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MONDAY, JULY 9, 2018 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM

First 4 rescued from Thai cave

Divers safely free boys
in hourslong operation;
8 more, coach still to go
By RICHARD C. PADDOCK
AND HANNAH BEECH
NEW YORK TIMES
MAE SAI, Thailand — When
the wail of the ambulance siren
first reached the Thai village,
people started cheering: The
sound meant one of the boys
trapped in a cave for more than
two weeks was out at last and One by one, the first four An emergency
on his way to the hospital. After to be rescued emerged after a
more than a week of searching treacherous, hourslong journey
team carries
a stretcher
the flooded cave complex, and through the tight, underwater believed to be
then days of planning a daring passageways of Tham Luang carrying one
and increasingly desperate res- Cave. Skilled cave divers, part of of the rescued
cue, divers safely evacuated four a team assembled from around boys from the
of 13 members of a youth soccer the world, hugged the four flooded cave to
team Sunday. to their bodies as they swam a waiting heli-
Nine remained behind, wait- through the dark. copter in Mae
ing their turn to escape, as of “The 4th wild boar is out of Sai, Chiang Mai
early this morning. The boys on the cave,” said a posting Sunday province, north-
the team range in age from 11 evening on the Facebook page ern Thailand.
to 16, and the coach with them
is 25. TURN TO CAVE » PAGE A6 BIG KREAN

RP POLICE ASSET SEIZURES » $2.4 MILLION IN 3 YEARS BREASTFEEDING

Little force led county US fought

against
in traffic confiscations UN health
measure
Empcol.edu – 707.546.4000

Administration backed
makers of baby formula,
threatening countries
By ANDREW JACOBS
NEW YORK TIMES

A resolution to encourage
breastfeeding was expected to
be approved quickly and easily
by the hundreds of government
delegates who gathered this
spring in Geneva for the United
Nations-affiliated World Health
Assembly. Based on decades of
research, the resolution says
that mother’s milk is healthi-
est for children and countries
should strive to limit the inaccu-
rate or misleading marketing of
breast milk substitutes.
Then the U.S. delegation, em-
bracing the interests of infant
formula manufacturers, upend-
ed the deliberations.
American officials sought to
water down the resolution by
removing language that called
Award-Winning Quality • Personalized Instruction

on governments to “protect,
promote and support breast-
feeding” and another passage
that called on policymakers to
restrict the promotion of food
products that many experts say

JOHN BURGESS / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT TURN TO HEALTH » PAGE A2

DISPROPORTIONATE SEIZURES: The Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety in 2016 seized a record $1.4 million in assets, 25 times more than what was
confiscated by Santa Rosa, the county’s largest police force. Most of the seizures occurred on a stretch of Highway 101 near the Sonoma-Mendocino county line.
INSIDE
Operations increased as other law enforcement agencies curbed efforts SANTA ROSA
High 93, Low 52
By JULIE JOHNSON In just one of those ONLINE docino county line —
THE WEATHER, B8

O
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT years, 2016, the record Read the first more than 40 miles from
$1.4 million in assets part of the Rohnert Park city limits.
ver the past three years, Rohnert seized by Rohnert Park series at The traffic operations Advice B7 Movies B5
Comics B6 Newswatch A6
Park’s police officers have seized more amounted to 25 times pressdemocrat. by Rohnert Park were
more than what was con- com ratcheted up even amid Crossword B7 North Coast A3
cash and valuable assets from motor- fiscated by Sonoma Coun- struggles to fully staff the Editorial A7 People B7
ists and others suspected of breaking the law ty’s largest city police department of 71-sworn Horosocopes B5 Scoreboard B5
than any other law enforcement agency in force, Santa Rosa, which has two officers and firefighters. They Lotto A2 State news A5
and half times more officers than increased even as other local law
Sonoma County. The total came to more than Rohnert Park. enforcement agencies curbed or
$2.4 million, nearly as much as the top two Many of the seizures happened stopped their efforts, reflecting
largest agencies combined. along a remote stretch of High-
way 101 near the Sonoma-Men- TURN TO SEIZURES » PAGE A2
©2018 The Press Democrat

JEFFERSON AWARD
THE PRESIDENT’S HIGHER EDUCATION COMMUNITY SERVICE HONOR ROLL AWARDS
FOR PUBLIC SERVICE

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS— SCHOOL OF BUSINESS— SCHOOL OF BUSINESS— EMPIRE COLLEGE

Empowering individuals
SCHOOL OF LAW SCHOOL OF LAW SCHOOL OF LAW BOARD OF DIRECTORS to make positive changes
2012 2013 2014 2015 in their lives, careers,
with Distinction with Distinction with Distinction Sonoma County
Top U.S. Award Finalist
Board of Supervisors and communities
since 1961
A2
“I would not consider asset forfeiture a cash cow. There’s revenue there, but it’s used
for specific purposes, such as education, training and acquiring investigative tools.”
HANK SCHREEDER, Santa Rosa police chief about law enforcement agencies’ use of asset seizures
SEIZURES
CONTINUED FROM A1
changes in state marijua-
na laws and a shift by local
prosecutors away from
taking lower-level mari-
juana cases to trial.
Rohnert Park’s asset
seizures also buck nation-
wide trends. Law enforce-
ment officers across the
country have steadily been
seizing less cash annually
from people, according to
U.S. Department of Justice
statistics that show a
27 percent drop in money
seized between 2012 and
2016.
R
OHNERT PARK’S
aggressive, out-
sized role in such
operations has come into
sharp focus this year after
the city’s Public Safety
Department launched an
investigation in April into
its top interdiction officer,
Sgt. Brendon “Jacy”
Tatum, who resigned in
June after being on leave
for nearly three months.
Tatum’s boss, Rohnert
Park Public Safety De-
partment Director Brian
Masterson, has refused
to speak with The Press
Democrat about the for-
mer sergeant, or answer
questions about the city’s
Highway 101 traffic stops
or his management of the
department in general.
Assistant City Manager
Don Schwartz, in an email
response to The Press
Democrat’s questions, said
that Rohnert Park partici-
pated in highway missions
to “reduce drug traffick-
ing.” He said they stopped
those missions after a
January 2017 meeting with
prosecutors, who gave
guidance on new proce-
dures for asset forfeiture
and marijuana enforce-
ment priorities following
marijuana’s legalization.
“Rohnert Park partic-
ipated in these efforts to
reduce the flow of illegal
drugs to Sonoma Coun-
ty, including the City of
Rohnert Park,” Schwartz
said in an email.
The highway operations
have helped boost Rohnert
Park’s public safety
budget, which was about
$20 million for the fiscal
year that ended in June.
The budget included about
$200,000 of asset forfeiture
funds allocated to spend
on public safety vehicles,
according to Schwartz.
State and federal civil
asset forfeiture laws give
law enforcement a pow-
erful tool to use against
suspected drug traffickers
by targeting their finances.
Police can seize cash and
other assets from people
never convicted of a crime.
The seized cash and
other valuables also help
support the finances of
local police agencies and
district attorney offices,
some struggling with tight
budgets.
Critics of the laws
allowing police to take
people’s property, such as
the American Civil Liber-
ties Union, have said they
create incentives for police
to focus on profit rather
than cases that result in
convictions.
Highway interdiction
in Sonoma County has
primarily targeted people
trafficking marijuana and
cash along Highway 101
from Northern California’s
prime cannabis-growing
The Press
Democrat
Owned locally by
Darius Anderson, Managing Member
Steve Falk, Chief Executive Officer
Bill Hooper, Chief Operating Officer
Board of Advisers
Darius Anderson, Chairman
Bill Jasper
Gary Nelson
Norma Person
Jean Schulz
Les Vadasz
Sandy Weill
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • MONDAY, JULY 9, 2018
HEALTH
CONTINUED FROM A1
can have deleterious ef-
fects on young children.
When that failed, they
turned to threats, ac-
cording to diplomats and
government officials who
took part in the discus-
sions. Ecuador, which
had planned to introduce
the measure, was the
first to find itself in the
cross hairs.
The Americans were
blunt: If Ecuador refused
to drop the resolution,
Washington would un-
leash punishing trade
measures and withdraw
crucial military aid. The
Ecuadorean government
quickly acquiesced.
The showdown over
the issue was recounted
by more than a dozen
participants from sev-
eral countries, many
of whom requested an-
onymity because they
feared retaliation from
FACEBOOK
the United States.
EX-OFFICER UNDER SCRUTINY: Former Rohnert Park Sgt. Brendon Tatum, left, joins department Director Brian Masterson at a Rotary Club Health advocates
of Rohnert Park-Cotati event in 2015, honoring Tatum as Public Safety Volunteer of the Year. Tatum is under investigation over asset seizures. scrambled to find an-
other sponsor for the
went on more of the cases resolution, but at least a
ROHNERT PARK POLICE LEADS OTHER AGENCIES IN ASSET SEIZURES weren’t being prosecuted, dozen countries, most of
From 2015 to 2017, Rohnert Park reported a total of more than $2.4 million in seized cash and other which added to the deci- them poor nations in Af-
assets, according to state records. By comparison, the Sheriff’s Office, Sonoma County’s largest law en- sion to stop involvement. rica and Latin America,
forcement agency, reported in the same period a total of just more than $1.9 million in seized assets. He said he never viewed backed off, citing fears of
the missions as a way retaliation, according to
2017 2016 2015 TOTAL of bolstering his depart- officials from Uruguay,
ment’s budget. Mexico and the United
Rohnert Park $795,138.36 $1,417,631.59 $195,257.99 $2,408,027.94 “I would not consider as- States.
Sonoma County set forfeiture a cash cow,” “We were astonished,
Schreeder said. “There’s appalled and also sad-
Sheriff’s Office $340,185.45 $848,829.47 $724,389.70 $1,913,404.62
revenue there, but it’s used dened,” said Patti Run-
Santa Rosa $167,383.36 $55,865.42 $386,123.14 $609,371.92 for specific purposes, such dall, policy director of
as education, training and the British advocacy
CHP-Santa Rosa area $117,229.81 $321,789.39 $15,799.87 $454,819.07
acquiring investigative group Baby Milk Action,
Petaluma $1,793.75 $253,348.51 $5,084.86 $260,227.12 tools used throughout the who has attended meet-
department. But the asset ings of the assembly, the
Multi-agency/other $0 $0 $320,498.33 $320,498.33
forfeiture piece, even that decision-making body of
Cotati $0 $213,908.95 $0 $213,908.95 law has changed.” the World Health Orga-
According to Schwartz, nization, since the late
Healdsburg $7,418.36 $115,950.32 $44,193.31 $167,561.99
Rohnert Park’s assistant 1980s.
Cloverdale $28,480.59 $0 $1,739.17 $30,219.76 city manager, the city “What happened was
stopped its interdiction tantamount to black-
Sebastopol $0 $20,050.59 $0 $20,050.59
operations after a January mail, with the U.S. hold-
Source: California Department of Justice meeting last year with ing the world hostage
prosecutors. But as late and trying to overturn
as December, Rohnert nearly 40 years of con-
region to large urban ing the Sonoma County Other departments Park officers — Tatum sensus on the best way to
populations in the San District Attorney’s Office. across Sonoma County and another officer — protect infant and young
Francisco Bay Area and Rohnert Park kept about years ago halted their were pulling cars over child health,” she said.
beyond. But as a result, $1.2 million from 2016 efforts in highway in- on Highway 101 near In the end, the Ameri-
officers trying to interdict through 2017, according to terdiction stops. Short the Mendocino-Sonoma cans’ efforts were mostly
illegal drugs and black- state records. staffing and evolving laws county line. unsuccessful. It was the
market cash have also It’s unclear how many governing asset forfeiture Tatum said they were Russians who ultimate-
seized property from officers were involved in and drugs, including mar- conducting surveillance ly stepped in to intro-
people trying to comply Rohnert Park’s highway ijuana, were influential for a case, and just hap- duce the measure — and
with the state’s evolving set interdiction operations. factors. pened to pull over a vehicle the Americans did not
of medical marijuana laws. Court and police records Sonoma County Dis- with 30 pounds of cannabis threaten them.
“Anyone who has show Tatum was often trict Attorney Jill Ravitch and a driver who couldn’t The State Department
cannabis in their car is the main officer involved made it clear at the outset provide a lawful reason for declined to respond to
treated like they’ve done in the seizures, regularly of her tenure in 2011 that having that amount of pot questions.
something wrong,” said operating with a junior marijuana cases would be in the vehicle. The intensity of the
Hezekiah Allen, executive officer as his partner. a low priority for her office The internal investi- administration’s opposi-
director of the California Over the same period, apart from significant gation into Tatum was tion to the breastfeeding
Growers Association. from mid-2016 to the fiscal black-market drug investi- launched by a separate resolution stunned pub-
“That’s persisted long year that ended last month, gations. December traffic stop on lic health officials and
after California decrimi- overtime costs rose to near- “There has been an Highway 101, this one in foreign diplomats, who
nalized cannabis in 2010 ly 10 percent of the depart- incredible influx of heroin Mendocino County. described it as a marked
and long after voters ment’s budget — to $1.9 mil- and methamphetamine to The driver in that case, contrast to the Obama
legalized cannabis in 2016. lion — for the Rohnert Park our county and marijuana a former Texas school dis- administration, which
It embodies the failed war Public Safety Department, can occur in the context of trict police officer, said he largely supported WHO’s
on drugs (and law enforce- which has struggled to fill other substances,” Ravitch believes the still-uniden- long-standing policy of
ment agencies) that just shifts and remains short by said in a recent interview tified officers who pulled encouraging breastfeed-
won’t quit.” 12 people through vacan- about her office’s forfei- him over wrongly seized ing.
F
cies and administrative or ture policies. his marijuana. He has During the delibera-
ROM 2015 TO 2017, medical leaves. In 2014 and again in 2016, complained to multiple tions, some American
Rohnert Park Schwartz said the Ravitch issued memos law enforcement agencies, delegates even suggested
reported a total of cost increase was partly to local law enforcement including the FBI. the United States might
more than $2.4 million attributable to a pay raise agencies explaining higher The driver’s name cut its contribution to
in seized cash and oth- and the city’s bid to recruit thresholds police must appeared on a Rohnert the WHO, several nego-
er assets, state records experienced public safety meet to seize assets and Park police report written tiators said. Washington
show. By comparison, candidates. In May, it changes to the laws that by Tatum early this year, is the single largest con-
in the Sheriff’s Office, approved a $20,000 bonus limit the autonomy of offi- months after the stop. tributor to the health
Sonoma County’s largest to help recruit seasoned cers seeking to take proper- Tatum has said he wasn’t organization, providing
law enforcement agency, police officers. ty during roadside stops. involved in the stop and $845 million, or roughly
T
with 230 field deputies — Tight staffing levels were had mistakenly included 15 percent of its budget,
more than three times HE INVESTIGA- a concern when Santa the man’s name in his last year.
the number on patrol for TION of Tatum and Rosa police in 2014 stopped report. A Russian delegate
Rohnert Park — reported the public scrutiny sending its officers to High- The 15-year law en- said the decision to intro-
in the same period a total it has unleashed comes at way 101 on such missions, forcement veteran, once duce the breastfeeding
of just over $1.9 million in a time when the Rohnert Santa Rosa Police Chief decorated by the city for resolution was a matter
seized assets. Santa Rosa, Park police and firefight- Hank Schreeder said. his role intercepting drugs of principle.
with 180 officers, report- ing force is being closely Officers from Santa and cash on the highway, “We’re not trying to be
ed forfeitures valued at analyzed by a Washington, Rosa, Petaluma, the CHP, defended the missions as a a hero here, but we feel
more than $600,000, and D.C.-based consultant the Sheriff’s Office and key tool to stop the flow of that it is wrong when a
Petaluma’s 60-officer force hired by the city. City other agencies used to illegal drugs. big country tries to push
reported seizures worth officials approved about work together to stop the “Our goal was just to around some very small
$260,000. $116,620 to cover the cost flow of drugs through deter and disrupt illegal countries, especially on
Some of those funds are of the broad review, which Sonoma County as part of activity and not just drugs an issue that is really im-
distributed to the state and is looking at the depart- a countywide task force. but illegal contraband,” portant for the rest of the
other agencies, includ- ment’s effectiveness. Schreeder said as time Tatum said. world,” said the delegate.
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