Andy Lopez task force panel wants deputy taken off street duty

A county-appointed task force studying community grievances exposed last year after the shooting death of 13-year-old Andy Lopez by a deputy asked Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas to rethink his decision to put the deputy back out patrolling the streets.

The request came in a letter that was discussed Monday night at the first meeting of the entire Community and Local Law Enforcement Task Force held since Deputy Erick Gelhaus returned to patrol duties Aug. 19.

'The fears and the anger that they were feeling needed to reach Sheriff Freitas,' said Judy Rice, who chairs the Community Engagement and Healing Subcommittee. Residents brought their concerns and, for some, their rage to the task force.

With Gelhaus' return to patrol duties, he re-entered a public role in the community for the first time since he shot Lopez on Oct. 22. The teen was carrying an airsoft BB gun designed to look like an AK-47 assault rifle. Gelhaus said he mistook it for an actual assault rifle.

Some in community were shocked that the Sheriff's Office would make such a move without involving the public, prompting a rebuke of the sheriff by Supervisor Shirlee Zane and provoking a heated response from people who have been consistently vocal about their concerns that the process of evaluating officer-involved shootings is faulty.

'The consensus of the members of the public present and a majority of the Community Engagement and Healing Subcommittee, was that you rethink and reconsider your decision to place Deputy Gelhaus back on patrol and, in the interest of healing and the community, that he be reassigned in another capacity,' stated the Sept. 9 letter written by Rice and sent to Freitas by email.

The letter grew out of an Aug. 25 meeting by the subcommittee tasked with developing ideas about how to help the community heal and rebuild trust between residents, particularly those living on Santa Rosa's largely Latino southwestern outskirts, and law enforcement.

But the group's effort to take a next step and offer a formal recommendation to the Board of Supervisors that Gelhaus be removed from patrol duties stalled because of procedural confusion. Members couldn't agree on whether they had voted to do so at the August meeting. County staff said Monday they are now recording the meetings to avoid such confusion in the future.

'I hope that you will be discussing that you agree with this letter and you agree with us,' Susan Lamont said during public comment.

'The committee voted to create a recommendation to present to the full task force that Gelhaus be immediately taken off the street. I am here to urge you to vote yes,' said attendee Thomas Morabito, 58, Sebastopol.

Task force chairwoman Caroline Bañuelos said that the healing subcommittee will have to vote again in two weeks and bring it back to the next whole task force meeting, scheduled for Oct. 13.

'We want to take it to the board,' Bañuelos said during a break at Monday's meeting.

The delay and confusion unearthed a sense among people present Monday who regularly attend the meetings that nothing is being accomplished by the task force and its three subcommittees.

Formed by the Board of Supervisors in December, the 21-person task force is reviewing options for an independent citizen review body, considering whether to separate the sheriff's and coroner's offices, looking into community policing practices and developing strategies to restore public trust in law enforcement.

Originally, the task force and its subcommittees were to bring its final recommendations back to the Board of Supervisors in December. That deadline was extended to March 2015.

The Community Engagement and Healing Subcommittee, Community Policing Subcommittee and Law Enforcement Accountability Subcommittee will begin presenting draft reports November to February.

Final recommendations will be presented February through March of 2015.

Task force members are paid $100 each for every meeting they attend, with a maximum monthly payment per person of $400. The board upped the stipend from $50 to $100 in August.

A member of the accountability group, Amber Twitchell told the group at Monday's meeting that while months ago she also felt similar doubts about productivity, she was now convinced they were making great progress.

'I'm telling you this right now I wouldn't say to you in the public if I wasn't 100 percent sure, this is happening,' she said of the recommendations they are tasked with making. 'You have got to come to the subcommittee meetings, that's where we are actively listening. We are soliciting ideas.'

At Monday's meeting, task force members reported on their progress. The accountability group talked about what they learned after several of their members attended the National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement's annual conference in Kansas City last week.

The healing committee said they are in the process of planning a series of events around the year anniversary of Lopez' death, including a soccer game 'mixer' with residents and sheriff's staff.