September 22nd; Uaptsd’s Press Conference in Response to Hate Mail from SD Sheriffs

Facebook Event

Tuesday, September 22nd 11:30am – 1:30pm
Location John F. Duffy Administrative Center, 9621 Ridgehaven Ct, San Diego, CA 92123

Join Uaptsd.org and allies as we hold a press conference in response to the recent hate mail we received tracing back to the SD County Sherrif Dept.

Time as follows

Gathering at 11:30am
Press conference at 12:00pm Noon
After speakers we will hand deliver CLERB complaint with documentation to the Sheriff’s office

Coverage by Liam Dillon of Voice of San Diego

A group who is extremely critical of police agencies received a message on Wednesday heavy with profanity, defending police and calling police protesters from Ferguson “animals.” In an era of internet anonymity, the message style is unfortunately common; less common is the digital fingerprint on the message that indicates the message originated from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. A department representative said it appears to have come from the department and officials are investigating, Liam Dillon reports.

See the full article Sheriff Launches Internal Investigation Into Hate Mail Sent to Activist Group

Story from Independent writer Andrew J. Mackay
http://unspokenpolitics.net/2015/09/18/san-diego-sheriffs-department-sends-anonymous-hate-mail-to-activists/

September 23rd; Come speak, or just support us at City Hall as we try to create real police accountability in San Diego!

Please Attend the Public Safety & Livable Communities Committee Meeting.  September 23, 2015 at 12:30pm
202 C Street San Diego, 12th floor

Facebook Event

The Coalition for an Independent Citizen’s Review Board on Police Practices established by Women Occupy in collaboration with other community groups such as Uaptsd.org is working to create a Community Review Board on Police Practices with real power.

Our proposal will be presented; Reforms essential to the effective Community Oversight of the SDPD include:

1. Independent Investigators with Subpoena Power

2. Intake, Tracking and Review of all cases by the CRB..

3. The name is changed to Community Review Board on Police Practices from Citizens Review Board.

4. Two CRB members are appointed by each City Council District Representative, and one by the Mayor, promoting broader community representation.
Join us and sign up to speak or cede time to our
presenter so that we can present the full proposal.

Starting September 25th The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution Documentary Screens in San Diego Sept 25-Oct 1!
at the Digital Gym

co-presented by: Reclaiming the Community, United Against Police Terror – San Diego, & Justice4SD33.

Source: United Against Police Terror Gets Threatening Message from SD Sheriffs

Source: Youth Diversion Pilot Expanded by County to All County

LET’S PACK THE PLACE!

Please Attend the Public Safety & Livable Communities Committee Meeting.  

September 23, 2015 at 12:30pm
202 C Street San Diego, 12th floor

The Coalition for an Independent Citizen’s Review Board on Police Practices established by Women Occupy in collaboration with other community groups such as Uaptsd.org is working to create a Community Review Board on Police Practices with real power.

Our proposal will be presented; Reforms essential to the effective Community Oversight of the SDPD include:

1. Independent Investigators with Subpoena Power

2. Intake, Tracking and Review of all cases by the CRB..

3. The name is changed to Community Review Board on Police Practices from Citizens Review Board.

4. Two CRB members are appointed by each City Council District Representative, and one by the Mayor, promoting broader community representation.
Join us and sign up to speak or cede time to our
presenter so that we can present the full proposal.

to  Liam Dillon, Voice of San Diego liam.dillon@voiceofsandiego.org

from: Catherine (Cat) Mendonca of Uaptsd.org 

c: Community 

My name is Cat Mendonca and I am a copwatcher/community advocate who resides in East San Diego and was an organizer of the event which Zimmerman had referenced to in your recent article “Zimmerman Lays Out a Riot Standard for Releasing Body Camera Footage” as we as  ” SDPD: Body Cameras Are for Evidence, Not Transparency”

During the first San Diego Ferguson response rally upon the news of no indictment of the officer who killed unarmed black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. City Heights residents practiced their amendment rights by marching the streets and peacefully occupying the North Bound 15 freeway. When the group led back to University avenue, they were given a disperse order to proceed east bound on University Avenue. As we were heading east as, it was then, dozens of protesters were met by a line of police officers linked by arms heading westbound in our direction and starting hitting protesters with batons.

Dozens of protesters were met by a line of police officers linked by arms heading westbound on University and starting hitting protesters with batons during the first San Diego to Ferguson response rally.

Baton in the back of protesters neck who was trying to move out of the way

It was then where protestor Emmanuel Wimer, 24, as seen in the following video and news story on November 29th by ABC10, was brutalized and carried out by almost a half a dozen cops. In this video, its clearly shows officers heading westbound on University Avenue using batons against peaceful protesters and independent press. Furthermore, along with him, 3 or 4 legal observers were also arrested that night.

Full story at ABC10 : Ferguson protester: Police singled me out for arrest

Ferguson Protester Speaks Out After Arrest in San Diego

SAN DIEGO – One of a handful of people arrested in the local Ferguson protests is out of jail and speaking out.
Emmanuel Wimer, 24, says he was unfairly targeted by police in City Heights.
“I was just in shock,” said Wimer. “I was at a peaceful protest … and I was singled out and tackled. It was like being in a movie … a bad movie for me.”
He says the first scene played out in March. After an altercation with a trolley officer, he says charges against him were dropped,
In October, he spoke out at a rally against police brutality. Then on Tuesday, he marched with hundreds of local Ferguson protesters in City Heights. He says he was following the chants of everybody else, when he drew the attention of a group of officers near the Jack in the Box restaurant on University Avenue.
In the lockup, Wimer says an officer came up to him and identified himself as the arresting officer.

Wimer was arrested along with 3 or 4 legal observers that night. 

Video does not lie, and it is clear that Zimmerman is taking every route possible to protect the SDPD officer in question and is not honoring the community’s request in being transparent and accountable.

As a community, we have proposed with allies for the City to adopt an Independent Community Review Board on Police Practices, demanded justice for Victor Ortega, killed by Officer Jonathan McCarthy and all of the lives stolen from us by every branch of law enforcement. https://uaptsd.org/victims/victims-murdered-by-sd-law-enforcement/, yet, there is still no word on our demands for the hundreds of families affected by the inpunity of San Diego Law Enforcement and Zimmerman upholding the Blue Code of Silence.

We deeply appreciate Voice of San Diego’s efforts in thorough investigation and reporting for San Diego residents.

In Service and Respect,

Catherine (Cat) Mendonca of Uaptsd.org

6,421 instances of force while cameras were in use, 5,820 the year before issued. #DEFUNDSDPD NOT #SDPDPROUD
Read: http://sputniknews.com/us/20150910/1026803127.html#ixzz3lLijvENL

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/us/20150910/1026803127.html#ixzz3lJSrJrsF

“Complaints against officers fell 23% between July 2014 and June 2015, but instances of force increased ten percent in the same time period, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
At the six month mark, an in house study found that both complaints and use of force had fallen, unfortunately their findings didn’t stick.
According to the findings, there were 6,421 instances of force from July 2014 until June 2015 while cameras were in use, and 5,820 the year before they were issued.
On a good note, while there was a 17% increase in “lesser controlling force,” which is non weaponized force such as an officer using his body weight to control a suspect, “greater” controlling or defending force such as tasers and chokeholds dropped 8%.
“This first year of data all seems to suggest that (body cameras) aren’t the end-all solution to all social issues,” San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman told the SD Union-Tribune. “We are going to need to enhance other current strategies that are effective, such as our psychiatric emergency response teams … our homeless outreach team … and our crisis-response team officers.”

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Midway-OIS-Shelly-Zimmerman-Provoke-Violence-325820491.html

NBC 7 San Diego
Release of Fatal Officer-Involved Shooting Video Could Provoke Violence: SDPD Chief
By Paul Krueger

Release of Fatal Officer-Involved Shooting Video Could Provoke Violence: SDPD Chief
A scene from the fatal officer-involved shooting on April 30, 2015.
Updated 2 hours ago
San Diego Police Chief Shelly Zimmerman says the release of video showing a fatal, officer-involved shooting could jeopardize that officer’s life and provoke violence against his law enforcement colleagues.
In a declaration filed late last week in federal court, Zimmerman also claims that public release of video of the April 30 shooting of Fridoon Nehad could “inflame violent and unstable elements, leading to threats and violence in San Diego.”
The police chief clarified – and hardened – her position on the public release of police body-camera video. In her four-page declaration, Zimmerman said her department will uniformly reject requests made under the state’s Public Records Act for copies of “body-camera” and other “third-party” videos because those videos are “investigative records” and thus exempt from disclosure.
“Indeed, the SDPD does not (unless compelled by court order or governing law) release any body-worn-camera videos to the media – even when a video paints the SDPD and its officers in a positive light, or casts the Department’s detractors in a negative light,” Zimmerman explained.
That statement appears to contradict comments the chief made last year at a public forum, where she indicated that there may be situations in which the public should see body-camera video of her officers’ interactions with the public.
Zimmerman’s declaration is one of several lodged in federal court by the San Diego City Attorney and lawyers for SDPD Officer Neal Browder, who shot and killed Fridoon Nehad on April 30 in the Midway District.
Nehad’s family filed a $20 million lawsuit against the city and Browder, claiming the officer used excessive and unreasonable force in the deadly confrontation.
The city claims Browder mistook a pen that Nehad was holding for a knife before firing his service weapon. Nehad’s family also say Nehad had a history of mental illness.
The shooting is being investigated by the SDPD homicide detectives and the district attorney’s office, which is standard procedure in all officer-involved fatal shootings.
Browder did not activate his department-issued body-camera before the shooting, but surveillance video from a nearby business did capture the deadly encounter.
A man who saw that video described the shooting as “unprovoked” and “shocking”.
That surveillance video is now the subject of an legal dispute in federal court.
Attorneys for several local media outlets are asking a judge to made the video public, arguing that it’s a public record and that Browder is a “public official whose conduct is subject to public scrutiny.”
Attorneys representing the city, Browder and the district attorney’s office disagree. In legal responses filed late last week, they argue that the California Public Records Act exempts those items from disclosure because they’re part of an “investigative file.”
The lawyers also say the surveillance video and other evidence in the Nehad shooting are not public documents because they are not on file with the court and have only been exchanged between the two sides in the civil lawsuit.
The lawyers argue that releasing the video and other evidence would compromise the investigation, taint potential witnesses and “prejudice Officer Browder’s right to a fair criminal trial, should the DA determine that his conduct was not lawful, and prosecute him…”
To buttress their position, Browder’s attorneys had Zimmerman submit a sworn statement, in which she expresses concern that the “manipulation, distortion and misrepresentation” of the video and Officer Browder’s statement to investigators about the shooting “could cause far more than mere annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense – it could (1) result in threats and possibly violence against Officer Browder and his family and (2) jeopardize his due process rights in various ongoing and future investigations and other proceedings regarding the shooting.”
Zimmerman also reveals that her officers are already a target of citizen violence.
Citing department statistics, Zimmerman says there were 319 assaults against SDPD officers in 2014, an increase of 67 over the 252 assaults in 2013.
According to the chief, SDPD officers were assaulted 254 times in the first seven months of this year, which is 73 more times that the same period in 2014, and more than the entire year of 2013.

“These increases appear to coincide with recent widespread media and Internet attention to police-involved shootings around the country,” Zimmerman wrote.
In her declaration, Zimmerman also revealed the existence of a YouTube video, denouncing the Nehad shooting as police “terrorism.”
She says the anonymous maker of that video demands that Browder be arrested and charged with murder and warns that “We do not forgive. We do not forget. SDPD, you should have expected us.”

Here is the real video
Watch “Anonymous – #OpJustice4Fridoon” on YouTube

“Fanning the flames of hatred against Officer Browder and other officers, which I believe the release of the video and statement would do, not only endangers the officers and their families, but also places an undue burden on the SDPD and City of San Diego, in the form of the cost and time of mobilizing and maintaining additional security to protect its police officers and citizens whom we serve.”
A court hearing on the media’s request for public release of the surveillance video and Browder’s statement to investigators is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 21.