By Staff Reporter |
The city of Tempe held the first meeting for its Public Safety and Community Oversight Council Subcommittee on Monday.
Councilmember Bobby Nichols is chairing the subcommittee. Mayor Corey Woods and Councilmember Brooke St. George are also members of the subcommittee.
The subcommittee is focused on reviewing progress on implementation of recommendations made by the city’s 2020-2021 Public Safety Advisory Task Force. Additionally, the subcommittee plans to review and evaluate policies, data, and procedures related to 911 response, police deescalation, and police use of force.
Woods created the task force following the summer of Black Lives Matter-led riots initiated by the death of George Floyd while in police custody.
The task force issued seven pages of recommendations for police reform in Tempe. Recommendations included:
- Creating an unarmed unit to respond to nonviolent crimes and situations, with a suggestion for police to base call response on the interpretation of the threat level and consideration of how beliefs around race, gender, or class may influence threat level interpretations.
- Restructuring the 911 Emergency Call Center to be modeled after a now-defunct program in Oregon which provided mobile crisis intervention services for mental health issues, conflicts, homelessness, and first aid.
- Conducting a diversity audit of the 911 Emergency Call Center.
- Establishing a civilian-based investigative body for police use of force violations or complaints.
- Providing families with body-worn camera footage and reports within 48 hours of officer-involved shootings.
- Establishing a settlement fund for victims of police brutality within the police department’s budget.
- Shifting resources from police to social services, including expanding and increasing funds for CARE 7, which houses the city’s crisis response team and victims services advocacy.
- Ceasing police hiring and recruitment until task force recommendations and “a culture shift” occur.
The subcommittee plans to explore further the city’s progress with implementing these recommendations at their next meeting on September 28.
The recent arrest over the summer of Arizona State University (ASU) student Eryn Bonner prompted the council to create the subcommittee. Surveillance footage and police body camera video reflect that Bonner was arrested after refusing to comply with law enforcement orders to remain at a distance during the arrest of two men. Bonner approached arresting officers twice while yelling and grabbing at them. She then approached a third time, attacking the officer who had twice pushed her away from the other arresting officers.
According to police records and as indicated by body camera footage, Bonner struck the arresting officer multiple times in the head as he attempted to arrest her. It appears that only after Bonner attacked the officer that he struck Bonner to subdue her.
Police have filed misdemeanor charges against Bonner including assault, disorderly conduct, obstruction, and resisting arrest.
Community stakeholders present at this first meeting included Casey Clowes, an SRP board member; DeAnna Alvarez, advocacy director for AANHPI for Equity; Kema Charles with the Scottsdale chapter of Black Lives Matter; Michelle Ivette Ponce and Raquel Britain, program manager with the Phoenix Metro chapter of Black Lives Matter; and Nicole Gutierrez-Miller, governing board member with Tempe Union High School District.
One item of particular focus at this meeting was the Tempe Citizens’ Review Panel for Police Complaints and Use of Force. The city established the panel in 1999 to provide civilian oversight over police use of force, similar to one of the recommendation items posed by the 2020-2021 Public Safety Advisory Task Force.
The subcommittee plans to discuss whether other municipalities have civilian oversight bodies that have proven effective at securing accountability, restoring public trust, and offering resolutions to incidents.
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