The move comes as an interim commission, faced with a backlog and low number of members, put its work on pause
Two and a half years after voters in San Diego approved a new police oversight commission, the City Council on Monday appointed 25 community members to carry out the work. While the appointments were long-awaited, observers say it could take about a year for the Commission on Police Practices to be fully up and running.
The newly appointed commissioners will take over for an interim commission plagued with a flurry of resignations and a backlog of 100 to 150 cases. Deciding how to deal with the backlog will likely be among the commission’s first assignments.Andrea St. Julian, co-chair for San Diegans for Justice and author of the ballot measure that led to creation of the commission, said the appointments the council made during a special meeting Monday were important.But she also said she was concerned there could be delays before commissioners — who will need to pass a background check — take their seats and begin to serve. “In the past we’ve always trusted that things would go expeditiously, and they have not,” St. Julian said. On Monday, candidates who were in attendance had two minutes to make statements. Time was reserved for council members to ask questions of the candidates, though no questions for any of them came up. During public comments, several community leaders, including St. Julian, pushed for the City Council to appoint their preferred candidates. Candidates who received at least five votes were appointed. After five rounds of voting, the 25 seats on the commission were filled. The council’s appointees included several candidates who garnered community support. Not everyone was pleased with all of the appointments. St. Julian said she considered “one or two” appointees as allies to city leaders. Jared Wilson, president of the police union, said in a statement that he believes a “small number of commissioners seem to approach their position more as anti-police activists than neutral arbiters.”The group of appointees — selected from a list of 45 candidates — include retired attorneys, advocates of mental health and social justice, a retired criminal justice research analyst, a school district discipline administrative specialist, a former county Psychiatric Emergency Response Team member and community members with experience in police oversight work.Cheryl Canson, Christina Griffin Jones, Clovis Honoré, Gloria Tran, Jason Moore, Joseph Smith, Laila Aziz, Maria Guadalupe Lozano-Diaz and Yvania Rubio in the at-large seats. Darlanee Mulmat in the District 1 seat, Alec Beyer in District 2, Brandon Hilpert in District 3, Dwayne Harvey in District 4, Octavio Aguilar in District 5, Cheryl Ann Geyerman in District 6, Dennis Brown in District 7, James Justus in District 8 and Ramon Montaño Marquez in District 9. Bonnie Benitez, Dennis Larkin, Doug Case, Mark Maddox and Nicole Murray Ramirez in the seats reserved for residents in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods; and Dalia Sherlyn Villa da la Cruz and Jaylene Vasquez in the seats reserved for young adults ages 18 to 24. The appointments were the latest in an ongoing effort to stand up the commission. Next, commissioners will need to complete training and develop procedures — or protocols — to go about their investigations and issue disciplinary recommendations to the Police Department. The City Council will need to approve the procedures and hire staff to support the commission, including an executive director and legal counsel. The commission, however, will not need to start from scratch. The interim commission in recent months drafted procedures for the new commissioners to consider and developed a program that includes about 30 hours of training, according to Case, interim chair, who was selected among the appointees Monday. Once all the pieces are in place, the commission will investigate — and not simply review — shootings by officers and in-custody deaths. The group also will have the discretion to investigate other incidents, such as serious use of force by officers, and will also review complaints against officers and policies and practices within the San Diego Police Department. The commission came to exist after 75 percent of voters approved Measure B in November 2020. The move replaced the Community Review Board on Police Practices, which reviewed police internal investigations into shootings and other uses of force by officers, as well as complaints about certain types of misconduct. The interim commission operated under the old format — it reviewed cases — until last month, when the group, faced with the backlog and only eight active members, put its work on pause with the expectation that new commissioners would be appointed soon. The interim commission repeatedly voiced concerns that an increase in its caseload and a spate of resignations among overworked commissioners created the backlog, current and former interim commissioners said. “The Commission raises the concern that the Commission may soon be unable to provide the civilian oversight the community expects and demands,” a memo sent to the City Council in January 2022 reads. As of last month, the commission had reviewed 56 cases during the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. That’s down from 124 cases in fiscal 2021 and 103 in fiscal 2022, according to data from the oversight group. After several delays, the City Council approved the framework for the new commission last fall. The application process for new commissioners opened in December and closed in February. After the special meeting Monday, Councilmember Marni von Wilpert said in a statement that she is excited the city is “one step closer to implementing bold, robust and transparent police oversight.” “I am confident the new Commissioners will bring valuable and diverse expertise and perspectives to the table, and I am eager for them to get to work as soon as possible,” said von Wilpert, who also serves as chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee. Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe said during the meeting that the appointments were the first time the city filled seats on a commission without the mayor’s involvement. That was the intent of Measure B, as a way to create trust in the oversight. Montgomery Steppe said she was pleased that the candidates represented diverse backgrounds. “It really does give me hope to hear from you all that we are in good hands,” she said. Most of the commissioners will serve two-year terms. As a way to create staggered terms, 12 of the commissioners will serve one-year terms.
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