Sacramento Police Commission Holds First Meeting
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Their job is to oversee the Sacramento Police Department's policies and procedures, and Monday night the new Sacramento Community Police Review commission held its first meeting.
Formed by the city council last November as part of a package of police reforms, the commission replaces the previous oversight group amid heightened tension between the community and the police department following a number of high-profile incidents.
The 11 members were chosen by elected officials and are set to give the community a voice.
"They're going to have a lot of reigns to look into individual incidents and more importantly, trends and stats and be able to make recommendations to city council," said Mayor Darrell Steinberg.
The commission now has access to quarterly reports prepared by the Office of Public Safety Accountability with data about complaints filed against employees of the police department.
"They get access to the types of complaints that they receive, they can know how the complaint ended up. They just can't know the exact discipline or who the involved officers are," said Francine Tournour with the Office of Safety Accountability.
"We're gonna see more data, more reporting, and we have a new police chief," said returning commissioner Bassim Elkarra.
The commission's first meeting comes just days after the swearing-in of Daniel Hahn as Sacramento's first African American police chief.
The fatal shooting of Joseph Mann, a mentally ill black man who was shot by police officers in Del Paso Heights last year, sparked community outrage and a push for more oversight. Yet one change raising concerns is that the commission no longer has seats for law enforcement members.
"If we want an honest and open discussion of law enforcement in our community, you can't have that if we exclude the police officers," said Timothy Davis, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association.
Meanwhile, with use of force and release of police video top of mind, Chief Hahn, who attended Monday's meeting, says more needs to be done.
"We have over 1,000 employees and we will make mistakes, but we will show the community that we're not going to make the same mistakes again. We're very proud of the people that work in this community and there's nothing to hide," said Chief Hahn.
The committee has no subpena power and cannot investigate cases on their own. But they can make recommendations to city council about changes in policy and policy implementation, with hopes to bridge the gaps.
"We do have a tough job but working with the community. I think we can really make a difference," said Elkarra.
"My view is that we respect the officer's rights under the Bill of Rights but we're going to use this as a robust forum to allow people to feel safe and be able to create a real dialogue. Our focus needs to be how we can bring back genuine community policing because that will address a lot of the concerns people have," said Mayor Steinberg.
