Undermining the Police Review Commission
CALL TO ACTION: support needed at the 10/15/24 Sacramento City Council meeting at 2pm!
If you’re able, please show up to this meeting and demand that City Manager Howard Chan and Council stop breaking the law with his contract negotiations!
In December of 2023 - with full knowledge of the City's budget deficit - Howard Chan illegally placed an item requesting a raise for himself on a City Council meeting agenda
Howard Chan earns the highest total wages of any city manager in the state of California. In 2023 Chan’s total pay and benefits amounted to $710,036.24
Thank you to Bella Ahwal and an anonymous community member for supporting with the creation of this piece!
This week we’re bringing you a recap of some of the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission’s (SCPRC) recent advocacy around the Sacramento Police Department’s (SPD) Military Equipment Use Policy (MEU). As a reminder, the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission serves the purpose of attempting to hold the Sacramento Police Department accountable and transparent with their practices and policing.
Image pulled from: Sacramento City Council to revisit military equipment policy for police
On August 27th, 2024, the Sacramento City Council approved the SPD’s 2024 MEU policy (item 15). At this meeting the SCPRC Commission Chair, Keyan Bliss, presented regarding this item.
Context: "Assembly Bill 481 requires a law enforcement agency (LEA) to obtain approval from the applicable governing body [in this case the Sacramento City Council], via adoption of a 'military equipment' use policy by ordinance, prior to the LEA funding, acquiring, or using military equipment."
Back to the 8/27 meeting: Keyan had sent his slide deck for the presentation to the City Clerk, Mindy Cuppy, days before the meeting on 8/27. After Police Chief Kathy Lester and a sergeant made presentations, Keyan was called up to present. Mayor Steinberg told him he had 2 minutes. After some back and forth with the Mayor regarding the 2 minute time allocation, Keyan asked to have his slides presented, to which Mindy responded that she never received a slide deck from him.
Steinberg put on his most sickeningly sweet, placating voice and told Keyan: “It’s okay. Just describe the slides.” The slides were dense with information, so that was not possible. Keyan started sprinting through his presentation, the timer on the screen ran out and continued to blink red zeroes. The mayor didn’t stop him. Steinberg then asked him a few questions and “let” him respond, all while patting himself on the back for showing such grace in letting the presentation exceed the time limit. To be clear, the police had two speakers, neither were given a time limit, and their visuals were ready without an issue.
City leadership didn’t stop Keyan’s presentation, but they pulled every dirty trick possible to diminish it, and in typical Darrell fashion, tried to make themselves out to be the heroes in the process
On to the 9/30 SCPRC meeting: at this meeting, the SPD’s response to SCPRC Military Equipment Use Recommendations (item 5) was discussed. During this conversation Commission Chair, Keyan Bliss, noted that the SPD has not been entirely honest regarding their response to MEU recommendations, which urge for complete transparency and record-keeping, to minimize out of line and unethical behavior demonstrated by the police.
There were discrepancies in the materials presented during this meeting.
In summary, as of August 27th, 2024, the SPD claimed to have received 50 recommendations, yet the SCPRC only has approved 30 recommendations to send to them. Around the time of this Commission meeting, September 30th, the SPD claimed to have received 36 recommendations, 18 of which were fully approved and implemented
The Commission seemed to not demand the same transparency from the SPD that Keyan was pushing for.
The Commissioners did not reach any specific direction regarding next steps, aside from the importance of the commission coming together and envisioning a 2025 Work Plan - which had been in conversation despite the disagreements between members. Public engagement in this meeting was unfortunately low, and that itself was discussed in some detail. The members were in agreement that it is vital for the community to have involvement in this commission, so the idea of a task group to increase engagement and topic accessibility was discussed.
Keyan Bliss speaks at a podium, pictured below. Image pulled from:
This Sacramento man upset police so much they won’t be in the same room with him | Opinion
It is important to note that while everybody agreed that the community, the commission, and the police department must all come together to find solutions that fit, the community wasn’t the only piece missing at the meeting.
The SPD was also noticeably absent, and Keyan pointed to other times that they had been difficult to reach regarding MEU inquiry and follow-up.
Despite the SPD’s lack of transparency, muddling of their recommendation implementation, and lack of physical presence at the Commission, they still seemed to receive undoubted support from most of the Commission. While most commissioners didn’t seem eager to push back against the police department too insistently, or demand much from them, Keyan stood out and fairly demanded what is absolutely necessary from the SPD if they hope to engage with any amount of responsibility and accountability. The SPD’s lack of compliance - or even presence - seems to be making a statement of its own.
Update: City Manager Howard Chan’s office (through Assistant City Manager Mario Lara) has confirmed that Howard and Chief Lester refuse to have SPD engage with Keyan, and won’t attend Commission meetings based on their personal disagreements with Keyan’s First Amendment activities…Their latest excuse? A sticker on Keyan’s personal laptop that says “Fuck the Police Means We Don’t Act Like Cops to Each Other”, which they consider as “disrespectful” and “unprofessional” engagement between SCPRC and SPD.
CALL TO ACTION: support needed at the 10/15/24 Sacramento City Council meeting at 2pm!
If you’re able, please show up to this meeting and demand that City Manager Howard Chan and Council stop breaking the law with his contract negotiations!
In December of 2023 - with full knowledge of the City's budget deficit - Howard Chan illegally placed an item requesting a raise for himself on a City Council meeting agenda
Howard Chan earns the highest total wages of any city manager in the state of California. In 2023 Chan’s total pay and benefits amounted to $710,036.2424
More context:
