Modesto’s police reform committee named. Here’s who is on it so far
The Modesto committee charged with looking at how the Police Department can do a better job will do its work in public.
The City Council on Tuesday approved forming the committee and its members and that committee meetings will follow the Brown Act, the state’s public meeting law.
That means meeting agendas will be posted at least 72 hours before the committee meets; the public is entitled to the same materials provided to committee members, and the public can attend and speak at meetings.
The committee’s first meeting is scheduled for July 20, and the committee is expected to meet monthly on a Tuesday. The committee is expected to spend six months to a year developing recommendations for the City Council’s consideration.
The committee is part of the city’s Forward Together initiative. City officials say this effort is about engaging the community about how police officers do their jobs and how they can do them better.
It comes as residents nationwide talk about the role of law enforcement in their communities after the May 2020 death of George Floyd, a Black man who died while in Minneapolis police custody.
Those conversations took on urgency here after the December fatal shooting of Trevor Seever by a Modesto officer. The urgency has increased with last month’s fatal shooting by a Stanislaus deputy of Xander Mann, a 16-year-old driver who had fled from deputies in Modesto.
While some community members have called for Modesto to form a civilian review panel and hire an independent auditor to provide oversight of the Police Department, city officials say the committee will come up with its own recommendations as it researches the themes of accountability, policies and practices, and alternate response models for the police.
Besides forming the committee, council members also unanimously selected the committee’s members from 24 organizations that city officials say represent the city’s constituencies, from law enforcement and social justice advocates to neighborhoods, businesses and groups that represent the city’s diversity.
The committee members include Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager, Sheriff Jeff Dirkse, the Modesto Police Officers Association, county Public Defender Laura Arnold, the Latino Community Roundtable, El Concilio, MoPride, the Chamber of Commerce, the NAACP, the ACLU, the West Modesto Community Collaborative, county Behavioral Health and Recovery Services and the Stanislaus County Interfaith Council.
The committee will include four community members selected by committee members. The city will publicize more about this on social media and post the application on its website, www.modestogov.com. Applicants will have a month to apply, according to the city.
Two members of the public spoke against this initiative.
One man said the only people who fear police are criminals and those indoctrinated by the media to believe in the media’s agenda of systemic racism and that the police are white supremacists.
The other man advocated following a group called the Constitutional Sheriffs & Peace Officers Association. The group believes the U.S. Constitution gives sheriffs the final authority and the ability not to enforce laws they believe violate the Constitution.
Council members and city officials pushed back against the claims made by the men, saying this effort was not about defending the police but about making Modesto safer and officers more effective.
This story was originally published June 9, 2021 at 1:10 PM.
