June 21, 2020 To: Mayor Cecilia Taylor Vice Mayor Drew Combs Council Member Catherine Carlson Council Member Ray Mueller Council Betsy Nash From: Louis Tommei 50 Year Menlo Park Resident Retired Menlo Park Police Officer A little background for you all, I was born and raised in Menlo Park. I attended Oak Knoll, Hillview and Menlo Atherton High School. I joined the Menlo Park Police Department at the age of 18 as a police explorer. I later became a police dispatcher, reserve police officer and ultimately a sworn police officer. As a police officer I served as a patrol officer, motor officer, detective, code enforcement officer, field training officer, range instructor, crisis response team member, mobile field force team member, explorer advisor and acting supervisor on interim and long term fill in basis to list my major accomplishments. I started under Chief McNamara and retired under the leadership of Chief Jonsen. If you look back at our history that is 12+ chiefs/interim chiefs, numerous city managers and city council staff over a 30+ year career. Growing up in west Menlo Park in the 1970’s and 1980’s we did not have the cultural diversity that is seen today. You did not have a lot of African Americans, Asians or Hispanics living in west Menlo Park. In the mid 1970’s Eldridge Cleaver a former Black Panther moved onto Johnson Street upon his prison release. Cleaver had two children that were my age and after a “transition/settling in period” they became my playmates. When I attended Oak knoll and Hillview schools, i can only recall several children of hispanic and asian decent and 1 African American. Upon reaching Menlo Atherton, I was thrust into reality. It became a melting pot of races and cultures. As Menlo Park became more culturally diverse over the years in west Menlo Park, we saw more minorities purchasing or renting homes. Have I taken calls (as a dispatcher) or been dispatched to calls of a black male walking down the street west of Olive street, why yes I have. On one occasion it was a vice president for a silicon valley company in Sharon Heights and on the second was two Stanford football players waiting for an Alumni to arrive home off Oak Ave. where they would be staying for their summer camp workouts. On both occasions as i approached i could seen the look on their faces (here we go, i’m getting stopped because i’m black). Upon contacting the vice president who was well dressed, I asked him “By chance did you move into the neighborhood?” which by the look on his face caught him by surprise. He smiled and said “Yea, we just got in last night.” We chatted for a bit and then later contacted the reporting party who felt awkward about her call after our conversation. As i got closer to the the two Stanford players, I could see their logo’d/numbered t-shirts and shorts and then recognized one of the players. As I pulled up, I asked the one player aren’t you XXXXX and to his surprise said “yes”. I let them know why I was there and learned they’d be staying at the Alumi’s home for the summer to get away from campus. I let them know i’d let the neighbor calling in know they’d see you around and hopefully this wouldn’t happen again. These are several examples of how your Menlo Park Police Officers are engaged and knowledgeable of it’s residents or visitors more so than your local residents who are making these calls regarding citizens of race and color. Fast forward today and quote Council Member Mueler, “Let’s get real” as he stated to Chief Bertini during the last council meeting. 2020 has been a challenging year with Covid-19, the tragic Minnesota killing to which I am appalled and to Atlanta, where after 40+ minutes a person stopped for suspected DUI on a call for service CHOSE to break away from the officers while being detained and CHOSE to fight with them. The person CHOSE to take an officers taser and run away. The person CHOSE while running away to turn and fire it at the officers chasing him and ultimately and tragically lost his life. I started my career with the Rodney King beating in Los Angels and the Reginald Deny beating when the not guilty verdicts were announced against numerous officers in that incident. And yes every other perceived racially charged incident in between. As police officers we dedicate our lives to helping people in the communities that hire us because we are the right fits for their agencies. Have we had issues in the Menlo Park Police over the years involving officer misconduct which resulted in termination or a changed behavior, yes we have. Some of the results were swift while others took time. Just like parties that are arrested are entitled to due process under the law, so are officers who have allegations made against them. If a city acts too swiftly to terminate, can it be held liable for wrongful termination just like a wrongful arrest by an officer? Of course you have seen this first hand! I have been responsible for training every member of the department in the use of firearms during my tenure. Trust me, it is the last resort any one of us want to use, none of us wants to take another persons life. After a shooting or use of force incident is over, everything you did from your initial contact, verbal interaction, commands given, physical force, baton, taser, mace to firearm used will be scrutinized to determine if it conformed to policy and could anything have been done differently so that a different outcome could have been achieved. As Corporal Adair stated, body cameras are our best friend. One of the callers commented “If it’s not documented it didn’t happen.” Body cameras if used properly will show an event from beginning to end and capture what was said vs. perceived to be said. We all know that cellphones capture everything also but can also edited to benefit the person in the video. During the meeting I took note that you as politicians recognize and acknowledge the political climate in our country is changing which by default is tricking into Menlo Park whether the issue is real or not. There are generic protests, Black Lives Matter, Antifa groups getting out there with many others. People have a right to be heard but when that turns into assaults, theft, vandalism, arson and anything else you can think of, those individuals responsible must be held accountable for their actions (CHOICES MADE). Unfortunately our political leaders in Washington, Minnesota, Georgia, New York (and possibly locally) are caving to political pressures where now those with the voice who are committing crimes are being set free leaving business owners, residents and innocent people to be victimized by Covid-19 and now law breaking criminals with no repercussions. People have come forward to you as elected leaders (as you have stated) or made claims to friends who are repeating it without having witnessed it to have been mistreated or wrongfully pulled over by the police which is hearsay. If they have been mistreated or wrongfully pulled over, make a complaint and let it play out, the camera doesn’t lie! Has this probably occurred, yes, but again, all your departments contacts are documented in CAD and with video, the proof is on tape. I would like to ask you as a council a few questions and appreciate a response: Are you aware Menlo Park did a racial profiling study city wide where after every contact the officer would record the race and disposition (warning/cite/arrest). As you can imagine officers working west of Highway 101 stopped more non minorities versus those working in Bell Haven. Are you aware that San Mateo County conducted Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) in which numerous Menlo Park officers were sent to receive training. This week long class covered people with mental health, substance abuse issues or were being physically, emotionally or mentally abused. The goal was for the officers to get to the root issue in a timely manner and work the individuals to get them additional resources to help with their crisis or situation. As council members, have you taken the time to educate yourself who is working for you? Have you attended any of the all hands yearly department meetings, pre-shift briefings, done ride alongs on a day shift or night shift on a weekday vs. weekend. By being proactive upon your appointment to council and doing these things, you now are more than just a Mayor, Vice Mayor or Council member to your officers as they are to you in return. These interactions allow you to pick each other’s brains for what works, doesn’t work, good things to change vs. bad things to change. I know that Council Member Carlson has done several ride alongs with me and had a very educational experience into how we do our jobs and I hers. At this point in time if you have not participated in these functions it would be a good faith gesture which might be too late based on the current climate you are facing. Have you participated in the Citizens Academy which is a 7-8 day 4-hour class with hands on training on how we do our jobs. The ride alongs and Citizens Academy i feel are beneficial to allowing you to do your job in an informed and educated manner because without that you have your personal experiences, hearsay and possible biases towards police to draw from. Having taught the scenario and firearm portions on several occasions, I had participants come up to me and tell me that they definitely had the wrong idea of how we did our jobs. Having worked in many community outreach functions and programs during my career, I always knew Menlo Park PD had a vast amount of public support. After listening to your comments during the council meeting, it appears that there are possible agendas out there each of you have. I found it very ironic that not one caller during public comment had anything positive to say about the department. I would like to know and the community deserves to know how many calls were received during the public comment portion of the meeting vs. the number of callers taken. Was there a vetting process as to who got on and who did not. I realize budgets are a very sticky subject these days. Over my career we negotiated schedule changes, reduction in pay and forgone raises to help the city in trying times with the promise of having things restored in the next contract. Guess what, that rarely if ever happened. Moving forward, I encourage you to work with your Police Department staff with your eyes open, gathering all the information necessary from the the stakeholders (staff at all levels and the community) to make educated decisions moving forward. History has been made, right, wrong or indifferent and cannot be changed. Moving forward how YOU act, the decisions YOU make collectively will shape the future of City of Menlo Park, its police department and the community it serves. As a wise training officer once told me, you work for the community and its residents. You always do them (the citizens) right because at the end of the day, you interact with them more than the bosses and politicians, they just sign your checks. The community will make or break you and at the end of the day, Chiefs and politicians come and go because they have their own agendas and are out for themselves (food for thought based on the comments you make). I have known Chief Bertini for about 25 years. Chief Bertini is passionate about law enforcement as demonstrated by his instructor status at the academy. Chief Bertini is a fair and reasonable person to work with in dealing with tough situations. I feel that now is not the time to lose a Chief of Police when you’re attempting make relationships between the community and police department better. Menlo Park is a great department to be a part of, but over the past 35 years, Chiefs, City Managers and Council Members have come and gone. Personal and Political agendas, goals and directives have changed under each. At the end of the day the brave, hard working officers that serve your city day in and day out to ensure your streets are safe to drive on, criminals are appended and taken to jail, thus giving people the “You don’t drive trough Menlo after dark mindset,” and families can feel safe walking their children down the the streets. As you proceed to change the past and create the future, please show the men and women of your police department the respect they deserve. Work with them to create the future because your words, actions or motivations may create the tenured officers to look elsewhere to fill you hiring goals. At the end of the day, you want your senior officers with experience to be there mentoring your new officers in critical situations because everyones life depends on it. Each and every one of your officers is husband, wife, father, mother, son or daughter and THEIR LIVES MATTER. If an officers life is lost in the line of duty from this point forward was it because of filling a quota vs. hiring the most qualified candidates? Would you be able to sleep at night knowing you didn’t do the right thing? Looking forward to your individual responses- Regards, Louis Tommei Received on Sun Jun 21 2020 - 15:48:07 PDT
