Dear City Council,
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However well intentioned, I was disappointed by the format of the June 1, 2022 Reimaging Policing “Town Hall” meeting. I expected a more interactive forum given the prior interactive sessions. Instead, participants had to listen passively and then post comments or questions in the chat. No interaction across the participants. One did not know who was present unless someone posted a comment using a name. We also did not receive the information before the meeting, which limited our ability to respond.
At the June 1, 2022 meeting -- an anonymous poster posted the below in the chat:
“The title of this exercise was purposefully chosen to be “reimagining public safety,” suggesting more of a transformative approach to policing and public safety rather than incremental improvements and awareness adjustments here and there. Is the City Council looking for meaningful effort to benefit from what happened within the past 2 yrs. in terms of grassroot movements regarding police brutality, use of excessive force, policing checks and balances, etc. to reinvent and reimagine policing in Menlo Park under a public safety overarching umbrella that encompasses other departments to serve ALL the citizens and uphold the public good similar to other cities in the nation who successfully spearheaded that effort like Ithaca, NY and Berkeley, CA?
I agree with the question. I would also like to see a community-led process, and more research into possible ideas. I considered what I heard to be minor in nature.
I would establish a working committee to help. The Staff Report for the June 28, 2022 meeting lacked research-based ideas along with the pros and cons of each. Research would hasten decision-making and reform implementation. A working committee can do research.
Disaster Preparedness Concerns
The June 1 Town Hall report out lacked goals related to disaster preparedness. The absence of even a plan to plan, troubled me.
I would like to see the new Emergency Preparedness Coordinator position developed in partnership with stakeholder groups. I would like to see the role report into the City Manager. A junior-level, and organizationally buried role, will make it difficult to achieve results. Leaders with the California Emergency Services Association, and consultants, recommend that the role become a senior-level one that reports into either the City Manager or the governing body. The Police Department also seems stretched thin now. They will have their hands full with reforms pertaining to policing.
Reimagining Public Safety – Changes Along the Continuum
To consider the matter more, I tried a technique from a book I’m reading. The author learned the technique while working for a consulting firm. One lists the Status Quo and then brainstorms Extreme Change. The exercise leads to in-between ideas that might be acceptable to all parties. This technique would work at a future Town Hall.
The below Table and categories represent my perspective, with a focus on disaster preparedness. Omissions are unintended. The categorization attempt is mine.
Status Quo
1. Reimagining Policing discussions started.
2. Top-down approach to Emergency Preparedness Coordinator job description. No apparent involvement of community stakeholders.
3. Little public awareness of police complaint and compliment process
4. Limited Police and Community interaction. No active Neighborhood Watch program. Police Advisory Board –May be inactive or disbanded
5. Top-down model for disaster preparedness. One agency runs show and 1-2 people make all decisions. Command and control. Lack of transparency, accountability and oversight. Focus almost exclusively on response. No apparent interest in working collaboratively with stakeholder groups across the whole community. Response Capabilities unknown and/or overstated. Outdated emergency operations plan. Other FEMA recommended plans not in place. No marked Emergency Assembly points or known evacuation plan. City has less than a day’s worth of stored, emergency water. No viable plan for emergency shelters following a disaster. No apparent viable and updated emergency supply caches stocked and maintained. No “whole community” approach. Volunteer-led efforts not valued and supported.
6. 2013 Safety Element goals mostly not operationalized. No annual reporting.
7. No knowledge of Staff household/individual readiness. If their household isn’t ready, this will impact employee return to Menlo Park following a disaster.
8. No FEMA-recommended baseline of resident and business readiness across eight categories.
9. Public input treated courteously in public meetings.
Minor change
1. Joining of national efforts, such as Faith and Blue Weekend program, Disaster Preparedness month, National Night Out.
2. Community Police Advisory Roundtable
3. Community Police Academy (like the Atherton model)
4. Improved transparency and interaction: Open House, Coffee with a Cop, Transparency Presentations
5. Formation of a Community-Police Advisory Roundtable
Medium Change
1. Emergency Preparedness Coordinator hired with considerable input from community
2. A robust and specific 2022 Safety Element Update modeled on City of Berkely’s Disaster Preparedness and Safety Element that includes a plan to operationalize the goals and objectives.
3. City budget includes line items for community-based disaster preparedness efforts, including preparedness for climate change.
4. Government support of neighborhood-level disaster preparedness building efforts, including a process to recognize and register disaster prepared neighborhoods/blocks.
5. 2013 Safety Element reviewed to identify goals that should be operationalized and added to the 2022 Safety Element update.
6. Police-led process to develop SMARTIE goals: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Timebound, Inclusive and Equitable. Work commences. Results reported.
7. Planning includes consideration of new State laws such as SB 160 (cultural competence) with an explicit effort to work with Community-based groups for data collection.
Extreme Change
1. Participatory budgeting process. Request to add staff include detailed job descriptions. Let residents weigh in on what services we want and value, and those we do not care about.
2. Collaborative model for disaster preparedness. Coordinates local preparedness efforts across trained volunteers and emergency management professionals. Respects residents and values their opinions and expertise. Proven most effective based on actual human behavior during and after a disaster. Local Examples: Los Altos, Palo Alto, Woodside and Portola Valley.
3. Effort started to build community disaster resiliency. NFPA 1600 Standards for Emergency Management followed, along with evidence-based practices. These include the development of a strategic plan and an effective advisory body.
4. Formation of a resident-led Emergency Preparedness Working Committee with suitable members across stakeholder groups. Monthly Public meetings. Work done off-line and reports at meeting. Open section of agenda allows for collection of new topics. Meeting becomes an effective results-oriented structure designed to achieve results towards a shared and measurable unifying goal such as preparedness for a 7.0 eruption of the Hayward fault.
5. Data-driven and evidence-based practices.
6. Resident and business survey of disaster preparedness.
7. Collaborative process to develop SMARTIE Goals along with an at least annual reporting process: SMARTIE: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Timebound, Inclusive and Equitable.
8. Residents included as part of a collaborative model.
9. A collaborative process to develop FEMA recommended disaster preparedness plans, including the Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment and Stakeholder Preparedness Review (THIRA/SPR) and pre-Disaster Preparedness planning.
10. A review of the ConnectMenlo Program-Level EIR, and zoning ordinances, in light of new data and possibly omitted data.
11. Safe growth audit.
