Grand jury report says Solano cops need more anti-racism training
(File photo by Solano NewsNet)
A grand jury report released this week said law enforcement agencies throughout Solano County are complying with training requirements imposed by the state, but that those requirements do not go far enough in eliminating any possible extremism or bias within its ranks.
The recommendation for additional and more-frequent training came at the apparent acknowledgement of many local law enforcement leaders interviewed as part of the grand jury’s investigation, which was started last year amid a period of national civil unrest in the wake of fatal incidents involving police.
In the report, the grand jury said it interviewed law enforcement officials from six city police departments as well as the Solano County Sheriff’s Office. The Vallejo Police Department was the only agency omitted from the list of agencies probed by the grand jury.
The investigation concluded each agency complies with training requirements established by the Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training (POST). Officers are required to undergo POST training once every five years during their career, a delay that police administrators conceded was too long.
“The administrations all agreed that this training should occur more often,” the grand jury said. “They all felt this would be appropriate given the current discord in our local and state communities, as well as our nation.”
Civil Unrest
That discord comes amid several instances of fatal police encounters, including one in Vallejo in which a police officer fatally shot a 22-year-old man during a period of civil unrest.
Police said they initially believed the man, Sean Monterrosa, was armed with a handgun, only to discover that he possessed a hammer. The Solano County District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges against the officer who pulled the trigger. A separate investigation by the California attorney general’s office is under way.
The Vallejo incident fueled widespread distrust within the community of Vallejo and in other parts of Solano County at a time when the nation was reeling from the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The officer was convicted on murder charges in April; last month, he was sentenced to more than two decades in prison.
In Vallejo, tensions escalated after the watchdog publication Open Vallejo revealed that several members of the Solano County Sheriff’s Office operated social media accounts where they published images that appeared to show support for the “Three Percenter” movement. The movement largely embraces violent, anti-government rhetoric.
The news story came more than one month after hundreds of people carried out a violent siege at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. while federal lawmakers were attempting to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. Some individuals later charged by federal authorities were revealed to be self-proclaimed members of the “Three Percenter” movement. Police officers were among those charged with siege-related offenses.
“Many law enforcement agencies, including those in Solano County, began to look at their staff to determine if their members were involved,” the grand jury said. “This insurrection brought forward many questions, one of which was that of domestic terrorism in general and in our law enforcement ranks around the nation specifically.”
The grand jury report concluded that no law enforcement officers from Solano County were being investigated for participating in the riot at the U.S. Capitol. The report also said the FBI had “recently denied” claims by the Solano County Sheriff’s Office that its personnel were not on federal “watch lists” related to extremism activity. (The grand jury said the FBI affirmed it does not monitor individuals who are members of extremist groups, but Solano NewsNet has confirmed the agency does receive bulletins prepared by the Department of Homeland Security about people potentially identified as domestic extremists, with those bulletins disseminated by regional law enforcement fusion centers.)
Too Expensive to Train, Monitor
Despite the name of the report — “Does Bias Infiltrate Solano County Law Enforcement?” — the grand jury took no position on whether members of Solano County’s police departments embraced extremist or racist ideology.
Instead, the grand jury focused largely on the type of training each officer receives and whether those officers are subjected to additional, voluntary training by law enforcement agencies. It also focused on whether police administrators routinely screen social media accounts for potentially problematic behavior by its officers and deputies.
The answer to both questions? No.
“POST requires such training only every five years,” the grand jury said. “Any other instruction that law enforcement officers experience tends to be less formal.”
That informal training could come in the form of regular briefings, or it could be as casual as a comment made in a hallway between passing employees, the grand jury concluded.
“Almost every one of the smaller police departments cites limited funding as a reason for shortfalls in their training,” the grand jury said.
That lack of consistent training could give way to an environment where officers begin to subliminally develop viewpoints and behaviors that are rooted in bias, stereotype and racism. Some of that activity may play out on social media, but agencies within Solano County are largely unaware of the problem because none actively monitor the social media accounts of their employees.
“Each [law enforcement agency] stated that the only way they would know of the need to investigate [an officer] is if a citizen or co-worker makes them aware of the behavior that indicates extremist views,” the grand jury said.
More Training, Diversity Hires Needed
The grand jury said law enforcement agencies throughout Solano County needed to increase the amount and frequency of its anti-bias training well above the basic POST requirements. And they need to figure out how to get the money to fund those initiatives.
The report also concluded that agencies could repair the frayed trust within their communities by actively promoting “more under-represented people to decision-making positions” and by training officers in community de-escalation techniques “while de-emphasizing the paramilitary aspects of the job.”
To curb problems before they escalate, the grand jury recommended agencies adopt a policy of monitoring the social media accounts of its officers and administrative employees, and use technological solutions where practical to assist in monitoring that activity, though it should do so in a way that doesn’t violate the free speech rights of its members.
In addition to those recommendations, the grand jury specifically encouraged police departments in smaller communities to “find ways to achieve pay equity” in order to avoid losing well-qualified officers who are lured by larger salaries in bigger cities.
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