Community Matters: Petaluma leads when it comes to police reform

A video on Monday’s evening news showed three Arkansas police officers repeatedly punching a suspect and bashing his head into the pavement. The man was suspected of making threats in a store, but the police response was horrifyingly barbarous.

Given the national outrage and widespread public demonstrations over police brutality two years ago when a bystander’s viral video showed a Minneapolis peace officer kneeling on the neck of a Black man who later died from the trauma, most people hoped to see some positive change in American policing by now.

But there has been no appreciable decline in American police violence over the last few years. News reports about unjustified shootings of young Black men by law enforcement officers continue unabated, the latest occurring in the city of San Bernadino a few weeks ago.

Meaningful federal police reform legislation was proposed but failed to become law after Senate Republicans objected. Here in California, a package of laws was enacted last year to improve police accountability, increase transparency of police misconduct records and ban harmful restraint techniques.

Perhaps these new state laws will help correct the deeply troubled Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, which has paid out more than $10 million in excessive force and wrongful death lawsuits over the past decade due to repeated deputy misconduct. Last month, a barefoot immigrant farmworker suspected of attempted burglary was shot to death after a foot chase. His family plans to file yet another wrongful death suit against the department.

And so it goes.

But here in Petaluma, the situation is radically different. The police department here has listened carefully to public feedback, implemented a host of progressive policing practices and developed a strong culture of service that keeps complaints low while building trust among divergent segments of the community.

Petaluma Police officers are expected to meet exceptionally high standards in keeping with the moral principles outlined in the Report on 21st Century Policing commissioned by former President Barack Obama.

To do this, Petaluma Police Chief Ken Savano voluntarily agreed several years ago to participate in professional certification programs that measure “best practices” in providing quality police services. Coupled with the department’s strong public service ethos and zero tolerance policy for unwarranted use of force, the department has seen extraordinarily few reports of police misconduct in recent years.

Beginning in 2017, the department developed a Restorative Justice program in conjunction with Mentor Me Petaluma under which juvenile offenders are offered diversionary alternatives to incarceration that include constructive social service programs aimed at building personal accountability, emotional intelligence and general life skills. The program is widely credited with helping keep troubled youth out of the criminal justice system.

Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, community members called upon the city to offer social services to help people coping with addiction, mental health crises and homelessness, issues prompting the majority of calls to police. Today, the Petaluma Peoples Services Center employs two-member mobile crisis response teams comprised of a social worker and EMT that effectively respond to such calls 24/7.

The Specialized Assistance for Everyone (SAFE) program works in collaboration with Petaluma Police whose dispatchers assign emergency calls to either police officers or the SAFE team depending on the circumstances. For the program’s first year ending July 31, nearly 3,300 calls were handled by the 22 SAFE team employees according to PPSC Executive Director Elece Hempel who says that people in distress are now getting the help they need while police officers can focus on more pressing matters, like apprehending the thieves who violently robbed the Petaluma Ulta store on Monday.

Because statistics show that a large percentage of the people killed by police in the United States were having a mental health crisis at the time they died, the new crisis intervention teams are literally helping save lives.

SAFE has become so effective, in fact, that state officials who approve funding for such programs visited Petaluma last week to learn why it’s doing so well here. According to Hempel, the full support and active collaboration of local police is one very big reason for its success.

Every week, police and SAFE teams members meet to discuss current trends and share expertise on the latest de-escalation techniques aimed at resolving conflicts peacefully. Continual training programs are held for all local peace officers on the use of non-lethal tactics to safely apprehend people committing crimes and threatening the safety of others. Two examples: Last week, police were called regarding a man waving a machete on Payran Street. Using a combination of verbal commands and non-lethal techniques, the suspect was safely arrested. Similar tactics were employed to arrest another man who had threatened firefighters with a knife during a training exercise.

In response to public feedback, police in June launched the Safe Space campaign, an anti-hate initiative that highlights the LGBTQIA+ community but applies to anyone regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion or age, ensuring that hate crimes are fully reported and responded to by authorities with respect and equity.

Developed with input from the Petaluma community and spearheaded by Jennifer Prichard, the department’s community engagement liaison, the program featured police staff wearing Pride lapel pins and patches while Petaluma Police vehicles sported Pride magnets. According to Prichard, “Increasing public safety for all means building genuine relationships and trust with everyone we serve. The Safe Space program was our agency telling the community ‘We are here for you.’”

These and several other newly adopted programs and policies demonstrate that Petaluma’s police department is in the vanguard of law enforcement agencies nationwide seeking to enact meaningful change to better serve their communities. Much of the change was inspired by public testimony following the Petaluma City Council’s appointment of an advisory committee in 2020 to study local race relations and policing and develop recommendations to improve diversity, equity and inclusivity in Petaluma.

As a result, Petaluma City Council members agreed unanimously last spring to implement a hybrid police oversight model that will include an outside adviser to map the establishment of relationships between the Petaluma Police Department, city staff and the community. This new oversight body is expected to be seated early next year.

In the meantime, and despite the fact that serious police misconduct continues to be condomed in hundreds of other American cities, Petalumans can be thankful for the sound leadership demonstrated by their city council, city manager, police chief and police officers who are united in finding new ways to better serve their community.

(John Burns is a former publisher of the Petaluma Argus-Courier. He can be reached at john.burns@arguscourier.com)