Tag Archives: Solano County Sheriff Tom Ferrara

#BBLM, #BlackLivesMatter, Anti-racism, Benicia Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter, Citizen Oversight Board, Racial bias, Racial justice, Solano County Sheriff, Solano Sheriff Tom Ferrara

Benicia Black Lives Matter – CALL TO ACTION!

Do you believe Black lives matter? Then answer this call to action

By email, October 29, 2021

Benicia Black Lives Matter (BBLM) is a values-driven, grassroots, volunteer organization that is dedicated to affirming and improving Black lives in Benicia and beyond. Designing and monitoring accountability structures within local government and institutions—including law enforcement—is an essential part of achieving this mission.

Incidents demonstrating a sustained pattern of racial bias, excessive force, and misconduct within the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, along with Sheriff Tom Ferrara’s open unwillingness to observe accountability and transparency norms, are too numerous to recount here. These allegations of excessive, often racialized violence as well as documented support among his staff for anti-government and white supremacist ideologies, together with the sheriff’s refusal to discipline his staff for misconduct even when recommended by neutral investigatory bodies such Internal Affairs, should concern every Solano County citizen.

When it became clear that the sheriff was not meeting the requirements of his position, BBLM initiated a cross-organizational call to action spanning multiple municipalities, collecting volunteers and allies across many diverse groups and organizations. This coalition now requests help from this same community—your help—at the upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting, to voice our shared concerns and call for change.

This Tuesday, November 2, at 9 am, the Solano County Board of Supervisors will meet to consider utilizing Assembly Bill 1185 to create a community-based civilian oversight board for the sheriff’s office. Such a board would provide a communication channel between the Board of Supervisors and the sheriff’s office, allowing the supervisors to respond to non-criminal complaints from their constituents when the sheriff’s office is involved; create a process to file complaints independent of the sheriff’s office when public trust has eroded; give our community the reassurance that review processes are thorough and bad actors are held accountable for misconduct; strengthen the sheriff and his staff’s relationships with the community they are in service to; and improve trust in law enforcement in Solano County in general.

Anyone can attend the board meeting in person or via Zoom; the details to attend are available on the Solano County website (solanocounty.com). You may also submit written comments to clerk@solanocounty.com.

BBLM strongly encourages anyone who has ever considered themselves to be an ally, supporter, or accomplice in the march toward equity for all in this city, this county, and this country to take this opportunity to be heard. Solano citizens cannot have confidence in Sheriff Ferrara’s leadership and authority until there is an open, fair discussion about the value a community-based oversight board could create when confidence in Sheriff Ferrara and the sheriff’s office is at an all-time low. We all deserve more.

At the meeting, or in your email, ask supervisors to authorize county staff to move forward with research and evaluation of an oversight board, or to allow Solano voters to weigh in.

This is your chance to be heard, and to be a part of making change happen here in Solano County, in support of Black lives, and in support of the community and the spaces we share together. Please act.

https://www.vallejosun.com/pressure-grows-for-oversight-of-solano-county-sheriffs-office/

– Benicia Black Lives Matter, BBLM
http://beniciablacklivesmatter.com/
https://www.facebook.com/BeniciaBLM/
https://www.instagram.com/beniciablacklivesmatter/
https://twitter.com/beniciablm?lang=en
https://linktr.ee/BeniciaBLM

Local elections, Solano County CA, Solano County Sheriff, Solano Sheriff Tom Ferrara

Solano Police Lieutenant will not challenge Sheriff Tom Ferrara in 2022

Fairfield police lieutenant pulls out of race for Solano County sheriff

Vallejo Times-Herald, by Kimberly K. Fu, 
Fairfield police Lt. Dan Marshall

Nearly a month after declaring his sophomore run for Solano County sheriff, Fairfield police Lt. Dan Marshall has announced he’s pulling his candidacy.

To put it simply, it’s all about family.

“I just started rethinking things,” he said by phone Wednesday. “My daughters are going to be home for another year and then they’re off to college, and I got to spend time with my son… You can’t get time back.”

When he announced his candidacy, Marshall was more than ready to hit the campaign trail. Both sons, who serve in the military, were away at different bases at the time. But recently, one son was home on leave and they spent ample time together before the young man left for Hawaii, where he will be stationed for the next three years

Their time together gave him pause.

With his adult sons on their own and his daughters about to embark on their own journeys, the timing for political aspirations no longer seemed appropriate, he advised. And so, after lengthy conversations with his family, he pulled the plug on his run.

Politics, he said, are not in his near future.

“I would never say no,” he emphasized, “(But) Right now I’m going to focus on my family and my career with the Fairfield Police Department and on community service.”

He offered thanks to all of his supporters and promised to continue to serve the community in other ways.

Marshall has been with the Fairfield Police Department for 22 years.

His stated goals for his sheriff’s bid included “solving serious crimes, finding solutions to intractable problems like homelessness and recidivism, and implementing reforms to promote transparency and ethics within the office.”

The lieutenant had aimed to be a “new sheriff for a new era, someone with the energy and passion to steer the office into a 21st century law enforcement model, focusing on public trust and transparency, employee wellness, and a strong Solano community focus.”

#BBLM, #BlackLivesMatter, Anti-government, Local elections, Local vigilance, Solano County Board of Supervisors, Solano County Sheriff, Solano Sheriff Tom Ferrara, Three Percenters, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Solano Sheriff to seek reelection, despite controversy

JohnGlidden.com, by Scott Morris, May 28, 2021
Solano County Sheriff Tom Ferrara. (Courtesy Elect Thomas A. Ferrara Sheriff-Coroner 2022).

VALLEJO – Solano County Sheriff Tom Ferrara announced on Friday that he would run for reelection in 2022, seeking another four-year term after 10 years in the position.

Ferrara has faced recent controversy after it was revealed that several deputies posted symbols of the Three Percenter anti-government militia on social media. Ferrara declined to investigate the extent of extremism in his department, falsely said the FBI cleared the deputies of association with extremist groups, and has faced calls for new oversight of his office.

In a video message posted on Facebook Friday morning, Ferrara touted the support of the deputies’ union and the correctional officers’ union. “Now more than ever Solano County needs proven leadership,” Ferrara said. “I have shown this type of leadership through multiple disasters, civil unrest and the pandemic, which we’ve all experienced in the last few years.”

Ferrara was appointed sheriff in 2012 after his predecessor retired. He won his first election unopposed in 2014 and fended off challenges from sheriff’s Deputy Daryl Snedeker and Fairfield police Lt. Dan Marshall in 2018.

But Ferrara has faced political controversy and protest in recent months after an investigative report revealed that three high-profile members of his staff had openly displayed Three Percenter emblems on social media pages.

They included Sgt. Roy Stockton, a Vacaville councilmember who was endorsed by Ferrara, Sgt. Cully Pratt, the department’s former public information officer, SWAT team member Sgt. Ty Pierce, and Deputy Dale Matsuoka, the department’s homeless outreach coordinator.

In response to the revelations, Ferrara said in a statement that the employees named “all serve this agency and this community with passion and dedication.”

Ferrara argued that the deputies had intended to show support for the 2nd Amendment, but Three Percenter groups often call for violent resistance to the federal government if they interpret restrictions on gun possession as against their interpretation of the Constitution. Three Percenter groups have been implicated in bombing and kidnapping plots and the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

The sheriff later defended the deputies by writing in letters to Benicia Black Lives Matter and the Solano County Democratic Central Committee that he “consulted with the FBI, who confirmed none of my employees are members of any extremist organizations.”

But the FBI disputed Ferrara’s statement, saying that it did not track participation in extremist groups nor is it “sufficient basis for an FBI investigation.”

Unsatisfied by the sheriff’s response, members of Benicia Black Lives Matter have called for the Solano County Board of Supervisors to create an oversight board of the sheriff’s office.

But only Supervisor Monica Brown supported even discussing the suggestion. Meanwhile, the Solano County Republicans have organized in opposition to any new oversight.

Benicia Black Lives Matter has continued to protest the sheriff’s office, including staging a rally outside the sheriff’s office on the anniversary of the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Scott Morris is an independent journalist in Oakland covering policing, protest and civil rights. If you appreciate his work please consider making a contribution.

#BBLM, #BlackLivesMatter, Anti-government, Benicia Black Lives Matter, Militia, Solano County Board of Supervisors, Solano County Sheriff, Three Percenters, White supremacists

Benicia Black Lives Matter Protest marks anniversary of murder of George Floyd

Benicia Black Lives Matter calls for transparency in Solano County Sheriff Department and action by the Solano County Board of Supervisors

May 25, 2021

Nimat Shakoor-Grantham, co-founder of Benicia Black Lives Matter. Photo: Constance Beutel, Benicia

BBLM participated in a peaceful protest today outside the Solano County Sheriff Department in Fairfield CA.

BBLM co-founder Nimat Shakoor-Grantham honored the death of George Floyd and called on the Sheriff and the Solano County Board of Supervisors to address recent revelations about White supremacist extremism in the Solano County Sheriff Department.  [See video and background below.]

Comments from a participant:  “During the course of Nimat’s comments I think 100+ people strolled about, in and out of the buildings, up and down the sidewalks and across the streets. Comments were strong and persistent, invoking “Board of Supervisors” and “Sheriff’s Office” many times, and “not serving all their constituents” over and over.  Effective, I thought.  Also, I noticed people standing up on the roof of the County building across the street from where we were.  Also I saw a drone immediately in front of us up in the air about 100 feet away, sitting there most of the 45 or so minutes that speakers addressed the gathering.”

Thanks to Benicia videographer Dr. Constance Beutel for this short video.   [A longer 11 minute version can be viewed here.]

BACKGROUND HERE ON THE BENICIA INDEPENDENT: