City of San Leandro appoints new police chief
By KTVU staff
Abdul Pridgen, the next chief of police in San Leandro.
SAN LEANDRO, Calif. - The city of San Leandro on Tuesday announced the appointment of its next chief of police.
Abdul Pridgen was appointed by the city manager and will become police chief effective September 13, 2021.
In the city s news release, they boast that Pridgen comes with 29 years of law enforcement experience. He had previously served as the police chief of Seaside and was assistant police chief in Fort Worth, Texas.
Pridgen said that he s honored to have the chance to work with the city s dedicated police department, but also with the, diverse group of San Leandrans.
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State Sen. Steven Bradford likened the movement to “a tidal wave.” | Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via AP
California s police reform push remains challenging despite leftward shift
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An early legislative battle between Democrats offered a reminder of the issue’s thorny politics, even in a deep-blue state and cast a shadow on other policing bills, from a new duty-to-intercede standard to expanded misconduct disclosure requirements.
Moderate Democrats nearly blocked a closely watched officer decertification bill in a committee hearing last month, an open display of the power struggle between progressives and law enforcement-aligned moderate Democrats. That bill and nearly a dozen other reform proposals will test the power of a national reckoning that has gained momentum in the wake of George Floyd’s death last summer at the hands of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who was convicte
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“Law enforcement recognizes that we can do better,” Timothy Vu, a former police chief who runs the Criminal Justice Training Center at Golden West Community College in Orange County said following the conviction last month of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in Floyd’s death.
Courtesy of Golden West College.
Timothy Vu, the former police chief of the City of Alhambra, is the Associate Dean and Director of the Criminal Justice Training Center at Golden West Community College in Orange County.
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California Highway Patrol officers stand outside the California state Capitol in downtown Sacramento during a protest on June 3, 2020.
Andrew Nixon / CapRadio
Before Tuesday s verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, where a jury found the former Minneapolis police officer guilty on all counts in the murder of George Floyd, it was unclear if there would be a conviction.
As NPR reported, Chauvin is believed to be just the second officer to be convicted in an on-duty death case in Minnesota s history. By contrast, charges were never filed against the two Sacramento officers who shot and killed Stephon Clark in 2018.