The Berkeley Police Accountability Board (PAB) met at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, July 10th to discuss the aftermath of the Berkeley Police Department’s (BPD) texting scandal among other topics.

The meeting started with the swearing-in of a new PAB member, David Williams. Williams was nominated for the board by the  Councilmember from District 2, Terry Taplin.

Several members of the public commented on various issues, mainly the policing scandal. One commenter expressed concern about the many hoops the PAB had to jump through to access the paperwork needed for the report and what they believed was the BPD’s uncooperativeness. Another public speaker said they were disturbed by the scandal and wondered if the behavior that was uncovered was widespread within the BPD, and extended into BPD leadership. A few Berkeley residents said they were bothered by the PAB’s lack of power to actually oversee the BPD and hold it accountable, as well as the BPD leadership’s unwillingness to work with the PAB. Overall, most who spoke said they appreciated Board Member Kitty Calavita and the Downtown Taskforce (DTF) Subcommittee’s investigation and report. They urged the City Council to accept the report and adopt the recommendations made by the PAB.

Dep Chief Jan Tate

The meeting then swiftly moved to a report from BPD Deputy Chief Jen Tate, who will stand in as Police Chief while Chief Jen Louis is on vacation. Tate spoke about the BPD’s appreciation of the productive meetings with the PAB Policy Subcommittee on the Lexipol Pursuit Policy. She also introduced Arlo Malmberg, the manager of the Office of Strategic Planning and Accountability (OSPA), who gave a presentation on the new office.

Arlo Malmberg

In Malmberg’s presentation, he gave an overview of the office, which consists of Malmberg, an analyst, and a future crime analyst.  He said that the main goals of the OSPA focus more on internal planning and statistics rather than oversight, with the purpose to promote equity and efficiency in BPD policies. For strategic planning, the OSPA will use data-driven statistics to create effective policies and the most efficient methods to spend and use resources. Under the OSPA’s accountability responsibilities, it will carry out and strengthen audit protocols, the Early Intervention System’s (EIS) redevelopment, and transparency work for the BPD. The OSPA will also help create annual and other regular reports for the BPD to promote transparency. Malmberg clarified that although the PAB and the OSPA are complementary departments, their usual work will not directly involve the PAB. However, there will be situations where the OSPA and PAB work together, like with the reformation of the EIS.

Kitty Calavita

After Malmberg’s presentation, Calavita spoke about her report on the scandal involving the Berkeley Downtown Taskforce and Bike Unit (DTF), where former BPD officer Corey Shedoudy alleged that the DTF used arrest quotas, expressions of racism, by questionable tactics involving arrests, and very broad interpretations of stay away orders from UC Berkeley. His claims were backed up with text messages from several policing group chats which can be found starting on page 69 of the report.

The report, which contained the PAB’s findings as well as recommendations to the BPD and City Council, was written by the subcommittee.  The team charged with investigating the scandal and assisting in reporting its findings consisted of Calavita, PAB Chair John Moore, and Member Cheryl Owens before she resigned from the PAB.

The PAB found that the DFT exchanged discriminatory, offensive, and racist texts while also discussing work issues on personal devices. The PAB also found that the BPD spoke of arrest quotas and that the DTF officers were allowed to work unlimited overtime. Additionally, the Board concluded BPD officers did not have sufficient knowledge about relevant BPD policies and California State laws, and also that some BPD policies were weak or non-existent in some areas that could prevent biased policing or violations of California law.

Based on their inquiry, the PAB created several policy recommendations for BPD. First, the Board recommended creating a policy explicitly prohibiting informal and formal arrest quotas. The PAB also recommended that BPD  ensure that all stay-away orders are enforced fairly and in compliance with CA law. The PAB suggested increasing training about BPD policies and CA laws so police officers become more knowledgeable in order to promote fair policing. In general, the PAB proposed reforming BPD policies on Fair and Impartial Policing; Standards of Conduct; the Early Warning System; Employee Speech, Expression, and Social Networking; Personal Communication Devices; and Overtime Compensation Requests.

In addition to the recommendations made to the BPD, the Board also had several recommendations to City Council. The Board urged Council to pass an ordinance following City Charter Amendment Section 125 (3)(a)(7)) to allow the PAB to conduct investigations on its own initiative or “sua sponte” and grant the  PAB access to internal records for those investigations. The report also stressed the importance of passing a resolution affirming the importance of full accountability for any police officer who has committed misconduct on or off duty. Another recommendation was to direct the Berkeley City Manager to work with BPD, PAB, and ODPA to create a public repository or archive of all reports and incidents of police misconduct by law enforcement agencies or oversight bodies following CA Penal Code Section 832.7.

Finally, the PAB encouraged CA lawmakers to extend the ban on arrest quotas to all areas of law enforcement and not just the California Vehicle Code. Arrest quotas can pressure officers to arrest a certain number of people, which can lead to pointless arrests and overall harm community- police relations.

In the end, the Board passed a motion to request a special meeting with City Council, in which City Council may vote to accept the report’s recommendations with an understanding that the PAB will work with the BPD to finalize policy recommendations.

The meeting then went into private session at 8:49 PM, concluding the public viewing portion. A full recording of the meeting can be found on the PAB’s YouTube channel. The full report can also be accessed through this link.

–Zoey Yan