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Fresno police reform meeting turns tense, after union president and attorney clash
The Fresno Police Officers Association’s union president recently took issue with suggestions from some members of the city’s police reform commission who are looking to change policies on use-of-force.
The commission is made up of a handful of subcommittees, including one reviewing police policy, tactics and training. That committee, which met on Friday, was reviewing proposed language related to officers intervening to stop a fellow officer from using excessive force.
“All law enforcement officers must intervene when they reasonably believe that a law enforcement officer is using or about to use unnecessary or excessive force in violation of this mission, and must report the incident to the supervisor,” the proposed language says.
FPOA President Todd Fraizer said he objected to the language “about to use” because it would require an officer to predict what a colleague was going to do.
“That’s ridiculous. You may have conflict between officers,” he said during the meeting. “You’re just asking for disaster.”
Some of the other members of the committee — like commission member and professor James Pitts — pushed back against Fraizer, saying some acts of force are deadly and can’t be taken back.
“The only way to intervene in some instances, for instance in the use of deadly force, may be at the time when the individual is about to squeeze the trigger,” he said.
The commission has been asked for its advice from the Fresno City Council on a number of police-related topics. The meetings have been at times contentious, like during Friday’s meeting.
Fresno residents, like people in many cities nationwide, reacted with demands for police reform after seeing the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer while three other officers watched.
Adding the “about to use” language in Fresno’s policy was also supported by member and attorney Mariah Thompson. “The point of this is to create accountability and restraint on the use of force,” she said.
Fraizer said the committee members who have not been officers are not experts. “We (police) are the experts on use-of-force,” he said. “You are wading into something you don’t know or know very little about. Trust me.”
Angie Isaak, retired Fresno police officer and commission member, also sided with Fraizer.
Use-of-force incidents in Fresno
Fresno Police Department has a history of use of force incidents leading to outrage in the community, as well as lawsuits.
Anger was sparked in Fresno after video footage from April 2017 surfaced, showing a Fresno police sergeant fatally shooting unarmed 16-year-old Isiah Murrietta-Golding in the back of the head as the boy fled. A lawsuit in that case is pending.
A Jan. 23, 2019 incident spawned a lawsuit against the city and police, accusing the department of excessive force after an officer repeatedly punched 17-year-old London Wallace. That incident is also commonly referenced by citizens seeking police reform.
Commission member and retired officer Bob Mitchell said crafting new policies isn’t about restraining the majority of officers making “rational, logical and prudent” decisions.
“This is for that individual — he or she — who doesn’t do that,” he said. “So that the department then has a capability of exercising discipline and if that officer — he or she — needs to be removed, they can be removed.”
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