A hit dog will holler.

If the allegations made in the federal criminal complaint against the San Jose Police Officers Association Executive Director Joanne Segovia regarding the importation of illegal synthetic opioids (including fentanyl) are substantiated, she will have demonstrated incredibly reckless criminal behavior in such a way that threatens the lives of those in our city and throughout this county. Further, the filing of the federal criminal complaint and related federal investigation should trigger immediate concern and reasonable actions in response by our public agencies and elected officials.

I want to be clear on this point: The San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP wants an independent, transparent, and comprehensive investigation of the SJPOA and any public agency named in association with the alleged international network over the course of the federal investigation. Such an independent investigation should focus on the questions presented at our coalition press conference: Who else is involved in the network? What SJPOA members, staff, or other law enforcement officers knew or were in positions to know about the criminal activity? Are there any possible connections to the apparent overdose death of rookie cop and former SJSU football player DeJon Packer in 2022?

Rather than show any concern for the incredible potential implications of the federal criminal complaint filed against their Executive Director, on April 3rd Sean Pritchard, President of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association commented that, “The NAACP and Mr. Jayadev’s comments are absurd, hypocritical, and are in direct contradiction to the facts made available by the Department of Justice. No other individual associated with the POA is involved, being investigated, or suspected by the authorities of knowing or participating in any way in this incident."

While it may be true that no other individuals associated with the POA have been named yet, the investigation is ongoing, and we join others in our coalition in suggesting an independent investigation is now warranted in order to provide necessary public transparency.

I would be remiss if we did not also respond to Sean Pritchard's not so subtle suggestion in his statement to KRON 4 that other organizations, namely the NAACP also harbor those engaging in criminal behavior, and thus the SJPOA should not be roundly critiqued. He suggested, "do a simple google search on the NAACP."

We did. While it does not appear from a simple Google search, there are previous NAACP local branch leaders or statewide officers that have been accused of (for instance), dealing cocaine in Muncie, Indiana, embezzling $194,000 in Pennsylvania, or committing welfare fraud in Spokane, Washington. In each one of these cases, they were removed immediately from the organization, and were tried and in some cases convicted without any financial support or legal advice from the NAACP.

Again, our branch insists on an independent investigation of this matter, and join our coalition partners in demanding appropriate answers and actions on behalf of our constituent public.

REV. JETHROE MOORE II