Sacramento Community Police Review Commission Meeting - January 14, 2019
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Sacramento Community Police Review Commission Meeting - January 14, 2019
The Sacramento Community Police Review Commission held its regular meeting on Monday, January 14, 2019, at 6:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chamber. The meeting was called to order at 6:02 p.m. with nine members present (Elkarra, Savage-Sangwan, Sabeniano, Falcon, Guerrero, Escobar, Carter, Zamora, Coleman) and one absent (Kinsey). The commission approved the consent calendar, discussed the 2019 meeting calendar and leadership elections, received an update on the Sacramento Police Department's Use of Force policy, debated commission recommendations on use of force, and heard commission comments on various topics.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Commission Meeting Minutes for December 10, 2018 – Passed by a motion (Guerrero/Zamora) with one abstention (Carter).
- October Through December 2018 Police Complaint Activity Report – Received and filed.
- Approval to Dissolve the Accountability Ad Hoc Committee – Passed, dissolving the committee.
Public Comments & Testimony
- During the discussion of Item 6 (SPD Use of Force Policy Update), a member of the public, Denis Hulett, expressed frustration that the commission and police department have not addressed consequences for policy violations. He stated that he is "blaming the supervisors" in the Stephon Clark shooting and called for the commission to recommend consequences for supervisors who fail to follow policies, including potential termination. He urged transparency regarding union opposition.
Discussion Items
- Item 4: Approval of the 2019 Regular Meeting Calendar – The calendar remains unchanged from 2018, with no meeting in November due to Veterans Day and two months in summer for community outreach. Passed unanimously (9-0).
- Item 5: Selection of 2019 Chair and Vice Chair – Chair Elkarra nominated Kiran Savage-Sangwan for Chair and Mariana Sabeniano for Vice Chair. Both were elected: Chair Savage-Sangwan (9-0), Vice Chair Sabeniano (8-0-1, with Carter abstaining). Commissioner Guerrero noted the process lacked open nominations and moved too quickly.
- Item 6: Sacramento Police Department Use of Force Committee Policy Update – Lieutenant Joe Bailey presented the draft policy, which merges the use of force and discharge of firearms policies, expands definitions (e.g., crisis intervention, immediate threat), and incorporates recommendations from the ACLU report and the commission's ad hoc committee. Commissioners raised concerns about clarity, the use of "immediate threat" vs. "imminent threat," conflicting language on de-escalation, and the need for community outreach and Spanish translation. Commissioner Savage-Sangwan noted that the language on deadly force ("may use deadly force if they believe the suspect poses an immediate threat") conflicts with the de-escalation requirement. The commission requested the item be re-agendized for further discussion. The policy is expected to go to the city attorney's office and the police union for review.
- Item 7: Discussion on Use of Force Commission Recommendations – The commission considered revising its previous recommendation (from September 10, 2018) to replace the term "necessary" with "last resort" in the deadly force standard, mirroring the San Francisco policy. After a motion to suspend council rules (passed 9-0), a motion to adopt the revised language ("deadly force only as a last resort when reasonable alternatives have been exhausted or are not feasible") passed 6-3 (Carter, Sabeniano, Zamora abstaining). The revised recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council.
- Item 8: Mental Health Ad Hoc Committee Update – No update was provided.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Calendar approved (9-0-1).
- 2019 Meeting Calendar approved (9-0).
- Kiran Savage-Sangwan elected Chair (9-0) and Mariana Sabeniano elected Vice Chair (8-0-1) for 2019.
- Revised Use of Force Recommendation adopted (6-3) to state: "It is the policy of this department to use deadly force only as a last resort when reasonable alternatives have been exhausted or are not feasible." This replaces the earlier "necessary" standard and will be sent to the City Council.
- Commission Comments included:
- Commissioner Zamora requested an agenda item on SB 1421 (public records on police misconduct) and advocated for reforming an accountability ad hoc committee to address remaining recommendations.
- Commissioner Falcon emphasized the need for funding to translate commission documents into Spanish and highlighted community outreach opportunities, including racial healing circles with UC Davis.
- Director Tournour noted that a resolution on the commission's 2019 workplan will go to the Mayor and Council on January 22, 2019.
- The meeting was adjourned at 7:13 p.m. in memory of Davis Police Officer Natalie Corona.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call this meeting to order. Let's conduct a roll call to establish quorum. Thank you, Chair. Commissioner Kinsey. Commissioner Sabiano. Commissioner Coleman. Commissioner Savage Singwin. Commissioner Guerrero. Here. Commissioner Escobar. Present. Commissioner Zamaro. President. Commissioner Falcone. Commissioner Carter. And Chair El Quara. We have a quorum. All right. Before we begin with the official agenda, I'd like to turn it over to Francine to introduce Kevin Green. I'll let him introduce himself, but I'm sure you've noticed there's been a little bit of a seat swap. So Kevin will now be taking the place of Wendy, who is chairing the meetings before. And he'll also kind of have like a dual roll hat to also assist my office who's still staff in the commission with their needs and work. But if you have asked or any type of things that you would like to set up in the future to move forward with uh agendas or meeting items, then you can address Kevin from the dais there, request it from him. If you have any other requests via email, you can either do that through Chris like you guys currently do or through Kevin himself. So welcome. So I have a couple more announcements. If you're here to speak to the commission tonight, you'll need to fill out a speaker slip located at the back of the room. And you'll turn turn those into the staff member located in the front of the dais before the topic of discussion is raised. Also, if you need any assisted listening devices, you'll need to see the staff member. Uh at this time, and this time to silence or mute any of your electronic devices. And then I have a couple of couple of other uh announcements. Uh it's a new year, uh, so everyone should be looking at scheduling a new write-along. Please uh contact Chris to get your ride-along scheduled. Uh understand that there was a series of problems with the monthly stipends. If you have any issues, I would ask you to speak with with Chris about the stipend payments. And then uh lastly, Commission member Hoyt seat is now vacant. If you know of someone who might want her mayor appointed seat, uh, you can find nomination procedures on the city clerk's website. And that's all I have. Thank you. Um our first order of business tonight is to approve the consent calendar. Do we have a motion? All right. Second? Okay. Um second in all those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Abstentions? One abstention.
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