{"id":68500,"date":"2025-11-25T02:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T02:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/68500\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T02:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T02:12:10","slug":"peralta-approves-220k-in-security-upgrades-after-killing-of-legendary-laney-coach-john-beam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/68500\/","title":{"rendered":"Peralta approves $220k in security upgrades after killing of legendary Laney Coach John Beam"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAKLAND \u2014 Peralta Community College District leaders on Monday approved hundreds of thousands of dollars to fast-track security upgrades for the Laney College Field House, less than two weeks after Athletic Director John Beam was gunned down<\/a> in the facility.<\/p>\n

At a special meeting, Peralta\u2019s Board of Trustees unanimously green-lit an emergency resolution for up to $220,000 in new security measures at the building. Exactly what those security upgrades could entail remained unclear Monday \u2014 the measure only called for new or improved security fencing, lighting, security cameras, doors and gates, emergency phones, an access control system and other \u201cancillary work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The emergency measure allows Peralta\u2019s leaders to sign a contract for the work without first undergoing a competitive bidding process. The Field House, which houses administrative offices as well as training areas and space for the college\u2019s fitness classes, is expected to remain closed for the final weeks of the fall semester and until the spring semester begins on Jan. 20, according to the resolution.<\/p>\n

Laney is one of four colleges within the district. A sign outside the Field House on Monday directed students to another building on campus for fitness classes and other athletics matters.<\/p>\n

A memorial to Beam still rests outside the Field House following the Nov. 13 shooting<\/a>, which shook the college and made national headlines after Beam, the college\u2019s longtime football coach, rose to national fame when his team was featured on the Netflix show \u201cLast Chance U\u201d in 2020.<\/p>\n

Authorities suspect Beam was shot in the head by former Skyline High School and Laney College student Cedric Irving Jr., who has since been charged with murder in the killing<\/a> and is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail.<\/p>\n

Irving, 27, confessed to the killing in a subsequent interview with investigators, court records show, and multiple sources say he accused the coach of putting \u201cwitchcraft\u201d<\/a> on him. Irving has yet to enter a plea.<\/p>\n

A Peralta spokesman, Mark Johnson, did not respond by deadline to several questions after the meeting, including which company would be contracted for the work, when the contract was expected to be finalized or what specifically would be upgraded at the facility.<\/p>\n

The work comes as faculty at the college have raised alarms about safety at the Field House. Beam appeared to harbor his own concerns in the lead-up to the shooting.<\/p>\n

A day before the deadly encounter, Beam spoke up at a staff meeting<\/a> about safety on the campus and suggested officials bring back armed security guards. He also expressed skepticism about a recent proposal for six guards to carry firearms \u2014 questioning whether it went far enough and telling Peralta leaders that \u201csix guards, four campuses, 24 hours, how does that work?\u201d<\/p>\n

After the shooting, multiple staff members have since raised their concerns directly with Peralta\u2019s Board of Trustees. At a meeting on Nov. 18, the defensive coordinator for the Laney College Eagles\u2019 football team urged the board to act quickly, \u201cso that we can get back to this space that is so vital to this campus and the Oakland community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t return to the Field House without improved safety,\u201d said the coordinator, Robert Crowley. He specifically called for \u201cmore dedicated and trained staff members committed to this area,\u201d viewing it as \u201cthe start to a long-term solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resolution Monday made no mention of personnel changes at the Field House.<\/p>\n

Peralta has cycled through a host of security providers in recent years, after the Board of Trustees in 2020 nixed a longtime contract with the Alameda County Sheriff\u2019s Office amid political unrest around the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. The colleges quickly awarded a contract at the time to Marina Security Services, a local firm whose owner, Sam Tadesse, is a prolific donor to East Bay political campaigns.<\/p>\n

In a highly contentious decision, the board moved on from Marina in June, voting to split its $5.45 million contract between the two firms that had scored highest in the bidding process: Diligence Security Group and Aventus Security. The deliberations turned tense, amid accusations in June by Trustee Nicky Gonzalez-Yuen of a \u201crushed\u201d and \u201csloppy\u201d process.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Jeff Sanceri, president of the Peralta Board Federation of Teachers, spoke up\u00a0at the board\u2019s meeting about a need for improved safety at Peralta. Moments before the board\u2019s vote, he said that \u201caddressing safety and other issues in the Field House will go a ways towards restoring some sense of security.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing that things can actually move this fast is helpful,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND \u2014 Peralta Community College District leaders on Monday approved hundreds of thousands of dollars to fast-track security…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,184,861,7,8,723,138,332,1529,2333,15,33091,1533,33037,181,23,100,143,145,144,182,1492,385],"class_list":["post-68500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alameda-county","tag-bay-area","tag-bay-area-crime","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-crime","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-east-bay","tag-east-bay-crime","tag-editors-picks","tag-education","tag-john-beam","tag-keywee","tag-laney-college","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-pm-report","tag-public-safety","tag-regional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}