A letter of support was filed showing broadbased support for the City of Berkeley to adopt a Surveillance and Community Safety Ordinance.
Community Support for Berkeley’s Surveillance Regulation Ordinance.
Background: The Berkeley City Council will consider a Surveillance Regulation ordinance that Oakland Privacy and its partners have been working on for a year and a half on December 5th.
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McGee – Spaulding Neighbors in Action: The Power of One Neighborhood Rising:
University Avenue l Sacramento Street l MLK Boulevard l Dwight Way
November 29, 2017
To: Honorable Members of the Berkeley City Council
Kate Harrison, Ben Bartlett, Lori Droste,
Kriss Worthington, Mayor Jesse Arreguin, Linda Maio,
Susan Wengraf, Sophie Hahn, Cheryl Davila.
To: Council@cityofberkeley.info
From: McGee-Spaulding Neighbors in Action.
We write to you in strong support of the Surveillance Technology Use and Community Safety Ordinance introduced last year by Councilperson Worthington, and recommended unanimously to you by both the Peace and Justice and Police Review Commissions. This item is currently scheduled to appear before you during your December 5th meeting, as Item 23a.
Alameda Health Systems Removes Hidden License Plate Reader From Highland Hospital Emergency Entrance
From the East Bay Express: 11/30/2017 by Darwin Bond Graham
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A controversial automated license plate reader camera that was installed at the driveway entrance of Oakland’s Highland Hospital in 2014 has been removed by the hospital.
Director of Government and Community Relations for the Alameda Health System Terry Lightfoot said today that the process by which the surveillance tool was installed “warranted more vetting.”
As the Express reported last week, the camera was quietly set up three years ago as part of a larger construction project. Privacy advocate and researcher (and Oakland Privacy member) Mike Katz-Lacabe discovered the camera’s existence through a California Public Records Act request.
Oakland Turns Out For Long-Delayed ICE Raid Hearing
On November 28, after waiting for hours as the last item on the agenda, Oaklanders spoke up loudly about sanctuary city and ending all collusion, assistance or cooperation with Trump’s ICE.
A sampling of videos from the public comment session can be watched here.
The public hearing followed a letter of inquiry from Oakland Privacy about the raid, Indybay’s comprehensive reporting, an independent investigation by Privacy Advisory Commission chair Brian Hofer determining that OPD’s assistance in the August 16 raid constituted a violation of the City’s sanctuary city legislation, an internal affairs complaint directed at OPD Chief Anne Kirkpatrick’s false public statements about the ICE raid, and an abrupt cancellation of the previously scheduled public hearing on November 14.
The city’s residents spoke powerfully about wanting city actions to comport with the values of the city’s residents and not federal xenophobia, racism and demonization of people of color and about OPD’s long and troubled relationship with Oakland residents. On the conclusion of the public comment session, the City Council indicated that a resolution by Desley Brooks and Rebecca Kaplan to end all cooperation, assistance, traffic control or interaction of any kind on future ICE raids would meet with council and mayoral approval. That resolution will be heard on December 5 at the Public Safety Committee.
Initial Press Coverage:
2018 UASI Requests From Bay Area Law Enforcement
Every year, Bay Area law enforcement agencies apply for a cornucopia of federal grants to buy stuff to fight the war on terror. This year’s application cycle just ended and the approved grants (not all will be approved) will be announced in the first quarter of 2018. Here are a few of the 2018 requests from our region.
Make Sanctuary Real Videos
At the November 14 meeting of the Oakland Public Safety Committee, the community rallied after the abrupt removal of the public hearing from the scheduled agenda. A week after this meeting, Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf agreed to support ending all cooperation between the Oakland Police Department and ICE.