When Pamela Price ran for Alameda County DA in 2018, she shook up the establishment by making the race for top prosecutor contested for the first time in 55 years. Price’s career as civil rights attorney and leader pushing for accountability of police misconduct put the spotlight on the fact that the current DA was happy to take money from the police unions while at the same time never prosecuting one case when it came to in-custody deaths in her tenure.
“I knew if I won in 2018, it was going to be an uphill battle to push through true reform given the lack of commitment to address systemic issues of racial, gender and socioeconomic bias in policing and sentencing,” stated Price. “It was going to take collaboration and a shared vision for change. When JoAnn expressed her commitment to reform by running for Sheriff – I knew we could be that ticket for true change for Alameda County in 2022.”
Walker adds, “And we hope to show voters that the time for change is now. It is fitting that two Black women with storied careers and who have experienced the bias in the these systems first-hand, work to take the helm of these top positions and be agents of change.”
The Justice Done Right slate of Walker and Price wants to highlight and eliminate the double standard in policing and sentencing in Alameda County. According to Campaign Zero, based on data from 2016-2018, Black people in Alameda County were 5.5 times more likely to have deadly force used on them than a White person. When it comes to complaints of police misconduct, 80% of complaints were ruled in favor of the police officer from 2016-18. And in cases where police say they “saw a gun” – it was found 1 out of every 3 instances – a gun was never found.
Campaign Zero does a yearly police scorecard that grades County Sheriffs all across California. The Alameda County Sheriff received a failing F grade with 35% (ranking 53 out of 58 California Counties).
These stark data points are coupled with the numerous issues facing the Alameda County Sheriff Office like 1,200+ untested rape kits, numerous allegations of mistreatment, abuse and rape of women in the custody and an ever-changing response to the Covid-19 pandemic and safety in the Santa Rita jail.
The common platform of the Justice Done Right slate on many of the issues that Alameda County residents want to see addressed in the County justice system are:
If you want to see transformation of the criminal justice system in Alameda County, please sign-up to be a part of the campaigns for Pamela Price and JoAnn Walker.
