Justice for Michelle Coalition Condemns Police Reponse to Crimes Against Women

by Alex DiBranco · 2011-07-05 14:50:00 UTC
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Michelle Le, 26 years old, has been missing for over a month now. The Justice for Michelle Coalition, formed in response to Le's kidnapping, believes that the Hayward Police Department failed to respond appropriately to her disappearance -- and that is just one incident in a tradition of neglecting crimes against women.

A press release issued today by Filipina feminist group AF3IRM, announcing the coalition's formation and the launch of a Change.org petition, states that police needlessly delayed beginning the investigation (because of a holiday weekend) and since then have failed to put sufficient resources toward finding the young woman. "Michelle’s case serves as a prime example of how law enforcement agencies de-prioritization and systematically neglect crimes against women," Katrina Socco, AF3IRM Bay Area Coordinator, added to the criticisms.

AF3IRM, a Filipina feminist group, previously ran a successful "Justice for Laya" campaign, with a petition on Change.org that called for the resignation of UC Student Regent Jesse Cheng over the sexual assault of his former girlfriend.

"Following our victory with the Justice for Laya Campaign, AF3IRM, the lead organization on the Justice for Michelle Le campaign, immediately contacted Change.org in order to utilize the petition, blog, and other tools available," stated Jollene Levid, AF3IRM National Chairperson. "Change.org's resources allow us to directly target the Hayward and Oakland Police Departments and local elected officials. This is important for social action organizations like ours, who are trying to reach broad numbers of potential supporters and simultaneously directly send our message to decision-makers."

The petition's demands are threefold: 1. For the police department to immediately devote sufficient resources to bringing Michelle home; 2. To respond promptly to future kidnappings and crimes against women; and 3. To expand the Amber Alert to young women age 21 to 35. AF3IRM is petitioning the city and state government, as well as the Haywood Chief of Police Ron Ace, to fulfill the requests.

The other founding members of the Justice for Michelle Coalition are the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, Justice for Oscar Grant Coalition, SFSU Beta Phi Sorority, SFSU/SJSU Zeta Chi Epsilon, and SFSU Kappa Psi Epsilon. You can join them and help bring Michelle home by signing the petition here.

Photo credit: AF3IRM

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.

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HOLD THE HAYWARD POLICE ACCOUNTABLE FOR NEGLECT; REFUSAL TO PRIORITIZE CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN
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