The article below, “Two Richmond police review commissioners faulted for ‘inappropriate’ behavior” is not only poor reporting but also points out some disturbing efforts to politicize the Community Police Review Commission (CPRC) and improper actions by its investigative officer, Jerry Threets, its legal advisor, Bruce Soublet and the City Council Liaison, Claudia Jimenez.

First of all, the article states, “Two members of Richmond’s Community Police Review Commission have been called out for inappropriately approaching an investigator to discuss complaints against the police department.” Without citing a source, Lauer also wrote, “Commissioners aren’t supposed to have individual discussions about confidential investigations to avoid influencing, changing or compromising the outcomes.”

There are no written guidelines that prohibit commission members from communicating with the investigative officer. If Threet thought such communication was improper for any reason, he should have just told the commissioners, and that would have been end of it. Instead, other commissioners apparently heard about it from Threet (even though he denies it) and turned it into a public criticism of Garcia and Hegstrom.

There is no record that Jerry Threet spoke about this to anyone in open session, so he either privately told other commissioners, or it was discussed in closed session (as Yenny Garcia apparently indicates below). Since it was not agendized for closed session, that would have been a violation of the Brown Act.

At some point, Councilmember Claudia Jimenez, who is the City Council liaison to the commission and Commissioner Yenny Garcia became involved in spreading the information. Garcia texted, indicating that the subject was discussed in closed session. Jimenez, whom I appointed as the liaison to the commission is supposed to simply report actions and requests of the commission to the City Council, not act as an ex-officio member of the commission.

Making the information from closed session public and eventually the subject of a poorly written newspaper article would be a violation of the Brown Act.

Why is Bruce Soublet involved, and why is he discussing information from a closed session with the media?
“Bruce Soublet, the commission’s legal counsel, described Hegstrom and Garcia’s action as ‘inappropriate.’” Although the commission’s role is to monitor the police department to prevent abuse, it must discuss complaints with investigators in closed sessions.”
Bruce Soublet is retired but was brought back as an annuitant. It’s way past time for him to go away. He is the one who started the hapless $100,000, two-year investigation of me.
And how about Threet, the investigative officer? He has moved to Canada and is investigating the Richmond Police remotely from another country a thousand miles away. That doesn’t seem like a very effective way to do the CPRC’s business. it may be time for Threet to go away too.

The CPRC has been a respected and objective body for years, but it may be going off the rails. Not satisfied with owning the City Council, the RPA is trying to take over the CPRC and discredit members not under its control.

RICHMOND, CA – November 15: A Richmond Police K-9 unit vehicle is seen on the the scene of a fatal shooting near Maine Avenue and South 4th Street in Richmond, Calif., on Nov. 15, 2021. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

By KATIE LAUER | klauer@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: February 10, 2022 at 4:05 p.m. | UPDATED: February 11, 2022 at 7:12 p.m.

“A correction to an earlier version of this article has been appended to the end of the article.”

Two members of Richmond’s Community Police Review Commission have been called out for inappropriately approaching an investigator to discuss complaints against the police department.

The flap occurred when the commission learned at its meeting last week that two of its members — Carol Hegstrom and Oscar Garcia — reached out to Jerry Threet, the city’s confidential investigative and appeals officer, about pending investigations that had not yet been discussed in closed session.

Though Threet didn’t share any specific information about those complaints, he disclosed that they involved allegations of gender and ethnic bias in policing, excessive force during a parking enforcement incident and excessive force and racially abusive treatment.

Bruce Soublet, the commission’s legal counsel, described Hegstrom and Garcia’s action as “inappropriate.” Although the commission’s role is to monitor the police department to prevent abuse, it must discuss complaints with investigators in closed sessions.

Commissioners aren’t supposed to have individual discussions about confidential investigations to avoid influencing, changing or compromising the outcomes.

Garcia apologized, explaining that he was under the impression he could offer some guidance, as he’s done in the past. Garcia has served on the commission since November 2015.

“Before, we were able to say ‘don’t worry about it,’” Garcia said, adding that he noticed the practice changed when Threet took over. “I apologize to anyone who construed that I tried to change the result. I respect this commission’s purpose and intent.”

Hegstrom, who has been a commissioner since April 2017, also recanted her actions: “Hindsight is 20-20, and that was a big mistake.”

Several people who watched the Feb. 2 meeting criticized the Hegstrom and Garcia’s actions, including Councilmember Claudia Jimenez, who serves on the commission as the City Council’s liaison. She said such behavior erodes public trust in the group.

Ben Therriault, president of Richmond’s Police Officers Association, also took the group to task, saying that commissioners have inappropriately handled confidential information outside of closed session before. According to Soublet, the union sued Richmond in the early 2000s to prevent the commission from holding a public hearing on police complaints.

“When community complaints are raised, they need to be adjudicated appropriately, and if there’s any malfeasance in that, that’s a really big problem,” Therriault said. “You lose legitimacy as a body, and the actions that come out of this commission have rippling effects on people’s careers.”

Saying she wants more information about exactly what Hegstrom and Garcia tried to discuss with Threet, commissioner Yenny Garcia asked her colleagues to postpone the scheduled selection of a new chair and vice chair.

“All of us have been here long enough to understand that the processes have not changed,” Garcia said. “We have gotten several emails that we can’t talk about closed session items with anyone. It’s troubling to know one or two commissioners are going behind our backs.

“We don’t know what’s being said or what’s going on,” she added. “We as a group are to decide if we agree with Jerry’s findings. Had Jerry not had the integrity he has, he could’ve ran with this — whatever was said — and changed his report and we would have never known.”

Correction: February 11, 2022  An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported Jerry Threet told the commission that two of its members asked him about pending investigations. Threet was not the person who revealed at the meeting that he was approached.