Demo in front of San Jose City Hall Critical of Cops

Police watchdog groups have been monitoring arrests and have brought attention to the fact that the city of San Jose police department systematically targets Latinos and other minorities. Instead of addressing those concerns, the San Jose Police Officers' Association (SJPOA) has answered the accusations by referring to the police critics as "thugs". Even corporate media has been critical of the SJPOA. The San Jose Mercury gathered data showing that compared to other communities of similar size and with similar ethnic makeup, San Jose leads the pack with Latino arrests, with many of those arrests being traffic stops intent on harassing non-white drivers.

Yesterday Raj Jayadev, the Silicon Valley De-Bug director who has been a favorite target of the SJPOA, was joined by about 100 people gathered in front of San Jose City Hall. The group demanded an end to name-calling. "There is no us versus them. There is just one city. We are all striving for public safety," he said.

T-shirts using initial letters form the the word "thug" spelled out a new meaning for the word: "Trust builder, Healer, Uniter and Generator of Solutions." Many in the crowd gathered in front of City Hall wore these shirts. Jayadev said community groups are planning to meet with council members, Police Chief Rob Davis and Mayor Chuck Reed.

 In early June, the San Jose Police Officers' Association began displaying a video on their website that made fun of Jayadev, and accused him of making threats. Although City Council members Ash Kalra and Sam Liccardo wrote a public letter saying that the video was unprofessional and divisive, the police union still carries the video on its site. It appears that they merely moved it to a less prominent location on the site to appease the council members.

Critics say that the police union's leadership is out of touch reality and not cognizant of their duties to protect the civil rights of San Jose residents. Demonstrators for immigrant rights legally gathered in public have been asked questions designed to intimidate by police, including whether they "also celebrate the 4th of July".