City Council In Brief

Published on June 19, 2020

City Council In Brief
June 19, 2020

This week, the City Council held a regular meeting on Tuesday, June 16, and a special meeting on Wednesday, June 17. At both, the Council initiated a process toward transforming the Alameda Police Department (APD).

On Tuesday, the City’s 2020/2021 budget was unanimously approved, with the direction that additional proposed changes will return to the City Council in October for consideration. Immediate changes were made to APD including not filling current vacancies, dedicating funding to change how APD responds to calls for service (once those changes are approved by the City Council), demilitarizing the APD by selling the City’s armored vehicle (BATT tank) and banning the purchase of military grade equipment (including tear gas), and removing police officers from Alameda’s schools. Finally, all policing policy changes will be brought to the City Council for its approval before implementation. This includes recent changes that have been discussed but not implemented, including when APD responds to calls to service.

Dozens of residents called on the City Council to reduce funding for law enforcement and transform the way the City does policing. The City Council will be meeting again on June 29 at 5:30 pm to review police policies and existing laws, establish police oversight and anti-racism training, and discuss how the City responds to calls for service. The Agenda for the June 29 meeting will be posted Monday, June 22.

On Wednesday, June 17, the City Council heard from 76 residents and focused specifically on police reforms. The City Council approved signing the Mayor’s Pledge from the Obama Foundation, committing to review police use of force policies, engage our community by including a diverse range of input, experiences, and stories in our review, report the findings of our review to the community for feedback, and reform the Alameda Police Department’s use of force policies.

The Council also adopted the #8cantwait police reform initiatives as a first step toward further change. This includes banning chokeholds and strangleholds, requiring de-escalation, requiring warning before shooting, requiring that all alternatives have been exhausted before shooting, the duty to intervene, banning shooting at moving vehicles, requiring a use of force continuum that restricts the most severe types of force to the most extreme situations, and requiring comprehensive reporting.