Get to know Harpreet Sandhu...

Here's some background on Mr. Sandhu, as told by John Geluardi:

Human Relations Commissioner Harpreet Sandhu, appointed Tuesday night, will finish out the two years remaining on new Mayor Gayle McLaughlin's council term. He will take a seat behind the dais immediately after he is sworn in Tuesday.

An immigrant from India, Sandhu will be the first Asian to serve on the council. He is one of a handful of Sikhs to hold public office in the United States, and members of Richmond's Sikh community heralded Sandhu as an excellent choice who will work well with other council members.

"Harpreet has served the Sikh community in very important ways," said Jaideep Singh, co-founder and managing director of the Sikh American Legal and Defense Fund based in Washington, D.C. "He has been a liaison between Sikh immigrants and government agencies, and he has been a particularly strong advocate for Sikh taxi drivers who have been the frequent victims of robbery and homicide."

The council appointed Sandhu with the minimum five votes, with McLaughlin and Councilmen Nat Bates and Tom Butt abstaining. The council voted on one other person, longtime activist and perennial council candidate Cortland "Corky" Boozé, who received support from three council members.

Sandhu said the most critical issue facing the City Council is Richmond's chronic violence. He said violence has many causes and that a solution will come from numerous sources, including better education, more cooperation among law enforcement agencies and increased services to Richmond residents who live below the poverty level.

"Education is a critical component to ending violence, and we have to work together to help children overcome hardships like not having breakfast before going to school in the morning," he said. "How are we going to attract industry and jobs to Richmond if we can't solve the problem of violence?"

While raising a family and working full time for the U. S. Postal Service, Sandhu has compiled an impressive public service résumé during the past 20 years.

He is currently chairman of the multilingual District Advisory Committee and a member of the district's Academic Committee. He is also a member of the California Developmental Disabilities Board for Area 5 and of the county Democratic Central Committee. For the past five years, he has served on the Richmond Human Rights Commission.

Sandhu is probably best known as a strong advocate for creating safer working conditions for West County taxi drivers. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, taxi drivers in West County -- 90 percent of whom are Sikh -- increasingly became victims of attacks. One driver was killed in 2003, and one was shot in the face in what appeared to be hate crimes, Sandhu said.

Sandhu, then president of the Gurdwara Sikh Temple in El Sobrante, worked with U.S. Rep George Miller, D-Martinez, county Supervisor John Gioia and Richmond Vice Mayor Maria Viramontes to raise money to equip taxis with safety glass and surveillance cameras.

"Many of the drivers are new immigrants, and there is a language barrier. There was a feeling that nothing was going to happen unless someone spoke up for them," Sandhu said. "We were able to raise $30,000, which was not sufficient to cover all the taxis, but it was a start."

Before voting on the appointment, the council heard comments from 25 members of the public. Of those, 18 asked the council to appoint Boozé, who fell short of being elected to the council Nov. 7 by 482 votes.

By not selecting Boozé, the council has violated basic democratic principles, said the Rev. Andre Shumake.

"Now I know what it feels like to have my vote discounted," he said. "I am ashamed to be a registered Democrat after watching five elected Democrats step over more than 7,000 voters."
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The Tazer sees Mr. Sandhu as someone who is quite capable of serving the citizens of Richmond as a councilperson. With no offense to Mr. Sandhu, we do wonder about the process of how he was appointed, particularly after hearing many citizens speak from our front row seat at last night's city council meeting.

Interesting note: With all of the action surrounding the City Charter process for filling seats, which by all accounts doesn't give any consideration to the will of the voters, The Tazer notices that no council members moved to make a motion last night to amend this portion of the city charter...something to ponder.

Richmond Man Dies From Injuries After Jan. 4 Shooting

A sad, sad ending to this story folks...

Credit CBS 5:

A 27-year-old Richmond resident who was shot in the head in what appears to have been an unprovoked attack on a Richmond street on Jan. 4 died from his injuries Saturday, the Contra Costa County Coroner reported Tuesday.

Victor Ramirez, who had recently moved to Richmond from El Salvador, was walking in the 2100 block of Roosevelt Avenue around 10:30 a.m. when two suspects grabbed him in a headlock as they passed by, according to police.

One of the suspects, a boy believed to be 15 or 16 years old, then shot Ramirez in the head, police reported.Richmond police Sgt. Allwyn Brown said the shooting suspect is described as black, approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 170 pounds. He had a short Afro hairstyle and was clean-shaven. He was last seen wearing a black ball cap, a black jacket with some sort of brown pattern on the front and blue jeans.

He was armed with a black revolver with brown wooden handgrips.

The shooting suspect's accomplice is described as a black man about 18 years old standing between 6 feet and 6 feet, 3 inches tall and with a thin build. He was last seen wearing a white ball cap, a dark colored jacket and blue jeans, Brown said.

Both suspects ran from the scene on foot up 21st Street from Roosevelt Avenue, according to Brown.

Important Updater...

Good morning Tazer faithful!

We'll leave you to draw your own conclusions here:

Accusers won't join city investigation of racism

Credit: Karl Fischer And John Geluardi

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

A group of black Richmond police supervisors who have accused Chief Chris Magnus of fostering racism in the department will refuse to participate in the city's investigation of their claims unless ordered to do so.

The eight officers on Jan. 9 filed a formal claim with the city, the last step before filing a lawsuit against Richmond. Each complainant seeks $1 million plus further damages to be awarded by jury trial.

"My clients did not want to hand over a list of witnesses and a timeline or other information so the city could begin the process of covering their butts in anticipation of a lawsuit," said attorney Christopher Dolan.

The group, which includes nearly half of the department's command staff, last month publicly accused Magnus of ignoring their suggestions about improving race relations within the department and making racist comments. Magnus repeatedly has denied those allegations.

The city responded by hiring an attorney to investigate the allegations, which are further documented in the Jan. 9 claim submitted to City Hall. The investigator, attorney Raymond Marshall, could not be reached Tuesday.

Dolan said officers will not willingly cooperate with the investigation unless the results are publicly released.

"My clients feel it's very important the public get to the bottom of the allegations," Dolan said.

The state Peace Officers Bill of Rights creates privacy protections for Magnus and Deputy Chief Lori Ritter, also accused of discrimination in the claim, that allow the city to keep the results of its investigation confidential.

Magnus initially agreed to waive his privacy protection but later retracted the offer at the city's request.

"It would be really too bad if the officers did not cooperate with the investigation, now that they have made such serious charges," said attorney Louise Renne, chairwoman of the San Francisco Police Commission, one of several attorneys representing Richmond.

Christine Maloney, another attorney working for the city, said rank-and-file officers might not speak freely with the investigator if they know their comments could be made public. She said officers may fear retaliation from complainants, all of whom are managers.

Dolan said he has asked the city to reject his claim and clear the way for the lawsuit.
The claim states that Magnus and other city officials ignored the complainants' concerns about racial discrimination by not taking their advice about how to resolve the perceived problem.

One concern was the promotion of Ritter in April.

"The officers expressed concern to the chief that Deputy Chief Ritter harbored ... feelings of racism, and that she was unsuitable for promotion without those issues being squarely addressed," Dolan wrote in the claim.

He contends that, prior to her promotion, Ritter asked a black captain to tap dance at a social function attended by police managers from other agencies.

Ritter, the highest-ranking female officer in department history, weathered similar attacks in 2004, when retired Lt. Tommie Phillips filed a federal discrimination suit claiming former Chief Joseph Samuels Jr. unfairly passed him over by promoting Ritter to the rank of captain. A federal jury found in favor of the city in 2005.

The claim also alleges:

• That Magnus posted a progression of photographs of Ritter in the office after her promotion to deputy chief, one of which had the caption "Master of the Universe," which black officers interpreted as a racial dig;

• That in April, Magnus told "a high-ranking officer" to picture Ritter wearing leather boots, cracking a whip and saying, "Dance, jigaboo, dance."

• That in April, while discussing crowd-control plans for the city's annual Cinco de Mayo street celebrations, Magnus asked if Juneteenth was "a holiday for shooting people."

• That in the fall, Magnus changed the process for screening applicants to the investigations bureau to prevent blacks from entering, referring to the high number of black officers applying as a "black out."

Magnus has denied all the allegations, suggesting in previous interviews that the claims had more to do with major changes he made early in his tenure that discomfited some of his command staff and pre-existing animus between individual officers.

"I am very disappointed by these allegations, and I absolutely deny making the remarks attributed to me. I have never discriminated against anyone in the department, or anyone else," Magnus said Tuesday. "I know that a thorough, independent investigation will bear this out."

Complainants include Capts. Cleveland Brown, Alec Griffin and Eugene McBride; Lts. Michael Booker, Shawn Pickett, Johan Simon and Arnold Threets; and Sgt. Jim Jenkins, president of the Guardians of Justice, a black officers organization. All are black men.

Magnus promoted Griffin and Booker to their current ranks during the same series of promotions. Ten of the 16 officers now holding the rank of lieutenant and higher are black men, and seven of those officers are complainants.

The internal rancor sharply contrasts with Magnus' general positive image in the community, where public officials and neighborhood leaders have repeatedly praised him for restoring community-oriented policing principles to his department's patrol division.