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Indybay Feature

Sarah Yoell, Step Down! We Demand REAL Community Oversight of the Oakland Police Department

by APTP
We are joining forces with the Oakland Justice Coalition to demand that Sarah Yoell — appointed by District 3 City Councilmember Lynnette Gibson McElhaney — step down immediately from the selection panel for the Oakland Police Oversight Commission.
yoells.jpg
[Pictured: Sarah Chavez-Yoell and Michael Yoell]


APTP has long denounced Measure LL — the ballot that passed last November creating a "civilian controlled" police oversight commission.

We denounced it because:

· The mayor gets three direct appointments
· All final decisions are made by City Council and the Mayor
· The most impacted members of police violence in our community may be barred due to past incarceration or arrest
· It is not community controlled but another tool that elected officials have to manipulate the roads to justice

We warned of the dangers of so much City control but the authors of the measure ignored us. Measure LL passed and already there are major problems!

We are joining forces with the Oakland Justice Coalition to demand that Sarah Yoell — appointed by District 3 City Councilmember Lynnette Gibson McElhaney — step down immediately from the selection panel for the Oakland Police Oversight Commission. She is married to a former OPD Lieutenant whose crimes include killing someone, intentionally hitting a minor with his vehicle and walking out of a CPRB hearing related to his hitting the minor with his vehicle. How can Sarah Yoell be unbiased?

Sign the petition and demand Sarah Yoell step down today!

-------------------------

PETITION

To: Oakland City Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney

We Demand REAL Community Oversight of the Oakland Police Department


Withdraw the nomination of Sarah Chavez-Yoell to the Oakland Police Commission's selection panel.

Oakland deserves a police commission that can objectively analyze the misconduct of officers. A selection panel chaired by the wife of a violent officer is a conflict of interest that residents can ill afford.
Why is this important?

In Oakland, we know far too well the outcomes of an unchecked police force. From the COINTELPRO attacks of the 1960s, the current Negotiated Settlement Agreement stemming from the Rider's case, and the more recent child rape case of Jasmine Absulin (also known as Celeste Guap), accounts of corruption, scandal, and violence are all too familiar and can have deadly outcomes.

These outcomes can occur when elected officials at the highest levels of city government know what's going on but turn a blind eye to police abuse. They ignore the intrinsic criminality of police behavior while calling for more cops to address crime on the street. It is the height of hypocrisy.

Measure LL's Police Commission is supposed to address the lack of oversight of the OPD. It is supposed to put civilians in roles to hold the department accountable for misconduct. But how does this occur when the selection panel appointed to choose commissioners has a bias toward violent officers?

District 3 City Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney’s recent appointment of Sarah Chavez-Yoell to the police commission raises considerable red flags. Chavez-Yoell is the wife of former OPD Lieutenant Mike Yoell, an officer with numerous incidents of violence. His "checkered past" includes excessive force, hitting a teen with a car, sexual harassment and "many other high-profile incidents”.

The Anti Police-Terror Project and the Oakland Justice Coalition request your support in demanding that Oakland City Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney:

1) Immediately withdraw her appointment of Sarah Chavez-Yoell from the Oakland Police Commission's selection panel due to a conflict of interest.
2) Select an individual from community who can objectively make decisions based on the needs of community.
3) Create a community-centered vetting process for ​the replacement appointee prior to actual selection

"Conflicts of interest are the number one thing that can and will tank the credibility of the Oakland Police Commission. That process has begun with the appointments to the Selection Committee." — Cat Brooks
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