vol. 82, no. 4

ACLUnews:

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ACLU OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

FALL 2018 VOLUME LXXXII ISSUE 4

WHAT'S INSIDE

Legal updates

Page 2

Surveillance technology

incorrectly matches people

with mug shots

Page 4

Key bills signed into law

Page 8

A SPECIAL CENTER INSERT

Y Vote in our board election

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Organization

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California

IT TOOK 40 YEARS-FINALLY KEY POLICE REFORM

IS SIGNED INTO LAW IN CALIFORNIA

By Natasha Minsker

his year Californians reclaimed

our right to know about excessive

use of force and serious misconduct

by police.

It took the ACLU of Northern

California almost 40 years of working

on this issue, but we succeeded. On

Sept. 30, Gov. Jerry Brown signed

Senate Bill 1421 into law; it will take

effect Jan. 1, 2019.

SB 1421, introduced by State Sen. Nancy

Skinner (D-Berkeley), will open to the public in-

formation about how and whether police depart-

ments investigate and hold officers accountable

for their wrongdoing.

The stakes have never been higher, especially

as concerns over racially-biased police miscon-

ca PUBLIC'S Pec TO ce

: | ABOUT gente Mee Dea

duct and use of force have reached a breaking

point in California and throughout the nation.

There is no doubt SB 1421 will significantly

transform policing in California.

The ACLU of California was a proud co-

sponsor of this bill, along with the Alliance

for Boys and Men of Color, Anti Police-Terror

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

ACLU FIGHTS POLICE HARASSMENT OF

OAKLAND PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS

By Jessie Seyfer

he Oakland Housing Authority Police De-

partment (OHAPD) is supposed to protect

the thousands of residents who live in its public

housing communities. But instead, its officers

regularly harass residents, violating their Con-

stitutional rights and unfairly building cases for

their eviction.

That's why the ACLU of Northern California,

working with the East Bay Community Law

Center and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil

Rights, filed a lawsuit Sept. 19 in Alameda County

seeking to immediately halt the harassment and

to have the city ordinance that allows it declared

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

unconstitutional.

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Magan Pritam Ray CHAIR

Abdi Soltani EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Candice Francis EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Gigi Harney MANAGING EDITOR

DESIONER

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39 Drumm Street, San Francisco, CA 94111

(415) 621-2493 | EDITOR@ACLUNC.ORG

LEGAL UPDATES

ACLU OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA V.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

TRANSPORTING IMMIGRATION DETAINEES

Immigration detainees, transported between

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

(ICE) facilities, are treated like cargo, with

no regard for their health, safety, or human

rights. In one particularly egregious instance,

a group of detained immigrant women were

subjected to a 24-hour journey that included

traveling in a cramped, dark, windowless

van in suffocating heat for several hours,

causing some of them to vomit or faint. The

women's cries for help went unanswered by

the van driver, and several women thought

they would die.

The ACLU Foundation of Northern Califor-

nia represented these women in filing claims

against ICE for their near-death experience

because the federal government must abide

by the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees

basic rights to everyone in this country, citizen

and non-citizen alike. Alongside those claims,

we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

lawsuit in July demanding records on the

treatment of immigration detainees during

transport by ICE, particularly transportation

by contractor G4S Secure Solutions.

In California, ICE regularly subjects de-

tained immigrants

ICE detainee Floricel Liborio Ramos. "I was

surrounded by several other women and we

were all worried and scared. We were riding

in a vehicle with no windows and no air. We'd

been put there by ICE agents, after our wrists

and ankles were shackled. We had no food or

water. I felt extremely sick, like death was

near."

The federal government's concerted and on-

going efforts to detain individuals, to transport

them to detention centers, and to increase the

use of private contractors creates an urgent

need to obtain information and records about

relationships with those contractors, the polli-

cies and procedures they are subject to, and

the detention and transport practices.

Woe ACI oF IWeriaern Crallitorsane iiss

sought this information through FOIA

requests submitted to ICE on Dec. 18, 2017,

and April 6, 2018. ICE failed to respond to the

requests within the time required by the law,

so the ACLU is fighting the agency in court.

RAMOS V. DEPARTMENT OF

HOMELAND SECURITY

PROTECTING CHILDREN WITH

TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS

American children should not have to choose

between their country and their family. To

protect them, the ACLU

to burdensome and

lengthy voyages, fully

shackled with limited

access to food, water,

and toilets. ICE sub-

contracts with G4S to

transport immigration

detainees. G4S is a

private contractor that

has been criticized for

its treatment of detain-

ees. "Sitting chained

Up im the back on a

hot van last summer

(2017), I mentally pre-

pared to die," recalls

--ICE DETAINEE FLORICEL

LIBORIO RAMOS tion's anti-immigrant,

Foundation of Southern

"| MENTALLY PREPARED

1@ Pile WE WERE RIDING

INCA VERGE Ee Wie Ne

WINDOWS AND NO AIR.

1 De Bi SSINe Us seal Ree Sy

ICE AGEN ls, AETER OUR

WRISTS AND ANKLES WERE

SHACKLED. WE HAD NO

EOO@D OR WATER. | FEEL

SG EMmey ole FIRE

DEATH WAS NEAR."

California filed a class

action suit in March to

stop the federal gov-

ernment from unlaw-

fully terminating the

Temporary Protected

Status (TPS) of more

than 200,000 people

who live in the U.S.

The discovery process

in the case has uncov-

ered a great deal about

the Trump Administra-

racist agenda.

Z AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

LEGAL UPDATES conrtinuep From pace 2

In addition, more than 200,000 U.S. citizen

children of TPS holders face an impossible

choice between leaving the only home they have

ever known and growing up without one or both

parents.

"T have lived here almost twice as long as I

ever lived in El Salvador. My home and family

are here," said Orlando Zepeda, a 51-year-old

father of two children. "The decision to end TPS

for El] Salvador and other countries was devas-

tating."

In October, the judge granted a nationwide

preliminary injunction, requiring the Adminis-

tration to maintain TPS status for immigrants

from El] Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan.

KUANG AND COOKE V.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

LEGAL PERMANENT RESIDENTS

IN THE MILITARY

Those who want to serve in the U.S. military

should be able to serve regardless of citizen-

ship-it's been that way for decades. After the

Trump Administration ordered on Oct. 138,

2017, that non-citizens who want to join the

military must undergo additional scrutiny, the

ACLU filed a class action lawsuit in June 2018

to support two Legal Permanent Residents

(LPRs), green card holders who are blocked by

the military until they pass undefined back-

ground investigations and requirements. U.S.

citizens continue to serve unimpeded.

"There cannot be any legitimate govern-

ment rationale for this new policy," the ACLU

Foundation of Northern California stated in

the suit. The policy is contrary to Congress's

intent and the plain language of the law,

which states that "an alien who is lawfully

admitted for permanent residence" may serve

in the military.

The Oct. 13 memo fails to articulate any

legitimate justification for its departure from

this country's long tradition of enlisting LPRs

and U.S. citizens on equal terms. The memo

simply states that the change is "to facilitate

process efficiency and the appropriate sharing

of information for security risk based suitabil-

ity and security decisions for the accession of

foreign nationals." The ACLU argues that this

vague statement is not a legitimate justifica-

tion for this dramatic and unprecedented new

policy.

Ironically, the Department of Defense itself

has admitted that the new policy may affect

its ability to meet its 2018 recruiting goals. In

fact, in April 2018, the Secretary of the Army

announced that the Army would fall short of

its 2018 recruiting goal.

SARAVIA V. SESSIONS

DUE PROCESS FOR IMMIGRANT YOUTH

lke all

should not be arbitrarily jailed

Immigrant children, American

children,

based on unsubstantiated allegations of gang

affiliation. Under the guise of a "crackdown"

federal

authorities have undertaken a concerted

effort to

unaccompanied immigrant children far from

on transnational street gangs,

arrest, detain, and _ transport

their families and attorneys based on flimsy,

unreliable and unsubstantiated allegations of

gang affiliation.

The ACLU Foundation of Northern Cali-

fornia sued Attorney General Jeff Sessions,

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and

the federal agency responsible for the care

and custody of unaccompanied immigrant

children for using unsubstantiated claims of

gang affiliation to illegally detain teenagers

in jail-like facilities in California. The clients

lived in Suffolk County, New York, and the

suit charges that they were unlawfully arrest-

ed, detained without due process, and denied

immigration benefits and services.

In the class action suit, the ACLU won a

preliminary injunction that requires the

government to justify re-arrest of similarly

situated youth within seven days of arrest.

The injunction applies to minors who came to

the country unaccompanied, were previously

detained and then released to a sponsor, and

when the noncitizen has been or will be re-

arrested on allegations of gang affiliation.

The injunction has since been upheld by the

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"When the federal government has previ-

ously deemed an unaccompanied minor suit-

able for placement in the community with

a sponsor, and when federal agents later

arrest and detain the minor based on alle-

gations of gang affiliation, the government

cannot simply ship the minor across the

country and place him in a secure detention

facility for an indefinite period," the court

ruled. "Rather, due process requires the gov-

ernment to give the minor a prompt hearing

before an immigration judge or other neutral

decisionmaker."

SACRAMENTO REGIONAL COALITION

TO END HOMELESSNESS (SRCEH)

V. SACRAMENTO

RIGHT TO PANHANDLE

Instead of criminalizing people who ask for

help, cities should act with compassion and al-

locate resources to those who need them most.

In July, a federal judge blocked Sacramento's

anti-panhandling ordinance with a preliminary

injunction.

"Today's ruling is a resounding victory for

free speech and fairness, and is the first in

California to make clear that the government

can't arbitrarily enact anti-panhandling ordi-

nances," said Abre' Conner of the ACLU Foun-

dation of Northern California. "On every point,

the judge reaffirmed that free speech applies

to everyone."

The lawsuit challenged the constitutionality

of an anti-solicitation ordinance by the City of

Sacramento. The ban on "aggressive and intru-

sive solicitation" amounts to a content-based

restriction on speech that is presumptively in-

valid under the First Amendment, the ACLU

argued. The November 2017 ordinance banned

both panhandling and charitable solicitation for

"an immediate donation of money or other thing

of value." @

AGbU NEWS -= FALE 201s

AMAZON'S FACE RECOGNITION FALSELY MATCHED

28 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS WITH MUGSHOTS

By Jacob Snow

mazon's face surveillance technology is the target of growing opposition nationwide, and today, there are 28 more

causes for concern. The ACLU of Northern California has worked for many years to stop companies from enabling

government surveillance that disproportionately impacts people of color, immigrants, and political protesters. The

ACLU recently conducted a test of Amazon's facial recognition tool, called "Rekognition," and the software incorrectly

matched 28 members of Congress, identifying them as other people who have been arrested for a crime.

The members of Congress

who were falsely matched with

the mugshot database we used

in the test include Republicans

and Democrats, men and wom-

en, and legislators of all ages,

from all across the country.

The ACLU's - test

Amazon Rekognition to com-

used

pare images of members of

Congress with a database of

mugshots. The result? Twenty

eight false matches.

The false matches were dis-

proportionately of people of

color, including six members

of the

Caucus,

Congressional Black

among them civil

rights legend Rep. John Lewis

(D-Ga.). These results demon-

strate why Congress should

pass a moratorium on law en-

forcement use of face surveil-

lance.

Using Rekognition, we built

a face database and search tool

using 25,000 publicly avail-

able arrest photos. Then we

searched that database against public photos of

every current member of the House and Senate.

We used the default match settings that Amazon

sets for Rekognition.

Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) was falsely iden-

tified by Amazon Rekognition as someone who

had been arrested for a crime.

In a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the Con-

eressional Black Caucus expressed concern about

the "profound negative unintended consequences"

face surveillance could have for Black people,

undocumented immigrants, and protesters. Aca-

demic research also already shows that face rec-

ognition is less accurate for darker-skinned faces

9%

of Amazon's

false matches

were people

of color,

though

make up (c)

A

Oy Nara b,

Oey ran at

and women. Our results validate this concern:

Nearly 40 percent of Rekognition's false matches

in our test were of people of color, even though

they make up only 20 percent of Congress.

People of color were disproportionately falsely

matched in our test.

If law enforcement is using Amazon Rekog-

nition, it's not hard to imagine a police officer

AN IDENTIFICATION,

WHETHER ACCURATE OR

N@T COUED COs) PEOGPEE

iaelik bree DO@Me@R EVEN

THEtR IVES.

getting a match indicating

thi ae WersOn Was a phe vic

ous concealed-weapon arrest,

biasing the officer before an

encounter even begins. Or an

individual getting a knock on

the door from law enforcement

and being questioned or having

their home searched, based on

a false identification.

An

accurate or not-could cost

identification-whether

people their freedom or even

eavger a

1 eKeny

their lives. People of color are

already disproportionately

harmed by police practices,

and Rekognition could exac-

erbate that. Matching people

Oh

as} against arrest photos is not a

hypothetical exercise. Amazon

is aggressively marketing its

face surveillance technology to

police. A sheriffs department

le ET in Oregon has already started

NorCal using Amazon Rekognition to

compare people's faces against

a mugshot database, without

any public debate.

Face surveillance also threatens to chill First

Amendment-protected activity like engaging in

protest or practicing religion, and it can be used

to subject immigrants to further abuse from the

government.

Congress must take these threats seriously,

hit the brakes, and enact a moratorium on law

enforcement use of face recognition. This technol-

ogy shouldn't be used until the harms are fully

considered and all necessary steps are taken to

prevent them from harming vulnerable commu-

nities. (R)

JIGeoOo Snow is @ ech ce Civil Iliberties

Attorney at the ACLU of Northern California.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING: AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF

THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

By Tessa D'Arcangelew

n March 18, 2018, Sacramento police fired 20 rounds at Stephon Clark while he stood in his own backyard.

The 22-year-old was posing no threat when he was killed. For him, like so many others, being a Black man

became a death sentence. Racist policing is a systemic problem, and California law enables it.

We see stories like Clark's again and again. In

2017, police shot and killed 172 people in Cali-

fornia, making California one of the deadliest

states for police violence. This kind of violence is

deployed overwhelmingly against communities

of color, killing Black and Brown people without

justification and without consequences.

Currently, California state law makes the in-

vestigations into police killings and any resulting

discipline, or corrective action, completely secret.

This makes it impossible for the community in

Sacramento to learn how the police came to take

the life of an unarmed father of two in his own

backyard, or the outcome of the resulting inves-

tigation. It makes real accountability impossible.

Furthermore, California state law on use of

force has not been updated since 1872. It is the

oldest, unamended law in the country and deter-

mines any deadly use of force by officers to be jus-

tified if an officer acted "objectively reasonable"

under the circumstances.

Stephon Clark's life mattered. And in the

wake of his death, the Sacramento community

demanded change. As California state lawmak-

ers returned to work in March 2018, they were

met by the protests of a community tired of the

taking of lives and of unaccountable policing

that impacts Black and Brown Californians.

Black Lives Matter Sacra-

mento led the way.

DNA CALIFORNIA POLICE IN 2017

people

ttt!

aya

4 of the 5 were Latino.

Of youth killed by police, nearly

do anything," says Tanya Fai-

son, founder of the Sacramento

chapter of Black Lives Matter.

"But protest is powerful. It lets

the community know what is

happening; it informs the com-

munity in a way the news or

police department might not.

Protest tells the people you are

fighting for that you are not

backing down."

As a result of community

PEOPLE KILLED BY

were people of color.

Of unarmed people killed by police,

Sq

were people of color.

police reports, as well as

access to records related to

police shootings and other

serious use of force. AB 931

was held by the California

Senate and will not become

law this year, but in a major

victory, SB 1421 was signed

into law. See story on page 1.

For community organi-

Black Lives

Matter, legislation is only

10

zations like

one piece of the puzzle. "We

shift the narrative that is

pushed out by law enforce-

action and protests,

lawmakers this year introduced

two bills critical to dismantling the system of

racist and unaccountable police in California: AB

931, which would have changed California's legal

standard so police would only be allowed to use

deadly force if there were no alternatives available

and if there was an imminent threat to the officer

or another person's safety; and, SB 1421, which

gives the public access to cases in which officers

have been found guilty of committing sexual

assault or dishonesty in criminal investigations,

such as lying, planting evidence, or falsifying

ment; interview people to

get information; start the

fight," said Faison. The group also holds fun-

draisers and acts as a resource for victims and

families, paying rent, finding an attorney, and

helping them understand the legal system.

"Ask people doing the work what they need,"

Faison suggests, "and try to provide it. Show up. If

you can't be there in person, donate, do administra-

tive work, help with graphics for flyers. If you care

about racism, get off Facebook and get active." @

Tessa D'Arcangelew is Leadership Development

Manager at the ACLU of Northern California.

JOIN US AT BILL

OF RIGHTS DAY

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8

IMPACT HUB OAKLAND

2323 Broadway (less than a half

mile from 19th St. Bart station)

Oakland, CA 94612

Doors open at 12:30pm

Program begins at 1pm

Reception to follow

WWW.ACLUNC.ORG/BoRD

BE A GRASSROOTS

LEADER

Want to learn how to work in partnership

with the ACLU-NC to advance civil

liberties in your community?

TRAININGS FOR CHANGEMAKERS

Feb. 8 + San Jose

Feb. 16 cent Sacramento

Feb. 17 cent San Francisco

Feb. 23 cent Fresno

WWW.ACLUNC.ORG/TRAININGS

SAVE THE DATE

RISE UP TO ACHIEVE JUSTICE WITH

HUNDREDS OF ACLU ACTIVISTS AND

COMMUNITY LEADERS AT

CONFERENCE and

LOBBY DAY

APIREE (oO, 2012

SACRAMENTO, CA

WWW.ACLUNC.ORG/ACLUCON

AEIEO NEWS = PALE 201s

DONOR PERSPECTIVE: L PETER DEUTSCH

Peter has been giving generously to the ACLU of Northern California for five decades. The following are excerpts from his conversation with members

of our development team.

WHAT DREW YOU TO THE

ACLU IN 1968?

I was attending UC Berkeley

and there was a lot of activity

in opposition to the war in Viet-

nam. I was not an outspoken

activist, but I did some protest-

ing. I don't remember how I

learned of the ACLU, but it may

have been a suggestion from my

father because I got a lot of my

early political perspective from

him. My father was a political

activist in high school and he

had quite a socialist perspec-

tive on politics. He grew up in

Vienna and he was in the U.S.

to make sure that it doesn't wind up

getting subject to regulatory capture.

The government can do a tremendous

amount of harm if it gets captured by

the entities that it is supposed to push

back against. We are seeing a dread-

ful amount of that right now; it's one

of the deeply destructive things that's

happening.

HOW HAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP

WITH THE ACLU CHANGED SINCE

THE 2016 ELECTION?

I increased my contribution level

by a factor of 10 after the election. I

was regularly giving a few thousand

dollars a year; I am now donating

during the McCarthy years and

the Vietnam war. He always

said that he had a lot of confi-

dence that, with whatever was happening, the

good sense of the American people would prevail.

WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO YOU ABOUT THE ACLU?

The ACLU is large and well supported, and has

values matching mine. Those are my criteria

when I look for organizations to support.

If you look back to the founding of this coun-

try, and to the way our Constitution is written,

the primary issue, with respect to governance,

was the power of royalty and the aristocracy

versus the power of everyone else. That's why

L Peter Deutsch (I) with his husband, Michael Golub

the American Revolution and French Revolution

were such turning points in the political history

of the Western world. And then there was this

completely unanticipated development that real-

ly started accelerating in the 19th century, which

was the growth of the corporation as a center of

power.

The role of government is to be a counter-

weight against severe power inequities in the

public sphere. The ACLU, with its focus on the

rights of an individual as laid out in the Con-

stitution, holds the government's feet to the fire

my entire IRA Required Minimum

Distribution. And I intend to keep

doing that as long as it takes to get

things fixed, although I think there

is a good chance that will not happen within

my lifetime. What Trump is accomplishing

through the Cabinet departments-and even

more seriously, through the placement of right-

wingers on the Federal bench and on the Su-

preme Court-will last for a long time and will

be very challenging to deal with. I admit I am

a pessimist; Michael is even more freaked out

than I am. There could be surprises, but things

right now look really bad, which is what makes

the ACLU even more important.@

ACLU FIGHTS POLICE HARASSMENT OF OAKLAND PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS cConrTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Residents say the OHAPD will frequently stop

and question residents and visitors in common ar-

eas and parking lots, and that these interactions

most often do not result in any citations. Nonethe-

less, the OHAPD records these stops in "incident

activity reports" that go into the housing author-

ity's files on tenants. Incident activity reports

then can be used-and have been used-in hous-

ing authority proceedings to try to evict tenants.

"What we are seeing in these incident reports

is over-policing-OHAPD is routinely stopping

and questioning people for simply standing in

the common areas of OHA property or spending

time with friends and family," said ACLU staff

attorney Shilpi Agarwal. "As a result, OHA resi-

dents feel harassed and targeted by the police

rather than relying on them for protection."

The OHAPD has said it stops and questions

residents to enforce the Oakland Loitering Ordi-

nance, or Municipal Code section 9.08.250. The

code states that anyone who loiters, prowls or

wanders "without lawful business" on housing

authority property, and fails to leave within 72

hours, is guilty of an infraction. It makes no men-

tion whatsoever of the incident reports.

"The ordinance emboldens OHAPD to stop

and question people without any suspicion that

they're doing something that's against the law,"

Agarwal said.

The ACLU and its partners filed a motion

seeking a preliminary injunction to immediately

halt enforcement of the ordinance. They also filed

CONTINUED ON FOLLOWING PAGE

AMERIGAN GIVIE EIBERRIES UNION OF NORTHERN CAEIFORNIA

VICTORY IN LANDMARK POLICE LEGISLATION

Black Lives Matter

California Faculty Association, California News

Project California,

Publishers Association, Communities United

for Restorative Youth Justice, PICO California,

PolicyLink, and Youth Justice Coalition LA.

It may come as a surprise, but California is

one of the most secretive states when it comes to

police officer records. In the 1970s, the California

Legislature caved to the law enforcement lobby

and changed state law to hide officer misconduct

and use-of-force records from the public. Since

then, while police unions have been fighting

to keep the public in the dark, the ACLU, our

partners, and supporters have fought to restore

transparency to policing. We tried versions of SB

1421 in 2007 and again in 2016 without success.

Until SB 1421 takes effect in January 2019,

California law forbids police departments from

sharing information-even with prosecutors-

about officers found guilty of lying, planting evi-

dence on innocent people, or sexually assaulting

members of the public. Meanwhile, victims of po-

lice abuse and families of people killed by police

are denied the answers they need and deserve.

The public has a fundamental right to know

about cases in which officers have been found

guilty of committing sexual assault or dishonesty

in criminal investigations. That includes confirmed

instances of lying, planting evidence, or falsifying

police reports during investigations. Equally impor-

tant is access to records related to police shootings

and other serious or deadly uses-of-force incidents.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

We give law enforcement officers tremendous

power to detain, arrest, and even use force on

members of our communities, including deadly

force. Unfortunately, over the years, we the peo-

ple have been stripped of the power to oversee

and hold law enforcement accountable for their

use-and abuse-of these powers. Far too often,

the public is left in the dark, although we un-

derstand that systemic problems with policing

remain rooted in oppression and racism.

It had become nearly impossible for commu-

nities to know when officers who are guilty of

committing sexual assault or other misconduct

while on the job are patrolling their streets, and

whether officers have a pattern of misconduct.

Without knowing this information, it is also

nearly impossible to make sure departments are

holding officers accountable instead of sweeping

misconduct under the rug.

SB 1421 will make public three categories of

information that are specific to the powers of po-

lice officers or their potential for abuse:

cent Use of serious or deadly force, or discharge

a firearm;

cent Sexual assault tied to the abuse of power to

coerce a victim into sexual acts; and

cent Perjury or the fabrication of evidence tied to

police officers' unique powers in investigat-

ing and prosecuting crimes.

Together with our partners and with leader-

ship from families who have lost loved ones

to police violence, we worked for nearly four

THE ACLU REMAINS COMMITTED

TO ENDING POLICE BRUTALITY

AND THE STRUCTURAL RACISM

THAT PERVADES POLICING.

SB 1421 WAS AN IMPORTANT

VICTORY, BUT OUR WORK

[Se N@ie DON = eae

decades to restore Californians' right to know

about officers who plant evidence, sexually as-

sault, or kill members of the public. Thanks to

your support, we finally cracked that wall of

secrecy to increase transparency and account-

ability in policing in California.

The ACLU remains committed to ending

police brutality and the structural racism that

pervades policing; drastic changes are needed in

our approach to public safety. SB 1421 was an

important victory, but our work is not done yet.

The ACLU of California will return next

session to re-introduce AB 931, a bill that would

have updated the law regarding when California

police can use deadly force, so they would do so

only when absolutely necessary. We thank you

for your continued support as we work to achieve

racial justice and to empower Californians to have

a say in how their neighborhoods are policed. @

Natasha Minsker is Director of the ACLU of

California's Center for Advocacy and Policy.

ACLU FIGHTS POLICE HARASSMENT OF OAKLAND PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS contTINUED FROM PAGE 6

a lawsuit arguing that the ordinance violates

people's constitutional rights in two ways: first,

because its language is unconstitutionally vague,

and second, because OHAPD's enforcement of

the ordinance violates the Fourth Amendment,

which protects people against unreasonable

search and seizure.

Darren Mathieu, 25, is a plaintiff in the

lawsuit, and has lived in Oakland's Lockwood

Gardens complex for almost his entire life. The

OHAPD has written 70 incident reports in his

name, despite the fact that he has zero crimi-

nal history. "We have seen reports in which

Mathieu is written up or accused of loitering

for literally sitting in a lawn chair in front of

his unit," Agarwal said. "The reports say he is

sitting in a lawn chair outside his unit, and they

are citing him for it."

The Oakland Housing Authority has already

tried to evict Mathieu and his mother once, and

the incident reports were a major part of the

authority "case" against him. Fortunately,

Mathieu was able to beat the eviction proceedings.

But now he lives with the constant fear that the

authorities may try again.

A second plaintiff in the suit, Hayward resident

Ed Jackson, was cited under the ordinance for visit-

ing friends at Lockwood Gardens, and was ordered

to pay $250. Since he has not been able to pay that

amount in the months since he was cited, he now

owes $785, an amount he is completely unable to

pay at his current income level.

On Oct. 16, the Oakland City Council voted pre-

liminarily to repeal the loitering ordinance. The

council is scheduled to take a final vote on Oct. 30.

However, even if the ordinance is repealed,

huge concerns remain regarding the OHAPD's

practices, its incident reports, and whether the

agency needs to exist at all.

"The loitering ordinance itself is problematic

and unlawful," Agarwal said. "And so is the

OHAPD's approach to enforcing it." @

Jessie Seyfer is a freelance writer for the

ACLU of Northern California.

ACLU NEWS - PALE 2018

LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

H0x2122 do we stand the test of time?

The Constitution of the United States

has stood the test of time. Its words and mean-

ing have been changed over time-through

civil war, amendments to abolish slavery and

expand the right to vote, court decisions to

expand freedom and equality, and mass move-

ments that have provided the impetus for

change.

The Constitution also defines the units of

time. The tenure of House seats is two years,

the presidency four years, the Senate six

years-and judicial appointments a lifetime.

As a new justice who faced credible allegations

of sexual assault takes his seat for a lifetime

appointment, let it also be our time to renew

our commitment to our vision of the Constitu-

tion-not for two, four, or six years, but also

for a lifetime.

In our stand for justice, equality, and

freedom, we also need to stand the test

of time.

As you read this ACLU News, I hope you see

the ways that the ACLU and our supporters

stand the test of time. Our cover story on SB

1421 is about a legislative campaign that

literally took 40 years of hard work by several

generations of ACLU members and staff. When

Francisco Lobaco started as Legislative Director

30 years ago, his predecessor left him boxes

of files on this issue. When he retired a few

years ago, he passed those boxes on to Natasha

Minsker, the ACLU of California Center for

Advocacy and Policy Director.

On the final day of the two-year legislative

session, 40 years of work came down to the

final hour. With minutes left before the vote,

ACLU members and supporters in key districts

called the remaining swing votes. Natasha

called Francisco so late that she woke him up

to tell him the good news: the bill passed. It

may not be calling him to announce the birth of

a child or a Nobel Prize, but in our line of work,

it comes close.

For California to lead the way during this

important time, it means standing up to the

policies of the Trump Administration, but it

also means tackling some longstanding civil

PHOTO BY BETHANIE HINES

ACLU of Northern California Executive Director

Abdi Soltani

rights issues in our own state.

Together, we can do both.

Abdi Soltani

Executive Director, ACLU of Northern California

v

injure, or kill a member of the public.

Schools

SIGNED SB 1421: Police Misconduct Records

SB 1421 restores public access to misconduct records of officers found guilty of

sexual assault, perjury or planting evidence, and officers who shoot, severely

SIGNED AB 748: Police Body Worn Cameras

AB 748 protects the public's right to access police body camera footage and other

recordings that capture incidents involving officer use of force.

SIGNED AB 2119: Transgender Foster Youth

AB 2119 makes clear that child welfare agencies must ensure that transgender

and gender nonconforming youth have access to clinicians who provide gender-

affirming treatment, consistent with established standards of care.

SIGNED AB 2601: Sex Education in Charter

AB 2601 extends sexual health education requirements to charter schools,

ensuring that charter school students get access to quality sex education that

includes information about consent and healthy relationships, among other vital

health topics. Although they are public schools, charter schools are currently

not required to abide by the same standards as other public schools.

v

GOV. BROWN SIGNS KEY ACLU OF CALIFORNIA BILLS

SIGNED SB 244: Personal Information

Protection for Immigrants

SB 244 ensures that immigrants can make use of programs that provide

driver's licenses, municipal IDs, and healthcare without fear by protecting

sensitive personal information from unnecessary disclosure.

SIGNED SB 1194: Hotel Guest Information

SB 1194 protects the confidentiality of hotel guests and bus company

passengers' information to ensure immigrants and other travelers in

California don't have their personal information turned over to federal

immigration agents or others without a court order or warrant.

SIGNED SB 923: Eyewitness Identification

SB 923 helps keep innocent people out of prison by establishing statewide

eyewitness identification standards that help local law enforcement prevent

mistaken identifications.

SIGNED SB 1393: Sentencing Enhancements

SB 1393 increases the fairness of our justice system by restoring court discretion,

in the interest of justice, to strike the five-year sentence enhancement for prior

serious felony convictions, when a person is charged with a serious felony.

See page 1 and /cent for details on these bills and more.

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIESaUNTONVOR NORGHERN CALIFORNIA

@ ase.

Z

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

ELECTION

VOTING INFORMATION

WHO CAN VOTE

The bylaws of the ACLU of Northern California call for the "at large" directors to be elected by our general membership. The label

affixed to this issue of the ACLU News indicates on the top line if you are a current member and thus eligible to vote. Your label

states "VOTE" if you are eligible to vote or "INELIGIBLE" if you are not eligible to vote.

If your label states that you are ineligible to vote, but you have recently renewed your membership, please send in your ballot with a

note that includes your name and phone number, so we can verify your status. If you are ineligible because you have not renewed your

membership but would like to do so at this time, please enclose your membership renewal check in the same envelope as your ballot.

(Please note that it is your membership dues payable to the ACLU, not tax-deductible donations to the ACLU Foundation, that make

you eligible to vote.)

HOW THE CANDIDATES WERE NOMINATED

As explained in the summer 2018 issue of the ACLU News, our bylaws specify two methods for nominating candidates for directorships.

Candidates may be nominated by the current board of directors after the board considers recommendations from its nominating committee.

Candidates may also be nominated by petition bearing the signatures of at least 15 of our members in good standing.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR VOTING

The candidates are listed in alphabetical order. We have 21 candidates running to fill 21 vacancies on our board of directors. You may vote

for up to five candidates.

You cannot cast more than one vote for any candidate. That applies even if you vote for fewer than 21 candidates. If you share a joint

membership with another member, each of you can vote for 21 candidates. Do so by using both of the two columns provided for that purpose.

After marking your ballot, located on the back page of this insert, clip it and enclose it in an envelope. Your address label (on the front

of this newsletter) must be included to ensure voter eligibility.

ADDRESS THE ENVELOPE TO

BOARD ELECTION, ACLU of Northern California

39 Drumm Street, San Francisco, CA 94111

In order for your ballot to be counted, we must receive it at the address shown above by Dec. 21, 2018. As required by our bylaws, in

order to have a quorum for our election, we need at least 100 timely returned ballots from our members.

To help you assess this year's candidates, we're including brief statements submitted by the candidates (see following pages).

ACLU NEWS - FALL 2018 BOARD ELECTION