Recent News

4/25: Sean Bell Case: Cops Acquitted

BPD on Drugs?: The latest on Evidence Theft within Berkeley Police

Berkeley Reviews Police Tactics in Marine Protests

3/19: OPD Shooting of Jose Louis in East Oakland

3/14: OPD Shooting of Casper Banjo or more info at Wanda's Picks

2/16: Anita Gay Shooting in Berkeley

For Copwatch footage online, check out Berkeley Copwatch and Jacobzladder via youtube.com.

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Berkeley Groups Unite to Demand Civil Rights
and Open Government

As the Berkeley City Council prepares to consider a controversial report on "Evidence Theft Issues within the Berkeley Police Department", community activists are organizing a public forum to increase awareness about the importance of the report and to urge the Council to accept its recommendations. The Berkeley City Council is scheduled to vote on the report at their meeting on January 29th. If adopted, the report would require many corrective actions, including disclosure (after two years of stalling) of how much drugs were actually stolen in the 2006 drug scandal and other measures to prevent theft in the future.

Although Chief Hambleton has said that he agrees with much of the report, he opposes the recommendation to determine how much drug evidence was stolen. He believes that it would be too costly and that the information is not needed. However, some activists believe it is crucial information that could indicate whether other officers or personnel were involved and whether Berkeley has a problem with police corruption.

Concerned about an overall shift in the political climate of Berkeley that includes repeated violations of the Public Records Act, discriminatory laws and enforcement against youth of color and homeless people, and the crippling of the city’s Police Review Commission, activists are joining forces to demand that Berkeley City government restore the city’s reputation for defending civil rights and open government.