FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 2021

CONTACT:
MayorPress@sandiego.gov

SAN DIEGO Demonstrating progress on implementing sensible and equitable changes to police practices in the City of San Diego, Mayor Todd Gloria shared today that he has accomplished almost half of his public safety priorities and reforms to police practices, which were first announced in April, with more set to be completed in the coming months.

Weve made significant progress, said Mayor Todd Gloria. Six months after announcing my police and public safety reform package, we are well on our way to modernizing our police practices to ensure they are equitable while continuing to make sure every San Diegan feels safe in our city. There is more to do, and I am committed to doing the work.

To date, Mayor Gloria has completed as part of his public safety and police practices reform package:

• Appropriately funded the independent Commission on Police Practices. As part of the Fiscal Year 2022 budget, Mayor Gloria appropriated $1.14 million to the Commission on Police Practices. This funding is in line with the recommendation from the Independent Budget Analysts report, which estimates the budget at $1.06 million. In an attachment to that same report, the proponents of Measure B estimate the total budget for the Commission to be between $853,010 and $903,010. Mayor Gloria looks forward to receiving an implementation ordinance from the City Council, which he is eager to sign, to codify the establishment of the Citys independent police oversight body.
• Eliminated existing gang injunctions. Mayor Gloria, in coordination with City Attorney Mara Elliott, successfully advocated for the District Attorney to remove all existing gang injunctions in San Diego, which include the lifting of 20 civil gang injunctions and the removal of 349 individuals from injunction lists. This comes after years of advocacy by the Citys Gang Commission and community leaders.
• Revised consent search procedure. The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) has made modifications to its existing consent search procedure (Procedure 4.01). These revisions require officers to obtain clear consent, notify persons being searched of their right to refuse or withdraw consent at any time, document consent searches using body worn camera, and ensure searches are unduly intensive or intrusive.
• Ensuring SDPD attracts the best candidates. Mayor Gloria and SDPD are working to recruit more diverse candidates into the department by offering pay raises and offering incentives to attract and retain the best candidates. Some of this is reflected in the welcoming of our most recent police academies, which are the most diverse groups of recruits in SDPD history. Further, the department recently pledged to increase the representation of women in the department from nearly 17% (which is above the national average) to 30% by the year 2030. This effort to diversify the department is an ongoing endeavor.
• Removed the Office of Homeland Security (OHS) as a program of the San Diego Police Department. The removal of OHS from SDPDs command and its rebranding to the Office of Emergency Services creates an opportunity for the City to focus on large-scale emergency efforts and disaster response. Further, as the administrator to the Urban Area Securities Initiative (UASI), the City of San Diego is committing to more transparency by better informing the Council through the Public Safety & Livable Neighborhoods (PS&LN) Committee about the grant application and award process.

The next items Mayor Gloria intends to address as part of his remaining police reform priorities, are:

Implementing controls for the procurement and use of military-grade weapons. AB 481, authored by Assemblymember David Chiu, requires state and local law enforcement agencies to get authorization from their governing bodies before acquiring military equipment.

Mayor Gloria is working to ensure the City of San Diego is one of the first jurisdictions to implement an ordinance in compliance with AB 481. He intends to bring an ordinance forward for the City Councils consideration in the coming months.

• Exploring options that would limit the use of tear gas and other specialty munitions. AB 48, authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, regulates the use of projectile weapons and chemical agents by law enforcement for the purposes of crowd control. The San Diego Police Department, through its procedure on First Amendment Activity Facilitation and Management (Procedure 4.17), already includes controls for the use of some of weapons and agents. However, AB 48 also requires police departments to publish summary reports of their use of crowd control weapons after incidents of use, which will be made available online by the Attorney Generals office.

Mayor Gloria looks forward to providing more accountability and transparency to the public by implementing these reporting requirements.

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