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Public Comment
From:Edgar Arellano <
Sent:Tuesday, September 15, 2020 3:38 PM
To:Public Comment; Harry Sidhu (Mayor); Denise Barnes; Lucille Kring; Trevor O'Neil;
Stephen Faessel; Jordan Brandman; Jose Moreno; Police Review Board
Subject:Re: No on Item 20, but also No on Item 19
*Latino Health Access is the first group I hinted at alongside CalWalks. They deliver dynamic educational
programming around traffic safety.
On Tue, Sep 15, 2020, 3:28 PM Edgar Arellano < wrote:
Did I mention that there are better candidates with long standing expertise in both bike/ped safety education, as
well as public/community engagement. They are carrying out a similar program with OCTA currently and you
know them from the COVID19 testing they did here at Anaheim High School and elsewhere. CalWalks is
another group that does similar work.
This is one of the ways that we can stop committing to policing & instead uplift other community
organizations. A method within "refund the police".
To speak more candidly, APD sucks at taking on bike rodeo & similar programs. The events end up being
prioritized around photo ops and less around interactive education and enrichment for participating youth.
Do better,
Edgar
On Tue, Sep 15, 2020, 9:49 AM Edgar Arellano < wrote:
Hello councilmembers,
Given that you will most likely not read this correspondence, this is for the public record
No on Consent Calendar Item 20 on today’s Agenda.
It is misuse of the State’s Taxpayer money especially with their main premise of using “Best Practice
Strategies” as stated in the grant descriptions. A major Best Practice that has taken hold due to recent Police
Violence against our Community, is the scaling back of Policing in Traffic & Transportation Programs. Many
traffic advocacy groups & many transportation professionals that are vocally refuting enforcement as a
method to increase safety in transportation.
The Safe Routes to School Partnership has dropped Enforcement from the 6 E's of Safe Routes to Schools,
and The Vision Zero Network also pledged to no longer recommend police enforcement as strategy to make
streets safer. It is evident that further enforcement will not create safe travel and will instead continue
endangering our community as has been the case when police murdered: Oscar Grant (Oakland 2009),
César Rodríguez (Long Beach 2018), William Crawford (Los Angeles 2019), & Dijon Kizzee (Los Angeles
2020). These are but a few instances when officers have escalated a situation resulting in the murder of a
person using public transportation or the right of way; the tactics currently being used by PDs are resulting in
many more arrests due to benign & unreasonable contacts with police.
I've also been writing to you for weeks as I capture dashcam evidence of Police speeding in our
neighborhoods. Over the years, our community has noticed the reckless ways they use equipment to
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'dominate' our streets, particularly their constant speeding in small neighborhood streets. I can hardly say
that I trust Anaheim PD in upholding & encouraging safe use of public streets. I am a Transportation
Professional & I am familiar with the methods that Police Depts have used these grants to collect data via
enforcement, and to do “community policing” via community events; The grant’s language allows for overtime
pay, which is what many community events are classified as, the events are also a place for PD to show off
their equipment/militarization.
Finally, I want to continue reminding you that you are still violating our 4th & 5th amendment rights with your
vote in favor of resolution 19 on the June 9, 2020 council meeting. The ACLU continues to condemn the
abuse of for-profit contracts to overrule citizens privacy rights as afforded by the 4th and 5th amendment.
There is no accountability nor transparency in the APD's use of this technology equipment, and they actively
refuse inquiries due to non-disclosure agreements. The answers provided by Chief Cisneros are not
satisfactory in the slightest, the doubt was loud in the ways which staff, the city manager, & police chief have
avoided the privacy violation questions. If PD is reckless with their squad cars, then I have no confidence in
their ability to have good judgement in using the "stingray" surveillance technology.
No on Item 19, other departments are looking at limiting expenditures, so should PD and Cadets are low
hanging fruit. We don't need more police hopefuls to believe that even during economic stresses, we can
expect for wages & employment to remain normal. Other departments are finding ways, while APD continues
to maintain & grow their expenditures.
Do Better,
Edgar Arellano
Resident & business owner
District 2
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