City Government

Gallo Takes Heat for Backing Police Accountability Measure

Published

9 years ago

June 20, 2014

City Councilmember Noel Gallo is coming under a lot of pressure for backing a proposal by a community coalition that wants the City Council to put a charter amendment on the November ballot to create a Public Safety Oversight Commission in Oakland.

With the support of Gallo, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, and Councilmember Dan Kalb, the resolution cleared the Rules Committee last week and is scheduled to be discussed next week at Public Safety.

< p>While Gallo says he has not heard directly from the Oakland Police Officers Association (OPOA), he is getting the message second hand.

“What I’ve been hearing from colleagues and other people is almost threatening, (saying) how do I dare do what the citizens asked me to do,” said Gallo in an interview with the Post.

He says people are advancing their own “personal agendas.”

“They’re not concerned about the overall direction of the city,” he said. “I’m disappointed about some of the comments I’m getting.”

If a version of the measure passes at Public Safety, it will go to the full council for a vote. But if the ballot measure is not approved by council by the time it breaks for its August recess, the proposed city charter amendment cannot be on the ballot until the next election in 2016.

The proposal is the product of nine months of work by a citywide coalition of police accountability activists, who want to create a public safety commission that would assume most of the authority over the police department, including discipline of officers, currently in the hands of the City Administrator’s office.

Barry Donelan, OPA President

The new commission would be combined of the staff members and budgets of several existing committees and therefore would not generate new expenses, according to the measure’s supporters.

Rashidah Grinage, a spokesperson for the Coalition for Police Accountability that is calling for the charter amendment, says she has heard that the OPOA is threatening not to back renewal of the city’s Measure Y public safety tax in November if the council puts the police accountability measure on the ballot.

Barry Donelan, president of the OPOA, considers the proposed police oversight would only create unnecessary bureaucracy.

“I think there’s no need for a layer of oversight on top of what we have already,” he said. “I think the city is better served using its meager financial resources to fight crime rather than to create another (committee).”

He said his organization is not part of the discussion over the wording of the new Measure Y but denied that this is saying anything negative about the ballot measure.

“We have not been part of it since day one,” he said, but “anything that puts more resources into high amount of crime in Oakland is a good thing,” he said.

Gallo said that because of the work of Grinage and the Coalition for Police Accountability, he now understands the need to strengthen the city’s oversight of the police department.

“I’m extremely grateful to Rashidah and all the people who have brought this (measure) forward,” he said, because they have forced him to examine what the city is doing to provide police oversight and to understand that at present the city is ineffective and failing to deliver on its promise, he said.

Post Publisher Paul Cobb says he has heard that OPOA is opposing the police

Lynette Gibson McElhaney

accountability measure by contacting community members who support it and letting them know of the OPOA’s displeasure.

Cobb said this is similar to the tactic used by former OPOA President Bob Valladon who threatened the late Post Editor Chauncey Bailey when he was investigating corruption at OPD, shortly before Bailey was assassinated in 2007.

Councilmember Lynette McElhney, who serves on the Public Safety Committee, says she

opposes putting a police accountability measure on the ballot at this time.

“We need a much more deliberative process than 35 days in examining it,” she said, adding that the community coalition may have been working on the proposal for nine months, but council members have had it only for a couple of weeks.

“I think it can be a diversion to the more important measure, which is the successor to (Measure) Y,” she said. “We should not be focused on anything but the successor to Y.”

“We need to be focused on the $22 million a year that Y brings to this community,” she said. “I don’t want to talk about any other measure. It would be a disaster if we lost that money.”

Councilmember Dan Kalb, who also sits on the Public Safety committee, likes the idea of having a police commission in Oakland. “I’m aware that they have police commissions in other cities, (and) I generally look favorably to having such an agency here in Oakland.”

He said that he is hearing around City Hall that there is not enough time to discuss the issue and modify it.

“To finish (that work) in time for the ballot may be very challenging,” Kalb said. “But if other council members support it and we can get the right final language, I would support it.

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Barbara Lee

San Diego Supervisor Nora Vargas Endorses Barbara Lee for Senate

Supervisor Nora Vargas, the first Latina ever to Chair the San Diego Board of Supervisors, has endorsed Barbara Lee for Senate, the Lee campaign announced. “As a healthcare and education champion I am thrilled to support Congresswoman Barbara Lee for US Senate,” said Vargas.

Published

22 hours ago

September 27, 2023

Oakland Post

Nora Vargas. Courtesy photo

First Latina Chair of SD Board of Supervisors Supports Lee’s Historic Campaign for Senate

Supervisor Nora Vargas, the first Latina ever to Chair the San Diego Board of Supervisors, has endorsed Barbara Lee for Senate, the Lee campaign announced.

“As a healthcare and education champion I am thrilled to support Congresswoman Barbara Lee for US Senate,” said Vargas.

“She is exactly the type of advocate Californians need in the US Senate. Her track record of always tackling the tough issues while lifting people up and making sure everyone’s voice is heard is what we need from our next Senator. I am very excited to endorse Barbara Lee for US Senate and to work with her to advance our communities.”

Vargas was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2020 and quickly became known as a champion for veterans, children, and seniors. She is also the co-chair of the county’s COVID-19 subcommittee, chair of the San Diego Association of Governments Transportation Committee, as well as of the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District, and a member of the California Air Resources Board.

“Supervisor Vargas has been an excellent example of why representation matters,” said Congresswoman Lee. “The lens she brings to the Board as the first Latina Chair has clearly helped inform her work to put families first in San Diego and made her an exceptionally effective representative. I am honored by her support in my campaign for Senate and I am eager to partner with her to deliver progressive change for San Diego.”

Supervisor Vargas joins a growing list of high-profile current and former elected officials from around the state who have endorsed Lee’s campaign for Senate, including five of the eight statewide constitutional officers – Attorney General Rob Bonta, Treasurer Fiona Ma, Controller Malia Cohen, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.

Other national and California endorsers of Lee’s campaign include Congressmembers Jamaal Bowman, Sheila Jackson Lee, Steven Horsford, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Troy Carter, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Nikema Williams, Jim Clyburn, Bennie Thompson, Lucy McBath, Terri Sewell, and Gregory Meeks; former Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Cedric Richmond, former Georgia General Assembly House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams; State Senators Susan Talamantes Eggman, Anna Caballero and Nancy Skinner; Assemblymembers Isaac Bryan, Mia Bonta and Corey Jackson; Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran, Redlands Mayor Eddie Tejeda, Rialto Mayor Deborah Robertson, former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Palm Desert Mayor Pro Tem Karina Quintanilla, Dolores Huerta, California Democratic Party Asian Pacific Islander Caucus Chair Deepa Sharma, California Democratic Party Progressive Caucus Chair Emeritus Amar Shergill, California Democratic Party LGBTQ Caucus Co-Chair Emeritus Tiffany Woods. A full list of endorsements is available at barbaraleeforCA.com.

Lee also has the backing of the Alameda County Building and Construction Trades Council, the California Legislative Black Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, Feminist Majority PAC, Black Women Organized for Political Action PAC, Higher Heights for America, the San Diego County Young Democrats, Gen Z for Change, and the Working Families Party.

There are currently no Black women serving in the U.S. Senate. Since 1789, when the first Congress met, only two African American women have been in the Senate, serving a total of 10 years.

For more information on Barbara Lee and her campaign for U.S. Senate, visit www.BarbaraLeeforCA.com

Bay Area

WCCUSD Unveils Fingerprinting Party Dates for Volunteer Badges

The WCCUSD is hosting a series of six fingerprinting parties at different district schools in September, October and February. Reportedly, the process takes little time investment, the volunteer badges are free, and the visits are drop-in — meaning, no appointment is necessary.

Published

1 day ago

September 27, 2023

Oakland Post

Photo by Kathy Chouteau.

By Kathy Chouteau, Richmond Standard

Are you a parent, legal guardian, or community member who wants to volunteer at a West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) school or event?

If so, first, you need to get fingerprinted and badged at one of the district’s upcoming fingerprinting “parties.”

Here’s a rundown on the WCCUSD’s fingerprinting parties, which will all be held on their respective dates from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.:

, Sept. 2, Collins Elementary, Multi-Purpose Room (MPR), 1224 Pinole Valley Rd. in Pinole;
, Sept. 9, Harding Elementary, cafeteria, 7230 Fairmount Ave. in El Cerrito;
, Sept. 16, Lupine Hills Elementary, MPR room, 1919 Lupine Rd. in Hercules;
, Sept. 23, Helms Middle School, MPR room, 2500 Rd. 20 in San Pablo;
, Oct. 7, Lovonya DeJean Middle School, MPR room, 3400 Macdonald Ave. in Richmond;
, Feb. 10, Harding Elementary, cafeteria, 7230 Fairmount Ave. in El Cerrito.

Note that prospective volunteers should complete the online application (at https://www.beamentor.org/linkpages/mentorasp/specialprojects/wccusd/Default.asp) BEFORE attending a WCCUSD fingerprinting party. Anyone who already has a WCCUSD volunteer badge does not need to apply for one again. Questions? Contact (510) 307-4526.

Activism

Officer Fired for Shooting and Killing Sean Monterrosa Has Termination Overturned

Michael Rains, attorney for the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association, said that “several credible sources” have told him that Detective Jarrett Tonn’s termination has been overturned in arbitration.

Published

1 day ago

September 27, 2023

Oakland Post

A billboard near Vallejo Police Department with a sketch of Sean Monterrosa and a message “Justice for Sean Monterrosa” unveiled on Sept. 27, 2020, in Solano County, Calif. (Harika Maddala/ Bay City News)

By Katy St. Clair
Bay City News

The officer who was fired for shooting and killing a man during George Floyd protests in Vallejo in 2020 could be getting his job back after prevailing in arbitration.

Tonn was dismissed from the Vallejo force after he shot Sean Monterrosa, 22, of San Francisco, outside of a Walgreens store on Redwood Street during the early morning hours of June 2, 2020.

The Vallejo Police Department has not commented on whether Tonn will return.

Tonn and two other officers were responding to alleged reports of looting at the store in an unmarked pickup truck. Body camera footage shows Tonn, who is seated in the backseat of the vehicle, stick an AR-15-style assault rifle in between the two officers and fire five times through the windshield at Monterrosa as the police vehicle approached the store.

Monterrosa died a short time later.

Vallejo police have alleged that Tonn fired at Monterrosa because he mistook a hammer in Monterrosa’s sweatshirt pocket for the butt of a gun.

The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta in May 2021 opened an investigation into the shooting, but there have been no updates in that case and Bonta’s office will not comment on open cases.

Tonn was at first placed on administrative leave for the shooting death, but was fired in 2021 by then-Chief Shawny Williams, who determined that Monterrosa was on his knees with his hands raised when he was shot.

Rains, who has represented two other officers fired by Williams — and prevailed — said the reinstatement of Tonn was the right decision. Rains said Sunday that Tonn applied a reasonable and lawful use of force in the Monterrosa case, and that Williams was wrong to terminate him.

“This is just three for three now with Williams,” he said, referring to the now three officers that have gotten their jobs back. “It demonstrates what a colossal failure he was as a chief in every respect. I’m delighted for Tonn, it’s deserved.”

Rains did not represent Tonn in this case.

But others see Monterrosa’s shooting death as a dark stain on a department known for years of shootings by officers.

The law office of John Burris filed a civil rights suit against the city of Vallejo and its Police Department for Monterrosa’s death, citing alleged tampering with evidence and acting negligently by not reprimanding or re-training Tonn previously despite a “shocking history of shooting his gun at civilians.”

Burris’ office is no longer representing the case and the family is now represented by new counsel, John Coyle, with a jury trial scheduled for January 2025, according to court records.

Nevertheless, Burris commented Sunday on Tonn’s reinstatement, saying he was disappointed but not surprised at the move, because arbitrators in these cases are “biased” toward the police.

“Even though police may have committed in this case an outrageous act, it’s not surprising that that has happened, and it happens more times than not,” he said.

When asked if he was confident that Bonta would file charges against Tonn, Burris chuckled and said that he would wait and see.

“I would not hold my breath,” he said.

Tonn had previously shot three people over five years in Vallejo while on duty, none of which were found to have had firearms, a tenth of the 32 total shootings by the department in one decade, according to attorney Ben Nisenbaum.

Vallejo civil rights attorney Melissa Nold, who represents families of people killed by Vallejo police, said the decision to bring back Tonn had been in the works the minute he was terminated by Williams.

“Unfortunately, I am not surprised at this troubling turn of events because a whistleblower notified me last year via email that Tonn was working a deal to get his job back once they threatened and ran off Chief Williams,” Nold said.

Williams resigned abruptly last November. Williams was repeatedly criticized by the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association, the offices’ union, which had previously voted “no confidence” in him and blamed him for everything from attrition to high crime in the city. But advocates for the families of those killed by police said Williams had been making progress in cleaning up a department that had gained international attention for being violent. During Williams’ tenure, there were no police shootings after the Monterrosa death.

Nold places part of the blame on Tonn’s return on the city, which she said “made no effort” to support his termination. Nold said they are still expecting Bonta to file criminal charges against Tonn and there will be a push to get him decertified as an officer as well.

“He cannot ever go back out onto the streets of Vallejo,” she said. “The liability he would create by being here is astronomical, but sadly no one in the city attorney’s office is smart enough to understand and/or are too corrupt and rotten to care.”

In May, a Solano County judge found that the Vallejo City Attorney’s Office broke the law by deliberately destroying evidence in cases related to police shootings.

The city of Vallejo did not respond to a request for comment.

Members of the family of Monterrosa and their advocates are planning on showing up to the Vallejo City Council meeting on Sept. 12 to protest the return of Tonn, Nold said.

The family will also be holding a “Justice 4 Sean Monterrosa” press conference on Thursday at 11 a.m. at Vallejo City Hall, 555 Santa Clara St., Vallejo.