Activists have no place near the levers of power. We need real people who’ve had real jobs and live real day-to-day experiences in the communities they serve making decisions. And preferably, people who’ve lived in multiple cities across the country and have a diverse perspective to offer.
Chief Mitchell says OPD must be prepared because “we live in a society surrounded by evil.”
Let’s be clear — sometimes that “evil” is sitting inside the Oakland Police Department itself.
In 2019, OPD’s own Officer John Jacko ROMERO— head of the Cannabis Unit — fabricated a Citizens Crime Report falsely naming me as a suspect, attached it to a fraudulent elder abuse restraining order he authored for his cousin Moses Jacko Jr., and used those false documents to orchestrate my kidnapping on October 1, 2019.
Body cam footage shows OPD officers using ROMERO’s handwritten Reporting Party (RP) card — written in his own hand — to carry out the arrest, despite the fact the TRO he relied on was **denied** in court weeks later. I was arrested **before** the hearing, without probable cause, and with no legitimate restraining order in place.
This wasn’t about public safety. This was about retaliation for me reporting an llegal cannabis cultivation run by ROMERO’s own family member. He manipulated dispatch data, handled the very FOIA requests seeking the truth, and even put his own handwriting on multiple falsified documents to stack the deck against me.
So when OPD leadership talks about “evil” — the public deserves to ask: what happens when the “evil” is *your own officers abusing their power*? Militarized vehicles won’t protect the community from that. Civilian oversight will.
Reid v. City of Oakland, Oakland Police Dept., John Jacko Romero, et al
Excellent article and analysis!
Activists have no place near the levers of power. We need real people who’ve had real jobs and live real day-to-day experiences in the communities they serve making decisions. And preferably, people who’ve lived in multiple cities across the country and have a diverse perspective to offer.
Chief Mitchell says OPD must be prepared because “we live in a society surrounded by evil.”
Let’s be clear — sometimes that “evil” is sitting inside the Oakland Police Department itself.
In 2019, OPD’s own Officer John Jacko ROMERO— head of the Cannabis Unit — fabricated a Citizens Crime Report falsely naming me as a suspect, attached it to a fraudulent elder abuse restraining order he authored for his cousin Moses Jacko Jr., and used those false documents to orchestrate my kidnapping on October 1, 2019.
Body cam footage shows OPD officers using ROMERO’s handwritten Reporting Party (RP) card — written in his own hand — to carry out the arrest, despite the fact the TRO he relied on was **denied** in court weeks later. I was arrested **before** the hearing, without probable cause, and with no legitimate restraining order in place.
This wasn’t about public safety. This was about retaliation for me reporting an llegal cannabis cultivation run by ROMERO’s own family member. He manipulated dispatch data, handled the very FOIA requests seeking the truth, and even put his own handwriting on multiple falsified documents to stack the deck against me.
So when OPD leadership talks about “evil” — the public deserves to ask: what happens when the “evil” is *your own officers abusing their power*? Militarized vehicles won’t protect the community from that. Civilian oversight will.
Reid v. City of Oakland, Oakland Police Dept., John Jacko Romero, et al
25-cv-00383