For today’s Back Story, reporter Peter Rowe discusses his Page One story about the anniversary of Alfred Olango’s violent death in El Cajon.

Q. What galvanized the community a year ago and caused them to march in protest in the wake of the shooting?

A. You can — and should — expect an outcry whenever police shoot an unarmed man. (To be fair, Olango pointed something metallic at an officer. The object turned out to be a vaping device.) This incident, though, had national repercussions.

Q. Why do you say that?


A. Olango was the latest in a long line of unarmed African-Americans — from Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., to Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La. — recently killed in controversial encounters with police. The Black Lives Matter movement took note, as did the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.

Q. Is America’s long, tortured history on race relations the only prism through which this incident is viewed?

A. Not at all. Friends and family say Olango was in mental anguish, mourning the suicide of a friend. This incident highlighted how we respond — or fail to respond — to people in emotional distress.

Q. In speaking with community activists, are they satisfied with the progress that has been made in the past year with regard to police relations with the community?


A. Satisfied? Not at all. Yet many are encouraged by the large turnouts at demonstrations and community forums. Some, like the National Action Network’s Rev. Shane Harris, say they have been stonewalled by the El Cajon Police Department. Others, like Bishop Cornelius Bowser and his Community Assistance Support Team (CAST) have been invited to address that same department.

Q. Did the shooting lead to any action in Sacramento?

A. A bill co-authored by South Bay’s Sen. Ben Hueso began by proposing a statewide system of independent civilian review boards to investigate police shootings. An amended version of that bill died in the Senate, and its prospects in the next legislative session are iffy.

Q. Doesn’t San Diego have a citizens review board?


A. In fact it has two. National City and San Diego County have similar boards. Shortly before Olango’s death, the county grand jury recommended that cities without these panels — including El Cajon — adopt them. Again, this proposal has national repercussions.

Q. How so?

A. A lot police reform groups, including the newly formed Alfred Olango Foundation, advocate measures that were backed by Eric Holder, President Obama’s attorney general. Under President Trump, the current Justice Department opposes these moves, arguing they damage police morale and hinder their primary mission, law enforcement.

Q. In the Obama era, police departments received guidelines on “implicit bias.” What is that?


A. That’s the notion that everyone makes assumptions about others, based on their gender, race or other external characteristics.

Q. You spoke with El Cajon Police Chief Jeff Davis. How does he feel about “implicit bias”?

A. He noted that his officers are constantly trained to deal with people of many different cultures — something that’s essential in El Cajon, with its large refugee population.

Q. You also spoke to Apollo Olango. What are his feelings about his late brother, a year later?


A. He’s directed a lot of his energies to the Alfred Olango Foundation, which is dedicated to police reform. He seemed sad, determined and modest. “I’m learning as I go,” he said.

Q. Has the family taken legal action against the city of El Cajon?

A. Yes, they filed numerous lawsuits against El Cajon and the officer who shot Olango. In August, one federal case against the city was dismissed, but the case against Officer Richard Gonsalves is going forward.

Other cases are pending, as well. Today there’s no legal resolution to this tragedy, just as there’s no final accounting in the court of public opinion.

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