In response to public outcry, Blasi offered his resignation from the Tiburon Police department, which went into effect September 1. In our 50th year serving Tiburon, Belvedere & Strawberry. In 1999 the department moved into its current location at 1155 Tiburon Blvd. At the conclusion of the investigation the report will be provided to the Town Manager for review and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings of the investigator.". TAKE ACTION: Find resources to help with equality, justice and race issues. Blasi has responded to numerous law enforcement-related questions on Quora, a question-and-answer website, over the last few years. Grime died in a hospital two days later. Awash noted they had been in the shop until about 2 or 3 a.m. the day before. I look forward to meeting and working with the engaged community members, our town leaders, allied agencies and especially all our town employees who are committed to providing the highest levels of service to everyone who lives, works and visits the town of Tiburon, Monaghan said. Chanis has denied that Cronin's retirement is connected to the incident involving the business owners, according to the Marin IJ. Sgt. Cronin faced backlash in June following a press release that warned residents of Sausalito and Tiburon that they might be targets of unrest caused by a Marin City demonstration in protest of the murder of George Floyd, which remained peaceful. today at a #BlackLivesMatter rally in response to a standoff in which Sgt. "Just because you've never seen me here before I do not have to prove to you that I have to be here," said Khalif in the video. Assistant Editor Emily Lavin contributed to this report. Ultimately, I sign off on every hire for the town, Chanis said. On Aug. 21, Khalif issued a statement on the companys Facebook page explaining what had happened early that morning. CNN values your feedback 1. Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith were fired on Jan. 20 after an administrative investigation found they had violated department policy on the. Madfes says there isnt, but that hes never seen anyone in the store so late. He opened the store this past February and says it's not unusual for them to work late into the night. After the panel interviews, I met with each finalist for approximately 45 minutes to an hour, and then each finalist had the opportunity to tour the police station.. The argument continued for a few more minutes, with both Blasi and Khalif raising their voices. In a later interview, Simpson said he was concerned by the way the three officers were surrounding Khalif. Then show me that its your store, said the officer. This isn't regular business hours, there's no customers in there. In the incident, which was recorded on video, two Tiburon officers and a Belvedere officer pressed Yema Khalif and Hawai Awash to identify themselves after seeing them in their clothing shop at 1 a.m. Khalif claimed racial profiling, which the officers denied. A Change.org petition, signed by nearly 500 people by The Arks press deadline, called for the immediate suspension of Blasi and an investigation into the officers involved. The incident, early last Friday morning, is now the subject of an independent . Investigators said the incident occurred inside the Tiburon Police Department (TPD) locker room at approximately 12:45 p.m. on Dec. 12, The Ark reported. The Tiburon Police Department was established in 1972 following the towns incorporation by eight years. On Aug. 21 at about 1 a.m., police officers confronted the couple, who were inside their shop. In an interview Aug. 24, Fredericks called the officers behavior unacceptable, and said the Police Department is in the process of hiring an attorney to conduct an independent investigation into the incident. This incident should alarm every resident in Tiburon, wrote Wolf. A virtual Tiburon town meeting was held Thursday night to discuss an interaction that took place over the weekend between police officers and the only Black store owners in the town. I opened the door for him then he proceeded to tell me his purpose for knocking on our door was to check what we were doing at the store that late. She stressed the importance to use the incident as a learning step.. CNN Pittsburgh has moved to fire five police officers after an internal investigation into the October death of a man involved in the suspected theft of a bicycle, officials said Wednesday. Update: Tiburon Town Council & Belvedere City Council Virtual Town Hall & Community Forum 6:30 p.m. Aug. 27. https://zoom.us/j/95644043303 or 669-900-6833, meeting ID 956 4404 3303. Monaghan accepted a conditional offer in February, Chanis said. Two Black merchants who allege racial profiling by police in Tiburon and Belvedere are demanding $2 million from the municipalities. The Aug. 21 incident is the second time in recent months the Tiburon Police Department has come under public scrutiny for its response to racial issues in the wake of the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd and ensuing Black Lives Matter protests across the country, including several in Tiburon. Mayor Alice Fredericks issued an apology on Saturday and went in person to talk to the store owners on Monday. Some days we have to work late. Awash was born in Ethiopia and lived as a refugee in Kenya before moving with her family to Minnesota. Khalif begins speaking over the officer when Awash appears to say, OK baby? but Khalif tells her No, no and again asks the officer if theres a problem. Wife of popular Wild 94.9 radio host JV says new information suggests he will not be coming back, Bay Area federal judge orders extradition of woman suspected of killing MSU student in hit-and-run, San Jose: Home raided as part of explosives and narcotics investigation. Police Chief Michael Cronin said the town has engaged the services of an independent attorney to conduct an investigation into the incident. ORIGINAL STORY: Tiburon police demand Black business owner prove who he is, Two videos show an officer saying, "This street closes at 9 o'clock at night and there's never anybody in here. As the recorded interaction passes the 5-minute mark, a neighbor farther down Main Street came out onto his balcony and yelled at the officers that Khalif was the owner of the store. FYI, we didnt realize that when he was circling the block he was calling for back up. Matthew Tom has been working as a homepage editor at SFGATE since 2006. The supervisor came charged and did not come to deescalate anything. Blasi will receive three months of salary from Tiburon as severance pay, Chanis said. Monaghans collaborative approach and demonstrated commitment to creating meaningful community engagement really set him apart from other candidates, Chanis said. - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more. Thats all we want to know, Blasi says. A Tiburon police spokesperson tells ABC7 News the town has hired an outside, independent attorney to conduct an investigation. He went through the normal background check, Cronin said. Blasi also receives a monthly pension of $3,224 for his time as a sheriffs deputy, said Jeff Wickham, the county pension board administrator. Then finally, the cop decided to come knock on our store door. It looked like they were harassing him and I thought, This has gone on for several minutes. It just felt like it was going to progress into something ugly., Khalif called the fact that the situation was diffused by a white neighbor yelling down to vouch for him the icing on the cake., A Black man cannot be in this space in this particular hour and say, Im OK, no need to be talking to you, move along. Nearly all the comments expressed outrage with Tiburon police with calls to hold the officers accountable. Laurie Nilsen is the Emergency Services Coordinator for both towns. Khalif was also a speaker at the 2018 Belvedere-Tiburon Librarys Pop-Up 94920 series. I think of all of the very late nights I have worked in those offices and never once did the police come by to see who was there as I sat at my desk clearly visible in the window, she said in an email to town officials. Blasi offered, and the town has accepted, his voluntary resignation., On the night of the alleged racial profiling incident, Khalif, his wife. Accountability for our actions is something that everyone should want, doubly so from public servants whose job is to keep us safe, wrote Nate Lee, a Tiburon resident. Blasi made $10,122 a month. Khalif becomes increasingly frustrated as Blasis requirement shifts: Did you identify yourself? Chanis said neither Cronin nor Blasi are able to comment due to the pending investigation. He previously worked at The San Francisco Chronicle as a Bay Area news editor and the Oakland Tribune as a senior news editor. Matthew Tom is a Homepage Editor at SFGATE. The department also updated its use-of-force policy to align with calls to de-escalate police encounters with the public. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Some police officers have used digital media to brag about their racially violent exploits. / CBS San Francisco. Cause you dont sound like youre very grateful. "Since becoming Police Chief in 2007, the impact of Mikes leadership has been significant for Tiburon," Chanis said. The newly-released bodycam video can be seen here. Another protest is planned at the Tiburon Police Department on Saturday. After Cronins exit, the town arranged for Undersheriff Jamie Scardina to run the police department on a part-time interim basis while a consulting firm recruited a new chief. Khalif described seeing a lone police officer circle the block a number of times before stopping his patrol vehicle and knocking on the storefront door. Madfes, however, again asks Khalif to put the key in the door, but this time Khalif declines: Thats your supervisor, he say you walk away, walk away.. Nielsen met Khalif on a movie set and later helped him move to California, where he attended Dominican University of California in San Rafael, made the deans list all four years, was his class valedictorian in 2015 and was offered a full scholarship into its MBA program, where he eventually obtained his masters. The officers immediately left the store. It was more like, Who are you guys, what are you doing in this store, you must identify yourselves and prove why you are here, she said. When a police officer leaves their department because of misconduct, there's no easy public way for people to know if they're rehired elsewhere in law enforcement. Whatever the intention of the responding offices, the interchange inappropriately deteriorated from helpful to confrontational, Fredericks wrote in an email sent to the community. To the right in the video, a mannequin frequently is in view, just feet from Khalif, who has approached the door dressed in identical clothing distinctive, African-inspired athletic-leisurewear. You sound very defensive.. MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) A sixth Memphis officer was fired . Mayor Alice Fredericks on Aug. 22 sent out an email to the community apologizing to Khalif and Awash. "This street closes at 9 o'clock at night and there's never anybody in here. A Black man can not say that, but a white man can.. Reach him at 415-435-2652, on Twitter at @thearknewspaper and on Facebook at fb.me/thearknewspaper. The off-camera speaker presumably makes reference to the June 2020 fatal police shooting of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks, who was shot after allegedly grabbing a police officer's Taser, following a . TIBURON (KPIX/CBS SF) -- The police chief of the City of Tiburon is stepping down , according to a report in the Marin Independent Journa l. Chief Michael Cronin is resigning after 12 years. As a community, we need to demand change in our public servants when it becomes clear their own unrecognized prejudices can no longer allow them to protect and serve all residents.. Khalif said he was racially profiled in February while searching for business license documents in his car in the Town Hall parking lot. In August 2020, Yema Khalif and his wife Hawi Awash both Black were in their store in Tiburon when white police officers approached them demanding that the couple show proof that they owned the store. "My pictures are plastered all over the store, huge pictures," says Khalif. I think of all of the very late nights I have worked in those offices and never once did the police come by to see who was there as I sat at my desk clearly visible in the window, she wrote in an citizen complaint to Cronin that was shared with The Ark. Based on this belief, Sgt. Police officers in a California town have been accused of racial profiling after confronting a Black business owner who . Kevin Hessel is The Arks executive editor. Two five-member interview panels, one consisting of community members and the other of professionals, held two meetings to narrow the applicants down to three, said Town Manager Greg Chanis. A place where Ive lived for nine and a half years? YEMA is the only black owned clothing store in Tiburon, California so many people in our community know who we are. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. They opened the athletic apparel boutique in February. However, Linda Emberson of Tiburon countered. It sounded like a fist-fight was going to happen, Simpson said. Tiburon, CA - A Tiburon police sergeant fatally shot himself inside the police department headquarters while on duty on Monday, according to authorities. The Police Department and Emergency Operations Center are also responsible for developing and maintaining the Emergency Operations Plan for the entire Tiburon Peninsula. Khalif, who has lived in Tiburon for nearly 10 years, and Awash are well-known in the Tiburon business community. Khalif said when it became clear the officer wasnt understanding him, he asked the officer to call his supervisor. How they dont know Yema is beyond me, he said. Tiburon police records show that no one called police about suspicious activity at the store, and no alarms had been set off. Check out Bay Area safety tracker, Tracking the drought: Map shows conditions across SF Bay Area, Bay Area Life; Sundays at 6:30 p.m. on ABC7, Tiburon police demand Black business owner prove who he is, Man fired after blocking Latino man from entering his own apartment building in SF, Find resources to help with equality, justice and race issues. Reporter Hannah Weikel covers the city of Belvedere, as well as crime, courts and public safety issues on the Tiburon Peninsula. The Los Angeles Times broke the story about former officers charged with conspiracy and vandalism in connection to a swastika spray-painting on a citizen's car. In an Aug. 24 interview, Awash had said the officers tone was aggressive and suspicious and that he didnt identify himself or ask if they were working late. How can policing be done with empathy," said Khalif. Maybe because I am a blonde Caucasian, there was no reason that they cared to check on why I was there or felt the need to make me get out my key to prove I belonged there.. I stood my ground that day, but this did not hit me until next day, he said. The county settled with Grimes family for nearly $1 million. She said that included conversations about how police officers can re-examine their implicit biases and eliminate their own fear on the job. Scott Adams faces 'consequence culture' as U.S. newspapers drop Dilbert, Tom Cruise's 'ditching' of Suri showcased by Judd Apatow's 'co-parenting' joke, ex-Scientology exec says. Named among the state's & nation's best small weeklies, 2014, 2018-2021 California News Publishers Association &, Store owners: Late-night encounter with Tiburon cops was racially motivated, 2022 The Ark, AMMI Publishing Co. Inc. | 1550 Tiburon Blvd. If I tell you its my store, then what? Khalif asks in the video. In a year marked by the killings of Black people at the hands of law enforcement, leading to protests nationwide calling for police reform, the conduct of the Tiburon officers is particularly tone . , '' says Khalif 's retirement is connected to the pending investigation know who are... It looked like they were harassing him and I thought, this has gone on several. A standoff in which Sgt Aug. 22 sent out an email to the pending investigation finally the! 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