Davis City Council to Consider 25 Public Safety Recommendations

Special to the Vanguard

The city in the last few months has implemented key reforms in public safety.  But there are a number of other issues on the table.  The following is a status report on 25 public safety recommendations…

Allow DOJ and RIPA Board to analyze the 2020 RIPA data and reassess once complete AND/OR Engage independent professional researchers to undertake the analysis…

The State generally releases the full RIPA report in January. The State Board has been discussing draft copies of the report, but complete data has not yet been disseminated.

The City Council allocated funding in the current budget to hire a consultant to undertake this analysis in addition to the analysis completed by the State. Staff is currently reviewing options for an independent professional researcher to do the analysis and is asking the independent police auditor for feedback. Once a consultant is chosen, staff will be able to determine the timeline necessary to complete this task.

Consider funding request to for CMO 1.0 FTE Public Safety Analyst, who can work to compile and interpret data locally.

This request was fulfilled as a part of the creation of a new Department of Social Services and Housing by transferring the Fiscal Analyst position (vacant) from the Police Department to the new department and restructuring the position to be focused on data analysis.

Use timely qualitative analysis to identify officer deficiencies and to provide increased customized training and/or policy adjustments more promptly.

The Department is conducting timely quantitative analysis and review of officer work. Policy adjustments are being made in the coming months to comply with significant changes to State law. Training has been adjusted to meet the new State changes.

Engage in dialogue with the Police Accountability Commission at their request

The information has been conveyed to the Commission and they know to request the Police Chief or other members of the Police Department prior to a meeting, if they want a police presence.

The Independent Police Auditor is reviewing best practices and provide feedback to the City Manager, the Police Chief, and the PAC on the Department’s Use of Force Policy

The Independent Police Auditor publicly issued his final report on his review of the use of force in October 2021.

The report was introduced at the Police Accountability Commission at their October meeting, and they will discuss it, along with any further outreach, at their November meeting.

Continue Implicit Bias training as a priority.

All Department members received training in the last two months on Principled Policing and Implicit Bias.

Consider Police Department request for $30,000 (total) in funding specific for education reimbursement for staff.

The City Council provided this funding in the FY21-23 budget.

The funds are split between the fall and spring semesters. The entire fall allocation was utilized and the there are multiple pending requests for spring semester allocations.

The Department is exploring the impact of imposing college education requirements for new-hires.

The State legislature has directed POST to work with community colleges on an education track for future hires. Staff is continuing to explore this option.

The Department will require all Department members, regardless of whether or not they already have a degree, to take Community Relations – Multicultural Issues or a similar college level course.

The Department will work on this requirement in the Spring of 2022.

Wait for data analysis from Recommendation A above to help inform Recommendation to evaluate the impact of de-escalation, crisis intervention, procedural justice, and implicit bias trainings

Action on this item is dependent on receiving information back from the assessment(s) of the RIPA data.

Determine whether City services currently assigned to the Police Department should be assigned to other City departments. See O and P below.

The City Council subcommittee of Partida and Frerichs and staff brought a recommendation to the full City Council on October 19, 2021to create a new department of housing and social services. This department transitions four positions previously in the Police

Department to the new department and provides a structure within the City organization for systemic programs like Crisis Now and homelessness outreach. Code, parking, and traffic enforcement are not recommended to move at this time.

Staff, with the assistance of the Council Subcommittee to engage with a professional consultant to create a plan to engage with the community at-large and marginalized communities with the goal of building community dialogue and trust.

Initially, staff will work with the Police Accountability Commission to discuss opportunities for the commission to engage with the public and identify additional resources that may be instrumental to implement this action.

Identify funding for the City Manager to hire a consultant to conduct a community survey which will include questions regarding public safety.

Staff has been in contact with a survey consultant to conduct a community survey, likely in late January/February 2022. The survey will include questions on citywide services (to compare longitudinally to surveys done previously) as well as a section of questions specific to public safety.

Fund a new management level position and expand services and coordination with the County on housing and homelessness and youth diversion programs.

On October 19, 2021, The City Council approved the creation of a new department of social services and housing. This department includes two net new positions: a director level position and an affordable housing manager. Together, these positions, along with the restructuring of existing homeless outreach positions, will work closely with Yolo County and community-based organizations to address issues related to homelessness and other vulnerable populations.

Staff is currently working on job descriptions and will begin recruitment for the director position before the end of the calendar year.

Shift homeless services from the Police Department to the City Manager’s Office.

The City Council took the initial step for this recommendation with the approval of the fiscal year 2021-2023 budget, which moved two homelessness outreach positions from the Police Department to the City Manager’s Office.

The City Council took further steps on October 19, 2021, when they authorized the creation of a new department of social services and housing. This department will have oversight for homeless services.

Utilize the data and outcomes from A-O above to inform future policy and organizational directions.

This action item will occur once there is data available from items A-O.

Continue to expand the juvenile Restorative Justice program.

The Department is working closely with the Yolo County Probation Department on juvenile cases. There have been significant reductions in juvenile arrests which has reduced the overall number of juveniles in the RJ Program.

Resume warm hand-off program for certain drug offenders.

This will resume when the COVID emergency ends.

Facilitate “blind charging” by the District Attorney.

In September 2021, the Yolo District Attorney’s Office announced the official launch of its race blind charging program, with full support from the Davis Police Department. The program uses computer technology to redact information in police reports that identifies an individual’s race, in an attempt to reduce implicit or explicit bias in charging.

Work with Yolo County to seek reasons and remedies for racial disparities in the jail system.

The Department is continuing its work with the Yolo County criminal justice agencies that were tasked by the County Board of Supervisors to evaluate and improve racial disparities in the local jails. The County will be reporting on several pilot programs over the coming months.

Support the District Attorney’s Office in launching a transparency portal in partnership with Measures for Justice.

The Yolo District Attorney’s Office, working with Measures for Justice and the Yolo County Multi-Cultural Community Council, launched Commons, an online dashboard to make data transparent to a broader audience. The City of Davis works with the DA’s Office to provide the requested data for inclusion in the system.

Representatives from the DA’s office came to the July Police Accountability Commission meeting to share the portal. The Commission provided feedback and questions with an eye to improving the dashboard tool.

Utilize the conclusions of the RIPA data analysis noted in #1, to inform future discussion of local policies and practices around stops and citations.

Action on this item is dependent on receiving information back from the assessment(s) of the RIPA data.

Evaluate the Crisis Intervention Program for a 6-month period and then determine whether Davis should fund additional clinicians.

The Department will be working with the Yolo Health and Human Services Agency at the end of the year on a program evaluation.

Schedule Karen Larsen, Yolo County Health and Human Services Director, to present to the City Council related to current and future mental health/addiction services.

Council could immediately place this on the long-range calendar.

Karen Larsen presented to the City Council on May 18 on mental health programs and was again available at the September 7 City Council meeting to answer questions about the Crisis Now proposal.

Support the County’s Crisis Now model and Davis’ participation in it, acknowledging that is will potentially come with a future funding request.

On September 7, the City Council unanimously voted in support of the Crisis Now model and allocated up to $1.17 million over three years for Davis to partner with the County and other jurisdictions to fund the effort.