Shasta County News In Brief: Concerns About RPD Violence And A Brief History of Shasta County Voting Processes
Police Chief Bill Schueller placed an officer on paid leave after a concerning community video surfaced. And Shasta County’s top election official, Cathy Darling Allen, responds to Shasta County Supervisor Patrick Jones on the history of Shasta County Voting.
The News In Brief is a new Shasta Scout feature that provides weekly highlights of Shasta County news in a way that’s simplified and summarized, curated and clarified. Did we miss something? Reach out: editor@shastascout.org
RPD Addresses Police Violence:
On January 23, community members videotaped a violent confrontation between the police and someone suspected of tampering with cars in a Redding hospice parking lot. The short video shows 8 police officers and one police dog grappling with a suspect, who is seen on the ground screaming throughout the incident.
Redding Police Department Chief Bill Schueller released a statement yesterday, January 29, after the video became public. According to Schueller, “some of the force used is disturbing and may violate the standards of training and conduct required by members of the Redding Police Department.”
Schueller specifically referred to the behavior of an unidentified RPD officer who can be seen in the video kicking the head of the suspect while six officers and a police dog hold the suspect down. Schueller’s statement said the officer has been placed on paid administrative leave pending both an internal RPD investigation by RPD’s Professional Standards Unit and an external investigation by the Anderson Police Department.
He did not address whether the officer’s use of force was reported by other officers prior to the video becoming public. But RPD’s Use of Force policies include the “duty to intercede” which requires all officers to report excessive use of force by other officers and states that they may be disciplined similarly to the offending officer if they do not.
According to the RPD press release, the suspect was cleared by a local hospital after having incurred “mild to moderate injuries” during his arrest. He was charged with “prowling,” “vehicle tampering,” and “being intoxicated in a public place,” all misdemeanor offenses. He was also charged with more serious offenses related to resisting the police.
More Resources:
- RPD’s Standards of Conduct
- RPD’s Officer Misconduct Investigation Policy
- RPD’s Use of Force Policy
- RPD’s Crisis Intervention Policy
This is a developing story. We’ve reached out to the Shasta Equal Justice Coalition for comment and are following plans for local protests this week.
Shasta County Election Official Provides History of County Voting Processes
During last week’s January 24 Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Patrick Jones voted to end the County’s contract with Dominion Voting Systems, Inc.
He also voiced support for eliminating voting machines altogether, saying the County had used paper and pen voting processes as recently as twenty years ago. For a response, we reached out to to five-term Shasta County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen.
We’ve slightly edited her response, for clarity.
“In direct response to Supervisor Jones’ statement, 20 years ago, in 2003, at both the recall election of Gray Davis and the subsequent county-wide election, the community voted by electronic touchscreen device when voting in person and the vast majority of voters voted in person at that time.
“As far as the history of the Shasta County voting process . . . For more than 20 years paper punch voting cards were used in Shasta County. In 2001, California Secretary of State Bill Jones decertified all punch card systems. In 2002, the federal Help America Vote Act was passed requiring that every voter, regardless of physical ability, be able to cast their vote privately and independently. Shasta County ended the use of paper punch voting cards the next year.
“In 2003 the County implemented touchscreen voting machines made by Sequoia, the predecessor of Dominion’s Voting Systems Inc.
“In 2005 the County added a VVPAT, or ‘voter verified paper audit trail’ printer to each touchscreen, which printed a copy of the voters selections for their review before casting their ballot electronically.
“In 2007 a new Secretary of State was elected and performed a ‘Top to Bottom’ review of all electronic voting systems in use in California. As a result of that review Shasta began using paper ballots at both the polls and for early voting. Throughout the years, mail/absentee voting has always been done on paper.
“In 2017 Shasta County leased the Dominion voting system which enhances the in-person experience for voters by allowing the scanner to immediately alert each voter if they have made any errors in marking their ballot.”
Do you have a correction to this story? You can submit it here. Do you have information to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org
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