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More than 40 people spoke at a hearing Tuesday, urging a San Diego judge to deny placement of a 78-year-old man classified by the state as sexually violent predator in a home in the Mount Helix area, where he would live under supervision and GPS monitoring.
Douglas Badger, 78
(Courtesy of San Diego County Sheriff’s Department)
Last month, local authorities announced the state had proposed placing Douglas Badger at 10957 Horizon Hills Drive, a home on the northeast slope of Mount Helix, just outside El Cajon city limits.
Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers did not decide Tuesday on the proposed placement, nor did he indicate when he would make the ruling.
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In 2014 the San Diego Police Department was criticized because its officers had failed to consistently collect data related to race during traffic stops.
At the time San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne and his top deputies were not all that concerned about the matter. In fact, according to The Voice of San Diego, they said residents didn’t believe racial profiling was a problem and the issue “hasn’t come up in years and years in interactions with the community” a statement that received pushback from the NAACP, the local Black Police Officers Association and others.
Two years later San Diego State University researchers shared results from a long awaited study that found officers were more likely to subject minorities to field interviews and were more likely to search Black and Hispanic drivers, despite the fact those drivers were less likely to actually have contraband, than White drivers.
EAST COUNTY
State hospital officials on Tuesday proposed placing a second sexually violent predator at a home on Mount Helix, just weeks after the first proposed placement at the home prompted fierce backlash from hundreds of residents in the neighborhood near El Cajon.
Merle Wade Wakefield, 64
(Courtesy of San Diego County Sheriff’s Department)
A judge approved the conditional release of Merle Wade Wakefield, 64, in January. A virtual hearing to address his proposed placement at 10957 Horizon Hills Drive is set for 9 a.m. May 10 in San Diego Superior Court, at which time community members can listen in on Zoom and comment on the proposed placement location.
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Mayor Todd Gloria seemed to be in the zeitgeist of the moment last week when he unveiled potentially sweeping changes in San Diego Police Department practices.
Discussions over how law enforcement operates have been taking place across the country since last year’s social justice protests triggered by the death of George Floyd and other Black people at the hands of police. Events in the past few weeks have intensified that debate.
The ongoing trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of murdering Floyd, has thrust the incident back to the top of the national news along with the dispute over police tactics and training.
EAST COUNTY
About 200 people who live on or near Mount Helix gathered Tuesday night to voice their opposition to the placement of at least one sexually violent predator in a nearby home.
Authorities announced last week the proposed placement of 78-year-old Douglas Badger at the home on Horizon Hills Drive off Avocado Boulevard.
Neighbors also fear authorities will soon propose housing a second sexually violent predator at the location based on what looks to be a draft press release discovered on the San Diego County District Attorney’s website. It lists the home at 10957 Horizon Hills Drive as the proposed placement location for 63-year-old Merle Wade Wakefield.