08 Aug Antioch Police Oversight Commission Considers Removing Member Over Frequent Absences

Treva Hadden was absent from Monday’s Antioch Police Oversight Commission meeting, something that has happened so much it has her colleagues considering her removal. (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

The Antioch Police Oversight Commission has plans to consider ousting one of its own for what some members call “persistent” and “habitual” absences, weeks after the commission proposed a change that would boot members who miss three meetings.

Commissioner Alicia Lacey-Oha told the Pulse that Commissioner Treva Hadden is being considered for removal after not having attended a meeting since the beginning of June and missing several meetings in 2024.

In response to a suggestion from Lacey-Oha to rehear a proposed policy on member absences at Monday’s meeting, Chair Porshe Taylor said the removal of a commissioner had been on the agenda for that night but was pushed to the next meeting due to a scheduling mix-up.

They did not name the member up for removal at the meeting, but Lacey-Oha told the Pulse the conversation leading up to Taylor’s reveal “was in reference to the consistent absence of Commissioner Hadden.”

Hadden, who was absent from the meeting, did not respond to a request for comment.

Hadden, an ethics investigator with the city of Oakland, is an inaugural member of the commission. When she took her seat, Hadden said trust and transparency in law enforcement were necessary for community stability and officer safety.

In a review of the commission’s 2025 meetings, Hadden was absent from six — or 50% — of the 12 meetings. That does not include canceled meetings but does include three that were adjourned for lack of quorum. (Hadden was at one of those adjourned meetings.)

In comparison, the member with the second highest number of absences is Taylor, who was absent from four of the 12. Two of those absences are from adjourned meetings.

(Included in those absences is also the first meeting of the year, on Jan. 6, which all then-seated commissioners did not attend “in solidarity with Chair Taylor, who suffered an unexpected loss in her family,” according to a statement read by City Clerk Melissa Rhodes then.)

After the commission’s first meeting last year and in the first half of this year, the commission struggled to hold meetings because it could not reach a quorum. About one-third of all meetings had been canceled at the time in February.

The commission does not have a policy on commissioner attendance, but a proposed change that would allow commissioners to be removed from their seats after three absences, excused or otherwise, was one of several the commission reviewed last month.

The proposed changes came months after the commission resisted a request from Mayor Ron Bernal to pause the commission so members could receive training. That followed the resignation of Leslie May, which put the city short of its agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice over the police racism and misconduct scandal.

The DOJ asks that the commission, which reviews policies with a consultant as part of the agreement, maintain at least five members. May’s resignation dropped the number to four.

Members of the public and some commissioners pushed back on Bernal’s request, citing concerns about the length of the pause and Bernal’s intentions. Hadden, in particular, opposed the pause and accused other commissioners of “engaging in personal matters” with Bernal and the City Council.

Hadden referred to May’s resignation, which came after council member Don Freitas called for her to step down from the commission after she used the n-word when speaking to city officials during a special meeting. May had been protesting the rumored removal of then-City Attorney Thomas Lloyd Smith when she referred to Smith and City Manager Bessie Scott, who are both Black, as variations of the n-word.

In her resignation letter, May said that Freitas’ response was “a cultural misunderstanding,” apparently referring to the nature of her use of the n-word.

“We have the field n— and the house n— and you put them against each other because of the color of their skin; the light n— against the dark n—. We’re sick of this,” May had said. “I’m calling it. I speak straight from the heart. I’m sick of seeing this; you’re dividing people.”

Freitas said May, who is also Black, should be removed for what he called “racist statements.” Council members planned to consider May’s removal in February before she resigned.

“And another (commissioner) who followed the mayor’s directive to oust former commissioner Leslie May,” Hadden said at the March 17 meeting.

Taylor, Lacey-Oha and Bernal did not call for May to resign as Freitas did. Taylor and Lacey-Oha disagreed with May’s use of the n-word at that meeting, but Taylor acknowledged that her comments had been misconstrued.

Hadden did not publicly name the commissioners she was referring to at the time. But others in the public expressed similar concerns and referred to commissioners such as Lacey-Oha and Taylor.

Lacey-Oha denied the accusations, saying at that meeting that the “only person who has been talking in my ear is God.”

Bernal, who took office alongside council members Freitas and Louie Rocha in December, was a shift right from former Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe, a self-proclaimed progressive Democrat. That worried some supporters of the former mayor. A portion of Bernal supporters advocated for the end of the Police Oversight Commission, made racist comments, and revamped President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan to “Make Antioch Great Again.”

Bernal filled three vacancies on the commission after taking office, appointing Lisa Elekwachi, Susan Kennedy and Joe Mitchell. Mitchell, the most recent appointment, faced criticism for social media posts that some considered racist and homophobic.

If Hadden is removed from her seat, she’d be the fourth member to leave before their term is up since the commission held its first meeting over a year ago. Before May’s resignation, Commissioner Mahogany Spears and Chair Harry Thurston resigned for unknown reasons.