A Year Removed From Daniel Prudeâs Death, Itâs Clear More Police Reform Is Needed
Our nation is experiencing a reckoning for racial justice.
May 05, 2021 at 5:00 pm
Notices reading Justice for Daniel Prude are pasted on the exterior walls of City Hall in protest of the police killing of Daniel Prude on September 8, 2020, in Rochester, New York. / Photo Credit: Getty Images
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Community doubts remain despite Police Accountability Board transition
Theo Wyss-Flamm/File
The city of Berkeley’s Police Review Commission was created in 1973 to provide civilian oversight for Berkeley Police Department. In November 2020, local voters approved a charter amendment to replace the commission with the Police Accountability Board.
Last Updated 11 hours Ago
As the city of Berkeley looks to implement the Police Accountability Board, or PAB, this summer to increase policing transparency and public trust, the community remains both doubtful and hopeful.
With the creation of the Police Review Commission, or PRC, in 1973, nine Berkeley residents were appointed by the mayor and City Council to provide civilian oversight for Berkeley Police Department by investigating complaints and advising legislative policies. In November 2020, Berkeley voters approved a charter amendment that would replace the PRC with the PAB.
Berkeley City Council seeks oversight of police use of military equipment
Published article
BERKELEY, Calif. - Berkeley city councilmembers Tuesday night passed the first-in-the nation ordinance that provides oversight and transparency for the use of military equipment by the city s police officers.
The ordinance was written by Councilmember Kate Harrison and passed its first reading. A second reading will occur within 30 days after which the ordinance will become law.
If it becomes law, the Berkeley Police Department will have to get approval from the City Council and the Police Accountability Board to buy and the Police Department will have to report on its use of the equipment.
People around this country and the world were surprised, shocked, and relieved at the guilty verdict that finally found a policeman accountable for murder. The killing of George Floyd has led to an upsurge of the Black Lives Matter movement and intense scrutiny of the ways that Black and brown citizens are policed. The culture that has allowed police to kill unarmed people of color with impunity is finally being challenged. There are cries in every city to reimagine policing and what genuine public safety would mean.
I live in central Berkeley, but five days a week I drive to residential areas in North Berkeley and the hills to walk several miles in steeper terrain. I am a white person who is never afraid to walk outside of my neighborhood, never afraid that someone will call the police because I look suspicious. Every day, I pass dozens of Black Lives Matter signs.
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When officers from the Rochester Police Department arrived on the scene of a family dispute involving a 9-year-old girl in emotional distress in January, a brand-new tool was at the city’s disposal: Rochester’s new Person in Crisis team. Launched earlier that month, the PIC team was created as an alternative response to mental health, substance abuse and other emergency calls that would normally involve police or paramedics. Instead of police officers being the first responders to these calls – and risking the potential that the encounter could escalate into a violent one, as was the case in the death of Daniel Prude in Rochester last year – a two-person team of crisis intervention counselors and social workers would show up with the aim of de-escalating, assessing what level of care the person in crisis needed and helping to connect the person to the relevant resources, such as a mental health urgent care center.