The organization Women Occupy was once again at City Hall. This time it was to speak in support of the proposed ballot initiative on Police Policies and Practices. The Initiative would be an amendment to the San Diego City Charter to create a Commission of Policies and Practices that would have both independent counsel and subpoena powers. The proposal was before the Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee, chaired by Councilwoman Monica Montgomery of the Fourth Council District.
Attorney Andrea St. Julian, the drafter of the provision and the initial ballot proposal placed before the City Council under the former City Council members, presented the present Initiative with some modifications that would not require the Commission to investigate every complaint, but set the scope for determining which cases should be investigated in the interest of not over burdening the Commission.
The San Diego City Attorney presented her version of what independent legal counsel should look like for the Commission. Her proposal was met with great resistance and rejection from community members present and speaking out. In the end, Committee Chairperson Montgomery agreed to include some of the language of the City Attorney proposal in the new and amendment initiative and the Committee voted the measure out so that it might be reviewed by the City Attorney and go forward for a full council vote. This would place the measure on the Ballot for the March 2020 Primary.
The question of cost was raised and at least one committee member had requested that the Independent Budget Analysis (IBA) give an estimate of the cost of implementing the Commission. But following his presentation, Attorney St. Julian provided data to show that the cost of $1.4 million for the proposed Commission here in the City of San Diego was still cheaper than San Jose and a number of comparable cities in California that spend upwards of $1.4 million and more for commissions of the same size.
There was also a report from the San Diego Police Department on the implementation of AB 953, The Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015, better known as “RIPA”. AB 953 mandated the creation of an advisory board for gathering data to analyze incidents of racial profiling. There was a public comment period following the police report and those persons speaking spoke of the need to change the culture of the police department as being just as important as gathering and studying data on police stops.
In addition to Attorney St. Julian, there were several speakers from the community that provided passionate statements not only in support of the new language on the Commission on Police Policies and Practices, but also on R.I.P.A. Tasha Williamson spoke on the failure of the R.I.P.A. of 2015 making any difference in saving the lives of those persons who have died in custody this year; Francine Maxwell, a member of Women Occupy, not only spoke in support of the bill, but also spoke of the need for the new San Diego Police Chief to do more in terms of adding people of color to the force and that the promotion of two African Americans on the “7th Floor” of the police department is no substitutes for new recruits.
The committee hearing and passage was a victory for the supporters, but the battle is not over yet. There is a “meet and confer” requirement in the Police Officers Union contract. This item was used to kill the language in the last city council. There appears to be a strong likelihood this will not happen again.
