John Gaccione

03/11/18

Lordy lordy me, quite a few folks over at headquarters are buzzing about a recent article that appeared on a local newspaper site. The article recounts the charges two citizens have made against members of our independent KPD, the KPPCSD and the board in a federal lawsuit filed last month.

Guns, dope & sex are featured in the article. Why anyone in their right mind would write such nonsense is just beyond us! Just why would a supposedly “great” journalist have such an obsession with our tiny town? The mind reels!

Surely there are many more sordid stories about police forces in San Francisco Oakland, Berkeley, El Cerrito and Richmond that need reporting, so why report on our sordid stories? No doubt the journalist who always seems to write to fit his agenda or worst yet … is furthering someone else’s agenda. It is just absolutely scandalous!

There are tall tales of gunplay, witness intimidation, false arrest, police plotting, racketeering, and even members of the KPD administering dope-laced brownies to an unsuspecting resident. Holy Hanna what’s in this brownie?!

The marijuana was apparently taken from evidence collected and held by our KPD. So somebody (no names) cooked a dope brownie with our tax money? This might be enough to make a person start thinking that out-sourcing for police services might not be a bad idea after all! But please, hold the brownies!

For heaven’s sake, the suit is even dredging up old news from four long years ago. Once again we have to endure the news of Detective Barrow having his gun, badge, and ammo stolen by a prostitute after a sexual encounter in Reno … there is nothing new to see here folks, let’s move on!

Forget about these so-called news stories for a moment and think about what might take place if some of the allegations in the lawsuit are proven to be true. Would we want years of mismanagement by past COP/GMs and obliging boards to be brought to light? No, of course not! That’s why we must discredit the messenger.

No one is really interested in what happened in the past. Certainly no one wants to hear that our independent police department behaves like a bunch of well-paid hooligans instead of a professional department. And most certainly no one wants to hear that someone has for years manipulated the police department.

The recommended path during these trying times is that the current board is completely responsible for this mess. Just blame them for a broken down police department culture that has been years in the making. Can I get an amen?

So let’s “Put Kensington First” again, litigators…start your engines!

“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” (Albert Einstein)

Keeping Kensington First in Litigation since 2008