State: California - San Jose City Council

The mayor announced plans not to defund the police, but to reform the department. He proposes: a full review of police force, a civilian response for non-criminal calls for service, a stronger independent police auditor, taking investigations of officer misconduct away from Police Internal Affairs. Specifically, his plan includes: 1) Injecting transparency and accountability into arbitration over termination and disciplinary decisions,2) Independent investigation of police misconduct,3) Expanding authority of the independent police auditor over “use of force” allegations,4) Building a department from their diverse community-and expanding opportunity for their youth,5) Reimagining policing by “disentangling” police roles,6) Banning the use of rubber bullts, and conducting full review of the use of force policy,7) Making police subject to direction of elected leadership,8) Leveraging data and evidence for better recruiting, training, and early intervention,9) Accounting for every dollar: audit of police expenditures.

Mayor strongly disagrees with “defunding the police,” claiming that they do not have the “luxury” to do so like other cities and that they actually need more police,the mayor concludes that they need “a better approach” that is not a “quick fix.” However, the mayor explictly acknowledges the cries for reform and focuses on “healing” the racial inequity by starting with editing their budget, proposing the following: allocating $3.5 million to an AT&T partnership that provides 11,000 poor children with internet for education,divesting $150,000 of Police’s overtime allocation into funding the IPA to coordinate a review of police “use of force” policies,investigating “less-than-lethal” alternatives to use of force and weapons,expanding IPA authroity to ensure police accountability,allocating $200,000 to support a full-time staff for the Office of Racial Equity.