The ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties strongly supports robust civic engagement in decision-making about the next Chief of the San Diego Police Department. For this reason, we are pleased to see that the Mayor’s May revised budget for the City of San Diego includes a line item for $100,000 to recruit San Diego’s next Police Chief!
More than one hundred concerned San Diegans attended the City Council’s budget hearing this past Monday evening to voice their support for this important expenditure. Dozens more attended hearings over the past month for the same purpose. Thank you for speaking out. The Mayor and City Council heard our voices and responded.
Our advocacy must not end here. In fact, this is when we must lean in to ensure that the recruitment process is community-centered, inclusive, and informed by diverse perspectives.
Key factors of a strong recruitment process include:
- Outreach within each of the nine council districts to get public input regarding San Diegans’ hopes, needs and concerns about the next SDPD Chief; and
- A search committee comprised of community stakeholders appointed by both the Mayor and City Council to help to identify, review, interview and make final recommendations on candidates for the next SDPD Chief.
- The search committee should have representation from San Diego community stakeholders including youth, representatives from the Gang Commission, members of the Citizens Advisory Board on Police Practices and the Community Review Board.
If you will, please click here to send a message to the Mayor and City Council to remind them of the importance of creating a meaningful community-centered recruitment process.
We urge Mayor Faulconer and City Councilmembers to establish a recruitment process that is community-centered, inclusive, and informed by diverse perspectives. The Mayor and Council should commit to public forums in all nine council districts to learn what San Diegans need and expect from their next police chief. Further, they should create a search committee comprised of youth, community stakeholders, and representatives from the Gang Commission, the Citizens Advisory Board on Police Practices and Community Review Board that will help to identify, review, interview and make final recommendations on candidates.
This Thursday at 2 pm, the Budget Review Committee will hear a presentation about the May Revision to the budget and we invite you to join us. Contact Gerrlyn Gacao, Organizer, if you would like more information at ggacao@aclusandiego.org.
