Special Public Safety Committee Meeting, 2025-10-29
Special Public Safety Committee Meeting, October 29, 2025
The San Diego Public Safety Committee held a special meeting on October 29, 2025, to address routine consent calendar items, discuss emergency deployment reimbursement protocols, and review a strategic analysis regarding civilian staffing within the San Diego Police Department. The meeting began with a tribute to the late Officer Laura Craven, who lost her life saving others. Committee members and the public engaged in discussions regarding the balance between sworn officer staffing, civilian support roles, and the use of surveillance technology, culminating in unanimous approvals for key fiscal resolutions.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of September 18, 2025 Minutes: Unanimously approved following public testimony regarding vape-free policies and emergency evacuation preparedness.
- First Amendment to Motor Solutions Contract: Approved unanimously (4-0). The amendment facilitates mobile device signatures for RMS Mobile Records Management. The technology update allows officers to file reports, citations, and field interviews via mobile software without new equipment purchases. Councilmember Campbell noted the potential to save overtime costs as paperwork burdens decrease.
- Staff Clarification: Joseph Schneider (San Diego PD IT) confirmed the update involves software integration to enable mobile case reporting and citations.
Public Comments & Testimony (Consent Agenda)
- Speaker (Virtual Queue - Phone): Expressed support for the September 18 minutes but voiced concerns regarding the lack of vape-free policies, stating that secondhand vapor poses environmental and personal threats similar to smoke.
- Speaker (Virtual Queue): Expressed opposition to the City's current emergency preparedness strategies, arguing that the City is failing to prioritize evacuation planning over technology spending (citing the Motorola contract's $960,000 overage). The speaker stated that the lack of town halls and reliance on apps during communication outages creates chaos and danger.
- Blair Beekman: Expressed concerns regarding the use of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) and
Meeting Transcript
All right, good morning, everybody. Good morning. Welcome to the special public safety committee meeting of October 29, 2025. Our committee leads on. Sarah Jordan will provide information and instruction for the public to participate in today's meeting. Sarah, please proceed. Thank you, Chair Von Wilbert. While members of the public are able to attend the meeting in person, this meeting is being televised and live streamed on the city's website, and the council administration will continue to make arrangements for the public to comment using the Zoom webinar platform. Members of the public who wish to provide testimony via a call-in or an internet-based service option must enter the virtual speaking queue within five minutes after conclusion of in-person public testimony or before the virtual speaking queue is exhausted, whichever occurs first. This will allow for better meeting management between the two platforms and ensure the committee is able to manage and conduct city business. We appreciate the public's cooperation. Chair. Thank you, Sarah. I now call the special public safety committee meeting of October 29th, 2025 to order. Sarah, please call the role. Vice Chair Kempio. Here. Committee member Campbell. Here. Committee member Whitburn. Here. Chair Von Wilbert. Present. And also attending the meeting today is Laura De Poiser from the Office of the City Attorney. Baku Patel from the Office of the IBA and Coda Zeiser from the Office of the Mayor. And if you're in person, please complete a speaker slip located at the entrance of chambers and place it on the box indicated at the lectern at the front of the room. Please do so in a timely manner to ensure proper meeting management. In-person testimony will conclude before virtual testimony begins, and members of the public can join the webinar by computer, tablet, or smartphone by accessing the link which is listed online in the preamble of the agenda on the city's webpage. To join the Zoom webinar by telephone, please dial 1669-2545252, inputting webinar ID 161-217-1797 pound. This information is also available on the agenda and it will appear on the screen during the public comment period for each agenda item. Please note that if you're watching via City TV 24 or online, there may be a delay. And please participate via the via the audio on your phone and mute your TV and computer when it is your turn to speak. If you wish to speak to a particular item, please wait for that item to be called and then raise your hand to speak by tapping the raise your hand icon, or if you're a calling participant by pressing star nine on your phone. If you raise your hand during a non-comment period, your hand will be lowered. Thank you very much for reviewing the instructions for the benefit of the public. A quorum is now present. Um, and as a note to the public, non-agenda public comment will be taken at the end of the meeting today. Uh, do we have any committee, mayor, city attorney, or IBA comments? Um, I just have one. Um, yesterday I attended uh the funeral for Officer Laura Craven for the La Mesa Police Department. She was incredible officer even at 25 years old, and she lost her life, uh saving others' lives, as so many called to this service do. Um her family is an incredibly supportive family, and she had just graduated from the police academy only earlier this year, and so I want to thank her for a very short but impactful service. I want to think her family and um could take a moment of silence for Officer Craven, please. Thank you very much, and thank you very much to all of our first responders who serve us every day. Um do we have any requests for continuance? Hearing none, we'll move on to our consent agenda. Um do I have any requests to pull an item from the consent agenda? No. All right, uh, please proceed with public comment. Thank you, Chair.
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