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REPORT dates 5/28/2021. This report will be discussed tonight at the Half Moon Bay City Council meeting, Tuesday, 6/1/2021 at 7:00pm.
Table of Contents
Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
Part I: Historical Background ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
Part II: Public Safety, Defined ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
Part III: Reimagining Public Safety …………………………………………………………………………………. 10
Part IV: The Role of the Chief of Police ………………………………………………………………………….. 12
Part V: The Half Moon Bay Department of Public Safety ………………………………………………. 13
Part VI: Timeline ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 16
Part VII: Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 17
PART 1: Historical Background
The policing model in use today to deal with many public safety issues is similar to the
model invented in the 19th century to capture escaped slaves and either punish them
or return them to their owners. The police of today are the direct antecedents of
yesteryears’ slave hunters.
This truth can be seen in the metal badge shaped like a star, the legality of being
armed, and the freedom to use that force in mostly unregulated ways that defer to the
officer when actions are questioned. To be clear, we are not comparing today’s police
officers to yesteryears slave hunters. But what we are comparing is the physical structure
of the agencies, how they operate, and most importantly- how they operate above
and free from nearly all meaningful scrutiny.1
A SIMPLE SOLUTION TO AN INCREASINGLY COMPLEX PROBLEM
As the United States moved out of the 19th century and into the 20th this policing model
spread widely, to the point where it is ubiquitous in the U.S. today. Yet as we evolved as
a nation so too did the demands on law enforcement personnel and agencies. Things
that no one ever could have dreamed of in the 1860’s are commonplace today.
Some examples include the advent of the mob in all its forms, rum-running during
Prohibition, enforcing new traffic laws as the motor car replaced the horse, and
enforcing civil rights laws. As we moved into the latter part of the last century issues like
the widespread use and sale of drugs, and the related violence began to overwhelm
police agencies and entire cities. Domestic violence issues became common, as did
dealing with mentally-ill people. Coincidentally, the last century also saw the advent of
military grade weapons on city streets, something that was unimaginable the century,
(or even the decade) before.
Thus what started as a simple solution to a simple problem has since evolved as the
need to diversify services and skills in a complex tactical environment forced many
changes onto police departments nationwide. Notwithstanding many of the changes
implemented nationwide it remains the case that the vast majority of police funds,
energy and effort are devoted to the same basic implementation and use of force that
were the focus in the very beginning, even though these activities make up a tiny
portion of any given officer’s daily routine.
THE ADVENT OF THE “MODERN POLICE OFFICER” IN POPULAR MEDIA
Modern popular culture portrays police using violence and extreme force as the
primary tool for enforcing policy. A representative example can be found in a TV show
that was inspired by a 1987 movie series called Lethal Weapon. The TV show premiered
in 2016 and ran for three years. The show saw its two main protagonists engage in
numerous long-running gunfights over the course of just the first three episodes. The mayhem unleashed on Los Angeles by the two officers is so unrealistic it seems like it is
almost a parody of what a normal police officer would do on a daily basis. Yet this style
of show, and movie, pervades the consciousness of the public today and that affects
the perceptions of the public when it comes to law enforcement in highly prejudicial
ways.
After you cut through the glitzy veneer, what we see repeatedly in these shows are
officers, under color of the law, using excessive and lethal force repeatedly and with
abandon, and never with any consequence. Equally notable are the things missing
from the presentation- the harm caused to the families or individuals who fall victim to
the fictional officers, as well the economic conditions that contributed to their place in
society. We also see officers violating the most basic tenets of human rights on an
ongoing basis, as well as outright violating the law themselves on a repeating basis. This
observation is not intended to vilify what is in reality intended to be fantasy
entertainment, but it does explain a significant part of the increased acceptance by
the public of the militarization and tendencies towards violence that we see today in
modern police forces.
PEOPLE DO WHAT THEY ARE TRAINED TO DO BECAUSE IT ALSO HAPPENS TO BE WHAT THEY ARE BEST AT.
If you look back at training films from 50-75 years ago showing police training at the
academy, you will see quickly that not a lot has changed. The focus is on use of force,
general policing, and building a bond with your fellow recruits and officers using the
same techniques that the military uses.
A 2006 Department of Justice Report2 that looked at overall police training trends found
that recruits spent an average of 123 hours learning how to shoot people and defend
themselves, as against just 8 hours of mediation skills and conflict management. This
despite the fact that the vast majority of any officer’s daily routine is in conflict
management and mediation.
This inherent bias, which has been ingrained in police agencies since their inception 175
years ago, results in the use of force as the preferred and frequently only response from
officers, even when mediation or conflict avoidance measures would have been more
effective and safer for both the suspect and the officers themselves.
Here’s a thought problem: Let’s look at the sad killing of Chinedu Okobi in 2018, at the
hands of Sheriff’s Deputies, and let’s set aside the legality of their actions for a moment.
Okobi was stopped by an officer, and he fled for reasons unknown. The officer chased
him down, and then immediately applied force in various forms until, after repeated
beatings and 7 tasings, Okobi finally stopped struggling- because he was dead. Again,
setting aside the legality completely for a moment, what would cause a human being
to respond to someone (who has committed no crime) actually trying to disengage
with them- by unleashing a torrent of lethal force against the person?
Okobi (coincidentally, or not, a black man) was killed for the crime of (essentially) not
complying with a Sheriff’s Deputy. The similarities to what would have happened to
other black men 175 years ago who ran across the law in the deep south are
disturbingly present, and if we ignore them now we do so at our own ultimate peril.
With the advent of handheld high definition cameras in nearly every phone, as well as
body worn cameras for officers, the general public has been increasingly seeing more
deeply into the daily lives of police officers and what they are seeing is highly disturbing.
As a result, there is a strong (and somewhat justified) tendency in the public to criticize
individual officers for their actions, and for everyone to focus on the “few bad apples,”
which unfortunately ignores the reality that the training they have been given from their
entry into law enforcement has steered them to that moment caught on video when
their use of force went horribly wrong.
The increased visibility of officers’ actions, and their tendency towards the use of force
(or physical restraint), has often led to a heightened degree of hostility between line
officers and the general public they serve. Police unions have turned this heightened
and understandable outcome into one of dogmatic division. “You are either with us or
against us!” is one common theme, as is a stylized American flag with a blue line in
place of a red stripe. What totems like these ignore of course is that it is entirely possible
to be unhappy with someone’s performance, and to want it to be better, without being
against them at all. What it also ignores is that without being willing to take an honest
look in the mirror no individual or organization can ever improve on its shortcomings.
CONCLUDING THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Sometimes things really are that simple, at least in the main. Consider the following:
1. Police today are direct descendants of individuals who used lethal force, and
not much else, to hunt down, arrest, and/or punish “the bad guy.”
2. Police training has not evolved in substantive ways since the dawn of the
existence of police officers in the US, and that training focuses heavily on the use
of force and related topics.
3. Mediation, conflict avoidance, mental health and de-escalation occupy a tiny
part of the average police officer’s education and training, yet these are the
areas that the average police officer spends the bulk of their time doing.
4. Numerous forms of popular entertainment glorify and exalt the use of violence
by police officers, usually with few or no consequences to those deploying the
force.
5. The ubiquity of video cameras, on homes, phones, and on officers has led to an
exponential explosion of officers caught violating civil rights, up to and including
excessive force leading to death that should not be tolerated in any civil society.
What is surprising about all of this is not that we are finally realizing that when you train people to kill and act in ways that will injure others, they will tend to do so. What is surprising is that it is only dawning on us now that the system we have employed since before the Civil War is woefully obsolete, and it doesn’t represent the needs of our
community as they apply to public safety at all.
Read More: Parts II to VII
Part II: Public Safety, Defined ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
Part III: Reimagining Public Safety …………………………………………………………………………………. 10
Part IV: The Role of the Chief of Police ………………………………………………………………………….. 12
Part V: The Half Moon Bay Department of Public Safety ………………………………………………. 13
Part VI: Timeline ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 16
Part VII: Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 17
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.coastsidebuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/HMB_Jimenez_rarback_060121.pdf”]
Footnotes
1 While there are regulations in place to govern the actions of police officers it remains the case
that they are protected by qualified immunity from liability for nearly everything they do. As a
result prosecutions of individual officers for wrongdoing are astonishingly rare, and convictions
even more so.
2 https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/slleta06.pdf
City Council of Half Moon Bay Meets ~ 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at 7:00pm
HMB City Council Agendas and Zoom Links
HMB City Calendar
The New Now ~ Virtual Remote Public Agency Meetings
- streamed live on Comcast Channel 27 and Pacific Coast TV website
- the City’s website online (via Granicus)
- and on Facebook Live
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- Recorded by Pacific Coast TV (PCTV)
Members or the public are welcome to submit comments (in accordance with the three-minute per speaker limit) via email
ing – (650) 477-4963 (English) and (650) 445-3090 (Spanish).HMB City Council Agendas and Zoom Links
HMB City Calendar
Leave messages with the Clerk’s Department at 650-726-8250
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Debbie Ruddock
Vice MayorPhone: 650-726 -
Joaquin Jimenez
Council MemberPhone: 650-726-8250 (leave message with Clerk’s office)
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The City Council of Half Moon Bay
Half Moon Bay City Council Subcommittees
- CSFA Grant Selection
- Education
- Emergency Preparedness
- Finance
- Human Resources
- Legislative Affairs
- Mobility
Author: Coastside Buzz
Me
Kudos to Councilmember(s) Jiminez and Rarback for stepping up to the plate and trying to solve some of these problems. The relatively small size of HMB and it’s three entrance points (North/South (HWY1) or East (92) reduce a lot of variables that might make it more difficult or expensive to implement these solutions elsewhere.
If one looks at the recommendations for adding a Police Chief that is more of a ‘protector of the people’ like an anesthesiologist protecting the patient’s life during surgery it makes a lot of sense.
I hope readers will call into City Council on Jun 15 and let their preferences (pro or con) be known.