|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Pleasanton city leaders will hold a special virtual meeting Thursday night (Aug. 20), starting 6:30 p.m., to consider developing an alternate mental health response program and weigh staff recommendations about the Pleasanton Police Department’s use-of-force policies.
In light of recent national conversations about policing reform, the Pleasanton City Council and police heard public comment at two meetings last month, during which officials said they noticed some common themes from attendees’ comments.
Some overarching concepts included “a desire to find an alternate response for those in mental health crisis, interest in increased transparency through oversight and frequent policy review, and a desire to understand the perceptions of the department from those whom have experienced its service,” according to the agenda report.
Residents who phoned during one of the meetings on July 21 said they wanted police officers to undergo more mental health crisis training; some asked the city to consider reallocating police funds for mental health specialists to assist and respond to service calls for mental health crises, and called for more civilian oversight of the department.
The council asked staff at the time to review PPD’s “key existing department use of force policies,” as well as their budget, calls for service and mental health response, among other facets.
No immediate decisions will be made at the meeting on Thursday, nor will council accepting the report or providing staff direction cause any immediate financial impacts.
Staff said future policies such as expanding police department training and development and creating new community programs and initiatives “could impact the city’s future operating and capital budgets” — all of which “would be addressed through subsequent actions of the City Council, including adoption of the city’s work plan and future operating and capital budgets.”
Our Police Department is the best of the best! Don’t let this BLM bull mess it up.
We need better outcomes when dealing with the mentally ill. We need changes to internal mechanisms for reporting complaints. We need civilian oversight, be that the council or some independent person(s). We do have a good police department, but it can be improved to keep our community and those who visit here safe.
A lot of brave men and women go out everyday to protect us and our families and our property. So unless you know anything about police work, other than a police science course at a local junior college, then I think you should just shut the damn hell up.
Nope. There are things we can do to protect everyone, and we should.
PPD is great and I have always felt safe here thanks to the amazing job by our men and women in blue. However, I do agree that training on dealing with mental health related situations can only be beneficial. I am vehemently against disarming or defunding our police force.
I don’t want to defund police either. But they have a $22MM cut of the budget and we could use some of that money for a team on mental health crises and for oversight if it isn’t the city council.