Kayla Moore

In 2014, Berkeley’s Police Review Commission found that one officer involved in the 2013 in-custody death of Kayla Moore exercised improper police procedure. But documents recently obtained by The Daily Californian through a Public Records Act request show that a judge disagreed with the commission’s findings months later, calling its logic “fallacious.”

Within the last 10 years, Rodrigues said BPD has implemented programs such as an optional 38-hour training course for the crisis intervention team. The program teaches officers to know what signs to look for when dealing with people experiencing mental health crises.

In February 2018, former Berkeley City Council candidate and activist Nanci Armstrong-Temple was restrained and arrested by Berkeley Police Department, or BPD, officers while helping to move a homeless encampment in front of Old City Hall — an act she referred to as “outside of the law and definitely outside of human decency.”

Berkeley likes to tout itself as a forward-thinking haven. Its politicians and public figures pay lip service to progressive ideals. So let’s take a quick look at the city’s track record on adequate police oversight.

In recent months, Berkeley Police Department has been sounding an alarm on what it sees as a department in crisis.

Citing a lack of evidence, a U.S. District Court judge threw out a lawsuit last week against the city of Berkeley that followed the in-custody death of Berkeley resident Kayla Moore.

A pretrial hearing for the death of Kayla Moore, who died in the custody of Berkeley Police Department officers, was called off by presiding Judge Charles Breyer on Wednesday afternoon in order for him to privately assess both sides’ arguments.

About 50 supporters gathered in front of Berkeley City Hall on Tuesday night to honor the life of Kayla Moore — a Black transgender woman diagnosed with schizophrenia who died in Berkeley police custody in 2013 — and march for police reform.

Berkeley Police Department is asking the city for permission to use pepper spray ahead of conservative writer Ben Shapiro’s speech and Milo Yiannopoulos’s Free Speech Week at UC Berkeley.