Is it Just My Re-imagination?

Is public safety really changing in Berkeley?

It’s been a heck of a couple years.

Two years after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds on May 25, 2020….Two years after Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter told reporters that her “Daddy changed the world….”

Concerns about proper policing led cities like Berkeley to embark on a process of Reimagining Public Safety.  In 2020, we amended the city charter to strengthen community oversight of the police by establishing a Police Accountability Board.  In 2021, the City Council passed a strong platform to address racial disparities in police stops. And in 2022, Council accepted and funded a community-driven plan to “re-imagine” public safety in Berkeley.  How Berkeley implements Reimagining Public Safety is a question that may take years to fully answer.

Reimagining Public Safety

The traditional response to public safety issues stresses more police officers, more arrests and longer prison sentences. The City Council, while taking community concerns seriously, is trying a different way. In the Reimagining Public Safety framework, the Council has taken a more holistic approach. Police have an important role to play, but they are only one part of the solution.

In addition to enforcing the law, our community’s public safety requires we address many aspects of daily life including mental health issues, housing, education, employment, economic security, social services and equity. In the long run, this holistic, restorative approach to public safety can lead to greater well-being and security among Berkeley residents.

Reimagining Public Safety has three overarching elements: reduce, improve, and invest.

The first element – reduce – gives police a more focused role, by reassigning some of their work to professionally trained civilian responders. This shift will give police more time to effectively perform their primary role: investigating serious and violent crime.

The second element – improve – requires better policing practices that protect civil rights and liberties, improve training, and promote accountability for police.

The third element – invest – shifts resources to programs and agencies that address the health, social and economic needs of the community, violence prevention and interruption programs, and restorative justice initiatives. These “upstream” investments address the root causes of poor health, poverty and crime in Berkeley to improve public safety for all.

Racial Disparities in Berkeley Policing

Civil rights organizations in Berkeley have long contended that the African American and white experiences with local policing are so different that they constitute “Two Berkeleys.”  Despite many years of campaigning, racial disparities affecting Black and Latinx community members continue to the present day. 

Recent data from the police shows that Black and Latinx civilians are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police. A roughly equal number of Black and white civilians are stopped by Berkeley police every year.  However, since there are around seven times as many white people living in Berkeley as African Americans, this means that an African American civilian is seven times more likely to be stopped by police. Black people are also six times more likely to experience police use of force than white people.

On top of the racial disparities in stop rates, African Americans have a 25% greater chance than white civilians of being stopped but receiving no citation, an indication that they were stopped for no good reason. Not only does this practice violate constitutional protections, it also wastes police time that would be better spent investigating serious crime. 

This police department data confirms the widespread anecdotes of Black and Latinx people that describe their unfair treatment by Berkeley police.

It is encouraging that the Berkeley City Council has taken this issue seriously by adopting the recommendations of the Mayor’s Fair and Impartial Policing working group, in February of 2021.  This program includes a broad range of reforms, including a study of institutional reasons for the racially disparate treatment of civilians, firing of racist officers, focusing stops on safety issues rather than petty infractions, and many others. Unfortunately, the City Manager has not required the police department to fully implement the most important changes in the program.

Constitutional Policing is a more effective way to stop crime

Police use up valuable time stopping and searching many people of color with no reasonable grounds for suspicion of a crime.  At the same time, their ability to effectively respond to legitimate calls for help and to investigate serious crimes in Berkeley is compromised. Officers are overworked and overstretched, made worse by the way the police force prioritize their time. 

The approach and focus of Berkeley policing needs to shift. The time police spend conducting unjustified and unproductive stops and searches (and the additional administrative burden this creates) would be better spent investigating and intercepting the perpetrators of serious crime. When police focus on evidence-based leads rather than dragnet or “saturation” policing tactics, they have more time and resources to address legitimate safety concerns in Berkeley. This will help to restore trust in police and simultaneously allow Black and Latinx residents to go about their daily lives without experiencing unfounded and racialized police stops. 

One crucial element of the reimagining process is improving police practices and ensuring police are held accountable for their actions. Constitutional policing needs to guide the policies and practices of the police force, including in relation to stops and searches. When it comes to stops and searches in Berkeley, police should be guided by the 14th Amendment—equal protection under the law—as well as the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. 

The idea of balancing human rights with security, or prioritizing one over the other, is a false one. Following the Constitution is the most effective way to reduce crime and violence.

Stronger police oversight and accountability

The Reimagining Public Safety rubric—”Reduce, Improve and Invest”—assumes that the police will continue to be a part of the public safety system.

The passage of the city charter amendment Measure ii by Berkeley voters in November 2020 was a big step forward for police accountability.  It could also increase legitimacy and trust in BPD when the public sees the police cooperating with the Police Accountability Board (PAB).

As the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force stated in its final report this February, “The PAB can only succeed if it has maximum support from both city administration and City Council.”  The Task Force strongly recommended the following steps as examples of support for the PAB:

The Police Accountability Board (PAB) must assume the continuing oversight responsibility over both policing and the implementation of re-envisioned public safety. City Council, city management, City Attorney, and the police department need to honor the community-based oversight structure by including the PAB and its Director fully in the development of public safety policy.

However, the Task Force concluded, 

The Council and staff have moved backward, providing the most minimal level of consultation at the latest possible stage. This trend is exemplified by the surveillance technology and Early Intervention System (anti-racial profiling) policy processes, with concern about the development of internal PAB complaint hearing regulations as well.

Therefore the Task Force recommended that:

Council request PAB advice before making a policy decision to proceed toward surveillance technology acquisitions; mandate the BPD to collaborate with PAB on development of all significant General Orders or other policies; and support moves by the PAB to make it easier for people from historically marginalized communities to raise and pursue officer misconduct complaints.

Since this report by the Task Force, other warning signs have emerged.  The police chief ignored a formal letter requesting specific BPD documentation, which the PAB is explicitly entitled to under Measure ii.  Members–even ranking leaders–of the BPD and the police association have publicly lambasted the PAB and individual Board members, even filing suit to limit its power as they did in 1973 at the birth of the Police Review Commission (PRC), predecessor to the PAB.  

Now that the Council has named Mr. Hansel Aguilar as permanent Director of Police Accountability, they and city management will be tested on whether they will back him up, and along with him, the independent police oversight promised in Measure ii.

Many More Rivers to Cross

There are many more rivers to cross in Berkeley’s journey to reimagine public safety.  In future editions we will report on subjects such as:

• In May and June of 2022, in creating the two-year Fiscal Years (FY) 2023 and 2024 budget, Berkeley City Council had the chance to put our money where their mouths are. (Fiscal years run from July 1 to the next June 30.) How did they do?
• In most of this country, prosecution of criminal cases is not handled by city governments such as Berkeley.  Local cases are prosecuted at a county level by the District Attorney’s office, sometimes by the state or federal Departments of Justice.  This November 8 there is a rare contested election for District Attorney.  What does this election reveal about the debate over the prosecutors’ priorities?
• Since the battles over People’s Park in 1969, when sheriff’s deputy snipers fatally shot African American bystander James Rector, the city of Berkeley has struggled over “demilitarization” of policing. A number of new state and city laws help Berkeley control military equipment.  

It will be up to the residents of Berkeley to ensure that Reimagining Public Safety is carried out as intended, that the City Council holds firm to its vision, and that  city management and staff cooperate with this forward looking vision.