Safety

Formerly incarcerated students return to school

Last year in June, East Bay-resident Dieudonné Brou graduated from UCLA in African American studies. During his commencement speech, he revealed himself as formerly incarcerated. Even though higher education offers chance to break the cycle of recidivsm, barriers like financial difficulties and social stigma are high for former incarcerated people.

For East Bay immigrants, notary fraud is a common legal threat

In 1996, an undocumented young man in the Easy Bay was tired of being paid under the table for his work, so he decided to do something about his legal status. Two friends recommended him to a notario—or notary—who had helped them obtain work permits. The man trusted his friends blindly, so on the advice of the notario, he filled out and signed some documents and was told that a work permit would be mailed to his home. The man…

New Richmond police data portal reveals numbers on traffic stops, use of force and more

The Richmond Police Department recently went live with a new online portal dedicated to providing statistics and data on law enforcement activities in the city, completing its commitment to the Police Data Initiative started by the Obama administration in 2015. Joining the ranks of Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose, the city’s website, Richmond Open Data, provides general information on categories such as calls for service, traffic stops and use of force incidents in a spreadsheet format, which can be…

Can ‘community ambassadors’ untangle Richmond’s relationship with the police?

Richmond Police Sgt. Florencio Rivera lifts a thick leather belt from the trunk of his police cruiser. He points to several objects dangling from it — pepper spray, handcuffs, riot baton, pistol, Taser — and explains: These are just stand-ins. The baton is made of foam, the Taser is unloaded, and the pistol fires Airsoft pellets. Together, they represent a pretend version of the “duty kit” carried by Richmond officers. Rivera is supervising a mock scenario as part of the…