Half Moon Bay releases report on policing reform

The report highlighted potential reforms the city could implement to improve law enforcement policies. One program is a Civilian Police Oversight Committee designed to review police conduct and make recommendations for improved practices. However, no city the size of Half Moon Bay currently has an oversight committee, city staff said. The city could also implement the Yanira Serrano Presente! Program, which was presented by the Half Moon Bay Latino Council, a city advisory board, at a City Council meeting earlier this year. The program wants to reform how law enforcement engages with people with mental illness. The program is named for Yanira Serrano Garcia, an 18-year-old coastside resident who was shot and killed in 2014 by a San Mateo County sheriff’s deputy. The program is asking for funds for mental health services that are culturally and linguistically relevant for coastside communities and an outreach program for deputies on the coastside to meet community leaders and Spanish speakers.

The report found the Sheriff’s Office having jurisdiction over law enforcement saves money for the city. The Sheriff’s Office took over the jurisdiction of policing in Half Moon Bay in 2011 after the Half Moon Bay Police Department’s disbandment due to increasing financial costs. The city’s budget for law enforcement in the 2020-2021 fiscal year was $3,005,642, less than 25% of the city’s budget, while in the 2010-2011 fiscal year under the Half Moon Bay Police Department, it was $3,563,709 and 39% of the city’s budget, according to city staff. Half Moon Bay is currently allocated eight deputies and other service community programs from the Sheriff’s Office.

City staff presented the report at the Half Moon Bay Public Safety Subcommittee on Thursday, Dec. 10. The city formed the subcommittee in June to review policies and budgets for the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Coastside Patrol Bureau, which provides enforcement services on the coast. Half Moon Bay councilmembers Deborah Penrose and Harvey Rarback are on the subcommittee.

Rarback was in support of the Yanira Serrano Presente! Program and having its proposed policies implemented.

“That’s important to me and the large fraction of the community that feels left out,” Rarback.

The city is holding community focus groups to identify law enforcement issues and to improve interactions between law enforcement and the public, said Matthew Chidester, assistant city manager for Half Moon Bay. The focus groups found the public had issues with law enforcement around racism, communication difficulties, disconnection, immigration and youth interactions. A worry that consistently came up from the community is mental health and how law enforcement interacts with people dealing with mental health problems. Chidester said the frequency of concerns over mental health encouraged the city to have future public meetings.

“Once we are done with the smaller stakeholder groups, we’d like to hold a larger meeting specifically around the topic of mental health, and we will probably have participants from all the other stakeholder groups and individuals that are experts in mental health care and intervention to help guide that discussion,” Chidester said.

A City Council study session will take place in the second quarter of 2021 on the smaller group meetings’ findings. The city will also put out a community survey and hold community workshops in the first quarter of 2021. Rarback was disappointed there were not many concrete policy alternatives in the report, given the subcommittee was formed in June. He said if city staff follow through with the focus groups, community surveys and large community meetings, he will be less nervous about progress.

“I am really going to hold your feet to the fire that you really do that because it’s really important,” Rarback said.

Councilwoman Debbie Ruddock asked city staff to identify law enforcement problems the city can solve through its contract with the Sheriff’s Office and the costs to fix the problem.

“I want us to have a road map. I want us to have identified what problems are we trying to solve here,” Ruddock said.

Half Moon Bay City Manager Bob Nisbet said the city has the authority in its contract with the Sheriff’s Office to demand changes to practices the community wants, like having more deputies meet and interact with the community. Nisbet said the city likely would not be able to change any policy reforms asked for under the “8 Can’t Wait” campaign, a movement asking for eight policy changes, including a ban on chokeholds and strangleholds, requiring de-escalation and requiring a warning before shooting, amongst other changes. The Sheriff’s Office already has adopted six of the eight policy changes. More detailed information about the report and program is available on the city website.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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