Settlement in Class Action Suit Vindicates Constitutional Rights of Vallejo Welfare Recipients Subjected to Dawn Raid


For Immediate Release: August 11, 1998

In a significant vindication of constitutional rights, on August 10, the U.S. District Court in Sacramento entered a consent decree which bars raids similar to that which occurred in Vallejo in March 1997. The settlement agreement also provides that defendants will pay compensation to the individual plaintiffs for damages inflicted by this intrusive operation.

The consent decree came in a federal class action lawsuit, Lazenby v. Vallejo, which charged that the officers and government agencies violated the constitutional rights of residents of Marina Vista Apartments in Vallejo, including their rights of privacy, due process and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. The residents are represented by attorneys Roxane Polidora, Pillsbury Madison & Sutro partner, Alan Schlosser, Managing Attorney of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, and Jodie Berger of the Employment Law Center.

"We are extremely pleased by our success in this case," said Roxane Polidora. "This ruling will bar law enforcement agencies from conducting high-profile mass raids of innocent public assistance recipients. It will prevent groups of armed officers from raiding people's homes simply because they receive welfare," she added. Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro litigated the case pro bono.

The March 1997 raid was conducted jointly by state and Solano County welfare investigators, as well as officers of the Vallejo Police Department, the Solano County Probation Department, and the state parole division. The agencies involved agreed to important new constitutional safeguards. For example, under the consent decree, the Solano County Health and Social Services Department will no longer conduct home visits as a joint operation with law enforcement agencies. Similarly, the California Department of Health Services, which does verifications for Medi-Cal eligibility, agreed to adhere to the following restrictions in conducting multi-agency home visits of public assistance recipients in Solano County:

• such visits will not be planned and conducted as joint operations with law enforcement agencies; the home visits must occur during normal hours of family activity (7:30 AM - 8:00 PM);
• the visits will be conducted by no more than two clearly-identified persons who obtain voluntary consent for entry, and do not use of force, threats or duress. Denial of entry shall not be used to reduce or terminate benefits;
• the Department must obtain voluntary consent before conducting any searches;
• the Department may not videotape the visit without consent, nor may they advise or invite the media to any home visits.

In the early hours of March 13, 1997, residents of Vallejo's Marina Vista Apartments were awakened when approximately 60 law enforcement agents and welfare investigators, many wearing jackets with the word "POLICE" in large yellow letters, entered their homes without warrants or probable cause and conducted a highly-publicized mass raid. The campaign, named "Operation S.A.F.E." (Specialized Agency Fraud Enforcement), targeted residents because they were public assistance recipients. The residents were not under individual suspicion of committing fraud. The agents had no search warrants yet were able to gain entry into the apartments because of law enforcement tactics used during the surprise operation. Residents also expressed fear of losing their welfare benefits if they did not cooperate. The agents and investigators were accompanied by television cameras and reporters who had been alerted to the raid by the police.

After waking to a loud pounding on her door, 60-year-old Barbara Jane Lazenby, who suffers from heart trouble and diabetes, found herself in her bedclothes and without her dentures facing a group of officers and a TV camera. At other apartments, children awoke to officers interrogating their mothers. The families were subjected to searches of their apartments, including bedrooms, drawers and closets.

"Using high pressure law enforcement tactics to intimidate innocent people will no longer be tolerated. The consent decree effectively upholds welfare recipients' rights to protection from such coercive and threatening treatment," said ACLU-NC attorney Alan Schlosser. "People do not give up their constitutional rights as a condition of receiving public assistance."

"This agreement confirms that whether someone is receiving public aid is a private matter. Information about who is a recipient cannot be used for law enforcement or other purposes unrelated to administering a welfare program," said Jodie Berger of the Employment Law Center. "By assuring confidentiality, the agreement will prevent future raids targeting welfare recipients."

The provisions of the decree will be implemented immediately. For two years, the Department of Health Services will report any homes visits to plaintiffs' counsel so that compliance with the decree can be monitored effectively.