Commentary: The Continued Need For Police Oversight

To his credit, new San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr participated as a member of the panel, along with some defense attorneys, a representative from the DA’s office, a representative from the Public Defender’s office and renowned civil rights attorney John Burris.

The FBI, Police and District Attorney’s office are now investigating allegations that eight officers illegally searched residential hotel rooms and lied about those searches in police reports.  The result is that close to 60 drug and robbery cases have been dismissed.

These allegations were caught on surveillance video that shows four San Francisco police officers entering a a hotel room with a master key without knocking or identifying themselves, as required by law.

Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who hosted the event on Wednesday, has publicly said that the behaviors of the officers involved were “clearly not an anomaly” at the Police Department.

Indeed, on Wednesday there was a long litany of complaints against the San Francisco Police Department.  Chief Suhr is to be commended for participating in the discussion and, to his credit, he said that he will not tolerate this kind of conduct by his officers.

On the other hand, both he and another retired chief on the panel, Peter Herley, formerly of the Tiburon Police Department, suggested that we keep in mind that in a huge department these incidents are occurring at the hands of a small number of police officers.

However, as both John Burris and Defense Attorney Stuart Hanlon pointed out, the problem is the culture at the department.  It is not the 3% of police who perpetrate these acts but the 97% who do not say anything.

The day before the Public Defender’s Summit, the Davis City Council heard budget proposals from Paul Navazio, the interim City Manager.  Once again, he is proposing the Police Ombudsman for the City of Davis have its salary reduced by $10,000, to $20,000.

It is unclear why this position is always targeted for reduction, given the fact that it is at most $60,000, a drop in the bucket for the millions in cuts that the city must undertake and has undertaken.

While the City of Davis has not incurred the type of scandals that have plagued the San Francisco Police Department, it is important to recognize that if police corruption can occur in San Francisco, the hallmark of progressive liberalism, where its DA’s have not sought the death penalty in nearly  20 years and its jurors have not returned such a verdict, it can happen anywhere.

Does the city suddenly forget what happened in 2005 and 2006 with the issues of police in the City of Davis?

Prior to the hiring of Chief Landy Black and Ombudsman Bob Aaronson, the city was paying out tens of thousands of dollars a year in claims based on alleged misconduct by the Davis Police Department.

However you feel about what happened back in 2006, what is crystal clear is that the claims have dropped to almost zero since the former Chief left.  Coincidence?  Doubtful.

No matter how we got here, the fact is the current system works, but it is a precarious balance.  Incidents still happen. 

As I said on Tuesday night, there is a such thing as being penny wise and pound foolish. 

The leaders in this city are concerned about what they see as a rising crime rate and they point to stories in the news.  I do not see any evidence that the crime rate is rising.  On the other hand, given what we are spending money on, I see no reason that the police department should have officers cut from its payroll.

We have tough decisions to make, but I would like see if it is possible to not have to balance the budget at the expense of public safety and police oversight, as part of public safety.

Why?  Look at San Francisco for the extreme example.  There is a loss of trust when police officers behave in that matter.  Good officers get tainted by bad ones.

Without trust, people are not going to come forward to report crime or go out of their way to be a witness when crime happens.

I am not suggesting that things are perfect in Davis, but I do believe we are better off today than we were five years ago in this regard and I believe a large part of that is due to the work of Chief Landy Black and Ombudsman Bob Aaronson.

It was heartening to me to make my comments on Tuesday night and to have Mayor Pro Tem Rochelle Swanson, herself a strong advocate for the police, talk about the need to continue our investment in the police ombudsman.

She is right, it is an investment.  We are investing in public trust and guess what, the police like having the ombudsman position, as well as it gives them access to feedback and relief valve should anything arise.

It is a small price to avoid what happened just five years ago.  San Francisco has a lot of work cut out for them to repair the damage that has been done.  They have a strong and proactive public, it seems that the leadership is on board with the need for change, but it is a large organization and a tall task to repair the culture.

Davis can avoid those pitfalls and should retain the current ombudsman at the current salary range.  $10,000 to $20,000 is not going to make a big difference in the budget and it is a small price to pay to avoid the kinds of claims we had in 2005 and 2006.

—David M. Greenwald reporting