The Berkeley Police Accountability Board (PAB) held its second meeting of July at 6:30 on Wednesday, July 24th.

Dep Chief Jan Tate

The meeting started as all PAB meetings do, with the land acknowledgment of the Ohlone People. Deputy Police Chief Jen Tate from the Berkeley Police Department (BPD) then gave her report for the meeting, which noted an increase in catalytic converter thefts in Berkeley. She detailed that catalytic converter thefts had been down in 2024, but are trending upwards again. All the recent thefts involved weapons and are currently under investigation by the BPD. Right now it is unclear if these carjackings are related to each other in any way. Tate also said the BPD did not yet have a response ready regarding  the BPD Bike Force Texting Scandal report. The matter came up during the previous meeting on July 10, and the report was welcomed and generally well received.

The PAB also received a report on the Specialized Care Unit (SCU), a collaboration between Bonita House and the City of Berkeley. The SCU’s goal is to respond to crisis calls without involving law enforcement by deploying 3-person teams consisting of an EMT, a clinician, and a peer specialist. The SCU operates seven days a week: 24 hours from Sunday to Wednesday and 6 am – 4 pm from Thursday to Saturday. The SCU can be reached by calling (510) 948-0075. Though the goal is to increase hours to 24/7, the nonprofit organization running the SCU, Bonita House, is facing staffing issues. To reach full 24/7 staffing, the SCU will need about six or so more people to fill shifts.

The issue of reaching the SCU was brought up during the board meeting. Although they can be called directly (510) 948-0075), there are few other ways to reach them. If a person decides to call 911 for a nonviolent crisis, the 911 dispatcher cannot direct their call to the SCU. The dispatcher can only suggest the caller reach out to the SCU which can be problematic as this leads to the dispatcher deciding whether police are necessary. Calavita questioned why 911 could not directly forward the call to the SCU when the call was for a nonviolent crisis, but a clear answer was not given.

The meeting ended for the public for a closed session at around 8:30. The next meeting will take place on September 11,  2024. A full recording of the July 24 public session will be posted on the PAB’s YouTube channel.

–Zoey Yan