False Allegation by the Hermosa Beach Chief of Police

On March 23rd 2015 Chief Sharon Papa of the Hermosa Beach Police Department (HBPD) sent a letter to the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce accusing members of our community of shouting vulgar obscenities at a police officer. The HBPD letter alleges that on the night of March 3rd, 2015 at approximately 10:05pm, a group of people on the patio of the Standing Room was shouting “F**k the Police” at a Hermosa Beach police officer. 

This accusation by the HBPD is absolutely false and is not what occurred that night.

Members of our community have been falsely accused, and it is of great concern that Chief Papa and the Hermosa Beach Police Department would make this accusation without providing evidence to support this claim.

 

Formal public records requests to review evidence of this accusation continue to be denied. This lack of transparency and access to information is unjust.

 

Please join this petition to request that the City of Hermosa Beach and the HBPD take the following actions regarding this incident:

  1. Immediately release all internal records and evidence regarding the March 3rd incident at the Standing Room. 
  2. Conduct an external public investigation of this incident by an impartial and independent entity. The results of the investigation are to be made available to the public.  
  3. Issue a public apology to the people that were in attendance at the Standing Room on the night of March 3rd.
  4. Issue a public retraction of the false accusation against the group of people on the patio of the Standing Room on the night of March 3rd.
  5. I request that the Hermosa Beach Police Department and the City be held accountable for any improper or illegal actions and that strict guidelines be implemented to prevent issues like this from reoccurring.

Actions like this divide our community and cannot be tolerated. Our community needs to regain confidence in the HBPD and know that our City and Police are conducting themselves with honesty, integrity and respect.

Thank you for standing up for you community.