Ad Hoc Vallejo Police Oversight And Accountability Webpage
Connected Vallejo got a request from John Lewis to set up a webpage to relay public concerns about the Vallejo Police department to him. This was stated in a recent opinion letter to various Vallejo news outlets and Vallejo civic leaders. Click on "read more" to see letter. And it was mentioned at the last Vallejo City Council meeting. John Lewis can be reached via email at this address:
|
John Lewis Letter To The Editor I am not saying that the city attorney is wrong in her analysis. She is the one that went to law school, and has the agreements between VPOA and the city, in front of her. According to her analysis, the police commission is not permitted to hold meetings until some "meet and confer process" is completed, but I need to ask. If this process is, at some point completed, what's to say there won't be another issue, about which we need to "meet and confer?" How is it that we have an agreement with the Vallejo Police Officers Association, that requires us to get their "permission" for the citizens of Vallejo, to hold a meeting to discuss the police department? Who gave the city, authorization to negotiate away, our right to "meet and confer?" I have always supported the rights of workers to organize. I joined my first union on my 16th birthday and continued until the day I retired 50 years later. I have never crossed a picket line, but isn't our "right of assembly" also something worth protecting? Police oversight is coming to Vallejo. How I know is because, it's coming to everywhere! The majority of Americans now live in a jurisdiction with some oversight of their local law enforcement. The reason for this is economic, the cost of lawsuits has been driving cities toward bankruptcy. It is thought that citizens giving feedback might help. Your choice is to support this or, … Well, that really is your only choice actually. We were appointed and then waited 4 or 5 months to get a background check. Another several months of hearing nothing, until we were notified to log into a zoom call, to be sworn in almost a full year from the time we applied. My appointment was for only one year. During that year we were summoned to lectures on a few occasions, to learn about important things that we needed to know like The Brown Act, and handling of public records, but nothing about what we will be tasked with doing, which we are told we will get more training at some point. During this time my commission expired, and I was told I needed to reapply, I did, was re-interviewed, and reappointed. I don't have any way of contacting the other members of the commission. We were told that we would have email addresses and whatever. ——And to be clear I am not speaking as a commissioner, but strictly as a pissed off citizen. I'm finished waiting. I would prefer that we have the support of the city going forward, however If someone were to contact the other commissioners, and we could agree on a time that works, we can hold meetings on the front steps of city hall. I am sure the good citizens of Vallejo would come up with a sound system, a speaker's podium, and a zoom link, for the folks at home. Someone can set up a website so that everyone can have access and we can hopefully link it to the city's site at some point when that is appropriate. With this we can begin the process of listening to what the people have to say either at a public forum, or through the website, and this is critical, there needs to be a way to contact us anonymously. Holding regular meetings is necessary, and our first order of business after selecting a chairperson, needs to be how do we get the training we need. We can't be dependent on the city to provide us with training because if they wanted to they could have done this a year ago. It's the things like this, that makes us completely frustrated, and pissed off, about government in general. Sometimes that frustration can lead to making poor choices at the ballot box, leading to more frustration. That's why I have decided I am done being nice -who am I kidding, I have never been accused of nice. It's time for the city manager to get behind the idea of reform. We want a functioning police oversight and accountability commission. Why the urgency? I spent much of, George HW Bush's presidency, traveling back in forth to Los Angeles, staying in hotel rooms where I watched the local evening news. The lead story was always the latest development in the Rodney King beating. If you are not old like me, you may not recall the details. Mr King tried to outrun the police, driving a four-cylinder Hyundai. When he finally stopped, he was pulled from the car by four police officers and beaten with clubs for the next several minutes. The incident was captured on video from a nearby apartment by some guy trying out his new video camera. We didn't have cell phones back then. That video played silently over the shoulder of every newscaster on every channel, for most of the next year, as they talked about each new development in the case against the officers. The court agreed that the officers might not get a fair trial in LA so it was moved to the all-white community of Simi Valley. To no one's surprise the officers were acquitted. The rioting lasted a week, 63 people died, thousands injured, and more than a billion dollars in property damage. That's how much it costs when citizens don't feel they are being heard. Thank You, for your interest. John Lewis |