Showdown at city hall sheds light on Sacramento Truth and Reconciliation Project progress
SACRAMENTO — Outbursts bubbled over at this week's city council meeting with people demanding police reform and accountability after city leaders voted last week on a new military vehicle for the Sacramento Police Department.
"Their actions don't match their words. Like we like to say, the math ain't mathing right?" said Kula Koenig, the founder of Social Justice Politicorps. "You say you want to make good with the community, military equipment."
Koenig remembers when city leaders approved $100,000 for a truth and reconciliation project, following the George Floyd protests, to improve police-community relations. But that was two years ago, and Councilmember Katie Valenzuela told CBS13 the process hasn't even begun.
So what's the holdup?
"The process has begun but I recognize that there is quite a bit of frustration," said Dr. LaTesha Watson, the director of the Office of Public Safety Accountability.
Dr. Watson said it's been a lengthy process, revealing more than 200 protests plus class action lawsuits. She said before they work on reconciliation, she recommended investigating police complaints over the last two years to get to the root of any systemic problems — and that put the initiative on hold.
"The most important thing is to ensure that before you work on reconciliation services, that the interactions between the police and the communities are constitutional," she said.
Koenig said it's gone on too long without something being done. She doesn't buy it.
"In theory, if peoples' hearts were in the right place, you could have truth and reconciliation," she said.
Koenig added, in reference to the Rook, a military vehicle the council voted on last week, "If they were to vote differently, then you could have truth and reconciliation. Then, you could say you're trying to do different."
Dr. Watson said they get hundreds of complaints regarding police and search-and-seizures every year. They are reviewing those from the last two years and hope to be done by the fall. That's their goal to start moving forward with the truth and recognition initiative.
