Berkeley Takes Action to Reform Police Use of Force

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June 5, 2020

BERKELEY – Today, Mayor Jesse Arreguin and Councilmember Kate Harrison introduced an urgency item to require the Berkeley Police Department to implement several new policies recommended by the 8 Can’t Wait campaign.

“Our nation is in pain, but local jurisdictions have the power and obligation to implement reforms that restrict the circumstances in which police can use force,” said Mayor Arreguin. “Jurisdictions with more restrictive use of force policies have fewer officer-involved shootings per capita, and officers in such jurisdictions are less likely to be assaulted or killed.  This is a win-win that will make a difference in our communities and that will restore the promise of equal justice for all.”

Councilmember Kate Harrison praised the proposal, saying “for too long, public safety has been viewed as the sole purview of our police and fire department. This approach has been fundamentally backwards for many African Americans, who are policed, arrested, harmed and killed at much higher rates than their white counterparts. The 8 Can’t Wait policies are essential reforms to ensure harm reduction and alignment with best practices.”

Recommendations from the 8 Can’t Wait campaign that Berkeley will implement under this urgency ordinance are as follows:

  • Requiring de-escalation tactics by communicating with subjects, maintaining distance, and otherwise eliminating the need to use force.

  • Exhausting all alternatives before using lethal force, including non-force and less lethal force options, prior to resorting to deadly force.

  • Banning the discharge of weapons at moving vehicles.

  • Require officers to report each time they use force or threaten to use force against civilians.

Four of the 8 Can’t Wait measures have already been implemented by the Berkeley Police Department:

  • A ban on chokeholds and strangleholds.

  • Requirement that a verbal warning be issued in all situations before using deadly force.

  • Duty to intervene and stop excessive force used by other officers and report these incidents immediately to a supervisor.

  • Implementing a Use of Force Continuum that restricts the most severe types of force to the most extreme situations and creates clear policy restrictions on the use of each police weapon and tactic.

This proposal comes on the heels of other police reforms the City has enacted. In 2014 following the December 2013 Black Lives Matter protests, and again in 2017, the City Council adopted reforms on police use of force including prohibiting the use of tear gas on peaceful protests.

The Mayor is submitting this as an urgency item to be voted on at the June 9th Council meeting.

Jesse Arreguin