The president of the Sacramento police officers’ union appealed to the City Council on Tuesday to fill 75 vacant officer positions at the Police Department. Brent Meyer, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, made his remarks at the meeting after Police Chief Rick Braziel spoke about the early release of 190 inmates last week from the county jail. Meyer asked the City Council to think of the department’s 75 vacant police officer positions as it evaluates the city’s budget this year. “I’m here to urge you to act,” he said. Braziel, meanwhile, presented information to the City Council about last week’s early release of the inmates from county jail. The release was the r

Photo: Mayor Kevin Johnson has mentioned K Street and Regional Transit stations as possible locations for new surveillance cameras. The Sacramento Police Department and Mayor Kevin Johnson’s office anticipated a battle with the local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union over the city's plans to buy 32 surveillance cameras, e-mails show. The debate between the Sacramento County chapter of the ACLU and the Sacramento Police Department over the effectiveness of surveillance cameras is revealed in documents obtained by The Sacramento Press. The ACLU argues that surveillance cameras do not cut crime. Norm Leong, spokesman for the police department, said that security cameras already

The news that the Sacramento Police Department will receive $9.5 million in federal stimulus dollars means that the department’s specialized units may eventually receive a boost in staffing, according to department spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. The department announced earlier this week that it had been selected to receive federal money under the Recovery Act Funding to Support Law Enforcement program. The money will be used to pay the base salary of 35 officers for three years, Sacramento Police Officers Association President Brent Meyer said. Meyer said he was “ecstatic” about the federal money, noting that the department thought it might have to lay off 67 police officers earlier this ye

A group that advises the Sacramento City Council on racial profiling issues has laid out its new goals, which include a plan to use community meetings to improve relationships between the Sacramento Police Department and citizens. The 13-member Community Racial Profiling Commission outlined its new objectives in a July 28 letter to the City Council. The letter, which is the commission’s quarterly report to the City Council, summarizes the commission’s work from January to March. The commission's new goals are: * “Foster better police/community relations through activities such as the CRPC community forums and the stakeholder workshops.” * “Analyze relationships between racial profiling

Civil liberties lawyers and advocates are objecting to the city of Sacramento’s plans to install new security cameras and related surveillance equipment at several locations in the city. Jim Updegraff, the chair of the Sacramento County Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told the City Council Tuesday that the planned surveillance system would be “an affront to the privacy and civil liberties of the citizens of the City of Sacramento.” Mayor Kevin Johnson and Police Chief Rick Braziel last month publicized the city’s plan to use a pot of $615, 500 in Federal Homeland Security grant funds to fund a new surveillance system with 32 cameras, four mobile surveillance trailer