization has voiced its concerns about how the Los Angeles Police Department cameras — and their footage — will be used. A key issue: The LAPD has said it doesn’t intend to make video from the cameras public unless required through a criminal or civil court proceeding.

“We believe that the LAPD’s policy does not promote — and in fact undermines — the goals of transparency, accountability and creation of public trust that body-worn cameras should serve,” senior staff attorney Peter Bibring wrote. Read More

The free Hazardous Exposure Listing Program (HELP) allows you to document all injuries and exposures that may potentially cause you physical problems years into the future. Every police officer has […] Read More

Roger D. Wilson Attorney at Law Rains Lucia Stern, PC The Problem: A Slow, Confusing and Frustrating System Sergeant Miller was faced with a dilemma: wait until the TPA authorized […] Read More

Amid a rush of negotiations over transportation and health care funding proposals in the final weeks of California’s legislative session, Senate Republicans installed a new leader Thursday, while the Democratic Assembly speaker sought to tamp down jockeying to succeed her.
Senate Republicans ousted Bob Huff of San Dimas, electing Jean Fuller to replace him as minority leader.
The move came months ahead of a scheduled transition in November, and most Republican senators declined to discuss the circumstances of the decision. Fuller, of Bakersfield, declined to provide the vote tally or say if Huff agreed to step aside ahead of schedule. Read More

A state parole board panel is set to decide Friday whether Jesus Cecena should remain in prison for killing San Diego police officer Archie Buggs in 1978.
Buggs, 30, an Army veteran who served during the Vietnam War, had pulled over Cecena — then 17, now 54 — for a traffic infraction. Cecena, handed a gun by a passenger and fellow gang member, came out firing, authorities said, and Buggs died at the scene. Cecena was arrested within hours.
If the panel at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla decides Cecena should be paroled, the issue returns to Gov. Jerry Brown for the second time in a year. Read More

A Hayward police officer’s gun was stolen during a car burglary in Oakland’s Fruitvale District on Wednesday, marking at least the third such theft in the Bay Area in recent months, authorities said.

The latest incident was reported about 10 a.m. when members of an unspecified law enforcement task force informed Oakland police that an officer’s duty weapon had been stolen from a car parked near a Starbucks at the Fruitvale Station shopping center on the 3000 block of East Ninth Street. Read More

California voters widely support lifting the veil of secrecy that prevents the public from learning about police disciplinary matters or viewing footage from body cameras, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The results of the July survey come as lawmakers and police officials grapple with ways to restore public trust in law enforcement, which has come under scrutiny after a series of high-profile killings by officers across the country. Critics have called for more transparency of police conduct to help hold officers accountable for their actions. Read More

The constitutionality of California’s death penalty system will be reviewed next week by a panel of three Democratic appointees on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judges Susan P. Graber and Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Clinton appointees, and Paul J. Watford, an Obama appointee, were randomly assigned Monday to hear an appeal of a federal judge’s ruling that struck down the state’s death penalty law as unconstitutional.
Graber is a former Oregon Supreme Court justice. After joining the federal appeals court, she was once asked to recuse herself from a death penalty case out of Arizona because her father was killed in a carjacking nearly 40 years earlier.
One of the teenagers sentenced to death for her father’s killing later had his sentence overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Graber declined the recusal request in the Arizona case, which also involved a carjacking and killing.
Rawlinson is viewed as one of the most conservative Democratic appointees on the court. A former prosecutor from Las Vegas, Rawlinson was the only member of an 11-judge panel to vote to uphold a felony conviction of Barry Bonds, the former San Francisco Giants baseball player. Read More

According to the Yahoo Internet Dictionary, the definition of “change” is: 1. the act or instance of making or becoming different; 2. the substitution of one thing for another; 3. an alteration of one thing for another.

We have changed! While we hope it’s for the better, one thing is for sure. We will never be quite the same again. Collectively we remain wary and suspicious, and rightly so. We know, for example, that as we deliberated about whether to vote “yes” or “no” on our global settlement package, the question of non-pensionable retention pay was a huge issue. Read More

Senior Trooper Steven Vincent was shot and killed while checking on a vehicle that was being operated by a suspected intoxicated driver near the intersection of Highway 14 and Fruge Road, near Bell City.

Trooper Vincent was on patrol when he spotted a vehicle from a previous reckless driving report. The vehicle in question had driven off the road and was stuck in a ditch. Trooper Vincent approached the vehicle and began speaking with the occupant and then ordered him to exit the vehicle. The male exited the vehicle with a sawed off shotgun in his hand and opened fire, striking Trooper Vincent in the head. Read More

Detention Officer Tronoski Jones suffered a fatal heart attack while attempting to deal with a combative inmate at the Baker Street Jail shortly after 4:00 am.

The inmate was being moved from a recreational area to a cell when he began to argue. OC spray was deployed when he became combative and non-compliant. Officer Jones collapsed during the incident and passed away a short time later. Read More

Regulators in Uber Technologies Inc.’s home state of California said they have evidence that the ride-hailing service has failed to screen out 25 drivers with criminal records, including convictions for kidnapping and murder.
The district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles on Wednesday filed an amended complaint (read here – link opens PDF filing) against Uber detailing instances of registered sex offenders, identity thieves, burglars, and a convicted murderer who have been permitted to drive on the service. The civil suit, originally filed in December, claims Uber is misleading consumers about the effectiveness of background checks and seeking a permanent injunction of the business. Read More

CITY BEAT – SAC BEE
By: Ryan Lillis
916-321-1085
rlillis@sacbee.com

Responding to months of community meetings, the Sacramento City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to form a Community Police Commission that will analyze the police department’s diversity, policies and “bias-free policing” training.

Mayor Kevin Johnson organized a series of meetings last year after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., sparked riots and a national discussion over community/police relations.

Francine Tournour, the director of the city’s Office of Public Safety Accountability, said community members suggested replacing the Community Racial Profiling Commission with a commission that had broader oversight. The racial profiling commission had “experienced diminished participation due to the limited authority (given to it) beyond traffic stop data analysis,” according to a city staff report. Read More

The Sacramento Bee / Crime – Sacto 911
BY CATHY LOCKE
clocke@sacbee.com
916-321-5287

Sacramento police are alerting residents to possible burglars impersonating utility employees.

In the past two weeks, the Sacramento Police Department has received two reports of suspects claiming to be utility employees. Police say the impersonators knock on front doors and tell the occupants that they need access to the home to inspect gas lines.

In one incident, the resident allowed the purported utility worker inside the home and left him unattended. The man stole property from the residence before walking outside to a waiting vehicle and leaving the area, according to a Police Department news release. Read More

The Sacramento Bee / Crime – Sacto 911
BY CATHY LOCKE
clocke@sacbee.com
916-321-5287

Elk Grove police will conduct special enforcement activities Wednesday targeting violations by motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists that often result in crashes or injuries.

The department has mapped out locations over the past several years where pedestrian and bike collisions have occurred, along with the violations that lead to such crashes, according to a Police Department news release. Extra officers will be on duty, patrolling those areas.

Officers will be looking for violations by motorists, bike riders and pedestrians that can lead to serious injuries. Special attention will be directed toward drivers speeding, making illegal turns, failing to stop for signs and signals, failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and other dangerous violations. Read More

The Sacramento Bee / Crime – Sacto 911
BY CATHY LOCKE
clocke@sacbee.com
916-321-5287

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an incident in which a deputy assigned to the Rancho Cordova Police Department mistakenly shot at another officer.

At 4:40 a.m. Tuesday, the sheriff’s communications center received a call from a man who reported hearing voices taunting him across the street from his residence in the 11200 block of Point East Drive in Rancho Cordova.

The dispatched officer arrived and determined that the man was intoxicated, but able care for himself, creating no threat to himself or others, according to a Police Department news release. Read More