Sacramento City Council to debate how to increase police accountability, transparency
Mayor Darrell Steinberg and members of the Sacramento City Council have begun weighing how to strengthen police accountability and prevent incidents of excessive force.
Local government leaders all over the country are having such conversations in response to the public protests and cry for change that followed the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
On Tuesday, Councilmembers Rick Jennings, Eric Guerra, Allen Warren and Larry Carr called for a Council review of the following areas:
Review the “Eight Can’t Wait” use-of-force policy framework and what has been adopted from this framework or what needs to be adopted from this framework.
A review of the City’s Office of Public Safety Accountability and what more can be done with this office.
What we are doing and what more can be done to increase transparency.
The recommendations of the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission with a response from the City Manager on their policy proposals.
Community outreach efforts to engage and work with the community.
Current efforts to diversify the Sacramento Police Department and what else can be done to move our police department to reflect the community it serves.
Mayor Steinberg endorsed the review requested by his colleagues and is also formulating a proposal that will build on the reforms the Sacramento Police Department has already adopted in the past two years. It will include measures to hold police accountable for their actions, increase transparency and reduce the use of tactics that pose an inherent risk to life.
The mayor does not support defunding or dismantling the police department, as some activists have requested. Instead, he intends to propose an alternative way to handle calls from people in crisis who are not committing a crime.
“I want to lead a more thoughtful conversation in our community,” Mayor Steinberg said. “Why do we need men and women with guns and batons intervening in traumatic situations that have nothing to do with breaking the law? Why is it that when a person is in crisis the only recourse is to call 911 and have police respond? How do you divert money from the police department to other desperately needed services? The first thing you do is redefine what you expect of police officers. Law enforcement should enforce the law when there are crimes, but they shouldn’t be involved in every risky situation.”
On June 4, the mayor signed President Barack Obama’s pledge to reexamine use of force policies in the City of Sacramento.
Since the protests began, the Sacramento Police Department has suspended the use of a neck hold known as the carotid restraint hold. The department had previously banned chokeholds but continued to allow the carotid restraint hold, which is designed to cut off blood flow to the brain and render a person unconscious.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg supports AB 1196, which would ban the use of carotid restraint holds statewide. Gov. Newsom has indicated he will sign the bill when it reaches his desk.
Protesters packed Cesar Chavez Plaza on Saturday, June 6.
