San Jose Mayor's office responds

On June 27th I provided information on an article regarding the verbal assault on Presbyterian Assembly attendees in San Jose, California.

In the article it stated the police were called and refused to respond. The police stated the altercation was on private property so they couldn’t help.

I found this unacceptable and wrote the following letter to the Mayor;

Mayor Reed,

I was shocked today when I read an article stating your police department
refused a call for assistance.

It would seem on Wednesday evening Presbyterian Assembly attendees were
verbally accosted by protestors.

When a call was made to your police department, they refused to respond
stating the protestors were on private property.

Now I'm positive your police department has on file an arrest which was made
on private property based on a verbal assault.

Police are to "serve and protect". It seems that is no longer true in your
city.

Here is an article with the full story:

http://young-activist.blogspot.com/2008/06/hate-group-accosts-presbyterians-
at.html

and here is the response;

Good Morning,

Thank you for contacting the Mayor’s Office. We apologize for any nuisances you or others experienced Wednesday June 25, 2008 at Presbyterian Assembly. It is always best to contact the Police Department if you feel someone is being harassed or threatened. If you are calling 9-1-1 for a non-emergency, the police will not respond to a report. I suggest you call 3-1-1, which is the non-emergency line where you can file a report, and Police officers will investigate the problem. Hopefully this resolves any further problems. If you have any other questions or concerns, please let me know.

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Lauren Suhl
Policy Aide- Office of Mayor Chuck Reed
San Jose City Hall 200 E. Santa Clara St., 17th Floor
San Jose, CA 95113
408.535.4829
lauren.suhl@sanjoseca.gov

Evidently if you are from out of town and not familiar with the right number to call you can’t get help from the police in San Jose unless it’s a “real emergency”.

I have noticed the link has evidently changed ( http://young-activist.blogspot.com/2008/06/hate-group-accosts-presbyterians-at_27.html ) and I'm hoping that wasn't the case when they attempted (IF they attempted) to view it. Even if it had changed, the article was very easy to find from the primary domain name.