We thought we’d give you another update on the status of the pledge we asked your Councilmembers to sign to recommit to making public safety their top priority.
The scorecard as of our last post: Mayor Reed and seven Councilmembers signed on; Councilmemer Oliverio abstained; and Councilmembers Herrera and Liccardo had not responded.
We’re happy to announce that Councilmember Herrera’s office called to let us know she will make signing the pledge one of her first acts when the Council returns from their Summer recess.
We also saw that Councilmember Oliverio mentioned the pledge in his blog on another website. He explained that he doesn’t sign pledges for interest groups because he doesn’t want to promise anything he may not be able to deliver.
I understand where he’s coming from. But an overwhelming majority of San Jose’s residents regularly list public safety as their top priority. Are the people of San Jose an interest group?
We’re only asking our leaders to reflect the support our public safety officers receive from the community. It’s a pledge of principle.
Later on in his blog, Pierluigi mentions that he’s already got his own public safety pledge posted on his city website. We went there and looked around but couldn’t find it. Maybe he’ll post a link in his blog today. We’ll let you know.
P.S. In case you were wondering, Councilmember Liccardo still has yet to respond.
Showing posts with label pledge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pledge. Show all posts
Monday, August 3, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Pledge Recap
One week ago on this blog, San Jose Police Officers' Association President Bobby Lopez posted a challenge he issued to Mayor Reed and the entire City Council. He asked that our city leaders sign a pledge to:
• Return San Jose to the rank of “Safest Big City in America” within the next five years;
• Support our officers by refraining from knee-jerk reactions to activist complaints, particularly from those who lack expertise; and
• Involve more neighborhood leaders on committees and task forces regarding public safety.
We noted that not every member of the Council had signed or committed to sign the pledge. In the comments that followed Sgt. Lopez's post, our readers asked that we reveal the names of councilmembers who had not signed on. In the interest of sunshine and open government, we feel it's only fair to do so:
Signed pledge
Mayor Chuck Reed
Vice Mayor Judy Chirco
Councilmember Pete Constant
Councilmember Ash Kalra
Councilmember Kansen Chu
Councilmember Nora Campos
Councilmember Madison Nguyen
Councilmember Nancy Pyle
No response
Councilmember Sam Liccardo
Councilmember Rose Hererra
Other
Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio responded to our request to say that he does not sign pledges as a matter of principle.
NOTE: The Mayor and Council were contacted multiple times regarding the pledge after Sgt. Lopez hand delivered it at a City Council meeting.
• Return San Jose to the rank of “Safest Big City in America” within the next five years;
• Support our officers by refraining from knee-jerk reactions to activist complaints, particularly from those who lack expertise; and
• Involve more neighborhood leaders on committees and task forces regarding public safety.
We noted that not every member of the Council had signed or committed to sign the pledge. In the comments that followed Sgt. Lopez's post, our readers asked that we reveal the names of councilmembers who had not signed on. In the interest of sunshine and open government, we feel it's only fair to do so:
Signed pledge
Mayor Chuck Reed
Vice Mayor Judy Chirco
Councilmember Pete Constant
Councilmember Ash Kalra
Councilmember Kansen Chu
Councilmember Nora Campos
Councilmember Madison Nguyen
Councilmember Nancy Pyle
No response
Councilmember Sam Liccardo
Councilmember Rose Hererra
Other
Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio responded to our request to say that he does not sign pledges as a matter of principle.
NOTE: The Mayor and Council were contacted multiple times regarding the pledge after Sgt. Lopez hand delivered it at a City Council meeting.
Monday, July 13, 2009
A Pledge for Public Safety
By Bobby Lopez
For decades, San Jose has had a top-notch police department and avoided the controversy over policing that is a routine occurrence in major American cities. But recently, San Jose has seen a seemingly endless string of negative stories regarding its police department. What’s different here is that the source of the controversy is not a bad cop on the beat or a rogue group of officers. Rather, the problem stems directly from weak administrative and political leadership at City Hall.
For example, the number of arrests made downtown, which some believe is excessive, is a result of administrative policy. The feuds between city leaders and the Task Force on Public Intoxication is a turf battle. The fiasco over the hiring of a new Independent Police Auditor is a political fight between the Mayor and Council.
These stories don’t accurately reflect the outstanding work of our cops on the street. Our officers are highly educated, well-trained, and reflect the communities we serve. We are respected by the vast majority of San Jose’s citizens, as is demonstrated in numerous City surveys, for the tremendous job we do with limited resources.
But negative stories caused by poor leadership have hurt officer morale and distracted us from our real goal: keeping San Jose’s streets and neighborhoods safe. So, in an effort to return our focus to what’s really important to the people of San Jose, I’ve asked our city leaders to pledge the following:
1. Return San Jose to the rank of “Safest Big City in America” within the next five years. We once enjoyed and bragged about this achievement. This goal can be met not just with more cops on the streets but also fully-funded libraries, more homework centers, and cleaner parks. All of these contribute to public safety by keeping our kids off the streets and out of gangs, thereby reducing violent crime, which was the major culprit in our recent drop from the top spot on the FBI list of Safest Big Cities.
2. Support our officers by refraining from knee-jerk reactions to activist complaints, particularly from those who lack expertise. If the experts from the Consortium on Police Leadership in Equity, who were hired by the City Council to review downtown arrests, are hesitant to pass judgment on one set of arrest data without further research to back it up, our elected officials should refrain from doing so as well. Yet we’ve consistently heard prejudicial statements about downtown arrests from the Mayor and City Council when vocal critics of our police force are in front of them.
3. Involve more neighborhood leaders on committees and task forces regarding public safety in addition to the regular cast of activists, who have many complaints when it comes to our police department. San Jose neighborhood leaders know best what the entire city wants from their police force, and should be heard as well.
In December, Mayor Reed was quoted in the Mercury News saying, “We like the bragging rights of being one of the safest big cities, and we're committed to getting back to No. 1.” Now, on behalf of the dedicated men and women of the San Jose Police Department, I’ve challenged the Mayor and City Council to re-commit to putting us back on top by signing this pledge.
Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers' Association.
EDITOR’S UPDATE:
As of this posting, Mayor Reed and all but two Councilmembers have committed to this pledge. One Councilmember refuses to sign pledges as a matter of principle, and another has yet to respond.
For decades, San Jose has had a top-notch police department and avoided the controversy over policing that is a routine occurrence in major American cities. But recently, San Jose has seen a seemingly endless string of negative stories regarding its police department. What’s different here is that the source of the controversy is not a bad cop on the beat or a rogue group of officers. Rather, the problem stems directly from weak administrative and political leadership at City Hall.
For example, the number of arrests made downtown, which some believe is excessive, is a result of administrative policy. The feuds between city leaders and the Task Force on Public Intoxication is a turf battle. The fiasco over the hiring of a new Independent Police Auditor is a political fight between the Mayor and Council.
These stories don’t accurately reflect the outstanding work of our cops on the street. Our officers are highly educated, well-trained, and reflect the communities we serve. We are respected by the vast majority of San Jose’s citizens, as is demonstrated in numerous City surveys, for the tremendous job we do with limited resources.
But negative stories caused by poor leadership have hurt officer morale and distracted us from our real goal: keeping San Jose’s streets and neighborhoods safe. So, in an effort to return our focus to what’s really important to the people of San Jose, I’ve asked our city leaders to pledge the following:
1. Return San Jose to the rank of “Safest Big City in America” within the next five years. We once enjoyed and bragged about this achievement. This goal can be met not just with more cops on the streets but also fully-funded libraries, more homework centers, and cleaner parks. All of these contribute to public safety by keeping our kids off the streets and out of gangs, thereby reducing violent crime, which was the major culprit in our recent drop from the top spot on the FBI list of Safest Big Cities.
2. Support our officers by refraining from knee-jerk reactions to activist complaints, particularly from those who lack expertise. If the experts from the Consortium on Police Leadership in Equity, who were hired by the City Council to review downtown arrests, are hesitant to pass judgment on one set of arrest data without further research to back it up, our elected officials should refrain from doing so as well. Yet we’ve consistently heard prejudicial statements about downtown arrests from the Mayor and City Council when vocal critics of our police force are in front of them.
3. Involve more neighborhood leaders on committees and task forces regarding public safety in addition to the regular cast of activists, who have many complaints when it comes to our police department. San Jose neighborhood leaders know best what the entire city wants from their police force, and should be heard as well.
In December, Mayor Reed was quoted in the Mercury News saying, “We like the bragging rights of being one of the safest big cities, and we're committed to getting back to No. 1.” Now, on behalf of the dedicated men and women of the San Jose Police Department, I’ve challenged the Mayor and City Council to re-commit to putting us back on top by signing this pledge.
Bobby Lopez is President of the San Jose Police Officers' Association.
EDITOR’S UPDATE:
As of this posting, Mayor Reed and all but two Councilmembers have committed to this pledge. One Councilmember refuses to sign pledges as a matter of principle, and another has yet to respond.
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