Modesto’s police department needs change, callers tell City Council in weekend meeting
Modesto asks too much of its Police Department, and needs a different model, speakers said during a meeting Saturday aimed at evaluating and improving policing in the city.
Police officers are expected to handle calls involving homeless people, the mentally ill and those struggling with addiction. Those calls should be handled differently, which also will give police officers more time to respond to their core mission of dealing with crime.
The City Council listened to more than 40 members of the public talk for more than 2 1/2 hours Saturday as Modesto officially launched its Forward Together initiative.
The common themes that emerged included the need for a civilian review panel and independent auditor to provide oversight of the Police Department and the need for mental health clinicians to handle calls involving people in the midst of a mental health crisis.
And while many speakers supported the police, some also talked about troubling experiences with law enforcement. For instance, one speaker said he is a high school teacher and took part in a Black Lives Matter demonstration last summer.
He said for the most part the CHP and Modesto officers at the demonstration were wonderful but there were some Modesto officers who escalated a tense situation with protesters. Some speakers also called for officers to be trained as guardians and not as warriors.
But other speakers strongly defended the police. One speaker talked about how the police went above and beyond the call of duty to get help for her nephew, who the speaker said is homeless and a heroin addict. She said other agencies were not able to help him.
Councilman Chris Ricci said during council members’ comments at the end of the meeting that supporting the police and reforming its practices are not mutually exclusive. And members of the public spoke about how improving how officers do their jobs will increase trust between the police and community.
Modesto held Saturday’s listening session at Tenth Street Place, though seating was limited because of the pandemic restrictions, and over Zoom.
How residents can participate
City officials emphasized this was the start of process of looking at the police and that there will be more opportunities for residents to participate.
The public can email comments to forwardtogether@modestogov.com or leave a voice message at 209-577-6400. The public also can follow the initiative at modestogov.com/forwardtogether.
The next step is for the City Council to form a committee and direct it to investigate potential reforms. The committee is expected to take six months to a year on this before reporting back to the council with recommendations.
The council is expected to appoint committee members and assign them their work at its June 8 meeting. According to the city, these groups have said they are willing to have members serve on the committee:
The ACLU, the City Ministry Network, El Concilio, the Downtown Modesto Partnership, Golden Valley Health Centers, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Modesto City Schools, the Latino Community Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce, Modesto Neighborhoods Inc., police Internal Affairs, MoPride, the Modesto Police Officers Association, the NAACP, the Stanislaus County Interfaith Council and county behavioral health, the district attorney’s office and public defender as well as as the West Modesto Community Collaborative.
Modesto provided a Spanish translator to translate comments from Spanish-speaking members of the public, as well as translating council members’ remarks into Spanish. The translator translated the comments of a couple of members of the public.
Do more for Spanish speakers
But the city faced criticism over how it accommodated Spanish speakers. One member of the public said the meeting’s written materials should have been available in Spanish and the city needs to do more outreach in the community, especially among its Latino residents, who may not trust the police.
Another member of the public said the city should have translated all of the meeting’s comments into Spanish.
Modesto is working on making its City Council meetings more accommodating to people who do not speak English or who have limited English fluency.
Mayor Sue Zwahlen thanked the community members who participated in the meeting for their civility and thoughtful comments. She also thanked her fellow council members, city staff and the meeting’s facilitators, Kate Trompetter and Michael Baldwin.
This story was originally published May 24, 2021 at 11:00 AM.
