I do not believe a Police commission is needed in Pleasanton! We have one of the best departments in the Nation let's not screw it up!

I have been a resident of Pleasanton for 42 years and I listened to the three-hour online event about the CAB. Don't be fooled by the political rhetoric of the liberal counsel members. Julie Testa and Karla Brown want to handcuff the police!

Ok. Let’s stop the hyperbole about wanting to somehow harm the police. Asking for oversight is not a threat to anyone—and I mean real oversight, not just a CAB. But it’s a first step and that is welcome.

So tell me Kathleen, how is what you call "real oversight" working out for the City of Oakland?? Hell, they are conducting a nationwide hunt for a new police chief and are having a real problem finding qualified applicants because of their Police Oversight Commission. I'll take our way of policing any day of the week over some police commission that has citizens that know nothing about how to police, who all have self serving personal agendas.

Real oversight does not include citizens. There are professionals—retired police for example.

Here’s one: Web Link

@ KR

Thanks for the link

The Independent auditor can provide constructive criticism

IPA Second Report for 2017, P. 6

Dealing with mentally ill persons in crisis conditions is one of the genuine challenges that law enforcement faces. We also recognize that force applications are dynamic and inherently stressful, and that the officers ultimately had a need to defend themselves and subdue the subject’s active resistance. Additionally, we reiterate that the arrest and attendant force was lawful, and that there were praiseworthy aspects of the officers’ engagement with the subject. But we do wonder whether a different mindset at the beginning would have been useful in de-escalating or otherwise altering the context of the encounter, and perhaps preventing the force from being necessary.The “holistic” approach to force review –which goesbeyond policy considerations to look critically but constructively at all aspects of the incident –is one that we have long advocated. For an episode such as this one, an evaluation of interactions with subjects with a history of mental illness –with a focus on improving them through issue-spotting and training –falls into the category of useful collateral review. Indeed, this case seemed like a particularly good opportunity to explore how and whether specially tailored communications might have had a positive influence on the outcome here.Recommendation: The Department should incorporate formal and specific consideration of its protocols for dealing with subjects in possible mental health crises into its evaluation of relevant incidents.

Willy, it is not a Police Commission that the City Council agreed to move forward. Sorry you have a hard time understanding. Must of been oversight on you part. You did receive a lot of agreeing people though...received many likes.
Carl, see above answer. This is a “Chief Advisory Board” much different from Oakland.

Delve a little deeper into Palo Alto's information and you'll find they had a greater than $44 million budget. Pleasanton had a $29 million one, roughly $15 million less. Palo Alto's population in 2018 was 66,666, while Pleasanton checked in at 82,372. Roughly 15 million more residents.
Now, I'm definitely not a math whiz, some days I could barely add my way out of a paper bag, but it looks to me like Palo Alto spends $15 million more than Pleasanton to ensure the safety of 15 million fewer people. Twice as much expenditure for half as many residents. Comparing calls for service, we had 65,565 in2019, Palo Alto had 51,417.
Comparing use of force incidents between the two departments, Palo Alto was 0.08%, Pleasanton 0.06%. Remarkably small percentages of police contact resulting in use of force by both departments. One with an Independent Auditor, ours with oversight by the City Council.
Maybe you should do yourselves a favor a follow Kathleen's web link, and while your at it, look at our own statistics to compare them. It's an eye-opener.
Do we really require an Independent Auditor or citizen's oversight in order to close that 0.02% gap? The argument has already been presented that the overwhelming majority of residents are happy with the services of the police department.
We have a new (to us) chief, who walked headlong into a hornet's nest at the national unrest caused by a tragic incident in a city well-distanced from us. No similarities between the two places, yet the wave of discontent was threatening to sweep us up in the tsunami that was the aftermath.
The men and women of our department stepped up to the plate with him, took direction, and avoided a catastrophe as a united team. They then got to work on addressing the outcries for police reform, worked with city officials ( council and manager) to allow for regular folks to speak their minds and officials to listen and respond.
Fast forward to this time, in which a Chief's Advisory Board will be formed, and issues will be addressed and changes, if needed, will be made. Let it play out! Our leaders have listened carefully, are weighing options, and the City Council will continue in its role as oversight council. No one has stopped to realize the reason there haven't been matters brought to the council is there were no matters that warranted their attention. You know, "If it ain't broke,don't fix it"?
I, too appreciated the link to Palo Alto's online presence. It allowed me to make comparisons and conclude many of us were right all along. We don't need a police commission. We have professional, ethical, well-trained and experienced personnel onboard who can handle this. We can and should communicate freely with them, and above all trust them to do the right thing. They've not given us reason to do otherwise.

It's not hyperbole, KR. You crazy libs are gonna destroy this city. I'm just glad that I have a refuge in Nevada, and Arizona, and Idaho. At least for a time until you crazies move there and start the same crap.

Pete, I get it. Kathleen said that we need "real oversight" and not just just a CAB. My point is a Police Commission like they have in Oakland is a nightmare to be avoided at all cost!! I think for Pleasanton a CAB is more than enough oversight. In my opinion the city council and the city manager should be providing the oversight, but what do I know!!

A few dollars to rectify problems is not too much to ask no matter how many people each community has—and it’s thousands not millions. We had three deaths; the city council had no role in oversight and will get a couple reports a year now; and yes we have good people, but they can and should do better.

The Alameda County District Attorney has been the established oversight for the Pleasanton Police department and all other police departments in Alameda County.

It is the Alameda County District Attorney office that determines definitive opinion.
That definitive opinion has cleared Pleasanton police officers actions involving death of citizens while in Pleasanton police custody.

Michael, one was paid out by the city; one was a divorce and no one filed; the third is in federal court.

Carl, you are right, a police commission would be a nightmare. If that is your point...well taken. At all cost, I agree.
An advisory board takes in account, new police chief, a group of rank and file who place that trust in their chief, a better understanding of diverse views...across all spectrums, locking in the gray area between the police department and the city council’s responsibility to review, the city manager/staff are not a law enforcement trained unit, and/if this advisory board does not bring better clarity/understanding...then board will be dismissed...

OK, thank you.

No oversight by citizens, elected officials, or any other group or organization will reduce, limit, or incapacitate the definitive opinion of the Alameda County District Attorney.

A court can overrule her.

I hope you gentlemen and other lady tuned into tonight's city council meeting. If you missed it, please do catch it on youtube. It will illustrate the professionalism of our police command staff, their depth of knowledge of equipment, training, and willingness to be fully transparent.
The members of the council were equally professional this evening, asking relevant questions, accepting explanations, and recognizing their role as oversight body going forward.
It was educational regarding tasers and cameras, their appropriate application, and advanced technologies lacking in the now obsolete equipment that has been in use. Council wisely approved the equipment contract unanimously. It was a win win.

Kathleen, you are correct. Thousands not millions. It was an honest mistake on my part. Sorry.

Um, that's people. Dollars it is millions.

Pleasanton is a great community let's keep it that way! Being a Pleasanton resident and business owner for many years and a strong conservative, I find the changes the Liberals in the community are trying to make disturbing at best! This election in November is probably the most important one this Country has ever had! Let's remember what this Country was founded on VOTE, VOTE VOTE!

“Roughly 15 million more residents.” So it’s 15 thousand fewer people and 15 million more dollars. Got it. But it doesn’t matter, because it can be just one person and is worth the cost to save lives.

This is from the Palo Alto Weekly:
1. Police officers are indicted in fewer than 1% of killings, but the indictment rate for civilians involved in a killing is 90%. (FiveThirtyEight)

2. On average, in the United States, a police officer takes the life of a citizen every 7 hours. (Fatal Encounters)

3. In 2015, there were 1,307 people who lost their lives at the hands of a police officer or law enforcement official. In 2016, that number was 1,152. Although lower, both years are still higher than the 1,149 people who were killed by police in 2014. (Fatal Encounters/Mapping Police Violence)

4. 52% of police officers report that it is not unusual for law enforcement officials to turn a blind eye to the improper conduct of other officers. (US Department of Justice)

5. 61% of police officers state that they do not always report serious abuse that has been directly observed by fellow officers. (US Department of Justice)

6. 43% of police officers agree with this sentiment: “Always following the rules is not compatible with the need to get their job done.” (US Department of Justice)

7. 84% of police officers have stated in a recent survey that they have directly witnesses a fellow officer using more force than was necessary. (US Department of Justice)

8. Just 5% of the police departments in the United States contributed statistics to a 2001 report that was created to track police brutality on civilians. (US Department of Justice)

9. The estimated cost of police brutality incidents in the United States is $1.8 billion. (Cop Crisis)

10. 93.7% of the victims of police brutality that involve the discharge of a weapon are men. (The Guardian)

11. People who are African-American/Black are twice as likely to be killed by a police officer while being unarmed compared to a Caucasian/White individual. (The Guardian)

12. Native Americans are just as likely to be killed by law enforcement officials in the United States as African-Americans/Blacks from 1999-2013 data. (CDC)

13. 1 in 4 people who are killed by law enforcement officials in the United States are unarmed. (Mic)

14. Out of the 2.3 million people who are incarcerated in the United States right now, an estimated 1 million of them are African-Americans/Black. (NAACP)

15. The most common form of police misconduct in 2010 was excessive force. This is similar to the data that was collected in 2001 by the US Government. (Cato Institute/US Department of Justice)

16. The second most common form of police misconduct is sexual assault. (Cato Institute)

17. 1 out of every 3 people that are killed by police officers in any given year in the United States is African-American/Black. (Mapping Police Violence)

18. Where you live matters when it comes to police brutality. If you are an African-American/Black individual, then you are 7 times more likely to be killed by a police officer in Oklahoma than you are if you lived in Georgia. (Mapping Police Violence)

19. In 17% of the 100 largest cities in the United States, police officers killed African-American/Black men at a higher rate than the US murder rate of 2014. (Mapping Police Violence)

20. Although Chicago draws a lot of attention due to its total number of murders, including a threat from the Executive Office to “bring the Feds” in 2017, it ranks 25th in the 100 largest US cities for police officers killing African-American/Black men. (Mapping Police Violence)

21. 69% of the victims of police brutality in the United States who are African-American/Black were suspected of a non-violent crime and were unarmed. (Mapping Police Violence)

Kathleen Ruegsegger is a perfect example of a Liberal that has no respect for the Police! It's time that these people are exposed!

@Kathleen You spent a lot of time on this one. None of it mentions California, much less Pleasanton. Except of course that it appeared in a Palo Alto newspaper. We are not Georgia nor Oklahoma. No point comparing apples and oranges.

Not a liberal.

Linda, it is data centered in the US. We had three deaths; exactly three too many. We can spend a few of our dollars on mental health and oversight and be better for it. Why do you think people with guns do not need oversight?

@ Linda Kelly

I really do not know what point your trying to make by comparing Pleasanton with Palo Alto.

Whoever is doing your research is giving you misleading information.

I do not dispute the $$$$ you refer to.

The question is "what is the explanation"?

So I have "delved" into the operation budgets of both Pleasanton & P.A.

In answer to the why question....

1)PPD has 117.5 employees; Costing $27MM per year; or $229,787 per employee

2)PA PD has 150 employees; costing $41MM per year; or $273,333 per employee

3) The expense categories of the PPD vs. PA PD are not the same. Thus apples vs oranges.

4) PPD has 6 expense categories, I belive PA PD has 8

5) PA PD has an expense category of Technical Services ($10MM per year)

So in conclusion the $15MM difference you refer to is easily explained by $10MM per year of Technical Services (I think in Pleasanton, this is part of Allen Hammond's IT Budget), and salaries $41MM vs. $27MM.

So taking out salaries & IT, it looks like the PA PD is actually spending less than PPD on the remaing items.

Still don't get what your goal is in benchmarking Pleasanton to PA PD

@ LK

two other important numbers

PPD spends 90% of their budget on salaries & benefits (27/30=90%)

PA PD spends 87% of their budget on salaries & benefits (41/47=87%)

@ Willie and Linda Kelly
I concur with you 110%. The "rebuttals" presented at you are typical of the liberal mindset trying to press their "agenda" of "I know what's best for you so just comply". Just look at the PUSD disaster and see what they can do!
VOTE WISELY IN NOVEMBER!!

Here is something worth listening to: Radio Lab Web Link

47 minutes. Well worth it.

Rodger, not a liberal. I am arguing for oversight. I said CAB was a step in the right direction. It is, however, only a step. We need oversight. Three people died.

Actually Kathleen you sound exactly like a liberal. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. What does “real oversight” look like to you? If you were Queen of Pleasanton what policies would you implement for the police department?
You keep talking about the three deaths involving PPD officers, yet they all were different circumstances. You seem to think that police work is like being a social worker when in reality it can get very messy very quickly. I have suggested in the past that you contact PPD and request a ride-a-long so you can experience first hand what a officer experiences during one 8 hour shift but you don’t seem to like that idea. You just might come to appreciate what they do for the community each and every hour of the day.

I do appreciate what our police do each and every hour of each and every day. I also believe we need to hire mental health personnel and have full time oversight. That could be the Council, but would be better in the hands of a professional. Still not a liberal, and you can’t say I am just because you say I am.

Ohh, no, Bryant Annenberg, you're not gonna get by with blaming ME for the comparison to Palo Alto! That one falls on Kathleen Ruggsegger, whose web link in the second post here, following Willy, opened up the question of Palo Alto. I'm solidly saying we should NOT in any way shape of form compare the two law enforcement agencies to one another!
It appears Kathleen is grasping at straws to make her argument that somehow evil lurks beyond the sally door at PPD and the only way to address is to form yet another layer of bureaucracy and call it oversight.

Lurks? No one is lurking.

I provided an answer about oversight. We need oversight.

Three people died because they broke the law and refused to cooperate when they were confronted. There IS oversight.

Three people died because they were in mental distress and could not respond the way a normal person can. Three people dead; we need mental health personnel and oversight.

@ Kathleen R - Why were those three people who were in "mental distress" out and about without help from their family and friends? The responsibility for "mental health intervention" belongs with the people who know them. It is not the responsibility for the Pleasanton Community to provide for their "intervention"!

Kathleen really likes to diagnose people with mental illness over the internet, a practice the American psychiatric association finds to be unethical. Let me ask you this Kathleen-

You claim Shannon Estill was in mental distress and not able to react to the police like a “normal person” (I will ignore the ignorance and offensiveness of the terminology you selected) when he pointed a shotgun and replica pistol in the officers’ faces when they interrupted him attempting to murder his family. If this is the case, why did the doctors, mental health professionals, and social workers at Eden Medical Center deem him fit for release just 20 minutes earlier?

I’m curious why you seem able to recognize “mental distress” so much better than the wide array of trained professionals that treated him at the hospital minutes before the police encountered him.

John Deming was having a psychotic break. His family was unaware. Shannon Estill had a serious head injury and was unwisely released. Jacob Bauer’s family tried desperately to inform police of their adult son’s issues to no avail. We should all take this seriously and do what we can to protect ourselves, our neighbors, and the police. Listen to the podcast I posted.

So Shannon Estill is seen and treated by doctors at a hospital, who have unlimited access to social workers and mental health professionals, and they determine he is in sound condition to release. Now the police need to be reformed because the hospital “unwisely” released a homicidal person that attempted to kill his family and struck two weapons in the polices’ face? I’m sorry, but that makes no sense at all.

Perhaps you should focus some of your attention on the medical and mental health systems that released a homicidal person into the community for the police and his family to deal with instead of doing their job.

So a guy with a head injury is treated at a regional trauma center with essentially unlimited access to medical, social, and mental health services. His doctors deem his is stable to be released and “unwisely” release a homicidal man into the community. That man immediately returns home and begins accessing firearms with the intention to murder his family. His family calls the police, terrified they will be killed. The police interrupt the man while he is pulling weapons out of a safe to kill his family. The man ignores the officers orders and he points a shotgun in their face. The officers retreat from the situation to create “time and distance.” The man pursues the police after they have retreated and aggressively runs at an officer while pointing an imitation firearm at him. The officer, having exhausted every other reasonable alternative, shoots the man.

These are the undisputed facts. If there is any blame at all for what occurred beyond the man’s own actions, it clearly lies with the hospital. With a straight face, you really want to use this situation as a justification for police reform?

With the Deming and Bauer situations, there is at least some room for discussion on alternative approaches the police may have considered. The Estill situation is as clear cut as they come. Your repeated reliance on this situation as justification for police reform completely undermines any credibility you may have.

I think you have something for dramatics.

Watch the video, read the reports. Those are the cold hard facts of what occurred.

It's 2 AM and a burglar alarm is triggered in a high-end auto showroom. Officers find a large broken window and an individual running atop the cars, refusing to stop when commanded to do so. He picks up a 50 lb. floor jack and lobs it through another glass window at officers. You expect a mental health professional to be able to calm him? Tasers failed (perfect argument for the decision to purchase upgraded equipment) twice. Mr. Garcia is right. Read the news reports, listen to the tape.
Mr. Estill was released from jail, went straight home, threatening his own wife and daughter, who call police saying he has access to weapons and ammo. Emerges pointin weapon at them, you expect a mental health professional to convince him to wait a minute, lets talk?
And again, responding to a busy grocery store where the Bauer's son had just been smashing bottles and causing a frightening disturbance, with multiple body cam videos made public showing his resistance to officers pleas to relax,tasers deployed, not lethal force, he succumbed to illegal drugs, ingested by his own choice. Tragic, oh, so very tragic, but a mental health professional wouldn't necessarily have been able to change the outcome.
We actually ought not to even be discussing it at this juncture, since the legal case against the city and officers has not been heard in court. One more tragedy which is out of the control of anyone because of the pandemic.
Kathleen, you have your mind made up. Many others see it in a different light. The city council and police department have bent over backwards to put measures in place to give officers the tools and training to do their job of protecting us and themselves. There will be a chiefs advisory board. Reports will be presented to council at least bi-annually, more frequently if they feel the need. They ARE the oversight. Let them get about overseeing.

John Deming was in a crisis. So was Shannon Estill. [Removed because it was false.] I have seen and read everything I could about these cases.

Listen to the podcast. We need independent oversight, but I would settle for the council getting the same reports that the city manager does. They, at least, are our lifeline to the facts. They are our representatives.

So he was in such “crisis” that the doctors, mental health workers, and social workers at Eden Medical center didn’t notice it just 20 minutes earlier, yet the police are supposed to instantly diagnose him while he is in the middle of trying to murder his family and pointing weapons in their face?

Give me a break.

"Jacob Bauer did not smash anything in the store. I have seen and read everything I could about these cases."

That is a bald faced lie.

From the DA's report:

"Mr. Bauer began to walk around the store with a store manager following him from a safe distance. Mr. Bauer was talking loudly to himself in a nonsensical manner, banging his cell phone sharply on the shelves in different aisles, and drinking small amounts from bottled beverages on the shelves and replacing them or breaking them on the floor."

Are they lying or are you?

You can't even get the basic facts of of what occurred right. You're then using your misrepresentations to besmirch the police in some misguided crusade against them.

Pleasanton Weekly really needs to begin clamping down on people spreading misinformation for political purposes as they claimed they would do.

Kathleen, I, too, have read and viewed, and as neither of us is trained in emergency response to violent behavior, we are doing a tremendous injustice to those who are. Me included.
We have experienced, trained officers and command staff whose job it is to keep our community safe. We have a city manager with 20+ years exemplary service to a community he loves just as the rest of us do. And we have an engaged city council of five intelligent men and women with a combined service of perhaps 75 years or more to this city.
Those councilmembers do indeed represent us, and if you think they live in some sort of vacuum and only are engaged during the meetings we see them in at council chambers, ribbon cuttings, and parades you're way off base. When did you last ask to speak to one of them face to face to express your concerns and ask their opinions? When did you last face the chief or one of the command staff to say "you're doing it wrong"? Or, heaven forbid, "you're doing it right, thank you"?
It's all well an good to voice our opinions here, where hitting the submit button shares that opinion with a whole community. It doesn't however replace the real work these officials do day in and day out. Our city recently celebrated it's 125th birthday. It is among the top 25 places to live cited by many published sources. Safety is among the priorities we rank highest in.
Yes, those 3 men died in unfortunate circumstances, yes there are 3 tragedies, but sweeping reforms of our city are simply not warranted. Officials have addressed and are addressing what improvements may be needed, they are implementing them, and it is time for us armchair know-it-alls to back off and let them do what they are hired to do. Again, me included.

You have decided that three deaths warrant no changes. I’m sorry you feel that way. Until now, the council received NO input about the police other than the annual police report. So, having them be involved is a blessing, but they are still civilians.

Prior to the pandemic, I met with three council members, separately and more than once.

We need oversight by a professional. We can do better.

@Kathleen, I removed your statement about Bauer not breaking things. That is false.
The Raley's employees said "he broke a bunch of merchandise, breaking bottles, pouring liquids on the floor..." Around 40 seconds into this video

Web Link

If Jacob Bauer was smashing and breaking things on the floor, why won't the PPD release the 20 minutes of surveillance video from the 10 cameras?

PPD in your quest to be open & transparent, RELEASE THE RALEY'S VIDEOS!!!

Or explain why you won't

PPD is afraid that Kathleen's statement is true, or they would have released the Raley's video in their NEW open & transparent web site.

Until the video is released by PPD, please stop calling Kathleen a liar.

Or if they don't release it...you know what KR says is correct.

Bry

Facts don't lie

Pleasanton 3 0f 81 = 3.7%

Minneapolis 63 of 11,500 = 0.5%

And people say we do do not have the "Minneapolis" problem in Pleasanton

Stay tuned for more

In both the Deming Jr & Estill case, there is no video evidence at critical times.

In the Deming Jr. case, Kunkle said he forgot to turn on his body cam. So what we are left with is the word of Kunkle vs. the word of a dead man.

Funny how dead men can't tell their version of events.

In the case of Estill, the is no video evidence of Shannon exiting the garage , with a weapon (or BB gun), and running toward Batt.

So, once again, we have the story told by 2 PPD officers vs. the word of a dead man

@Willy

This topic will not, and should not end, with Pleasanton at 3.7%, which may be the highest in the nation.

While you think the PPD is GREAT, and needs no independent oversight (blaming that on those know-nothing Liberals), the 3.7% tells a very different story.

Did you know that from 2015 to 2019, the number of times PPD had used excessive force has more than doubled?

Guess it's no surprise that 3 people have been killed by PPD from 2015 to 2019.

But go ahead, keep blaming those Liberals.

Bry

And here come the full on tinfoil hat conspiracy theories. PW, its time to take out the garbage again.

And for the record, Jacob Bauer died of a mehamphetamine overdose, as the medical records clearly show. He was NOT killed by the police.

No one is going to de-fund or abolish PPD. We have an excellent police force that is generally doing it's job well. However, Kathleen R is correct in saying there could be better training for dealing with the mentally ill, and better oversight. I welcome this.

@ Juan

Since you are a former member of law enforcement, your comments supporting Police and their actions are not surprising.

Testilying:

[removed because it is not a credible website]
Web Link

I especially like the title of the Slate article
"THE POLICE LIE ALL THE TIME" , "CAN ANYONE STOP THEM"

The article further describes how this systematic lying is supported by and benefits DA s.

So why does anyone think Pleasanton is immune from this SYSTEMATIC LYING?

I may have a tin hat, but I do not have my head in the sand (or naive ) to believe everything (or anything) law enforcement is trying to spin.

I also suggest you read the Alameda County Coroner's report closely, as your statement as to cause of death is not true by key omissions (surprised the PW has not remove your statement as being false).

The Bauer family, through their Attorney has released a forensic pathology report with a different primary cause of death.

I guess we'll have to wait for the trial to see if the Jury has the same opinion of you Juan.