Bee editorial: Reinventing police is off to a decent start in Modesto

Forward Together’s two principal recommendations for police reform in Modesto — that the city form a civilian review board and hire an independent police auditor — are commendable.

They are the product of a year’s hard work by 27 people representing diverse interests, from progressive groups focused on civil rights to law enforcement itself. That all endorse the group’s main suggestions is a testament to what people can accomplish when they set aside self-interest and are willing to work with those whose core beliefs might be very different from their own.

It’s a good start to the goal of improving how Modesto police officers go about their jobs as well as boosting the community’s trust in them. The effort, everyone hopes, will save lives and money.

Too many people have needlessly lost their lives because an officer saw someone in mental crisis or under the influence of a mind-altering substance as a criminal to be neutralized rather than a brother or sister in need of help.

Prominent recent examples include the deaths of Trevor Seever, who was unarmed when shot by Modesto policeman Joseph Lamantia in late 2020, and Paul Chavez, who was drunk and holding a trailer hitch when Modesto policeman Sam Muncy shot him in July. Lamantia was fired and his November preliminary hearing on a manslaughter charge was delayed until January, while the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s office a few days ago declared Chavez’s killing justified.

Too many taxpayer dollars have been paid to settle lawsuits brought by survivors of those killed by unwise, poorly trained or impatient officers acting under color of authority. Such cases have cost Modesto, the county and their insurance providers millions over the years; lawsuits brought by survivors of Seever and Chavez are in early stages.

The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May 2020 touched off protests across the United States, as well as police reform movements in dozens of cities. Forward Together is Modesto’s version, first championed by Mayor Sue Zwahlen, then by the entire seven-member City Council.

Three new members — Jeremiah Williams, Eric Alvarez and Nick Bavaro — joined the council on Nov. 29. All have made favorable comments about Forward Together, including in recent interviews with The Modesto Bee Editorial Board. It is imperative that they use their newfound power to help keep this monumental effort on course.

Their first chance comes Tuesday, Dec. 13 as the council considers options developed by staff working off Forward Together’s recommendations.

Points of agreement

Both foundational pillars of Forward Together — civilian review and an auditor — were demanded in an April 2021 Bee series of “More public in public safety” editorials which included other recommendations, some of which were adopted by Forward Together, while others were not.

For example, Forward Together agrees with The Bee that:

• A badge and gun need not respond to every call. Forward Together recommends that Modesto police continue to beef up alternate response programs; specifically, the department’s Community Health and Assistance Team and Mobile Crisis Emergency Response Team, respectively known as CHAT and MCERT. Depending on the risk of violence, mental health workers can respond with or without officers, freeing up police to do actual police work.
• The City Council must designate a funding stream to keep alive and expand these programs. They were started with grants that eventually will end, while dedicated funding could keep them going indefinitely.

To this end, The Bee recommends that city leaders use some proceeds of Measure H, the sales tax increase approved by Modesto voters in November. It is expected to bring in $39 million per year.

• The auditor should have intimate knowledge, perhaps from personal experience, of law enforcement and its cultures. Additionally, she or he must be given full access to police records, including internal investigations.

The Bee further recommends that Measure H be tapped to pay the police auditor’s salary.

• The auditor and civilian review board must both regularly produce public reports.

This is a must.

This year, Fresno police officers have been disciplined 40 times, including three who were fired in the third quarter and another 10 suspended for a total of 600 hours. One officer was disciplined for abusing use of records. Another was arrested on suspicion of DUI, and another made inappropriate comments on social media.

People in Fresno learned all of this because that city’s independent auditor writes and releases to the public quarterly reports.

Modesto deserves similar knowledge of our police department.

Debate over Modesto police role

Modesto’s Forward Together deviated from The Bee’s April 2021 recommendations in one significant aspect: police involvement in Forward Together itself. Many years of experience in other agencies show that police will be defensive and obstructionist, some experts said, and may intimidate other committee members, some of whom will have legitimate gripes about abuse and brutality. That reasoning made some sense.

From the start, Forward Together embraced another view — that excluding police would kill any chance at officers buying into positive change. It’s better to have police on the ground floor of doing something rather than officers feeling something is being done to them, facilitator Kate Trompetter told the Editorial Board.

Also, meaningful reform should be driven by data — numbers collected by police, who are more inclined to share information with partners than perceived enemies.

Other cities and counties with years of experience in police reform said it invariably fails when forced, Trompetter said, because officers were dragged into something without feeling it themselves. Forward Together chairman Will Kelly, a labor union leader, said officers forced to testify under subpoena before a review board or auditor often claim Fifth Amendment rights, yielding unproductive results.

The effect that police may have had on other Forward Together participants is not easily measured. But this is known: When it came time to endorse the working group’s recommendations, all stood in unity beside one another — the Modesto Police Department, its powerful union, the ACLU, the NAACP, the Chamber of Commerce, the Latino Community Roundtable and many more. That’s impressive.

“Everyone’s expectations were exceeded in terms of consensus building, finding common ground and uniting,” Kelly said. “We were not trying to make any one person super happy at the expense of anyone else. We were trying to align as a group, and we were successful in that.”

Where Forward Together stalled

This is not a blanket endorsement, however, of the decision to fold police into Forward Together. The working group failed to reach consensus on important department policy changes precisely because of opposition raised by representatives of police or their union.

A long list of disagreements includes additional training to help police avoid racial bias, civil rights training for officers, “know your rights” training for the community, reducing arrests of Latino youth, improving mental health treatment for officers, drug testing for officers including after a critical incident, banning on-duty political activity, clarifying standards for use-of-pain compliance, specifically prohibiting carotid holds, requiring officers to call for assistance when they might use lethal force, and requiring that officers stop shooting as soon as possible after they start.

All have merit and should be pursued.

Rather than continuing to spin wheels, Forward Together wisely chose to note the lack of unanimity and recommend that the future civilian review board and auditor be charged with deciding which points might be brought to the City Council. That seems a reasonable compromise.

Lastly, The Bee reasserts that police cannot be permitted to screen review board membership or to dictate its activities. Doing so would neuter the board.

Most law enforcement officers are honest, decent people working an impossibly dangerous job. Forward Together aims to help them do it better.

With Forward Together, we all get “an increased level of transparency,” Trompetter said. “Better data collection. More trust between the community and law enforcement. Reduced arrests of the young Latino population. All that makes this community safer — period, the end.”

Keep it going, City Council, for your people and your police alike. Keep moving forward, together.

This story was originally published December 8, 2022 at 6:00 AM.