Members of a community task force created to suggest changes to law enforcement oversight including the establishment of a civilian review board for officer-involved shootings will be under strict time constraints when they attend their first meeting on Monday.
The 21-member panel will be expected to produce quarterly results, starting with a recommendation for reviewing the use of deadly force, Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane said.
That initiative, which comes in the wake of last year's fatal shooting of 13-year-old Andy Lopez by a sheriff's deputy, will be delivered by early March to the Board of Supervisors, which could choose to adopt it after a series of public hearings.
The task force will then consider suggestions for community policing, to be submitted by April 30, before launching on a third recommendation to separate the administration of the coroner from the Sheriff's Office, due 60 days later, Zane said.
By years' end, the panel will be expected to forward a final suggestion of its own choosing that could be related to community healing, a weapons exchange program or building other law enforcement infrastructure, she said.
"This is a very strict timeline with very definitive goals," said Zane, who supported the task force with the other supervisors. "This is not some feel-good task force. People are going to be expected to roll up their sleeves and work really hard."
The task force, hand-picked by Zane and her four board colleagues, Santa Rosa Mayor Scott Bartley, Sheriff Steve Freitas and District Attorney Jill Ravitch, will meet at 6 p.m. at the county's Human Services Department offices on Capricorn Way in southwest Santa Rosa.
Members are expected to pick a chairperson, break into subcommittees and take public comment. They will also set future meeting times, which are expected to occur at least once a week, Zane said.
The first order of business will be to study civilian review board models used in other jurisdictions. Calls for independent oversight have grown since Lopez was shot Oct. 22 by sheriff's Dep. Erick Gelhaus, who told police he mistook the BB gun Lopez was carrying for an AK-47 assault rifle.
The shooting is being investigated by the Santa Rosa Police Department under a county protocol to avoid conflicts of interest where a department investigates its own staff members.
But critics have questioned whether police can be impartial. At numerous protests, marches and rallies, they've urged the establishment of formal civilian oversight of future law enforcement shootings.
Task force members will look into doing just that, developing specifics about such things as who would be on the review board and what authority they would have. A goal of the board could be to restore public trust in underrepresented parts of the community, supporters said.
However, a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors would be just the first step in a politically daunting process. Even if supervisors agree, Sonoma County's nine cities would not be obligated to participate. A process would begin to win support in other jurisdictions.
Retired Chief Probation Officer Cora Guy, who was the district attorney's pick for the task force, said she is undecided about what to do. Guy said she would come to the meetings with an open mind to help devise helpful recommendations.
"I think we have an opportunity to bring about public good in the aftermath of the tragic loss to not only the family but the community," said Guy.
Others members, like Amber Twitchell of Guerneville, who runs a Santa Rosa nonprofit for former foster children, said she, too, had not decided on the civilian review board.
But she said a number of social systems failed in the Lopez shooting and she would approach the task force with an eye toward suggesting improvements.
"I'm definitely on the side of change," Twitchell said.
(You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com._
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