Police chief doesn't bite on traffic-stop study

After nearly three hours of presentations and public testimony in support of an SDSU report on racial profiling in traffic stops, San Diego's city council took what councilmember David Alvarez termed a "deeply troubling" move in acknowledging receipt of the report but not taking action on any of the corrective measures outlined within.

"We see considerable, and statistically significant differences in search rates across all search types between black drivers and white drivers," SDSU researcher Joshua Chanin, who helped to compile the data released last year, told the council while outlining his team's findings. "Despite a greater search rate, we find that black drivers have a lower likelihood of being found with contraband."

The report outlined several solutions to what Chanin termed "systemic disparities," including improved training for officers, more transparency and public engagement from the police department, and better data-collection practices.

Police chief Shelley Zimmerman, presenting on behalf of the department, defended the existing training programs.

"Our department's training far exceeds all of the elements of the [programs referred to in the SDSU study]," Zimmerman said, adding that the programs officers complete go beyond requirements laid out by the state's POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) Commission.

"The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive," Zimmerman said of reactions within the department to existing programming. "Some of the comments we're getting on the training we've been doing over the last couple years — emotion intelligence, effective interaction, procedural injustice, implicit and explicit bias — this training involves things officers can use every day."

Still, many in the crowd of over 60 residents who signed up to speak on the issue asked for more.

"The chief's presentation fails to provide responses on how disparities will be addressed," said Christine Hill of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It is time to go deeper and beyond the table of contents for trainings. While these trainings may be a good start, they're clearly not enough….

"We believe the city must take concrete actions," Hill continued, advocating for many of the policies endorsed by the SDSU study, additional assurances of continued independent reporting, and requirements for officers to obtain written consent for non-compulsory searches and warrants for DNA collection.

"Who you recruit and hire makes the difference — training is secondary," said Cornelius Bowser, a community activist who has worked with police to combat gang violence. "We need them not to go into communities of color as an occupying force or as warriors, but as loving and caring defenders who view themselves as members of the communities they serve."

Facing questioning from councilmembers following public comment, Zimmerman was hesitant to commit to any enhanced data-collection techniques, citing the 2018 implementation of Assembly Bill 953, a 2015 law that seeks to address profiling at a state level. Zimmerman said that while the department has spoken with several potential data-collection partners, it can't work to implement a solution until specific reporting parameters are developed by the state.

"It's quite a shame that we've wasted so many people's time saying, ‘Here's the report, we're not doing anything about it,'" Alvarez lamented near the conclusion of the proceedings. "This information was collected independently, and came with some quite specific requests. I don't know why we can't move forward with the recommendations today."

A motion to acknowledge receipt of the study without taking any further action passed 6-2, with Alvarez and Georgette Gomez opposed and Lorie Zapf absent.