25. Sacramento Community Police Review Commission Recommendations to Improve and Enhance Accountability and Transparency of the Sacramento Police Department File ID: 2019-00304
I urge the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, in coordination with the City Council, to adopt a "necessary use of lethal force" standard at the local level, in the spirit of current statewide legislation AB-392, in order to replace the current "reasonable use of force" standards.
Adopting a "necessary use of lethal force" standard will protect lives and civil rights in our communities.
Most notably, this will protect and respect members of historically marginalized communities, with whom County Supervisors, City Council Members, and the current Police Chief claim to seek improved relations and trust.
I would also like you, as would the Democratic Party of Sacramento County like you, to lead the way on reforms to officer use of force statewide through publicly endorsing AB-392 (Weber & McCarty).
This is the right thing to do; this is the right time to do it; and this is the best step forward to earn communities' trust.
Please see the attached letter from the ACLU of Northern California explaining the need for a "necessary force" standard governing the Sacramento Police Department.
In general I support the Recommendations as set forth. However, I believe that 2 additional items should be set forth in the
Accountability / Transparency Recommendations, Use of Force Data Collection and Sharing
listing of statistics required to be publicly posted quarterly.
Those items are the following.
1) Whether the officers identified themselves as police officers.
2) Whether audio and visual recordings of the event have been retained.
Re 1): It has been reported in the Sacramento Bee by a citizen that a police officer opened the door of the person's car with gun drawn, not having identified himself as a police officer, terrifying the citizen. Keeping statistics on this will help curtail this such manifest abuses of police authority.
Re 2) We know from many incidents that such recordings can provide invaluable info. It should be retained. Statistics help make this happen.
Cat Karell, 2243 N Manor Dr, Sacramento, 916-694-8860
I urge the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, in coordination with the City Council, to adopt a "necessary use of lethal force" standard at the local level, in the spirit of current statewide legislation AB-392, in order to replace the current "reasonable use of force" standards.
Adopting a "necessary use of lethal force" standard will protect lives and civil rights in our communities.
Most notably, this will protect and respect members of historically marginalized communities, with whom County Supervisors, City Council Members, and the current Police Chief claim to seek improved relations and trust.
I would also like you, as would the Democratic Party of Sacramento County like you, to lead the way on reforms to officer use of force statewide through publicly endorsing AB-392 (Weber & McCarty).
This is the right thing to do; this is the right time to do it; and this is the best step forward to earn communities' trust.
Please see attached letter sent to VM Guerra on March 17th from the Elmhurst neighborhood Association.
Please see the attached letter from the ACLU of Northern California explaining the need for a "necessary force" standard governing the Sacramento Police Department.
In general I support the Recommendations as set forth. However, I believe that 2 additional items should be set forth in the
Accountability / Transparency Recommendations, Use of Force Data Collection and Sharing
listing of statistics required to be publicly posted quarterly.
Those items are the following.
1) Whether the officers identified themselves as police officers.
2) Whether audio and visual recordings of the event have been retained.
Re 1): It has been reported in the Sacramento Bee by a citizen that a police officer opened the door of the person's car with gun drawn, not having identified himself as a police officer, terrifying the citizen. Keeping statistics on this will help curtail this such manifest abuses of police authority.
Re 2) We know from many incidents that such recordings can provide invaluable info. It should be retained. Statistics help make this happen.
Cat Karell, 2243 N Manor Dr, Sacramento, 916-694-8860
Please consider the comments on police use of force contained in the attached letter from Amnesty International Group 283 Sacramento.