Task force panel recommends hiring more Latinos, women

Hiring more Latinos and women in law enforcement, training them better and providing additional options for using force are among the draft recommendations of a Sonoma County task force on local policing.

Members of the community policing subcommittee of the Community and Local Law Enforcement Task Force took feedback on their suggestions Monday night from the public and the rest of the 21-member committee in the group’s continuing work meant to improve relationships between community members and law enforcement.

The task force was established by the Board of Supervisors in December 2013 in response to community outcry over the fatal shooting of Andy Lopez, 13, by sheriff’s Deputy Erick Gelhaus on Moorland Avenue on Oct. 22, 2013. Gelhaus, a veteran deputy who has since returned to patrol duty, told investigators he believed the airsoft BB gun Lopez was carrying was a high-powered assault rifle.

The meeting was the second public forum held by the community policing subcommittee. Two other subcommittees are also fashioning recommendations that will be discussed in January and February, with the intention of presenting final proposals to the supervisors in April.

About two dozen members of the public attended Monday, most of whom criticized law enforcement.

If Sheriff Steve Freitas isn’t “squirming in his chair,” the recommendations aren’t strong enough, said speaker Zac Britton, who suggested the Sheriff’s Office hiring should reflect ethnic percentages as reported in each 10-year local census.

A subcommittee recommendation suggesting more and better training needs to be more specific, said task force member Joe Palla, a former police chief.

Officers could undergo years of training but still must make split-second decisions, he said.

“We can sit here after the fact and critique it,” he said, “but that split-second decision is still going to be made on the threat they feel at the time.”

The problem, said subcommittee member Jeanne Buckley, a retired Superior Court commissioner, is making sure all that training sinks in and is used properly.

“What we’ve been grappling with is the 50 hours of training that seems appropriate on its face - to make sure it gets internalized by all the officers on the beat. And I’m not sure how we get there,” she said.

Task force member Jose Casteñeda wanted some way to measure the goal of “quality policing.”

Instead of using words like?“enhance and improve,” he said, numbers, dollar figures and timelines should ?be attached to the recommendations.

Task force member Eric Koenigshofer suggested the committee’s recommendations on use of force make clear that the public understands the “progression” of ?force isn’t a required step-by-step process.

Sometimes a situation may require beginning with a level of force in the middle of a continuum of options, from using a strong voice to lethal force.

“In some circumstances it? may be a fatal mistake to underestimate” what force is necessary, he said.

You can reach Lori A. Carter at 762-7297 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.