Thread by @yolopeoplepower

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#Davis #DavisCityCouncil #DavisCmsnMtg #DavisCCMtg

https://twitter.com/yolopeoplepower/status/1299530986342871040

Agenda is approved, Emma is a new member from the Human Rights Commission

Dillan is going to run the meeting with Bapu supporting.

Kelly is covering the timeline now - originally she thought the turn around was quicker but now the city manager (Mike Webb) has clarified

Kelly: Now there is more time to meet and discuss and go back to Council much later in the fall maybe even December

Dillan is asking about if there should be discussion then public comment or vice versa

Confusion about where they are in the agenda or the next item they are going to

Matthew is asking about if there is an expectation that the joint subcommittee is going to come to a consensus or if the each commission group is going to come up with their own recs

Kelly: No expectation. It seems like there is a desire to see where there is overlap in your ideas but then you can decide where to go from there

They are going to start subcommittee reports now, with the Social Services Commission going first. There are slides

Bapu is talking. SSC has been focusing on policing models that already exist and how impactful they are.

The slide image has Part 1: A social services lens on public safety. Two sub points: Conceptual framework and Current Social Services / Public Safety Issues in Davis

For Conceptual framework, they are interested in looking at community safety through a public health lens. Specifically focusing on at risk groups (by housing status, race, class, etc).

For current social services / public safety issues in Davis they are focusing on homelessness, substance use, and mental health. Looking at most current data, recent trends, and emerging risks.

Still in Part 1. Next sub parts are Yolo County / Davis public safety related social services and Davis Police Department programs

Yolo County / Davis public safety related social services is a map of existing services in the county and city with feedback from those people on key gaps / needs.

DPD programs is evolution and current state of DPD programs to address the problems listed with feedback from PD people on key gaps / needs.

Part 2: Successful models - intervention design. First responder models is first. Focusing on homelessness, substance use, and mental health programs with discussion of relevant models.

There are crisis intervention teams (police trained in crisis response), co responder models (clinician + police partnership), unarmed response (situations that do not req armed response, sending a clinician trained to handle crises)

Part 2 still. Now emergency dispatch models and community navigators.

Emergency dispatch models include dispatcher trainings on behavioral health, racial bias.

Community navigators - paid and volunteer models, various level of training. Integrated with public agencies and PDs, outreach strategies and follow up procedures

Part 2 still Sequencing and Administration

Sequencing - public health, administrative, financial conditions for success. Near term to long term interventions

Administration - internal / external department models with safety for clients, officers, social services personnel, and the community considered

Judith: Where do the users of these services (especially homeless people and substance users) factor into your model?

Bapu: There are subtle differences in how well people respond to these programs. We should talk about how we want to engage the community to get feedback on the models we look at

Sheila (from Human Relations Commission): Commission had a chance to talk about this subcommittee. Talked about process of the subcommittee

Sheila: Helpful to name the goal early on. Mission statement / purpose. After naming the goal then naming the questions. How to get community stakeholders involved?

Sheila: Look at reports from police accountability commission founding reports from the town halls held. What are short term and longer term goals.

[Said "what are we shooting for" and then said "oh that's probably not a good phrase."]

Sheila: Mentions Memphis model (also in Bapu's slides). Heard it could work in a city of our size. How is the county and the city collaborating on this now? Understands they are maybe about to start it again soon.

Sheila: Community safety, public safety - political definitions. Be careful with words we choose when giving recommendations.

Emma: Balancing a methodical process with understanding urgency. Want to be expeditious, not want to cause undue delay or harm. Get to named end goals

Emma: Bring in experts maybe, that has been done in the past. Something Council could cover. Who has ownership over the process. What are our roles in this group? A particular commission lead the charge?

Dillan: Chief is going to be popping in soon

Don: Referencing a police meeting. Has a spreadsheet but cannot show it. Is describing the spreadsheet.

[He's going fast and there is no visual so I don't know how much I will catch]

Don is confused by the table (some columns total to more than 100%), asks for clarification.

Bapu is explaining.

[I believe this is from the response report PD made to the original YPP report.]

Don: Can the city make greater restrictions on the police that are more strict than state law?

Dillan: Depends on what you are talking about.

They will possibly get the chief to answer this.

Chief Pytel: Depends on if you are talking about an issue of law or policy. If particular duties are dictated by state law we have to follow them (not many places of this in state law).

*CA state law

Pytel: For police pursuits state law deals with the crime definition and punishment but policy dictates pursing or not. Has been rewriting pursuit policy recently because new guidelines have been issued

Pytel: Most pursuits are no longer going to be allowed because of the new guidelines coming out.

Looking at the police organization chart now

Blue is sworn officers, orange is non sworn.

A couple civilians in the blue branch though (they are listed in orange I believe)

CSO is a community service officer where they are hired out of high school who get college / maybe academy funding for working part time in the PD

Police Services Specialist is a catch all term for non sworn personnel who perform a wide variety of duties within the PD

PD used to have a full time restorative justice person but not anymore because they have reduced the number of youths they arrest because of schools working on it / schools having their own restorative justice processes

Continuing discussion of the PD org chart

Sheila: The other homeless services on 5th street [the respite center] where are they?

Kelly: They are under the city manager's office. City contracts with Communicare to staff there.

Don: Crossover with county sheriff's department?

Pytel: Don't have any direct service relationships with the sheriff's department or any other law enforcement agencies. Work closely in terms of mutual aid partners tho

Pytel: Last year when there were a bunch of robberies the suspects were all mostly from Woodland so they worked with Woodland PD. A significant gang problem there

Pytel: If there is crime crossover they work together or if any local PD needs assistance. All departments are fairly small

Bapu: With homeless populations when does the homeless specialist go out alone versus when you want an officer on the scene? Same for mental health issue

Pytel: Often a lot of crossover between homelessness and substance use and mental health issues. Primary calls they get are complaints about homeless camps, 9/10 complaints. Specialist has team meeting, then goes out and meets the homeless people. Usually we know them

Pytel: If it's a health hazard (human waste) or vermin infestation then they will take care of it. Sometimes they will have officers with them

Pytel: See what they're allowed to do at the camp based on legal issues

Pytel: Give fairly lengthy notice for abatement, very rare they have an issue with that

Pytel: If it is trash, throw it away. If it is personal property (broadly construed) they are required to keep it for 90 days. What may seem like trash to you (like an old blanket) they are required to keep it for 90 days

Pytel: Deal with a lot of drugs, syringes paraphernalia, potentially a lot of hazmat issues.

Pytel: Significant coordination in the county on homeless services. "Our homeless are involved in criminal activity." For the most part they victimize each other instead of people in town.

Pytel: No one at the PD who is directly involved in mental health situations. Right now is patrol call in. In the future will be a partnership.

Pytel: Clinician will be hired for Davis. Embedded within the PD. Co responder model

Pytel: Confusion in community about co responder model. Police officer will deal with the criminal portion if there is one. Any safety issues. After that up to the clinician to decide what to do.

Tw: death

Pytel: There was an officer involved shooting in December (PD killed someone). The person killed their mother first and then PD came. They had been reported to police earlier for 5150 but it had not risen to the level of being dealt with yet

Pytel: They had been referred to mental health services before the officer involved shooting when people called in.

Pytel: Drugs have generally been deregulated in California. Tried to figure out how to respond to people struggling with addiction

Pytel: Describing warm handoff - if you get the person in front of a healthcare professional they are more likely to engage with them

Pytel: Had to stop due to COVID. Cold hand offs now - instead of arresting them you provide their info to the healthcare professional. More effective than doing nothing but less effective than a warm handoff.

Pytel: All voluntary. No threat of criminal repercussion. The only thing available was the service.

Pytel: Using surrounding PDs as their control groups and not trying to spread the word so people come to Davis to do drugs

Bapu: The one clinician you are going to have do you think that will be enough to handle the case load coming in or no?

Pytel: One clinician was sufficient, though they don't work 24/7. Rare events you need them out on scene. 5150 and responding to homeless folks are not the bulk of what we do at all

Dillan: Referencing Sheila's police accountability comment earlier - they did have that process in mind but without the consultant.

Dillan: Broad "go this way" direction for Council wrt public safety. If that's the direction Council wants to go in, then hiring a consultant to take them there.

Mayor Partida: Want to know issues we're dealing with as a community versus general policing work

Don: Over the next few weeks work with the chief to have a detailed diary of police activity - what do they do over a big period of time?

Public Comment time:

Commenter #1: Having a clear objective and process is a challenge with this many commissions. Meeting started out so promising with a very strong conceptual framework. Could be the guide this group needs. Felt like the meeting got hijacked.

Commenter #1: Really disappointing that the mission of this group did not feel more central to the work that happened today. Designate a facilitator in advance. So you can be more instructive in your time together.

Commenter #1: A consultant will be helpful but the work of this group should be seen and you should have a process that reflects that.

Commenter #2: A lot of the unrest is not due to bad policy, the deaths have been due to bad practice. Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Jacob Blake did not die because of bad policy.

Commenter #2: Davis PD policy was not to blame for the picnic day incident. Our PD has had deescalation training. Implicit bias training. It is the practice of those lessons that need work. Davis police officers must be willing to address the cultural issues. Our community too.

Commenter #3: Agrees with commenter #1. Will take a facilitator / consultant to look at the ramifications of this. Someone who is knowledgable about other models. May be wasting time. Hopes the Council will move ahead with a consultant / facilitator to help commissions.

Commenter #4: Let's learn together, community, PD, Council. Racism in policing is systemic, Davis is not immune. Perhaps next time the Chief can listen more in panels.

Commenter #4: Chief believes that colorblind enforcement is the goal. This leaves people without the language to describe and does not reduce bias. Consider where trust and authority come from. Authority from police stem from the threat of violence.

Commenter #4: We need to listen to marginalized communities and people who have been harmed by police in the past.

Commenter #5: Really disappointed in the commission. Disappointed it is taking a city months to decide it just wants to hire a consultant. Has done hours of research to help with this, there are experts at UC Davis. What are they doing here?

Commenter #5: This commission always talks about what their question is but never decides or discusses further. This commission's inaction is inadequate. Full stop.

Commenter #6: Is listing points published in the Vanguard. Are collecting local voices from marginalized groups about their experience with DPD
davisvanguard.org/2020/08/guest-…

Commenter #7: Calling in to support the research being done by Yolo People Power [hey thanks!] and how the commission should review that.

Commenter #8: Also from the Vanguard commentary. Often hear about new changes in the police department, but worried about distrust between the police and disenfranchised groups. This joint subcommittee has the opportunity to enact meaningful changes.

davisvanguard.org/2020/08/guest-…

Commenter #9: It me! I urged the white members of the subcommittee to understand people of color are dying and we need to act now. Racism happens all the time and it is killing people. We need to ensure there are measures in place that will prevent DPD from killing anyone.

Commenter #10: @ConnorForDavis Agree with previous commenters. Need a faster pace. Bring things to Council earlier when you have ideas so they can think of their own ideas too. People coming from outside of Davis should not be mistreated either.

Commenter #10: @ConnorForDavis We should have a department of public safety that houses mental health services, substance use, so that the distrust of police do not interfere with those services.

Commenter #11: This conversation has been going on for 6 years, should be doing this before November. Need to deal with the systemic issues, the real crime is homelessness itself. Community input is important to have with an education component.

Commenter #12: Agree with a lot of things said. Things should be fast but also safe. Should be implementing things quickly outside PD because can do that now. Mentions Mental Health Oakland [quick article I just found about it 48hills.org/2020/08/oaklan…].

Commenter #13: Appreciates what they are trying to do, being thoughtful and careful instead of a knee jerk reaction. Don't want to rush this, want to be careful. Important to instruct the public on when to call the police and when not to.

Commenter #13: Important in community engagement that all opinions feel welcome - pro police and anti police

Commenter #14: @fortunefordavis Agrees with previous commenters about urgency and importance. Should be able to come up with a leader without having to hire one. This city hires a lot of consultants.

Commenter #15: Racism is inherent to all forms of law enforcement in this country. We need more transformative change than just new trainings. Decentralization of support services from the PD.

Commenter #15: Non punitive approaches, preventative programs are important

Commenter #16: Talking from the Vanguard commentary too. Urges them to consider other models beyond CIT and coresponder models. davisvanguard.org/2020/08/guest-…

Commenter #16: Coresponder models can be triggering to those in crisis.

Commenter #17: Wants more details about putting homeless folks into ride share services to get them help (Chief said earlier they put them into ubers / lyfts). Does PD follow up with them? Know they got the services?

Commenter #14 addendum: @fortunefordavis Encouraged the subcommittee to use the research that YPP has done and examining the data they analyzed.

Commenter #18: Agrees with previous comments. Does not want to give police more power. Encouraged more unarmed responses.

Commenter #19: Encourages using research based findings. Police should not be the only first responders. Disagrees with the commenter who said "knee-jerk reaction" This is not a knee-jerk reaction. If not now, when? Oakland and Berkeley have made changes, when will Davis?

Commenter #20: Think about how much time you are giving to the police chief. He arrives here with a certain agenda, he does not feel the urgency. Victims of police violence may be shut down by how much time the chief of police gets. He already has so much power in our community.

Commenter #21: BLM has beat up people and burned things in other cities. Had riots. What are you going to do to stop this from happening in Davis?

Public comment is done.

Bapu: Process - divide up work, community input and research

Judith: For community input have to help people feel safe.

Emma: 2-3 person task forces. Community involvement or community outreach piece. Research & literature. Consultant maybe or we bootstrap it.

Sheila: Was a chunk of time to hear from Chief Pytel but last meeting they got inaccurate info so it's important to have the correct info.

Judith: [Missed the first part of her comment.] What metrics we want for the PD to be evaluating themselves on.

Dillan: @Dillan4Davis
Consultant soon perhaps. What we can do to get to the consultant step ASAP. How we hand this process off to the city.

Judith: Created a way to have a community conversation about mental health and policing. Will share later.

Bapu: Agrees with Emma. Good work streams. Worried about resource side. Move along that trajectory. Let's agree on them, set objectives and then next meeting (2 weeks?) report in. Need a common base of information.

Bapu: Process started a little adversarial. Data is public, researchers are willing to work on this, work with PD to understand data. Everyone has different goals but we need a common base of information.

Bapu: Need to draw on people who are civically engaged and have research skills.

Bapu: Re the consultant, pros and cons. Council was good to do commissions first and use our skills to come up with the first set of ideas / recs.

Bapu: Frank reality of the situation is national convo is on models of public safety. Still 2 months to go until the election. Let's get some draft documents to City Council by mid October.

Don: Talk to the independent auditor (Mike Genaco) of the DPD. Could be a good consultant, what he's seeing in his other client cities.

Judith: Not a good start with the data. Let's make amends maybe. Get data that Bapu's group and DPD agree on.

Bapu: Just to clarify this is not my research team. All qualified independent researchers. Contention on the initial data interpretation but neither bias nor incompetence on data analysis. Just in how they versus PD view the results.

Emma: 4th work stream? Community outreach, research, services review, existing police data synthesis.

Bapu: Claimed research and data synthesis I believe. We should make a joint list of all the key institutional actors we should talk to.

HRC gets institutional actors and services review

PAC gets community engagement

Judith: Feels constrained by meeting regulations.

Kelly: Can do work outside a formal meeting. 4 or less people from this subcommittee meeting at once.

Scheduling their next meeting. Kelly has a lot of evening meetings!

Mayor Partida: Can push data along, Deanna was working on it maybe?

Kelly: Will check in

Emma: Non traditional option meeting times maybe?

Kelly: Will include them tho the general assumption is nighttime meetings when you sign on

Sheila: I feel the urgency, Council I think would be fine if we gave them something earlier. Next meeting talk about work plan. Have something to consider what needs to be done and plop it into a timeline.

[Missed some crosstalk]

Emma: Bring some talking points for your topic next week maybe

Judith: Reminder that there's a pandemic going on as we talking about pulling people together

Dillan: October then for homework due?

Sheila: Let's see how we do at the next meeting with an option to extend to November

Dillan: Would prefer to have a hard deadline to limit more extensions

Bapu: What's feasible to achieve by end of September and mid October

Meeting is adjourned! Next one in 3 weeks

Correction to last night’s live tweets - the Vanguard link is now here davisvanguard.org/2020/09/guest-…