From: Aram James Date: November 29, 2020 at 10:06:17 PM PST To: tom.dubois@cityofpaloalto.org Cc: CityCouncil , Robert Jonsen , Ed Shikada , Joe Simitian , Dave Price , Sara Tabin , Emily Mibach , Greer Stone , hrc@cityofpaloalto.org, "Steven D. Lee" , Raven Malone , michael.gennaco@oirgroup.com, paloaltofreepress@gmail.com, Jethroe Moore , Winter Dellenbach , Rebecca Eisenberg , Roberta Ahlquist Subject: Re: We need to monitor the number of times the police pull a weapon on members of the community( see the Simitian questioning of the assistant sheriff)
11-29-20.
Hi Tom,
I’ll try to get to my main point as quickly as I can. Please correct me if any of my facts are wrong. We should have the posted video of the meeting( nov 16) on line by now- to look to if memories are faded.
Let’s go back to the council meeting on November 16-2020 -action item 8 re race, equity, and a series of issues related to police reform, best police practices, scope of the IPA review powers, etc.
If memories serves the main issues I was writing you about, back on Nov 16 ,( see my subject line on the e-mail I sent u on nov 16) was an answer the police chief ( Robert Jonson) gave to a police practices question that you posed.
The question you asked on the 16th is whether the chief thought ( certainly not verbatim here) whether collecting data on the number of times a weapon is pulled on an individual as opposed to discharged was a necessary and important data to be reported, and subsequently included in the scope- of the use of force information-to be reviewed by the Independent Police Auditor .
I believe the chiefs answer was a definitive NO with explanation. ( Check the video)
( Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors meeting of Nov 17, 2020
Now let’s shift to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors meeting the following day, Nov 17, 2020. More specifically lets go to BOS agenda for that day item # 9 titled: Under advisement from august 25, 2020(item No. 15): Receive a report from the Office of Corrections and Law Enforcement Monitoring ( OCLEM) relating to status of OCLEM recommendations regarding “8 Can’t Wait” police reforms and use of force policies ( ID# 103611)
The memo to this item was titled: Santa Clara Office of Corrections and Law Enforcement Monitoring: FOLLOW UP REPORT TO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS JUNE 23, 2020 REFERRAL:
The memo was writing by the OIR GROUP the same group that acts as Palo Alto’s Independent Auditor( IPA). In fact Mike Gennaco was present at the zoom meeting to answer BOS’s questions re the progress of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office in completing their portion of proposed police reforms -updating their use of force policies etc. The OIR memo is approximately 8 pages excluding cover sheets.
Tom: Drawing your attention to page 5 of the memo bottom of the page:
RECOMMENDATION 6: The Sheriff’s office should consider adding to its force reporting policies a requirement that Deputies report as a use of force any time they point a firearm at an individual.
“In our initial report, we noted that another key piece of the 8 Can’t Wait Recommendations on comprehensive use of force reporting is a requirement that officers report as a use of force any time they point a a firearm at an individual. We further noted that the sheriff’s Office General Orders do not include such a provision. We further observed that there is some evidence to suggest that agencies that have this requirement tend to have significantly lower rates of officer involved shootings and that tracking this information also allows agencies to more deeply assess any disparity in police activities in relation to different racial and ethnic groups.
We have been advised that the Sheriff’s Office is still evaluating this Recommendation and how it could be incorporated into existing use of force reporting procedures, following industry best standards. The Sheriff’s office noted that the Racial Identity and Profiling Act (“RIPA”) will require reporting to the Attorney General each time personnel point a firearm at a person. 6 “
Footnote 6 of the OIR report reads: The RIPA reporting requirements mandate the Sheriff’s Office to begin collecting data for RIPA commencing January 1, 2021 but the reporting requirement to the Attorney General does not become effective until April 1, 2022.
Tom: seems like it would be a good idea to review with both the police chief, members of the city council, our HRC and the and the IPA whether the Palo Alto Use Of Force Policy-should include language consistent with OIR recommendation # 6 above.
Conclusion
We should include in the PAPD police manuel ( use of force policy) that every time a member of the department draws a gun on an individual that said use be reported and reviewed for it’s appropriateness by our independent auditor.
Sincerely,
Aram B. James
415-370-5056 State-bar # 80215
P.S. I highly recommend that all council members, HRC members, and other interested members of the staff and public review the examination ( including both direct and cross examination techniques) of attorney, former mayor, and current BOS member Joe Simitian’s detailed examination of Assistant Santa Clara County Sheriff Kenneth Binder, in conjunction with Item # 9- and the detailed memo summited by the OIR. In my view the questioning was respectful, measured, relentless and extraordinarily effective. I believe each of our council members could learn from the Simitian questioning re this matter.
Hi Tom, This is the brief e-mail( see below) I sent you at about 10:59 pm after the city council meeting of 10-16-2020. Time permitting I will send you a brief update re one of the issues below, information I serendipitously bumped into the following day at another local governmental meeting.
Aram
Hi Tom, Good work on the police practices issues. Much more to be done going forward. And of course the Perron matter still hangs over our heads.
We can no longer afford to cover-up this incident, legally or morally. Until it is fully investigated by the IPA- and a full report released to the council -public trust will be forever compromised -especially with people of color. I hope you had a chance to read my piece in today’s Daily Post titled: local police reform.
Finally, the scope of IPA’s work should absolutely include monitoring the number of times the police pull a gun or other deadly weapon, even if not discharged.
Why? Having a gun or other deadly weapon pulled on a person is often hugely traumatic. In addition, the police across this country disproportionally pull weapons on people of color.
If we are truly interested in making certain that our police are not engaged in discriminatory policing -guns drawn but not discharged- is a critical data point to capture.
Keep up your excellent work and even temperament with the public you represent.
