Law Enforcement

Vanguard Plays Huge Role in Order, Stayed Until Late July Pending Appeal

On Tuesday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo handed the LA Times and Sacramento Bee, as well as advocates for transparency and open government, a major victory when the judge ordered the University of California to turn over an unredacted copy of the Kroll and Reynoso Reports on the pepper spray incident, with the names of all involved police officers.

There is a “strong public policy supporting transparency in government,” Judge Grillo wrote in his decision adding, “[t]he public’s interest in the … conduct of peace officers is substantial” because “[p]eace officers ‘hold one of the most powerful positions in our society; our dependence on them is high and the potential for abuse of power is far from insignificant.’ “

Judge Will Hear Evidence to See if Public Records Act Compels University to Release Officer Names –

When the University of California was attempting to release the Reynoso Task Force and the Kroll Reports back in April, they ultimately agreed to a deal where they would withhold the names of all police officers, except for Former Chief Annette Spicuzza and Lt. John Pike, whose roles and names were well known.

They did so in the interest of expediting the release of the reports in a timely manner to allow the public to gain insight into the events on November 18, 2011.  The judge believed that there was enough threat to the safety of additional officers, after being presented with evidence that Lt. Pike suffered a substantial amount of harassment in the days immediately following the November 18 pepper spraying incident, to keep the temporary injunction on their release.

On April 26, the Vanguard ran a second article removing any doubt that the second officer involved in the pepper spray incident was Alexander Lee, recently promoted from security guard in the UC Davis Police Department to police officer.

A few days later, the Davis Enterprise ran a follow-up story also naming Officer Alexander Lee, and noting that university officials had confirmed there were only three officers suspended over the pepper-spray incident and that they were all UC Davis officers.

When the Kroll Report and the Reynoso Task Force Report came out back in April, the reports placed the primary responsibility for the decision to deploy the police at 3 pm rather than during the night or the early morning on Chancellor Katehi.

However, the report also criticized the chancellor, along with Vice Chancellor John Meyer and Vice Chancellor Fred Wood, as sharing responsibility for the decision to remove the tents, which as a result triggered the police action against the protesters.

Not all of the faculty supported the decision by the Academic Senate to censure Chancellor Linda Katehi.

In a letter written by members of the UC Davis Association of the National Academies (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering and Institute of Medicine) they “strongly protest the resolution passed by the Executive Council of the Academic Senate to censure Chancellor Linda Katehi for her response to the Nov. 18 incident.”

Few areas have been more controversial than the role played by UC Davis professors in the protests, both leading up to November 18 and following it.

In the Kroll report, many have focused on the line: “Professor Joshua Clover spoke to the group, warning them about cooperating with the administration, urging them to take matters into their own hands and stating, ‘Right now, we’re the law.’ ”  Fewer have noted, “The activists ‘went back and forth’ about what to do next. At approximately 4:45 p.m., the activists used consensus-style decision-making to reach the decision to continue to occupy Mrak Hall after it closed at 5:00 p.m. and to ‘use bike locks and chains to lock the building doors open.’ “

If you believe UC Davis, the US Bank fiasco is the fault of everyone but them.  Twelve of the protesters will get their second shot at arraignment this week, on a series of misdemeanor charges stemming from their role in the bank-blocking protests that went from January 13 until February 28.

And on Friday, UC Davis filed a lawsuit against US Bank who, after they had to close the bank 27 times early and not open at all three additional times, finally gave up and closed their doors.

UC Davis kept indicating that they hoped to solve their dispute with US Bank over the closure of the bank’s Memorial Union branch following seven weeks of closure due to protests.  Last week, indications were that negotiations were still ongoing, however that has now changed.

The University of California, as expected, has released a report that examines polices and practices related to UC responses to campus protests.

We began this week with an analysis that Chancellor Linda Katehi ought to lose her job over her role in creating the conditions for the pepper-spraying incident to have occurred.

Now we have a very strongly-worded condemnation of the chancellor by the Academic Senate.  In their words, they “censure” the chancellor for “failure to perform adequately the tasks of her office and failure to provide clarity, candor and trustworthy accounts in relation to the events of Nov. 18.”

Executive Council Stops Just Short of Calling For Resignation

In the strongest move to date in response to the reports on the November 18 pepper-spraying incident, the UC Davis Academic Senate announced this morning, that they “hereby censure Chancellor Linda P. B. Katehi for failure to perform adequately the tasks of her office and failure to provide clarity, candor, and trustworthy accounts in relation to the events of November 18, 2011.”

The Executive Council stopped short of calling for her resignation. However, the Special Committee did do so.

On Wednesday January 11, 2012, a group of UC Davis students would enter the lobby of the US Bank branch in UC Davis’ Memorial Union, sit down, and conduct a teach in.  Two days later, they would conduct their first blockade of the bank, causing it to close early.

Over the next 6 and one-half weeks, the bank would close early 27 times and not open at all three times, not including holidays.  On February 28, the Bank would officially close its doors.

At this point, two dominoes have fallen:  Chief Annette Spicuzza was likely forced to retire in order to keep her pension; and Vice Chancellor Meyer, Spicuzza’s immediate supervisor, was removed administratively from the position of direct oversight over the police department and replaced by Provost Hexter in that role.

The Vanguard has now completed its individual-by-individual account of the key actors at UC Davis.  We are, of course, awaiting the official word – if we ever get it – on the plight of people such as Lt. John Pike, Lt. Barry Swartwood and Officer Alexander Lee.

One of the big mysteries in the pepper spray incident was the identity of the second pepper sprayer.  Both the police officer’s union, through the court system, and the university kept the second officer’s identity a secret, due in part to security concerns and the fear that the harassment suffered by Lt. John Pike would be visited upon the second officer.

While UC Davis and hopefully UC is looking at changes to their policing policies in the wake of controversial incidents last November on both the UC Berkeley and the UC Davis campuses, the City of Oakland has made headlines this week with announced changes to crowd-control policies, due to the Occupy Protests.

In a press release on Monday, they stated that they are “committed to becoming a national leader in crowd management by reforming and improving its policies and practices.”

In the hours and days that followed the November 18 pepper spray event, Chancellor Linda Katehi would at first deflect, then take “full responsibility” for the fiasco.  It is still not clear what it means for her to take “full responsibility.”

At the time of this press, there appears that the Chancellor will survive this, even as the reports paint a disturbing picture of miscalculation and incompetence that goes from the Chancellor’s office to the actions of Lt. Pike and his fateful decision to use pepper spray on seated protesters engaging in what was non-violent protest of university policies and perhaps the illegal tent clearing operation.

The Vanguard fundamentally disagrees with the decision to redact names in the Reynoso Task Force and Kroll Reports.  We believe that responsibility needs to be taken appropriately by those whose decisions or actions contributed to this problem.