Report Critical Of SJPD Response To George Floyd Protests In 2020
SAN JOSE (KPIX) -- A new report is critical of the San Jose Police Department's handling of the George Floyd protests in May of 2020.
On May 29, protests over the killing of George Floyd spilled into the streets in front of San Jose City Hall.
The new after action-report by the independent OIR Group says the San Jose Police Department underestimated the size of the crowds and the anger of the people.
"It seemed like the police were ill-equipped, ill-informed and responded poorly," said Shaunn Cartwright, who went to the protests to act as a legal observer, and was struck and injured by police projectiles. She's now a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the city.
"This makes it much more clear that they fired indiscriminately," Cartwright said.
The report blamed the department for "inadequate deployment and experience" and said "many of the force deployments and acts of police aggression surprised and infuriated crowd members and at times did more to provoke than to discourage further resistance."
The report goes on to praise many, if not most officers, for restraint under extremely adverse conditions but said, "The apparent excessive or malicious actions of a few SJPD members greatly undermined public perceptions of agency legitimacy."
The report also credits the department for modifying its response in the days that followed including increased planning and supervision in the field and doing away with "skirmish" lines as a tactic.
"They created these skirmish lines for no reason and people felt penned in," Cartwright said.
Since that time, the SJPD has a new Chief of Police, Anthony Mata.
He was not available for an interview but said in a statement, "Immediately after and in this past year, we implemented several policy changes and training updates. Many of the recommendations in these reports reflect areas already identified and implemented following our own after-action analysis."
The report will go to the City Council for consideration March 1.
