A Rally for Police Accountability was held in Berkeley on Wednesday October 25th. People gathered at the Berkeley Public Safety Building (Martin Luther King at Center St) at 6 pm, and then marched to the North Berkeley Senior Center (Hearst and Martin Luther King) for a public hearing about "The Future of Civilian Review in Berkeley," beginning at 7:30 pm. The march and rally demanded that the Police Review Commission (PRC), the nation's oldest independent civilian review organization, take bold action to preserve civilian review.

A recent California Supreme Court decision (Copley v. San Diego) has put a protective shield around police officers with a history of misconduct, by prohibiting the public disclosure of their employment records. This decision will affect everyone's ability to hold the police accountable--the public will not even be able to find out the names of suspect officers! The work of the PRC is in dire jeopardy. Despite huge corruption within the Berkeley Police Department--drug and evidence theft, drug use, wild behavior by off-duty cops--the Berkeley Police Officers Association still wants to hide the actions of its members from the public.

Copwatch says, "Let's demand that cops be held accountable! The police association can't do it; the DA won't do it; defending our rights starts with us!" Read more

Berkeley Copwatch website