THIS IS OUR CHANCE TO STAND UP TO POLICE BRUTALITY!
There are 12 candidates on the ballot with a 4% turnout expected. Your vote for THOMAS JEFFERSON CARES will make the difference. I'll represent you in Sacramento and change how lawmakers think about police violence.
Below, you can read my plan to stop police brutality, and browse other issues.
REMEMBER TO MAIL IN YOUR BALLOTS BY 3/26/19, OR GET TO THE POLLS ON 3/26/19.
The establishment candidate in this election, like almost every member of the Legislature, has been endorsed by local police.
(Even beyond the issue of policing, when we let government workers choose our elected representatives, we end up with a government more interested in serving itself than its people).
If elected, I would be the only legislator to have experienced being beaten by multiple police officers.
If we want communities that carry themselves with the dignity that is gained by intolerance for police brutality, then there should be at least one state legislator who has experienced the realness of it.
(I share my personal experience in the column to the left.)
Having public safety and having police officers who respect human dignity and civil rights ARE NOT CONFLICTING GOALS.
They go hand in hand: Police who can be trusted, are police who can be effective.
This is what I will fight for in the State Senate to put an end to police brutality:
1. We can no longer say that police officers have a right to their job. We need a new police culture where officers appreciate that they serve at the pleasure of civilians.
The state needs to set up an easy system for accepting and tracking complaints against police officers. The CA DOJ would identify complaints with clearly-stated allegations of misconduct and abuse of power (of any degree). If, at the end of the year, an officer is in the worst 15% of his or her department, based on records of these sworn allegations (even if unproven), they would be immediately terminated, unless they were in the best 70% for the last 4 years in a row or the best 55% for the last three years in a row.
Weeding out and replacing the worst 15% of police officers every year, would be a huge step towards enhancing the dignity of our communities, and rarifying police brutality. We need to keep raising the bar.
2. Where there is evidence of unnecessary violence, employment must be immediately terminated.
If any officers were aware of the unnecessary violence and failed to report it, those officers must also be immediately terminated.
3. When there is evidence of unnecessary violence that other officers were aware of but failed to report, the entire precinct's compensation should be lowered.
We need a culture of intolerance for unnecessary police violence, not a culture where officers think the cool thing to do is hide their peer's offenses.
4. Body and dashboard cameras should not be able to be turned off, and body camera footage should not be able to be reviewed by officers before they give their statement of explanation.
Today, the law entitles officers to review footage before giving their explanation. It would be a lot more effective to not allow this. If the footage missed something important, it serves the public interest for the officer to not know this before giving his statement. Let him worry that all his actions were recorded, so he'll be honest in his explanation. Otherwise, he is free to resign from his job and plea the fifth.
Wearing the badge is an honor and a privilege. It's not a right.
My Experience with the L.A. Sheriff's Department
In 2008, when I was 19 years old, my drivers license was suspended because I missed paying a seatbelt ticket, that then had about $800 added to it, with my license held for the ransom.
I was not allowed to make a phone call between bail being set and being transferred to the now infamous Mens Central Jail in Downtown LA.
I ended up spending 3 days there because LASD fumbled my paperwork, preventing my bail from being posted.
When bail was finally accepted and I was being released, along with one other inmate, three Sheriff deputies - and I may as well name them: Robert Lowry, Aaron Blount, and Jonathan Sneed - started to berate the other inmate for not following the rules of having his shirt tucked in while in jail corridors. He apologized and they continued to berate him. I watched with some surprise that they were berating someone for an untucked shirt, when his bail had been posted, and he was entitled to be released. Suddenly, Deputy Lowry looked at me and said “Get that smirk off your face.” I started to respond with “I didn’t think I had a smirk on my face.” but before I could finish the sentence he grabbed me and slammed me into a wall (I was a 115 pound lightweight at the time). He grabbed my head and hit it into that wall four times. Then he started kicking/kneeing me very hard while keeping me held against the wall. Deputies Blount and Sneed joined him. For over a minute the three of them were all kicking me at the same time. It felt like they were aiming for my genitals, and I’m glad they missed or I may not have my beautiful children today. I was limping afterward for 3 weeks and had blood in my urine for 5 weeks.
Afterward, I was handcuffed to a bench. More deputies showed up. I shouted asking to see a doctor, as about 15 deputies huddled and discussed how they would cover it up, including whether they would say I attacked one of them first or an inmate did it before I left my cell, or that it never happened at all.
For those interested in more details, you can look at page 6 of the federal civil rights suit that I filed, in hopes that it would make a difference. In some small way it may have contributed to the FBI’s attention and work which led to the conviction of Lee Baca. The suit was noticed by the State and Federal DOJ, and the ACLU.
If you’re curious how the suit went: On the last day of jury trial, the judge dismissed my case, because my witness - the inmate with the untucked shirt - and 2 jurors were late to arrive. He recessed until the jurors arrived and I thought I could find my witness before the jurors showed up. The only thing left for the trial was this witness’s testimony - which there was other evidence besides - and closing arguments. Closing arguments are considered garnishment and not really part of a case. So I figured if I missed getting back to Court fast enough, the jury would be sent to deliberate without me being allowed to give a closing argument which I was willing to risk to get the witness. I found the witness and got him to the courtroom in about an hour, but in that time, the judge dismissed my case for not being there when the 2 jurors arrived. Throughout the process, it felt that the Judge was outcome-driven - that he wanted me to be allowed a trial, but not one I would win. I was denied conducting discovery, and from introducing photos of blood in my urine, and then at the final stage he dismissed the entire case, when he didn't need to.