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UPDATE: February 2005

After 1,000 street thugs took and occupied downtown Sacramento on February 5, 2005, the city is finally getting it.

Cal-Expo Fairgoers branded police action racist in 2000! Ditto 2002!
Hear for yourself how they behaved in our neighborhoods after being ejected from Cal-Expo in '00.
Did the kinder gentler approach work this year? Is it time to end this annual event?
The need for massive police presence and baby sitting last night (9-1-02) begs the question!

Faster than we can collect the data
another Hip-Hop incident occurs!

Sunday 6-24-01 ... City-Wide! Calls Pending!!

"Girls just wanna have fun!"

According to Sac PD radio, that's just what Tabloid's in Old Sacramento served up to a couple under aged young ladies early this morning. The driver was arrested for DUI and was combative with police, including the need for a forced blood draw. Seems scarce SPD officers had to provide taxi service to the passenger (a minor) when mom couldn't pick up her kid. Seems fitting that Tabloid's should foot the bill and pay a penalty for their ongoing "Problem Oriented Patrons"... our newest community policing term!

Sector Six was working a pending (alleged drive-by) homicide from earlier in the evening while calls for service were pending city-wide with no available units. A situation known as Code One held most officers on overtime and was not cleared until 3:00 a.m. Reckless drivers were burning rubber, blasting stereos and running stop signs even in our neighborhood, 20 blocks from the epic enter in Old Sac.

Cool Summer night party traffic ( some 20 cars and SUV's) are popping off 20 rounds in the North Area as this report is being typed. The beeper is on as units converge on the Lindsey and Altos shots fired call and same for a unit on Carlson responding to a burglary in progress call. Cover units respond Code-3 as suspects are seen leaving the area. Officers are making a stop on a suspect vehicle, possible stolen... great police work from swamped officers.

Mercy Hospital has just called in saying they have shooting victims being treated. SPD speculates it's from North Area multiple shots fired calls. That lead has to end up somewhere!!

Our City Manager and Council will hire only eight new traffic cops in lieu of the 51 positions funded by the new Fed-COPS grants. (Five million bucks) A year ago, when Community Watch complained about Tabloids and the weekend loss of available police resources for most of us out here in the community, they accused us of playing politics in an upcoming election. This year they said the cops who complained were just beefing because of contract negotiations. Well, the election is over and SPOA won in binding arbitration (supported by voters with Measure Q) What will they say to the audio files we send them and the media that shows they have done nothing in the last year to resolve staffing shortages and the party town, no holds barred madness of POPs?

Quiz: What's a POP?

Sunday morning ... 5-27-01

Sacramento Police were again called to action after reports of three stabbings in the area around city parking structures.  The radio traffic suggests every available police officer city-wide was requested by supervisors downtown.  They rolled Code-3 (red lights and sirens) from every area of the city, leaving the public in most neighborhoods without police protection.  The problem is simple, it has continued for over a year, none of the media is available to report on the facts and when the public is left in the dark, politician get a free pass on responsibility.

Hip-Hop Permits: Just another "Back to the Future" lesson this city refuses to learn.

Last summer it was the YWCA at 17th and K Streets. Since then, just about every weekend at Hip-Hop venues in historic Old Sacramento, civil disobedience rules.  You, the Sacramento tax payer is paying through the nose for it in two ways!  The cost of extra city cops who must baby sit a small group of young, drunk, sometimes armed, out of control thugs (mostly from outside our city) and the total breakdown of available resources to handle the rest of the city's calls for police services.

But, there's hope ... the Shadow Knows ... or at least one SacBee reporter is learning and reporting while the rest spin the City's propaganda machine.

R.E. Graswich:  Published May 25, 2001

Stop the music: "Elks care, Elks share," goes the motto for Elks, the service organization. So it was shocking to see Sacramento cops racing to the Elks Lodge No. 6 at Riverside Boulevard at Florin, chasing unruly revelers from the hall after a party last weekend. "We had a college fraternity group rent the lodge. They were nice people, but their band attracted party crashers. They caused all the problems," said Rafael Reyes Spindola, Elks Lodge manager. The troublemakers swelled to about 200. Security guards were overwhelmed. Police responded en masse, but there were no arrests. Spindola has canceled another party for this weekend. He promises to be "very selective" while renting the hall. And the real heroes? The three police sergeants and nine officers who protected the rest of the city while their colleagues were busy at the Elks Lodge, caring and sharing."

Thanks Bob!

Over the next few weeks, check back as we lay out this city's utter refusal to deal with this issue.  Read the facts they don't want you to know. Keep reading Bob's column as he digs for the truths we brought to City Hall over a year ago. (See two items that follow this)  Hear from REAL COPS who believe you have the right to know about the threat to your safety this issue represents.  It should scare the pants off any rational citizen!  It might be your 911 call that goes unanswered next!
 

By R.E. Graswich Published June 18, 2001
From hops to cops: It would be ironic if Tabloid 95, one of the more controversial bars in Sacramento, was replaced by a Police Service Center. Well, there's a good chance cops will be moving into Tabloid 95's Second Street site in Old Sacramento this fall. Nobody will say much, but the city is negotiating for the space even as Tabloid continues to operate. "It's our understanding that they will be moving out when their lease expires this summer," said Sacramento Police Sgt. Daniel Hahn. "We're in the early stages of exploring ways to put a service center in there. Old Sac could use one." No comment from Tabloid boss Leonard Giordano, but the story is sweeping through Old Sac, which resembles a police reunion after 10:30 p.m. on weekends as a dozen cops move in to keep an eye on crowds that gather outside Tabloid 95 and one or two other hip-hop bars. Seems a new law enforcement strategy could be taking hold in Old Sac: Don't harass controversial joints; just wait for their lease to expire and take 'em over. ...

Published June 20, 2001
Tabloid tell-all: Tabloid 95, the controversial Old Sacramento nightclub, won't go quietly into the night. Tabloid owner Leonard Giordano hopes to keep operating his hip-hop dance joint on Second Street, but faces an uphill battle for his lease, which expires in December. "The police have been trying to shut us down for years, but if anyone interferes with our lease, we will sue them," said Jeff Kravitz, Giordano's lawyer. "That includes the Police Department." The city has opened negotiations with Leonard's landlord, Frank Solomon Jr., to build a police service center on the site. "I don't know what's going to happen," Solomon said. "The music is loud and it's not my type of music, but I'm an equal-opportunity landlord. We'll just have to wait and see." Police have been blockading Old Sac on weekends, largely in response to crowds that gather around Tabloid. "The blockade is costing legitimate businesses a lot of money. It really intimidates people," Solomon said. Predictions: Look for the cops to become the tenant at 910 Second St. this winter. And in an amazing coincidence, look for the blockades to end around the same time. ...

Reading between the lines - April 2001

Man shot dead in restaurant dispute

Bee Metro Staff
(Published April 2, 2001)

"A 26-year-old Walnut Creek man was shot to death early Sunday after a dispute over food orders at a Lyons restaurant in Sacramento.

The shooting occurred about 3 a.m. According to investigators, Kenneth Ray Simon was sitting at a table in the restaurant, at 300 Bercut Drive, when he and another man argued over who was seated first and whose food order should be taken first.

The gunman, according to Sacramento police homicide detectives, walked to the restaurant's front counter and kept yelling at Simon to "step outside." When Simon walked toward the counter, the man pulled a gun and shot him.

Simon was wounded in the upper torso. He was taken to UC Davis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The gunman is described by police as a light-skinned African American man in his 20s, 5-foot-10 to 6 feet tall, 160 to 185 pounds, with a muscular build. He had black hair worn in a short Afro and a close-cut mustache and goatee. He also had a soft cast on his right foot and was using silver crutches, police said.

Police say he may be from the Bay Area. He and two women fled the restaurant in a champagne-colored, newer-model Cadillac Escalade sport-utility vehicle."

Neither the Bee nor television news media reported that the victim was observed with unruly patrons at Tabloids prior to his demise at Lions Restaurant. The suspect has been arrested. We wonder if he mixed it up with the victim earlier in the evening?

Read CCW Press Releases on this topic