Fresno has a rare chance to reform police department. City leaders must not fail to lead

Fresno has a rare opportunity to bring about meaningful reform of its police department. The stakes are high, because history shows it is hard for the city to reach these moments, and previous attempts have fallen short.

On Thursday the City Council is to take up the Police Reform Commission’s report and the 73 recommendations it contains. The council should accept the report and its recommendations as a start toward forging a better Fresno, one where residents of all ethnicities, races and ages feel valued by police.

That the city is at a crucial pivot point cannot be denied. While the impetus for the reform commission came out of George Floyd’s death in Minnesota, Fresno police already had strained — many critics would say broken — relationships with sizable parts of the city they are meant to protect.

The commission was led by former City Councilmember Oliver Baines and vice chair Sandra Celedon, executive director of Fresno Building Healthy Communities. The group in three months of work has done an impressive job of outlining problems with Fresno police and how the department can be improved. Some of the ideas are relatively easy to accomplish, and should be started immediately. Others will have to be worked through negotiations with the union representing the department’s officers and will take longer to accomplish.

Black, Asian, female officers needed

A recommendation that can be worked on immediately is creating an “Equity in recruiting, hiring and promotions plan.” The goal is to remake the police force to better reflect the races and ethnicities of the city. The commission noted that the department is underrepresented when it comes to Black, Asian and female officers. There are no Black or Asian officers above the rank of lieutenant, and women make up just 11% of the officers.

Enough management expertise exists in Fresno proper — be it at Fresno State, at professional staffing firms or at large employers with diverse work forces — that it should not be difficult for the police department to create this plan with the assistance of local advisers. The next police chief will want a say, but Mayor-elect Jerry Dyer and his incoming city manager, Thomas Esqueda, can certainly get the effort started when they take over in January.

While not a member of the commission, Dyer watched the meetings and supports the recommendations, Baines indicated. As the former police chief for 18 years until his retirement last fall, he was in charge. While the commission does not blame Dyer for the problems it identifies, the issues certainly developed on his watch.

Mental health calls

Another recommendations is to free Fresno police from responding to calls involving someone in a nonviolent mental health emergency. Instead, “The City should increase reliance on behavioral health and trained medical professionals to respond to such calls,” the report says.

In 2018 a pilot project was launched that pairs officers with county behavioral health staff on 9-1-1 calls when there is a mental health issue. The report notes the program has handled 7,000 calls, with 38 percent resulting in people in crisis being detained in safe surroundings for their good and that of the public.

“The program has been successful. There appears to be an opportunity for it to further evolve to the point where (nonviolent) calls could be handled by mental health professionals exclusively,” the report says.

Use of force

A recommendation sure to be debated is when officers should use force against suspects. The commission is recommending a strict standard that police should avoid deadly force except when a suspect presents an immediate threat to someone else.

Under that policy, Baines told The Bee Editorial Board that police would not have fired on 16-year-old Isiah Murietta-Golding, who fled from a traffic stop in April 2017. He was wanted for the murder of a 19 year old that happened the day before.

As Murietta-Golding ran from police into a day care center, a Fresno police sergeant ordered him to stop, then fired a shot at the youth, which struck him in the head and killed him. It turned out he was unarmed. The day care center was closed.

“Unless someone is about to take someone’s life, we should not be taking someone’s life,” Baines said. “We are not the military. We are not at war with our community.”

Homeless, schools, oversight

Other recommendations include freeing up police from dealing with homeless people unless a crime was being committed; reassigning police off Fresno Unified campuses and toward other uses; and giving greater authority to a citizens board for review of police performance.

A critical player in the success of any reform will be the Fresno Peace Officers Association. The commission approved the report on a 31-1 vote, the only no coming from Todd Fraizer, who was then president of the union. He had concerns with the use of force recommendation, as well as citizen oversight and ideas to restrict the police budget.

For any reform to succeed, the union must be more than an obstacle and act with more than self-interest.

Pro-police and community

“‘The overall message should be ‘pro-community and pro-police.’ We should not have to choose only one side.’ This comment was made by one of our residents in a focus group that captures the sentiment of Fresnans.”

That snippet from the report is right. Fresno city leaders have a chance to renew the town by remaking the police department. It is not us vs. them, but we: What do we want our police department to be? How can we support it? How can it serve us better?

In one respect, it is disappointing to read the report’s summary of cities across the nation, large and small, trying novel ways to reform their police departments, and realize Fresno is not yet on that list.

That said, the commission has done a great job by offering rock-solid ideas. Will Fresno’s leaders have the courage to follow through? The meeting Thursday will be the first test.