San Diego Public Safety Committee Meeting - September 18, 2019
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San Diego Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee Meeting - September 18, 2019
The Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee met on September 18, 2019, chaired by Councilmember Monica Montgomery. The meeting included public comments, a consent calendar, and two major ballot measure proposals for police oversight, as well as informational updates on the Racial and Identity Profiling Act (AB 953) and the San Diego Family Justice Center. The committee approved a motion to advance the Women Occupy San Diego ballot measure for independent police oversight with amendments, and voted not to move the city attorney's competing measure forward.
Consent Calendar
- The committee approved the minutes from the previous meeting unanimously.
- Councilmember Moreno reported on the Barrio Logan truck route ordinance, noting ongoing violations despite signage. She requested the San Diego Police Department present an enforcement plan at the October 16 Barrio Logan Planning Group meeting and at the next PSNL committee on October 23. The committee moved the consent agenda unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Francine Maxwell (NAACP) urged the committee to invite Chief Nisleit for a discussion on African American promotions, noting that only 3 of 27 recent promotions were African American. She also raised concerns about the rape kit backlog and requested attention to AB 3118.
- Kathleen Lippett (public health practitioner) advocated for prioritizing public health, citing the hepatitis A epidemic and vaping-related deaths, and urged the city to acknowledge the harms of businesses promoting vaping.
- Becky Johnson (Tory Pines planning group, business owner) opposed a marijuana outlet at 11189 Sereno Valley Road, arguing it violates CEQA and poses safety and parking issues.
- Tasha Williamson criticized the SD Police Department's handling of rape kits, citing a backlog and lack of trust, and called for the mayor to ensure public oversight.
- Suzanne Morse (sexual assault survivor advocate) displayed 880 nickels representing unprocessed rape kits, requesting the committee agenda an item to hold SD Police Department accountable for testing.
Discussion Items
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Ballot Measure: Women Occupy San Diego Proposal for Independent Commission on Police Practices
- Andrea St. Julian (Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association) presented the charter amendment, emphasizing the need for trust, transparency, and accountability. She outlined the hybrid model that includes independent legal counsel, subpoena power, and investigation of police shootings and deaths (about 9-10 per year). The proposal also allows discretionary investigation of complaints showing patterns of misconduct. Amendments were proposed to exclude informal/miscellaneous complaints unless compelling reason, and to add criteria for investigating patterns of misconduct by officers or policies.
- Bakou Patel (IBA) estimated the commission's budget could range from $1.1 million (7 FTEs) to $2.3 million (16 FTEs), depending on caseload. He recommended excluding informal and miscellaneous complaints entirely and removing the charter's budget provision, consistent with other independent offices.
- Public speakers overwhelmingly supported the measure, including representatives from NAACP, ACLU, League of Women Voters, Mid City CAN, and others. Many urged preserving youth seats on the commission. Some speakers expressed distrust of the police department and called for independent oversight. A few opposed the city attorney's competing measure, arguing it would confuse voters.
- Committee Chair Montgomery proposed a motion to send the Women Occupy proposal to the city attorney for legal review and drafting, with specific amendments: (1) adding clauses on appointment of executive director and council rules; (2) changing quarterly to semi-annual reports; (3) clarifying commission's duty to investigate only mandatory cases; (4) removing certain open-ended clauses and adding pattern-based criteria; (5) replacing independent counsel language with provision for the commission to retain its own counsel; (6) removing mandatory timeline and youth seat age requirement (to be handled in ordinance); (7) directing legal analysis on consistency with charter, IBA recommendations, and open-ended powers. The motion passed unanimously.
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Ballot Measure: City Attorney's Proposal for Independent Counsel for CRB
- City Attorney Mara Elliott summarized her proposal to amend the charter to provide the Community Review Board with independent legal counsel, similar to the Ethics Commission. She noted that if both measures advanced, they could be placed on separate ballots to avoid voter confusion.
- Public speakers opposed the city attorney's measure, arguing it was a weaker alternative that would confuse voters and undermine the Women Occupy proposal. They called for killing the measure.
- Councilmember Montgomery moved not to move the city attorney's proposal forward, citing the need to focus efforts on the Women Occupy measure and avoid voter confusion. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Moreno and passed 3-1 (with one vote in opposition, presumably Councilmember Kate).
Information Items
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AB 953 (Racial and Identity Profiling Act) Update
- Captain Jeff Jordan presented the department's implementation of AB 953, which requires collection of stop data with up to 60 data elements. Training was conducted across all commands. The department met the July 1, 2018 data collection deadline and reported to the DOJ by April 1, 2019. Chief Nisleit has entered into an agreement with the Center for Policing Equity to analyze the data, with a focus on identifying racial profiling and bias. The analysis is expected in about six months and will be presented to the committee. Councilmembers expressed support and asked about integration with early intervention programs and policy changes. Several community speakers questioned the department's history of racial disparities and called for concrete actions based on the data.
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San Diego Family Justice Center Update
- Executive Director Yvette Lopez Cooper and City Attorney Mara Elliott presented the center's services for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and sex trafficking. Since July 2018, the center has expanded services, received a $587,000 OES grant, and assisted 7,995 adults and children in one year. The center has 8 employees and 19 community partners. Councilmember Kate inquired about regional expansion; the city attorney noted ongoing efforts to establish satellite services, particularly in San Ysidro, and acknowledged the need for a larger location as the lease expires in 2020.
Key Outcomes
- Women Occupy Ballot Measure: The committee approved a motion (unanimous) to send the proposed charter amendment to the city attorney for legal review, drafting, and further analysis, with specific amendments. The measure will return to the committee for a second discussion before advancing to the full council.
- City Attorney's Ballot Measure: The committee voted 3-1 not to move the city attorney's proposal forward, effectively killing it.
- AB 953: No vote was taken; the committee received the update and will await the Center for Policing Equity's analysis, expected in approximately six months.
- Family Justice Center: No action was taken; the committee expressed appreciation and support for the center's work and expansion efforts.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, everyone. We're ready to get started with Vice Chair Brew present, Councilmember Kate present, and Councilmember Moreno present. At this time, I will ask for your entertainment a motion to approve uh committee actions from last meeting. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say aye. Okay, any opposed? That passes unanimously. Now we're going to uh move to knowledge in the public comment, which we uh have a two a few, and we will uh dedicate two minutes to those. Um first we'll start with uh Francine Maxwell after Ms. Maxwell will be Kathleen Lippett. You said how many two minutes. That's not there. Okay. Francine Maxwell, Southeastern San Diego resident. I want to have the committee have an agenda item in the near future with um Chief Neslight. Although Chief Neslite is making history right now, having two African American assistant chief, three African American captains. This is the most that San Diego Police Department has had in San Diego's history. But recently in August, there were only three African Americans out of 27 that were promoted. So if we're trying to do recruitment, you can't recruit if what the children don't see. And so it's very important that you have a conversation. I'm noticing from other community members that when they do put in the public records requests for your calendars, you meet with the POA a lot. I'm asking for every council member to make sure that your calendar, when I get ready to request a public records request on your calendar, that I see that you've met with the BPOA. Because recently, the BPOA president, he did not make a promotion. And it's because allegedly that he hasn't had SWAT gang homicide. But once again, you need to really do some research. I'm also asking you to ask the police department because historically we've used public uh labs and um recently Bode B O D E cell mark forensic. They were given all rape kits from 12 law enforcement agencies except for San Diego. I have a Latino sister who happens to be a sexual assault survivor, and she was able to be given the sex kit hotline to check her rape kit because she was raped in another area of our county, and so that law enforcement gave the county DA's office their rape kits. And so a hundred and one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two kits went to Bode, and one was hers, and she was able to check with the phone number that was given. Um, I like for us to make sure we're paying attention to AB 3118, where they have to the San Diego Police Department will have to conduct an audit of all new rape kits, and so I'm asking us to not only look at our backlog because of as of July 31st, 19, 40 percent of the rape kits were done. Thank you, Miss Maxwell. Uh, Kathleen Lippett and uh Miss Lippett will be followed by Becky Johnson. Good morning, ma'am. Um Chair and fellow council members. My name is Kathleen Lippett. As a public health practitioner, I advocate on behalf of Sound Public Health Policies. It was encouraging to listen to Todd Gloria point to the fact that it is very important that we focus on pub putting public health priority. His was in relation to the hepatitis A epidemic where 20 people had passed away. But it also points to the fact that we have a drug epidemic, and that is not being paid attention to. With the current epidemic of vaping and uh the deaths from vaping, there are 12 to date. I would hope that the city would finally acknowledge that these businesses that you're promoting are going to be producing more of these harmful materials. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Johnson is up next. Following Miss Johnson will be Tasha Williamson. And when I call your name, please make your way down to the front. Good morning. My name is Becky Johnson. I am a Tory Pines planning group attendee, business owner, and parent. I came to the public safety and livable neighborhood community committee today because I attended the city council meeting Monday afternoon when the appeal for a marijuana outlet at 11189 Sereno Valley Road was heard.
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