Police Militarization Protest/Vigil Held at Home Depot

 

Church Group Remembers Yuvette Henderson, Calls For End to Police Militarization

An interfaith protest and vigil was held today in the parking lot of Emeryville's Home Depot in response to the building of a militarized police facility known as ‘Cop City’ in Atlanta Georgia and in memory of Yuvette Henderson, an African-American grandmother who was killed by Emeryville police with an assault rifle at the site in 2015.  About 40 gathered for the peaceful event where speeches were given and candles were held.

Candles and petitions were handed out.

The city of Atlanta wants to build the $90 million Cop City police training facility against intense local and national public backlash.   If completed, it will be the largest militarized police training center of its kind in the country.  Home Depot has donated more than $360,000 to the Atlanta Police Foundation to assist in the building of the controversial training facility.

The event included a vigil for Yuvette Henderson who was killed by EPD after she was accused of shoplifting at the Home Depot.  According to forensic court testimony, Emeryville police officers followed the grandmother to a site just outside Emeryville’s border where they ordered her to drop a handgun she had.  Despite the fact that Ms Henderson never pointed the gun at the officers, they first turned off their body worn cameras and then began firing.  One of the shots shattered Ms Henderson’s right arm, sending the gun flying back about 6 feet behind her as she fell forward facing the police.  The police fired the kill shot to the head with an AR-15 after she lifted her head, attempting to get up.   After an investigation by EPD that cleared the police, Federal Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu ruled "Henderson did not pose an immediate threat to [the police officers] and because she was unarmed and wounded and because although she carried a gun, she had not previously fired or aimed at [the officers]."  The case was eventually settled with a $210,000 payment to the Henderson family by the City of Emeryville.

The assistant manager at the Home Depot blocked the entrance to the store as the group attempted to deliver to the store  manager more than 600 signed petitions about the corporation’s involvement with Cop City.  The assistant manager told the leaders of the group he would forward the petitions to the manager.

The protest/vigil was led by the American Friends Service Committee, a community interface arm of the Quaker Church.  The AFSC works with people of all faiths and backgrounds to challenge unjust systems and promote peace.  “We oppose the continued militarization and expansion of a policing strategy that harms our communities, as well as the continued destruction of protected forests” the group’s website said of the Cop City proposal.

After delivery of the petitions, the group dispersed.

John Lindsay-Poland, a representative from 
AFSC, spoke in memory of Yuvette Henderson.

Emeryville Loses Summary Judgment in Yuvette Henderson Case

Judge Says Reasonable Person Could Surmise Police Used Excessive Force in Shooting

Federal Judge Donna Ryu ruled earlier this week against the City of Emeryville's request for a summary judgment in the civil wrongful death case brought by the family of Yuvette Henderson who was shot and killed by an Emeryville police officer in 2015, an action that will either bring a trial or a settlement.  In a sharply worded 20 page ruling, Judge Ryu threw out the request brought by the police to dismiss the case based on an internal EPD investigation in 2016 that cleared the police of any wrongdoing.

Federal Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu
Yuvette Henderson was "six feet away from her gun" 
and "turned away from it" when the 
Emeryville police officer fired the kill shot.

Judge Ryu noted a jury could plausibly decide Yuvette Henderson was wrongly killed because "Henderson did not pose an immediate threat to [the police officers] and because she was unarmed and wounded and because although she carried a gun, she had not previously fired or aimed at [the officers]."  The Judge added it is plausible a jury could reasonably decide the Emeryville police use of lethal force was "unreasonable and excessive" and that the officers had "several reasonable alternatives to lethal force."  Additionally, Judge Ryu noted forensic evidence and witness accounts contradicting the police version of events could plausibly sway a jury.

  

The Emeryville Police Department's 'not guilty' conclusion arrived after the investigation conducted by the police against itself wrought the civil case brought by the Henderson family, a criminal conviction having been precluded.
As a result of Judge Ryu's ruling, the case will now either go to trial or it will be settled and that decision will be made on March 28th.
An Emeryville taxpayer funded compensation looms as a likely scenario, attorneys following the case told the Tattler Monday.

Public interest in the Yuvette Henderson case
has not waned since the 2015 shooting.  A
large crowd waited for entry into Judge Ryu's
 courtroom for the summary judgment hearing
last month.

City of Emeryville Attempts to Derail Civil Case in Yuvette Henderson Shooting

Summary Judgement Sought by Police 

in Wrongful Death Civil Case

Lurid, Grisly Courtroom Details From High Powered 

Police AR-15 Fire

Police Shooting "Illegal" Says Attorney
Woman Unarmed When Killed

Details of the killing of Yuvette Henderson by Emeryville police in 2015 were finally publicly revealed in a packed courtroom as Dan Siegel, an attorney retained by the Henderson family laid out the grisly last moments of the Oakland woman's life as part of a wrongful death civil case heard at the District Federal Court in Oakland Thursday.  Attorneys hired by the City of Emeryville, who contend Ms Henderson pointed a gun at the police and so were within their rights to kill the woman, attempted to stop the case in the hearing with a hoped for a summary judgment that will be decided by Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu on March 28th.
Mr Siegal showed forensic evidence that puts the Emeryville Police Department's claim that the woman "drew down" on one officer into question and further showed the last shots fired, including the kill shot by the police at the African American woman, were done after she had been incapacitated and unarmed.

Dan Siegel, the plaintiff's attorney in the emerging civil case said Ms Henderson may have had a gun but he noted that is immaterial to the illegal killing of her.  He testified that witnesses and a nearby security camera reveal there were three distinct volleys of fire from the Emeryville police officers on Ms Henderson.  Forensic evidence was presented that determined Ms Henderson was struck in the side of her chest on February 3rd, 2015 with a round from the police AR-15 rifle in volley two that passed through her right arm, shattering it and causing her gun to fly back at least six feet behind her.  After a pause, as Ms Henderson lay on the ground severely wounded and disarmed, is when the EPD officer with the assault rifle fired the kill shot from his assault rifle as part of volley three, striking Ms Henderson in the head as she attempted to lift her head Mr Siegel testified.

The police contend Ms Henderson had been involved in a shoplifting at Home Depot and she walked several blocks south to just inside Oakland on Hollis Street when they arrived at the scene. Officers maintain Ms Henderson was waiving the gun all around wildly when they got there.  They opened fire after yelling for Ms Henderson to drop her weapon.  She was not struck in volley one but after a pause she was shot in volley two when she faced one of the officers with the AR-15 and "drew down" on him with a pistol police said, regardless of the fact that she was struck in her side with the AR-15 round in the barrage of fire.  The other officer at the scene had a service revolver and was not successful in hitting Ms Henderson.  The police version of the 'draw down' was not corroborated by a witness questioned after the shooting.  The officers say they were fearful for their lives as a result of the gun in her possession.  After Ms Henderson was injured and on the ground they maintain she was attempting to get back up in order to rearm herself.  The video reveals the police did not yell out for the woman to stay down before they killed her.
The Emeryville Police Department admits Ms Henderson did not fire the revolver at their officers or anyone else at any time during the melee.  The two officers involved in the shooting had body-worn cameras but they were turned off according to the police.
Mr Siegel said there was testimony from the police taken after the shooting that changed after the existence of the security video was announced some days after the shooting took place.  Some of their testimony is contradicted by the video he said.

At a large gathering outside the Federal Courthouse on Clay Street after the hearing 11 AM, exiting courtroom attendees told the Tattler if Judge Ryu allows the case to go forward, the City of Emeryville will be forced to pay restitution to the family of Yuvette Henderson, an eventuality many gathered in solidarity with the Hendersons think likely.

There has been public outcry after the killing of Ms Henderson over the fact that the Emeryville police now routinely carry the high powered military style AR-15 rifle.  The killing of Yuvette Henderson is the first shooting by Emeryville police with their newly issued AR-15 rifles.  Colt AR-15 rifles have been determined to be assault rifles by the State of California and they have been banned for civilians.  The Chief of Police for the City of Emeryville says the State of California is wrong and the Colt AR-15 rifles Emeryville police carry are not assault rifles but rather simple sporting rifles as the NRA says.

The City of Emeryville Has Determined Colt AR-15 Assault Rifles Are NOT Assault Rifles

The AR-15, Weapon of Choice for Mass Shooters in America, is NOT an Assault Rifle Says Emeryville

News Analysis

Firepower on a truly epic scale;
The AR-15  can shoot through concrete block walls.

In order to stifle public debate and concern over Emeryville police now carrying assault rifles, the Chief of Police has determined that assault rifles are not assault rifles.  The City Council agrees with the Chief and the City of Emeryville has taken a lonely position among municipalities in their determination that Colt AR-15 rifles are not assault rifles.  The shooting of Yuvette Henderson by Emeryville police last year with an AR-15 has divided the community but unified the City of Emeryville; City Hall closing ranks with the Chief of Police.

Gun enthusiasts call the AR-15
'America's Gun'.

 When mass shooters in America wish to mete out epic carnage and pile up a huge body count in a few fleeting moments, the gun of choice is invariably the high powered Colt AR-15 assault rifle. That much everyone agrees upon.  The disagreements start when the word 'assault' is applied to this gun.  The State of California (who have banned the weapon) and police departments up and down the state acknowledge the lethal singularity of this weapon and they have designated the gun an assault rifle but the NRA and the City of Emeryville objects, insisting the AR-15 is nothing special...just a garden variety sporting rifle.
The City Manager Carolyn Lehr has made a contorted Nixonian finding to support Emeryville police carrying the weapon; in the hands of police, assault rifles are no longer assault rifles she told the Tattler yesterday.

The City of Emeryville and the City Council in their silence while their Chief of Police goes on a campaign in our town decrying the legislature of the State of California over the proper nomenclature have made it official by default: here in Emeryville, the AR-15 specifically is NOT an assault rifle.

Who disagrees with the City of Emeryville and the National Rifle Association?  Who says AR-15's ARE assault rifles?

• The President of the United States
• The Congress of the United States
• The Legislature of the State of California
• The Governor of the State of California
• San Francisco Police Department 
• Oakland Police Department
• San Jose Police Department 

Manly perhaps but the AR-15 is just an average
sporting rifle says the City of Emeryville.
Fine for our police to carry they say.

Protestors Shut Down Emeryville City Council Meeting

The Anti-Police Terror Project shut down the Emeryville City Council meeting tonight, insisting the police stop carrying AR-15 assault rifles in the wake of last year's shooting of Yuvette Henderson by Emeryville police.  About 100 protestors arrived at the beginning of the meeting and effectively shut it down, forcing Mayor Dianne Martinez to order police to clear the room.  The protestors left after about 30 minutes vowing to return at a later date.  The City Council reconvened the meeting after the room was cleared.  Police report one arrest was made behind City Hall after they said they saw a protestor with a tear gas canister.


The Anti-Police Terror Project shuts down the Emeryville 
City Council meeting.  Police clear the room.


They provided some live music performed in the council 
chambers foyer.


One arrest was made for possession of "tear gas" according to 
the police.

Letter to the Tattler: John Lindsay-Poland

Special to the Tattler-
Guest blogger John Linsay-Poland is drawn to Emeryville on the anniversary, today, of the shooting of Yuvette Henderson by the Emeryville Police Department.  

Police Assault Weapons in Emeryville

By John Lindsay-Poland

John Lindsay-Poland

A year ago today, Emeryville Police shot and killed 38-year-old Yuvette Henderson, using an AR-15 assault weapon. Henderson had just dropped off her kids at school, and allegedly had shoplifted at Home Depot, was injured, and left when police gunned her down. According to the autopsy report, she was shot in the back.

Emeryville PD’s Sgt. Fred Dauer told me that the advantages of the AR-15 are that it is highly accurate at a distance, and that it pierces body armor. Yet Henderson was killed from a short distance, and she wore no body armor. Besides Yuvette’s death, the AR-15’s extra capacity to go through people and objects and penetrate others creates additional hazards. Police shooting last February 3, for example, also shattered the car windows of a bystander.

In December, a number of community members addressed policing, militarization, racism, immigration enforcement, and the Yuvette Henderson case at a forum in Emeryville (see the video here). There, we talked about some uncomfortable facts: in 2015, Black people were more than twice as likely as White people to be killed by police. But if Black people were unarmed, they were three and a half times as likely to be killed by police.

Just six blocks from where Henderson was killed, less than a week before, a White marijuana grower pursued police deputies in Oakland and fired a high-powered gun at the officers, but they did not even return fire.

People often say that police need assault weapons because criminals are killing them. Folks can be forgiven if they think there is a “war on police,” since some media promote this idea. But in fact, the number of police killed by others in the line of duty is at an all-time low, according to data compiled by the American Enterprise Institute.

EPD chief Jennifer Tejada has claimed in public that the AR-15 is not an assault weapon, but the gun industry has long said otherwise – at least when it wants to capture a certain market. As the Violence Policy Center notes, “The NRA, the gun industry, the gun press, and other pro-gun “experts” today claim that there is no such thing as a civilian ‘assault weapon.’ They prefer to call them ‘tactical rifles’ or ‘modern sporting rifles.’ But before these types of guns came under fire, these same experts enthusiastically described exactly these civilian versions as ‘assault rifles,’ ‘assault pistols,’ and ‘military assault’ weapons.” Private possession of assault weapons is illegal in California.

Emeryville PD officers said that when Yuvette Henderson was killed, they were protecting the public, because, they say, Henderson had a gun pointed at them (though it is unclear then how they shot her in the back). The officers also say that the only time they have fired an AR-15 since the force acquired them in 2002 was when they killed Henderson. Chief Tejada told me that no police report is made about the AR-15’s use it unless it is fired. In other words, if police go out and take the AR-15 out of the patrol car, but do not fire it, they do not include that in their report of the incident. This makes it difficult to evaluate their claim that the AR-15 is protecting public safety, since the only record of its use in Emeryville resulted in police killing someone. That actually demonstrates the opposite.

EPD officers did a training in December around ‘officer involved shootings’ which lasted a full week, costing more than $7,000. That appears to indicate the Department believes that officers’ judgment in using lethal force needs improvement.

Meanwhile, Chief Tejada is attempting to shore up her political support by getting members of the City Council to attend a “force options” training between now and April to put themselves in the positions of police officers walking into situations and then decide on use of force.

If Emeryville PD has not done so already, it should do some training of officers in implicit bias. Study after study shows that even well-intentioned people – of all races – have unconscious biases against African-Americans. When police face individuals suspected of a crime, those biases can quickly become deadly. Two hundred fifty police agencies have already done some form of such implicit bias training. The aggregate results of this testing should be made public, so we may know where EPD stands in our common imperative to reduce and eliminate the hurtful practices of racism.

The City’s Public Safety Committee will consider its use of force, including AR-15s, next Thursday, February 11 at 11 a.m. You can make a public comment or listen. The meeting will be at the Emeryville PD, 2449 Powell St.

John Lindsay-Poland is Wage Peace Coordinator with the American Friends Service Committee. He blogs for Huffington Post and is the author of  Emperors in the Jungle: The Hidden History of the U.S. in Panama (Duke University Press).  He lives in the Bay Area. 

Protest March in Emeryville May Have Been Largest in History

Monday's Martin Luther King Day protest march in Emeryville was joined by "hundreds" according to the Emeryville Police Department.  The civil disobedience was peaceful; no vandalism or criminal activity save the blocking of streets was reported by the police.
Protestors are concerned about the Emeryville police shooting of Yuvette Henderson last year with a high powered AR-15 assault rifle, a weapon the citizens have recently learned the EPD now carries as a matter of routine in their patrol cars.  The arming by Emeryville police of these assault rifles has sparked a debate among residents and the City Council promises to look into the issue with police use of deadly force protocols being reviewed according to Councilman Scott Donahue, Chair of the Public Safety Committee.

The crowd started out in Oakland's
Oscar Grant Plaza at city hall thousands strong...
all ages, races & demographics.

East Bay Bridge Mall
Emeryville's suburban style shopping malls were
transected along the march route.

Over the 40th Street Bridge and past another
Emeryville shopping icon: Ikea...

Many 'inconvenienced'' drivers were supportive.

The Bay Street Mall
Into the holy of holies for Emeryville: the BSM,
what passes for our city center downtown.
A substantive protest has never ventured into
this mall before Monday.

Down Shellmound Street...

The intersection of 40th and Ohlone street was blocked
for an hour and a half.

Bay Street Mall to be Site of Major Protest Action

A protest action to call attention to an uptick in unwarranted police killings of people is planned for Emeryville's Bay Street Mall on Monday that may end up being the largest protest march in Emeryville history.  A consortium of Bay Area social justice activist groups including Black Lives Matter, Reclaim Martin Luther King, MLK Shut it Down and the Anti-Police Terror Project sponsored by the activist collective 96 Hours of Action will conduct a march from Oscar Grant Plaza at Oakland City Hall at 14th & Broadway to the Bay Street Mall in Emeryville to protest the killings by police in general and specifically in Oakland (some eight black men killed since last June alone) and the Emeryville Police killing of Yuvette Henderson last year are cited by organizers as among the reasons for the protest march.
Oakland ranks third in police killings per million people in 60 of the nation's largest cities.
More than one thousand people have indicated a willingness to participate in Monday's march organizers have noted.

The largest protest march in Emeryville history up until now was a hundreds strong November 2008 march from the Bay Street Mall to City Hall to protest the Woodfin Suites Hotel and their refusal to pay their workers the increased minimum wage mandated by 2005's Measure C, the Living Wage for Hotel Workers.

Monday, protesters will march from downtown Oakland to Bay Street in Emeryville from 11 AM to 4 PM organizers say.

Public Forum Announced on Emeryville Police Department's Use of AR-15 Assault Rifles

A local arm of a national police watch organization known as the Anti Police-Terror Project is hosting a public forum Sunday on the Emeryville Police Department and their use of AR-15 assault rifles in the wake of the shooting of Yuvette Henderson earlier in the year by Emeryville officers.  The forum, to be held at NUHW Hall, 5801 Christie Avenue #525 is titled Emeryville Police With AR-15s: Are We Safer?

According to the Facebook site dedicated to the event, in addition to EPD, the forum will include talks on the increasing militarization of police departments nation wide with detail on the Bay Area, specifically the Oakland Police Department.  Public policy analysts and activists will examine the impact of coordination between police departments and US Immigration Enforcement on latino communities.  The day will also feature spoken word and music performances.

The organizers to the event say the forum is intended to serve as the launch of a broader campaign to end the militarization of the Emeryville Police Department.

The Tattler weighed in on police use of these AR-15 assault weapons HERE and HERE.

All are invited to the forum and organizers would appreciate for interested parties to sign in at the Facebook site. The event starts at 2:30 and is expected to last until 5:00 PM Sunday December 13th.

Emeryville Enters Battle Over Definition of 'Assault Rifle'

If AR-15's Are Assault Weapons, Emeryville Residents Might Not Want Them

News Analysis
Battle lines are being drawn in town over the definition of the term 'assault rifle' after the children of Yuvette Henderson filed suit against the City of Emeryville for her February 3rd wrongful death at the hands of the Emeryville Police Department using such a rifle.  Chief of Police Jennifer Tejada has entered into the fray with a campaign to assure Emeryville residents the AR-15 assault rifles carried by the Emeryville police and specifically used in the shooting of Ms Henderson, are merely regular rifles, with nothing 'assault' about them.

While firearm nomenclature may seem arcane, Emeryville's foray onto the battle ground for control of the term assault rifle is also a consequential nation-wide phenomenon breaking along familiar pro-gun right and anti-gun left positions. The issue it would seem is a matter of opinion with each side using the definition to bolster their side.  Cal Berkeley linguistics professor George Lakeoff notably says it's not really possible to settle on a definition because guns in America have evolved into an issue of personal identity.

Chief Tejada's rejection of the word assault to describe the AR-15 squarely places her in the company of the NRA, the Republican Party as well as Fox News and many other right wing pro-gun groups and radio personalities.  On the other side, those arguing that AR-15's are assault rifles is the 1994 United States Congress and the Democratic Party.  In Emeryville the issue has split the blogosphere; the pro-business opinion blog the E'Ville Eye has sided with Chief Tejada and the NRA, insisting that AR-15's are not assault rifles while the Tattler has sided with the Democrats.

'Emeryville's Police Chief

and the NRA Agree:

These are NOT Assault Rifles' 

The problem the NRA and Chief Tejada has with calling the AR-15 an assault rifle is that only fully automatic guns or guns with "selective fire" should carry the 'assault' designation they say.  The AR-15 it should be noted is semi-automatic, meaning a trigger pull must accompany each bullet fired.
Interestingly however, early on, it was the gun industry itself that started calling the AR-15 and other semi-automatic weapons like it assault weapons.  The industry started a program in the 1970's for the militarization of civilian weapons in look, feel, operation and branding.  Later after Congress attempted to reauthorize the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, the NRA and the gun industry attempted to re-brand assault weapons as "modern sporting rifles".  Now, the NRA defines an assault rifle as "a selective-fire rifle chambered for a cartridge of intermediate power".  To ward off anyone trying to define an AR-15 as an assault rifle, the NRA kicks in the following in their official definition,  "If applied to any semi-automatic firearm regardless of its cosmetic similarity to a true assault rifle, the term is incorrect".
The change at the NRA to redefine assault weapons it should be noted followed the Congressional ban on these weapons.  Early on in its effort to support the gun industry who had interest in increasing sales of these military style guns, the gun lobby was happy to call them assault weapons.  They later sharply reversed themselves after it became clear the assault designation would drive public opinion against them as Congress sought a ban.

The suit filed against the City of Emeryville (see below) will presumably harden Chief Tejada's insistence that AR-15's are not assault rifles but it should be noted she made these claims before the initiation of the October 29th suit.

  Yuvette Henderson Suit  12111954-0--25328 (2)

Do Emeryville Police Need AR-15 Assault Rifles?

Where's the Public Debate About the Militarization of Emeryville's Police?

Opinion

The Colt AR-15 Assault Rifle
Carried by Emeryville police
and banned by Congress.

The recent shooting of Yuvette Henderson from an AR-15 military style semi-automatic assault rifle by the Emeryville Police Department begs the question; why are Emeryville police officers driving around our town with these rifles, the same guns banned by the United States Congress in 1994's Federal Assault Weapons Ban.  Disturbingly, the Emeryville Police Department has followed the nation-wide trend of the militarization of police weaponry and like within the rest of the nation, this has happened without a public debate.
The shooting of Ms Henderson is vexing and makes reasonable people note there was a time, not long ago, when our Emeryville police didn't carry assault weapons...then at some point these military style weapons were quietly issued.  The public was never consulted or even notified of this substantial increase in the potential lethality of the weaponry if not the culture at our police department.
In the wake of the killing of a citizen by the Emeryville Police Department with one of these new rifles and with a new chief of police, Jennifer Tejada bringing substantive administrative change, now is the time for the necessary public debate about the militarization of our Emeryville police.

'War on Police' a Right Wing Meme 
Police work is getting safer over time.
In fact it's never been safer than today.

'War on Police'?
Unfortunately, there exists a ready and pat answer from many of the nation's chiefs of police about the rising militarization of police in America and it comes in the form of a false meme about a rising danger to police from criminal's use of increased fire power, what has been referred to as a "war on police".   To the extent that our new Chief of Police may use this fatuous argument, the people of Emeryville stand ready to refute it.  There is no war on police.  In fact the reality is quite the opposite.  Every study conducted on the safety of police work is definitive; it's a safe profession and it's getting safer over time.  Police work doesn't even make it into the 10 deadliest professions in America.  Actuarial studies show construction laborers as facing more deadly threats than cops do.

The 10 Deadliest Jobs: Deaths per 100,000

1. Logging workers: 128.8
2. Fishers and related fishing workers: 117
3. Aircraft pilot and flight engineers: 53.4
4. Roofers: 40.5
5. Structural iron and steel workers: 37
6. Refuse and recyclable material collectors: 27.1
7. Electrical power-line installers and repairers: 23
8. Drivers/sales workers and truck drivers: 22.1
9. Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers: 21.3
10. Construction laborers: 17.4

Out of approximately one million police and law enforcement personnel, with 126 deaths per year, the death rate for police is 12.6 per hundred thousand.

• From 1970 to 1980 police deaths averaged 231 per year.
• 1980 to 1989: police deaths averaged 190.7
• 1990 to 1999: police deaths averaged 161.5
• 2000 to 2009: police deaths averaged 165
• 2013 to 2014: police deaths averaged 113.

From Washington Monthly

Further, many chiefs of police and gun lobbying groups nation-wide have used the larger debate on assault weapons to take away from the demonstrative lethality of these AR-15 rifles.  This has come in a denial that the word "assault" be applied to AR-15s from these quarters.  Those loudly asserting the word assault should not be applied to these guns are entitled to their opinions but to use this denial as an attempt to discredit the special deadly effect as recognized by the Congress these weapons have, is not going to be allowed in our local public debate.  We accept what our President and our Congress said about the special lethality of these AR-15 rifles and we hope our new Chief of Police doesn't add her name to those attempting to take anything away from our legitimate concerns regarding these weapons.

Police in Emeryville are well compensated.  They are protected by an able union, their wage provides enough for them to comfortably buy a house in the Bay Area and they receive a generous package of benefits from the people of Emeryville, and that's the way it should be.  Implicit in the bargain is that police officers accept the risk that comes with the job.  We don't want to hear that in order to keep our forces safe, we need to engage in an ever escalating arms race with criminals.  Where do we go next with that argument, rocket propelled grenade launchers?  Are we soon to see RPGs brandished by Emeryville Police?  We hope we don't have to make these absurd points as we begin our public debate.
Are these weapons that the Congress and the President of the United States find so deadly that they were specifically called out in 1994's ban, something we want our Emeryville police driving around with?  Back when police work was much more dangerous than it is today, Emeryville police were armed with their Police Department issued side arms, not assault rifles.  The force could have been issued military style assault weapons back then but in those days, that level of lethality was considered unreasonable.  Why is it an emergency now for this militarization of our police? 

Our police force is ours; it belongs to us.  Are we at least owed a chance to weigh in on this move towards the militarization of our police?
We want answers: why are these military assault weapons necessary for our police to drive around with?  Why has it been considered good policy up until now to leave us in the dark about this?

It's better late than never, so let's start the public debate about the militarization of the Emeryville Police Department now.  We, the people of Emeryville, the owners of the police force, have a right to say how our police are used.

From Newsweek 

Crowd Descends on Council Chambers Demanding Justice for Woman Shot by Emeryville Police

Jamison Robinson, the brother of Yuvette Henderson
implored the City Council to help seek justice and
provide answers for his family and the community.

Approximately 75 people descended on the Emeryville City Council chambers tonight demanding justice for the killing of Yuvette Henderson earlier in the year by two Emeryville police officers.  The majority of speakers asked the Council at the regularly scheduled meeting, to use their power to urge the Alameda County Coroner's Office to release their report on the February 4th shooting.   The shooting has been a continuing source of frustration and activism for many in the greater community and supporters have not let up in their demand for the release of the coroner's report as well as the Emeryville and Oakland police reports on the shooting.  Many speakers excoriated the City for militarizing the police here.

Ms Henderson, an Oakland resident and grandmother, was brought down in a hail of Emeryville police bullets just across the Oakland border from at least two weapons including an AK-47 military style assault weapon according to speakers tonight.

Emeryville Police Shooting Protests Erupt

Protesters marched from San Pablo Avenue to the site of a shooting tonight after Emeryville Police shot and killed Oakland resident Yuvette Henderson today.  Some 80 protesters held a candlelight vigil for the young woman at a makeshift memorial at 34th and Hollis Street.