Dept. of Justice review of Salinas Police released
UPDATE 3/22/2016 6:15 PM:
The Department of Justice’s highly anticipated review on the Salinas Police Department was released on Tuesday, more than a year after it was initiated by Police Chief Kelly McMillin.
Tension between members of the Hispanic community and the Salinas Police Department came to a head in 2014, after four deadly officer-involved shootings all involving Hispanic men. Last year, McMillin contracted the DOJ’s Community Oriented Policing Services Office for a thorough and candid review of his department.
“The report identifies some very specific areas that need attention and improvement,” said Brian Stretch, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California.
The report found several key areas of concern. According to a release by the DOJ:
1) Officers do not receive regular training on how to effectively respond to individuals with mental health issues and are not able to maintain their training certification requirements;
2) Officers do not receive adequate training on use of force de-escalation, especially with regards to people with mental health issues;
3) There are notable deficiencies with the department’s internal complaint (and investigation) process that brings into question the department’s ability to hold officers accountable;
4) Police and community relations are significantly frayed, and the police department does not appear to fully appreciate this disconnect, and
5) There exists notable deficiencies within internal communications that results in confusion within the ranks and contributes to low morale.
However, the assessment found a majority of officers and command staff want to improve services.
“Not just the chief of police, not just the mayor, not just the City Council, but the entire Salinas community, to take this report as a guide to propel this community to its highest potential,” Stretch said. “We believe Salinas has the right leadership to achieve this and to make the necessary improvements.”
McMillin said he agreed with many of the assessments, but cited his officers work long hours and the department is short-staffed.
“Our officers have little or no time pausing to talk with residents, to go to community meetings, to do what it takes to build deeper, more trusting relationships in our community,” McMillin said. “We agree and have long believed such relationships are critically important.”
The Justice Department did offer solutions to improve policies and practices and build community trust. Those recommendations include the department increase transparency with the police community advisory committee; increase requirements of first-line supervisors to provide more oversight of and evaluate officers on community policing; involve the community in the development of training plans; complete annual de-escalation training; develop an early warning system for officers, establish a use of force review committee; and use an external, independent agency to investigate all officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths.
McMillin said the report did not find any corruption or dishonesty among his officers. He also said all four of those officer-involved shootings in 2014 were found to be legally justified. That includes the death of Carlos Mejia, whose shooting was caught on cellphone. We spoke to his family’s attorney, who agreed with the findings.
“This report and the 4-5 recommendations I saw is spot on in identifying the major issues I’ve seen with this department,” John Burris said. “This is a golden opportunity for the department to take these recommendations and implement them to improve the department. I think the community will be much happier with some of these recommendations once they’re implemented.”
However there were some points that McMillin felt the review left out – most notably, their work with legitimacy and procedural justice.
“The report notes that we need to continue and update our training on legitimacy and procedural justice and I agree,” McMillin said. “But it does not mention that we are already national leaders in legitimacy and procedural justice. Legitimacy and procedural justice is an approach to law enforcement based on the theory that people are more likely to comply with the law if officers take time to listen to them, to hear their voice and treat them respectfully.”
The Justice Department isn’t done in Salinas yet. The federal agency will work with SPD over the next 18 months to help them carry out these recommendations. The COPS Office has also worked with police departments in San Francisco, St. Louis and Milwaukee.
ORIGINAL POST:
A federal agency has released its initial assessment of the Salinas Police Department’s policies and practices.
The Department of Justice’s Office of Community Policing Services listed several key areas of concern. Those include officers failing to receive regular training on how to respond to people with mental health issues. Another issue: “Officers do not receive adequate training on use of force de-escalation, especially with regards to people with mental health issues.”
The DOJ report also found that SPD does not have a stable relationship with the community and called internal communications a challenge.
Also cited in the report, “notable deficiencies” with the way SPD handles internal complaints that, “brings into question the department’s ability to hold officers accountable.”
In all, the federal agency that helps agencies facing law enforcement-related issues came up with 61 findings and 110 recommendations to improve the Salinas Police Department.
“I applaud Chief McMillan for stepping forward to take a critical look at the policies and practices within the Salinas Police Department,” said COPS Office Director Ronald Davis in a press release issued late this morning.
The COPS office said it will work with SPD over the next 18 months to implement its recommendations. It said it will also provide two progress reports.
KION’s Mariana Hicks was at this morning’s press conference and will have more on how SPD plans to go forward.
