The La Mesa Police Department is updating its policies on use of force and crowd control and improving internal and external communications following a report by an outside consultant that found the department lacking in those areas and others.
“We take this seriously,” said acting La Mesa Police Chief Matt Nicholass after Hillard Heintze presented its report that looked into the events surrounding the May 30-31 protest-turned-riot in downtown. “The La Mesa Police Department has reviewed the after action report and we recognize there’s areas of improvement, and we’re going to work on those. This incident has had a tremendous impact on our community and we want to learn from it and find ways to improve.”
In the report shared with the public at Tuesday’s La Mesa City Council meeting, Hillard Heintze was critical of the police department’s lack of a defined communication plan between it, city officials and the community; pointed out inadequacies in radio communications within its department and with other outside jurisdictions; and called the police department’s training policies outdated and its crowd control efforts minimal.
The report took a deep look at the events related to a May 30 social justice demonstration, which began in front of the La Mesa Police Department. Event organizers said it was held to honor George Floyd, a Black man killed by a White Minnesota police officer on Memorial Day. But many at the event said they were also there to protest the May 27 treatment of Amaurie Johnson, a Black man, by former White La Mesa police officer Matt Dages, who was later fired.
Johnson was filmed while he was being detained by Dages at a San Diego Trolley stop near Grossmont Center, and the video was widely circulated on social media. Residents also cited the incident in 2018 where a Black Helix High School student was body-slammed to the ground by a White police resource officer.
Nicholass said the department was moving forward on several recommendations the firm made.
The department is already transitioning its policies to a company called Lexipol, which provides policy manuals, training bulletins and consulting services to public safety departments across the country. In a report to the City Council, Nicholass explained that Lexipol will give the department updates and legal policy reviews so that it conforms to state and federal law and the best law enforcement practices.
He also said the department has updated its use-of-force policy, included an Incident Command System in its plans, switched to using a secure channel communication with the county, increased collaboration efforts with federal and state agencies and provided crowd-control training to officers.
He said the department was preparing to work with the newly formed Community Police Oversight Board to develop comprehensive community engagement, cultural competency and anti-bias-based policing policies and training.
Other forthcoming changes include coordinating with local mutual aid agencies to develop best practices and policies and provide additional Emergency Operations training to City Council and city staff.
“We’re taking the recommendations by Hillard Heintze seriously and we will use this report as a guide for our efforts in the future,” Nicholass said. “We’ve already implemented some of the recommendations and are working to address the rest of them in the coming months. We’re committed to serving this community. And I can assure you we’re going to continue to strive for improvement as we move forward.”
The City Council members weighed in on the report, with differing takes.
Councilman Bill Baber said he wondered about the report’s finding that officers may have made a mistake by keeping out of sight during the social justice protest part of the event, before it turned into a mob scene.
Councilman Colin Parent said he was unhappy the report did not have much input from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, which took over incident command from the La Mesa contingent at around midnight on May 31.
Councilwoman Akilah Weber said that better teamwork by all parties involved, and quickly, would be the way to go the next time there is a major incident. She said that as a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology, when something goes wrong with a patient, everybody involved gets together to discuss the matter immediately so as not to leave out details that can get forgotten over time.
Councilman Jack Shu said he thought it was important that the public understand that Hillard Heintze, primarily made up of law enforcement experts, was giving the information from a public safety point of view, and he wondered what the report would look like from the points of view of the fire department, business owners, the faith-based community and others.
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La Mesa police say they are taking steps to correct deficiencies - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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