Opinions are like assholes, and some assholes have opinions. Here we have three.

Opinions are like assholes, and some assholes have opinions. Chose between them. I have elected to pass, because fools, like jackasses, suffer from obstructed views. How the fuck can the president of the SDPOA oppose pretext stops? Does he not know how state law defines Racial Profiling? Or does he not care? He, and those of his ilk, are of a protected class.

These are from the SDUT of June 14, 2019

POLICING CHANGES?

Alter a 2016 study showed that San Diego police were more likely to search and question blacks and Latinos during traffic stops, city officials revived the long-dormant Citizens Advisory Board on Police/Community Relations. The board recently finalized a report that calls for a pilot moratorium on pretext stops and focusing less on military experience when it comes to police recruitment. The proposals were among 30 recommendations aimed at building more trust and changing the culture of policing in San Diego. The report will be presented later this month at a meeting of the city’s Public Safety and
Livable Neighborhoods Committee. Here are three perspectives on the report's recommendations.

Experts should evaluate board’s recommendations

BY JACK SCHAEFFER

In 2017, the Citizens Advisory Board on Police/Community Relations was reactivated by then-San Diego City Council President Myrtle Cole and the City Council. The 15-member board was made up of representatives from each of the nine council districts and six additional representatives, including my seat. Former San Diego Police Officers Association (SDPOA) President Brian Marvel occupied the SDPOA seat for the first year. I took over the seat shortly after I was elected president of SDPOA in 2018. Eventually the board had three subcommittees: Training, Recruiting and Racial Profiling. I volunteered on both the training and recruiting subcommittees.

The process has been a true collaboration. The individual board members are conscientious people, who commit several hours and countless amounts of energy each month. The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) has been more than cooperative in providing subject matter experts, training and many documents to the entire board and committees as needed. Many department members have attended meetings and have made themselves available for questions. Several members of the community have also attended and participated in these meetings.

Last month, a list of recommendations was approved to be sent to the San Diego Police Department and the city. I agree with many of the recommendations; however, I strongly oppose a few. Due to my experience as a 30-year veteran of the San Diego Police Department and a lifelong resident of San Diego, I believe some of the recommendations would damage our officers’ ability to keep this city safe.

The Police Department and city government will now be tasked with evaluating each of the recommendations. Hopefully the city will rely on experts’ opinions before pushing to implement any of the recommendations. An advisory board by definition is a body that provides nonbinding strategic advice.

Many of the ideas will probably be implemented in some form. In my opinion, exposing members of our community to some police training and having open dialog about community needs will benefit both the community and our department. Conversations about additional youth program ideas should be encouraged. I am in favor of revisiting recruiting policies regularly to ensure that we are not limiting police recruiting efforts or disqualifying good candidates due to outdated standards. The recommendation to emphasize the field training officer program can help the San Diego Police Department continue to set the bar for law enforcement nationally.

But I am adamantly opposed to the “pilot moratorium on pretext stops.” San Diego has been identified as one of the safest big cities in the nation. That recognition does not happen without one of the best police departments in the nation. We are located just a few miles from one of the most violent places in the world, which reportedly had over 2,000 murders last year. San Diego averages around 40 murders annually. SDPD officers and detectives solve over 90% of the murders that occur here. Catching violent offenders quickly prevents them from hurting additional victims.

Proactive police work, including pretext stops, can keep our residents safe. When officers stop vehicles for observed violations of the vehicle code and identify the occupants, detectives can solve violent crimes. A good example of a pretext stop was the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Miles away from the attack, an officer stopped a vehicle for having no license plates. The driver, Timothy McVeigh, was arrested for having an illegal weapon. Later detectives were able to link McVeigh and his accomplice to the bombing. Had there been a “moratorium on pretext stops” in Oklahoma in 1995, McVeigh may not have been brought to justice and he could have victimized many more innocent people.

Another significant issue is the recommendation to limit military recruitment. The San Diego Police Department is already over 200 officers short of budgeted staffing levels. Many of our officers have a military background, but the vast majority do not. Good candidates in the military have a natural desire to help people and they can perform in stressful environments. Some of our finest officers were former military. Limiting our ability to recruit from the military not only hampers our ability to fill vacancies, but will also limit our ability diversify. The military is full of qualified individuals from all races and ethnicities.

While I believe the Citizens Advisory Board is made up of well-intentioned members of our communities, it is important to recognize that most have no experience in law enforcement. Some of the ideas and suggestions can help keep the San Diego Police Department one of the finest and most progressive in the country. Others would make it even more difficult to keep our residents safe. The ultimate decision on which of these recommendations to implement should rightfully be in the hands of the police chief.

We must address racial profiling, equity issues

BY BARRY POLLARD

When San Diego restarted its Citizens Advisory Board on Police/Community Relations a couple of years ago, some saw it as a knee-jerk reaction to comments from a City Council member about “black on black crime” in response to racial profiling concerns.

There was no thought process, no real strategy for the advisory board to address racial profiling, but as board members, we were tasked with reviewing the policies and programs of the city’s law enforcement with the purpose of improving trust, effectiveness and equity.

After more than two years and more than 60 meetings, the Citizens Advisory Board on Police/Community Relations (CAB) recently issued its report. The board includes individuals from every corner of our city supplemented by individuals with specialized backgrounds. The report focused its recommendations in the areas of racial profiling, recruitment and training.

Our larger goal is to change the culture of the organization. Improving policies and procedures changes things in the short term, but by looking at the people we’re bringing in and focusing on how they’re trained, that brings long-term changes.

Most of the heavy lifting in disrupting the culture of law enforcement in California has been with San Diego Assemblywoman Shirley Weber and her Assembly Bill 392. The conversation has shifted to redefine the baseline of when it is necessary — as opposed to reasonable — to use deadly force. Make no mistake, this is a huge shakeup in the infrastructure of the old guard within law enforcement.

San Diego has taken a leadership role in the state in the collection and reporting under the Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA), which came about through Weber’s Assembly Bill 953 in 2016. But we can do more, enhancing that leadership by embracing an effective community-driven social justice mission and policies going forward.

This not only makes sense from a “data” perspective but from a “nationwide momentum” perspective as well. With the frequent reports of racial profiling resulting in everything from pretext stops to officer-involved shootings, there is a wave of efforts to rethink decades of old policies and practices that put in danger and offend families in underserved communities at an alarming rate.

Data collection has already been partially addressed through RIPA, but uncertainty remains as to the thresholds that will result in changes in San Diego Police Department policy and procedures, especially with regards to pretext stops. CAB asks that irrespective of those findings, SDPD implement pilot programs in communities where pretext stops are routinely exercised.

Pretext stops by name are false reasons for stopping a vehicle or individual. This practice increases the chances of racial profiling and the resulting stopping, questioning and, potentially, search.

Probably the most effective way to make corrections in the culture of law enforcement is to re-evaluate the type of candidate that is recruited to the police academy. With that in mind, CAB proposes SDPD increase the recruiting efforts of individuals with non-military backgrounds.

CAB believes that it is easier to train someone to use a firearm than to teach someone to work effectively in “different” communities. Additionally, CAB recommends a more earnest effort to identify potential recruits from military backgrounds who may be suffering from PTSD. In short, candidates with a non-military background are less likely to fire their weapon than their counterparts and have not gone through four years of violence with a different mission than community-oriented policing.

We also are asking for focused training modules and policies dedicated to social justice rather than “weaving” the subject matter throughout training. It needs focused attention and discussion.

Let’s make these adjustments before we have a crisis. CAB looks forward to working with SDPD, the mayor, the City Council and the public in the review and implementation of its recommendations.

Targeting hiring of veterans reflects a false narrative

BY PAUL K. LEBIDINE

One of the major recommendations in the San Diego Citizens Advisory Board on Police/Community Relations (CAB) report concerns “targeting more local recruiting sources to better balance the type of officers we are attracting” in support of the goal to “better balance our police workforce to better represent our communities.” While this recommendation appears innocuous, the CAB fails to demonstrate that the police force is not representative of our communities. Furthermore, the CAB incorrectly and degradingly links the justification for their recommendation to the Police Department’s veteran hiring practices.

The Citizens Advisory Board report implies that hiring large numbers of veterans, particularly combat veterans, over-militarizes the department resulting in a “culture” that values combat skills over other policing skills like “effectively interact[ing] in communities of color, or in general communities that are ‘different’ than theirs.” This portion of the CAB report is a false narrative about veterans and contrary to the best interests of the community.

Veterans are competitive candidates for law enforcement service for many reasons including:

1) Veterans are a diverse group themselves and come from all walks of life.

2) Many veterans have experience fulfilling duties in diverse operational environments that include challenges similar to those confronting law enforcement officers.

3) Veterans have proven track records of evaluated leadership performance and a background that emphasizes teamwork and service to others.

Census Bureau figures show that the post-9/11 generation of veterans is the most diverse in history and is highly educated. Most important to all Americans, including members of the CAB, is the fact that our military personnel learn that to be the effective war fighters that our nation expects and deserves, they need to first be good people — morally and ethically. The vast majority meet that expectation.

The nature of combat operations in places like Iraq and Afghanistan is much more diverse than the commonly understood definition of war with the firing of weapons during full scale military operations. Many of the post-9/11 generation of veterans were in units conducting operations that require our military to exercise great restraint relative to the use of force in order to avoid harming the innocent. They have much training and experience applying the least force necessary to properly respond in chaotic and confusing situations.

Proper veteran hiring practices increases the amount of diversity in our police departments and enhances the benefits derived from that diversity.

While a law enforcement applicant’s military service may enhance their competitiveness for selection, it is the police academy’s training and education that firmly establishes the foundation for a successful law enforcement career.

Each individual officer has strengths and weaknesses that are not directly correlated to his or her past military service.

Once a police officer is serving in the community it is the continuous leadership supervision and peer interaction that is fundamental to an officer’s professional development . Continuous improvement is the cornerstone of a healthy and positive “culture” inside any organization, but particularly law enforcement.

There is another key reason why so many veterans are hired in police departments. It is because they have academies that take a highly screened applicant and train them to the requirements of their new respective careers. Other organizations and businesses need to consider further investing in their own type of “academies” that will reap the long-term benefits of hiring veteran employees and ease the transitional gap of veterans not having enough experience in specific employment fields.

The Officer Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park in City Heights honors a combat veteran Marine and San Diego police officer who on Aug. 7, 2011, was fatally shot in the line of duty while in his patrol car.

Moments before his death, Officer Henwood bought food at a McDonald’s for a young boy he had never met before but who needed assistance. It was a simple act, but one that epitomizes a selfless leader who was universally respected by the community in which he served and his fellow officers. We should not forget.