Saturday, December 24, 2016

Political Endorsements by Emeryville Police: At Odds With the Will of the People of Emeryville

Emeryville Police Enter Political Fray

Two Council Picks in Opposition to the Will of the People of Emeryville

Opinion
Next time you see one of these drive by remember
Ally Medina and Christian Patz are no good 
on our City Council.
The people of Emeryville made a mistake in the November election.  We selected the wrong City Council members say the Emeryville police.  Louise Engel and Brynnda Collins would have been good on our City Council.  We should have voted for Ms Engel and Ms Collins say those driving around our town with guns and a right to arrest.  Look who we got instead; Ally Medina and Christian Patz.
The Emeryville Police Department wants you to know the two winning City Council members selected by the people for our town were not worth voting for.  Those of you who voted for Ms Medina and Mr Patz should think about that next time you see the boys in blue drive by.  Those who voted for whom the police wanted us to vote for should think about it as well.

He supports the police say EPD.
Do the other two?
Do you, Emeryville voter?
Starting in 2016, our police department (who in addition to Ms Engel and Ms Collins told us to vote for John Bauters, now on our City Council) has now shamelessly turned into a publicly funded special interest group seeking what all such groups seek; to increase their money and power.  Now imagine an alternative universe where the Emeryville police don't insert themselves so heinously into our politics, instead they just avail themselves to protecting and serving all equally.  It would be an anachronistic place, a previous leitmotif where police are seen as non-political players, just neutral arbiters engaged in peace keeping. Unfortunately, after November that's not our town anymore.
And it's not just Emeryville.  Indeed, nation-wide police endorsing of political candidates seems to be a fashionable thing.  EPD's brothers and sisters at the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed Donald Trump for president, something that organization thinks will help foster good relations between the public and police.

Warning: When you see one of
these, don't let it slip you voted for
Ally Medina and Christian Patz.
The Emeryville Police Officers Association, a trade union, is reasonably expected to advocate in its member's interest.  That could even mean entering our electoral politics if a real threat rose up in the form of a candidate for City Council threatening them in some real way.  That's not what happened in the latest City Council contest.  Not one person running was anything but totally supportive of the Emeryville Police and all they represent.  Do the police have information about the winning candidates we don't know?  Are Ms Medina and Mr Patz some kind of clandestine cop haters that want to bring down the department?  The cops aren't saying.  We think that's not what going on here.  We think this is just dirty stupid politics being played by those who shouldn't stoop to that level.

An Emeryville police officer told the Tattler they will likely engage in this kind of political calculation from now on.  He said to expect political endorsements for City Council by the police next time too (strangely he would not say whether the police will endorse School Board members leaving us to wonder why not?).  This is a degradation of our Emeryville Police Department.  If they plan on inserting themselves as a manipulating power in our electoral business like this moving forward, they will have to suffer the inevitable ill effects that come from this sort of rank political gamesmanship.  We don't want that for this group of heretofore professional and highly publicly regarded public servants.  To the Emeryville Police Department: get out of our elections and back into our neighborhoods.
Fine on the School Board...just keep 
him off the City Council says EPD.
'Don't vote for her' says EPD.
Oops!  Too late.

7 comments:

  1. The population in Emeryville has shifted dramatically in the last few years. I see crowds of young, bright IT people, of all ethnicities, who, along with our less fortunate folks, are unlikely to place their bets in the direction of the Right. I don't think it matters much what public agency endorses what. I've noticed, in conversations, that Emeryville people are quite able to think for themselves.

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    1. Yes, the election results attest to the low faith Emeryville residents have in the Police Department's electoral directives. Our police took a huge bet in the last election and lost (with the exception of John Bauters getting in). They're no doubt hoping now we forget they told us not to vote for Ally and Christian post election. Oh to have been a bug on the wall to watch the police come hats in hands to Ally and Christian hoping the two winners are not of a retaliatory state of mind. That would have been an entertaining video to put in the Tattler.

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  2. Merry Christmas! Leave it up to Brian to do a hit piece like this on Christmas.

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    1. The only "hit" was when the cops told us not to vote for the people we overwhelmingly preferred on our City Council.

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  3. To me, it seems as though the more liberal the council becomes, the police will become less responsive due to the way that they are treated. I would prefer to go back to the old days of Nora Davis and have a responsive Police force to protect us.

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    1. You are correct that the people of Emeryville, and therefore the City Council they voted for, have become much more "liberal". You may prefer Nora Davis but like all dinosaurs, they decamp once their welcome is finished. Out she goes and in goes a City Council the residents want; a RULE backed City Council. Democracy; it feels wonderful.
      Now on to your big scoop; please provide evidence of the police being maltreated in any way and you'll see a Tattler story covering it. I have never seen any such poor treatment of our police as you allege but I really would like to see it so we can correct it. Please inform. Also, I'd like to see evidence the police are retaliating as you say they are. If proven, that would be grounds for termination; an abdication of their oaths.
      Again, this is a blockbuster charge you are leveling at both the City Council and the Police Department. Please inform.

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