The ordinance establishing the commission itself emphasizes this need.
Now more than ever, the commission needs members with direct experience of police violence to ensure the commission uses its powers to prevent more. These appalling patterns of misconduct endanger everyone, but especially our residents of color, who disproportionately suffer police brutality. Additionally, two former officers have sued the city, alleging retaliation from the police chief and command staff. The BOLO revealed that officer Nelson Menendez lied when he said that Lopez was carrying a gun, and a year-and-a-half-long internal affairs investigation has yet to hold anyone accountable. The department has been facing scrutiny for back-to-back incidents of misconduct, the most recent being the circulation of a satirical and cruel “be on the lookout” (BOLO) bulletin referencing the 2021 killing of Brandon Lopez, the cousin of Santa Ana Councilmember Jonathan Hernandez. Likewise, the city of Santa Ana needs these impacted voices on the newly created Santa Ana City Police Oversight Commission. While I served alongside people of diverse backgrounds, including veterans, attorneys, educators and even the co-founder of Berkeley Copwatch, it was our voices that instilled trust with the community and gave the commission its power and legitimacy. My time on the commission taught me that people who have experienced police violence must have seats at the table when holding police accountable. My work also laid the groundwork for the newly created Berkeley Police Accountability Board, which now has broader investigatory powers and the authority to recommend discipline. I collaborated with student groups and community organizations to propose policy to the commission, and together we won changes to the department’s crowd control and use of force practices. I hesitated, still afraid of the police, but decided this seat was an opportunity to seek justice. The Berkeley City Council called on the city’s Police Oversight Commission to conduct an investigation into the department’s violent response to the protests.Įstablished in 1973, the Berkeley Police Review Commission was the country’s first civilian police oversight board with independent authority to investigate complaints of police misconduct it became a model that other cities followed in setting up their own commissions.Ī seat on the Police Review Commission opened up, and a friend encouraged me to apply. After the protests, I knew I had to act to hold the police accountable. Our outrage burned more fiercely than the tear gas, and we returned to the streets the next two nights, only to be met with more violence. It was also the first time I witnessed police brutality up close.
It was December of 2014, and we were demonstrating for Black Lives Matter in Berkeley. Now I can only remember their screams as they scattered. Still blinded by the tear gas, I couldn’t see who had fallen and who still stood. They began to beat my friends and colleagues.
When the tear gas failed to break our human chain - we stood linked by the arms, blocking Telegraph Avenue - the police, clothed in riot gear, charged in with their batons. The tear gas burned my throat, and my eyes watered, blurring my vision.
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