Berkeley Reporter

by Steed Dropout
April 23, 2015

Butt-Head outside Caffe Med. Photo by Ted Friedman.

To call one Berkeley patrolman a people’s cop could be misleading, when so many of Berkeley’s cops are people’s cops.

But the Berkeley cop who sees his job as “protecting the people of Berkeley from the police,” and stubbornly refuses to write citations…that cop lays special claim to the title, People’s Cop.

The Berkeley People’s Cop has been rebuked, threatened with re-training, and with suspension by his supervisor for his unproductive citations record, he told Berkeley Reporter, recently.
Continue reading “Berkeley’s People’s Cop Commands Compliance” »

by Steed Dropout
April 17, 2015

Arrest Happens. Photo by Ted Friedman.

THEY MAKE US; WE MAKE THEM BACK

[Make is cop talk: to surveil]

Call us a cop town, with two police forces: city and university.

Berkeley cops of renown, even before the Peoples Park “riots” of 1969. Founding Chief Vollmer put BPD in the public-eye by hiring the first women cops at the turn of the 20th century…bike patrols, fingerprinting…criminology milestones.

What are they doing now?

Watching us. We’re watching them back.
Continue reading “Known by Berkeley Police” »

by Steed Dropout
April 13, 2015

ROLAND PETERSON’S 16 YEARS HELMING AVE. BUSINESS GROUP HONORED–BUT ENDED

Mr. Telegraph: last tour. Photo by Ted Friedman.

A big bunch of Berkeley officials, businessmen, and former street ambassadors showed up at Remy’s Restaurant near People’s Park, last week, to express its appreciation for Roland Peterson, Executive Director of the Telegraph Business Improvement District, who was leaving his sixteen year job.

His departure from the Telegraph Avenue Business Improvement District, (TBID) after 16 years at the top, was not voluntary, he told Berkeley Reporter.

“In this job, you make both friends and enemies,” Peterson said. His departure from ‘the Bid’ followed criticisms of his performance in a TBID evaluation questionnaire. “The criticisms quoted me out of context,” Peterson countered.
Continue reading “Berkeley’s Mr. Telegraph Ave. Honored by City” »

by Steed Dropout
April 3, 2015

“LIFE ON THE STREETS IS BAD FOR OUR HEALTH”

Shadow Ninja. Photo by Ted Friedman.

“Life on the streets is bad for health,” says Ninja Kitty, a downtown street-person-spokesman.

He said this at a news conference, last week, outside a downtown cinema. The news conference was a response to a much viewed video showing a Berkeley downtown ambassador tromping a transient.
Continue reading “Hard Life of Berkeley’s Downtown Street People — News Analysis” »