I just read that the Palo Alto Police Chief has applied to run for the Santa Clara County Sheriff position. With these issues in a small town police force by Palo Alto I certainly hope he does not get elected as Sheriff where they already have several serious problems. It sounds like his way of leading a police force would make things worse and not better. It also sounds like Palo Alto really needs to evaluate his performance and his decisions. I guess Menlo Park dodged a bullet when he left.

Jonson is not suitable for his current job as Palo Alto Chief of Police nor to replace the corrupt Sheriff Laurie Smith. Palo Alto needs to fire Jonson now to both help Palo Alto reform its police dept, and to reduce his chances of being elected Sheriff.

Thanks for bringing these issues to light. The public gets very little oversight of the police department. I'm not even sure how to view their budget - most other budget items seem to pass through City Council (on the consent calendar, usually) but I've never seen a police department item listed there.

Police aren’t the problem, but rather criminals [portion removed] committing rampant crime in liberal cities controlled by progressive politicians who care way more about advancing their own political careers and ambitions rather than the actual safety of citizens.

Police brutality is incredibly rare statistically. [Portion removed.] If police brutality truly was an issue it would be reported in the news every day due to the shear number of police criminal interactions that occur throughout our great nation.

Police brutality is incredibly rare statistically. Most of us understand this and there are those who prefer to skew the equation to fit their agenda. They coddle criminals and they don't get it that all these cases have a common denominator. Not cooperating with the police -- resisting arrest.

PAPD is great. There have been a few instances of reported brutality but possibly because it's whiny Palo Alto. Plus, they were provoked so people twist it around and make the officer look bad when they would react the same way. Police are human beings, not robocops. Bet police brutality occurs elsewhere but no one complains. Personally, I don't care if there is police brutality, I want to be safe and a police officer's life is more important than a criminal's life. A police officer's existence is to help the community; a criminal's existence is to hurt people.

The U.S. is too soft on crime. Learn something from Singapore and the Asian countries and we can all walk around in the dark anywhere with no fear and no fear of our children being kidnapped. Meanwhile, someone just had her purse stolen today at Stanford Shopping Center. Great, huh?