THOSE HOPING FOR A NEW ERA IN SAN LEANDRO LAW ENFORCEMENT DISAPPOINTED BY CHARGE
By Steven Tavares
smailto:steven.tavares@eastbaycitizen.com
@eastbaycitizen on twitter
The recent Bay Area scourge of mixing illegal narcotics and law enforcement has hit the San Leandro Police Department. Officer Jason Fredriksson, 38, was charged Friday by the Alameda County District Attorney’s office for attempting to sell over a pound of marijuana.
Fredriksson and his wife, who is a dispatcher for the department, were both placed on administrative leave. County prosecutors appeared to have alleged the officer was involved in a romantic relationship with the informant.
Rumors of multiple officers or department personnel being placed on leave or possibly dismissed surfaced last week. Two sourced told The Citizen three employees were suspended and another dismissed. One of the employees, possibly Fredriksson, had to be forcibly removed from the department by other police officers, the sources said. Inquiries into the allegations at the time were either denied or not answered on the basis of the employees privacy. Fredriksson’s Danville home was searched March 23, said police.
This latest police corruption charge in the East Bay follows a growing scandal in Costa Costa County involving a former commander of the anti-drug task force and a former cop turned private investigator alleged to have sold confiscated drugs. Allegations of the men running a brothel and subsequently robbing its prostitutes have also recently surfaced. Last year, yet another charge in San Francisco against the police department’s crime lab forced the city’s district attorney to overturn dozen of drug charges because of the scandal.
The charges against Fredriksson offer an inauspicious start for San Leandro’s new police chief Sandra Spagnoli, who took over in late January. Residents were hopeful for an end to a discouraging era in the department’s history that featured seven former female police officers charging a male officer of sexual harassment and allegations of complicity by its former chief Dale Attarian. The city ultimately settled six of the cases for over $600,000 last year. The seventh case was dismissed.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, unnamed police officers told the paper Fredriksson was one of the first on the scene for the tragic killing of Dan Niemi, the officer murdered after a traffic stop on Doolittle Drive in 2005. The paper also reported Fredriksson is an avid motorcyclist who goes by the nickname, “Big Dirty.”
ebcitizen.com 
wow sure we can all go to modesto and see just what big lies as all this is seems to go around and around in all land in california. IAM FINDING IT HARD TO GET UP EACH DAY AS IAM LABLED AND HIGH PROFILE CASE TO FIND THAT IAM ALL AROUND THESE COPS AS THEY HOUND MY LIFE THAT IAM NOT ABLE TO GET WORK OR HOLD UP MY FACE IN ALL THE HELL I HAVE DELT WITH. MAN ITS SAD REAL SAD BUT I SURE HOPE TO GET A DAY WITH THEM IN ANY COURT OR PRISON I DIDNT SAY JAIL ! LOTS OF FOLKS DONT KNOW ITS VERY DIFFERENT PLACES TO BE AND DEAL WITH. THEY WILL WALK THE GOOD COPS ARE JUST FRONTS FOR THE BAD COPS. SAD…………..
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Shorter Manuel: I'm a cowboy *bang* *bang*!
Bring back the 1870's!!!
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“John Evans” you are the fool. The only reliable protection is a .38 or higher caliber pistol.
Manuel
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With San Leandro's sharply declining crime rate, you want to try to make this ass representative of the entire force.
Yes, eliminate police jobs and force the rest to recieve poor pay, benefits and work rules. See how well you and your home are protected then.
You've been fooled. You're not fooling me.
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I'm sure this @$$hole was knocking on doors in San Leandro in favor of increased taxes to pay his pot head. And all these idiots continue to pay more taxes in order to give these lazy government workers a lavish lifestyle.
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Hmmm And you always wonder who are the crooks the world about politics and now right in our backyard our so called “PROTECTORS” pulling stunts like this. REALLY!!!!! That's all I got to say my “EXCLAMATION”get you to the “POINT”
Backyard Folks have no LOVE for this
He call himself big dirty now your new community name is BIG COME CLEAN LOL
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I completely agree that it is important to have this cop's alleged crimes prosecuted; if found guilty, he needs to be punished to the greatest degree possible. There is great moral hazard for both police and citizens when authority figures are able to break the law and mistreat the people with impunity. I'd claim the same need to punish cops for unneccesary physical force, whether by baton, tazer or other abuses.
Tazers can be deadly, are certainly torture instruments when used improperly, and should never be used to gain compliance with a routine order. A sane Tazer policy would see to it that the device is used only when the subject is wielding a deadly weapon. Unfortunately, some police forces/officers use tazers outside of those restrictions. If the officer has been trained properly, one Tazer misuse should edge an officer off the force. If an officer hasn't recieved training in proper Tazer use, they shouldn't be allowed to carry one.
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Look, some people think it's not kosher to complain about cops, but it really is about time that the dirty ones among them face and recieve the punisghment they deserve….and I AGREE with the poster who thinks something is wrong with the system when a dirty cop and his dispatcher wife live a millionaire's lifestyle in a $1,000,000 home while tarishing the badge they wear with by behaving in a discraceful manner. Power corrupts and abolute power corrupts absolutely, that's why we see so many problems with dirty cops these days.
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Believe us, we know you don't get it.
What an awful person you appear to be, with all your strange obsessions about sexuality, communism and unionization. Bringing your obsessions into this story is laughable and awful.
Couldn't we just as easily say that the many fine and heroic actions taken by City policemen, actions much more frequent than the corruption rightly revealed here, is due to the protections police officers gain from their union contracts and membership?
Should we blame the awful sexual misconducts of John Ensign, Mark Sanford, David Vitter, Larry Craig, Newt Gingrich, Jim Gibbons, Mark Foley and many others on their roles as Republican Congressmen and Governors and their pious Christian public pronouncements?
The failings of these Republicans reveals a breathtaking hypocrisy on their parts, but I wouldn't claim that their political party or religious faith caused their actions in any way. That's because I choose to take the views of a reasonable human being.
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Big Dirty and he's wife were able to afford a $1.1M Danville home from two San Leandro city jobs that only required a high school education. And these fools who felt so entitled, also felt entitled to break the law to augment their already inflated income by selling weed and who knows what else.
It's interesting, so many of the communist homosexuals in San Leandro hate police; yet as union schills they back a city employee's union that promotes this kind of behavior by promoting an entitlement mentality and paying way more for city jobs than is called for.
I don't get it.
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There are more bad cops then there are good; most of the bad ones will never get caught…they are usually protected.
Why do we even have background checks…its not until they get the badge do they break the law. I know plenty of cops, grew up with them…and most of them admit to taking advantage of their badge. Sad.
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This pig is a pig. Keep raising taxes to pay for these swine you jackasses!
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As a detective who worked on drug caes, all of Fredriksson's cases should be reviewed by an outside agency, other than the Alameda County Sheriff's Department (he was once a deputy there). How much other dishonest behavior has he engaged in as a sworn peace officer? Mayor Cassidy, show some leadership in this matter, do the right thing and move to clean up the SLPD.
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Does anyone else find it odd that one of the female police officers that was paid in the sexual harassment case is the wife of the union president?
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it should be MANDATORY that you live in the city you serve. Fuck some san Ramon pussy telling me what to do in the city that I was born and raised in . Nobody is denying anyone else the right to live where they choose but if it you want to live in Danville than you should be a Danville cop.
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Danville home? Sure is making a nice living!
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The Henry Lee written story in the Chronicle quoted a “unidentified” SLPD officer who referenced the “respect every officer in the department” had for this outed dirty cop. Look, it was brutal when Nels was murdered. Of course, all hands were on deck when the department was searching for Nels' killer. Fredriksson, along with every other department member, did a great job that day. That taken into account, it's clear the comment fed to the Chron reporter was designed to provide assistance to Frediksson as he seeks to stay out of jail/prison. Police officers, and SLPD officers in particular, protect their own, even when they have committed serious crimes, this is an example of that fact. There is a ugly, festering boil of corruption on the San Leandro Police Department.
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What the hell do you expect when that sack nosed SOB Dale Attarian refused to move into San Leandro when he became Chief??? A fish rots from the head down.
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Steven-
Thank you for this article. There is insight here that I have not seen in The Bay Area News Group or SF Chronicle….you're doing a good job, I'm sorry you don't have a wider forum.
As far as SLPD goes, what a freaking mess. I'm mean this outing of a dirty cop comes as no surprise, as most SL residents are aware of the nature of their “protectors”. It's just that this was so brazen, so over the top. Thankfully, this dirty SL cops law enforcement career is over, but his eventual punishment has not been determined. His lawyer from the Mike Nevin “Dirty Cops R Us ” shop seems to be setting things up for a Guilty/No Contest Felony plea hoping for no jail time. This to me, would be a miscarrage of justice. In order that a clear message be sent to the rest of the dirty cops out there, this dirty cop needs to be locked up for at least some amout of time It would humiliate him, and that would be a goog thing.
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Barry, yep, that realtor is making a ton of commission steering people into Estudillo and Bay-O let me guess the line; “oh you really can't afford Piedmont? Well, let me show you Bay-O-Vista in San Leandro, it's just a short drive from Montclair and the homes are more affordable”?????
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Yep, Berkeley based realtor familiar with Berkeley, Montclair, Piedmont, Rockridge…did not really know this area but thought it was similar in the hill areas, LOL.
Barry
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Seriously, you're crazy if you make a comment against the SLPD here with your real name
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The sad thing here is I just don't feel like the SLPD is any different than any other city's force. It's getting hard not to connect the dots across the Bay Area. Maybe when those arrested say they're innocent, we should pause and wonder. These cops are gaming the system against us and ruining our trust
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Barry, it seems to me you got hoodwinked by your realtor when you bought your house. Sadly, this place is only somewhere to rest your head at night and that is becoming increasingly difficult due to the high taxes and regulations that are fueling all the despair you described.
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The police seem to have major issues in SL and this news just cements it. Big question…Is there anything really good about this little city except its central location, I am beginning to wonder – it has a lot of crime, poor public schools, poor shopping choices, almost no good or interesting restaurants, terrible selection of food stores/sources and none of the benefits of say a College Ave/Rockridge urban neighborhood or the serenity of a good suburb???? Anyone have some “gems” I am not seeing?
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Hey all you idiots that keep raising taxes to pay for these boneheads….the SLPD ain't out for anyone but themselves. This asshole lived in San Ramon, not San Leandro, the SLPD could give crap about this town, it's all about their greed.
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This may be a stupid question but is all this contraband set aside. Can't it be weighed, photographed and discarded. What the legal rules with this?
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I followed this story last week, but couldn't get anything on the record. Their responses though gave it away, but they were not going to up what believe is a good cop.
Two days ago, when I briefly started a coversation about the scandal in CoCo, I saw the eyes of some cops light up. There's was something there, but the dept quickly went I to battle mode. His blog and biker photos are now leading the story along the “Big Dirty.”
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San Leandro cops use their power to harass innocent civilian women for dates; harass their female co-workers, sell weed – all the while suing to get paid to put their uniform on and not protecting citizens who supported the Cassidy. The couldn't even catch the Hollywood video burglar even though it's half a mile from the police station and the suspect hit at the store's closing five times.
I'm sure most of the boys in blue in SL are good guys, but too many bad apples doing too many bad things sure speaks to the leadership under Attarian. I hope the new chick has the balls to bust some heads.
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Yeah and these are the idiots that are knocking on doors every two years to raise taxes to pay for their outlandish salaries.
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Real nice example of how this police department is rotten to the core. I feel sorry for the new chief. I hope she's not over her head.
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I wonder if this is related to Whats going on in Contra Costa? Could be big, big!
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