In year four of the court watch program, we have made a number of changes. Perhaps the one most visible to the reader is that interns are now the ones primarily writing about the courts. But that is not the only major change this year.
Beginning in April, we created the Vanguard Court Watch Council, a 12 member body that every fourth Sunday of the month holds public meetings. In May, we met at the Davis library and provided what appears to be the only time that the family of Eli Davis has spoken in public about the April 2013 incident.
Why hold public meetings? Initially we saw this as a way to get into the community, hear about cases and concerns from the public, and identify possible troublesome cases early on in the process. That has happened, and we are now monitoring some additional cases as the result of our outreach work, and investigating a few past cases, including one that we are about to turn over to the Innocence Project because we believe that a man was provided very poor legal counsel from a private attorney and wrongly convicted.
A week ago this past Sunday, we had our first public meeting in West Sacramento. We invited a representative from the West Sacramento police department to come to talk about concerns that the public might have. Lt. David Delaini, who grew up in Davis and started out at the Davis Police Department before moving to West Sacramento and being promoted to the position of Lieutenant, runs their professional standards unit.
A number of the members of the public who came to the public meeting held in the library in West Sacramento had concerns about the police – whether it was targeting their family, failure to respond to calls for service, or excessive uses of force.
Lt. Delaini had the right approach. He didn’t get defensive. When he could address a concern, he did with humility and humor. When he could not address a concern, he told people he would look into it. He took a lot of notes.
Many of the audience members had grown frustrated by the lack of follow through by the outgoing police chief, Dan Drummond. They expressed concern and frustration.
On July 8, Thomas McDonald, a former Police Captain in Los Angeles, will come on to be the new West Sacramento police chief. We talked with Lt. Delaini about being able to bring the new police chief to our meeting the next time it meets in West Sacramento, which will be in September (we have decided to rotate meetings among Woodland, Davis and West Sacramento).
As one of our membership remarked during closed session, the fact that the Vanguard Court Watch Council was able to act as an intermediary here seemed to prove invaluable. It was not the original intent of the body to help foster and direct community-police discussions, but on this day in West Sacramento, that’s exactly the role we played.
The make-up and experience of the council was essential to this interplay. We were able to not only play the role of intermediary, but had the background and experience to ask some tough questions and get clarifications on the law.
Cruz Reynoso, a former California Supreme Court Justice and a member of the council, has had much in the way of recent experience with law enforcement in the county. Last year, he chaired the task force that investigated the pepper spray incident at UC Davis, which gave him a lot of insight into the law regarding the peace officer’s bill of rights as well as best practices. He also investigated the shooting of Luis Gutierrez.
In early June, following our meeting with Eli Davis’ family, about half of the members of the council met with Davis Police Auditor Bob Aaronson to discuss police policies, training and other issues surrounding racial profiling.
One of the things I have learned over the last several years is that, despite careful planning, public events and discussions never go quite the way one anticipates. The best organizations and structures are flexible enough to be able to take advantage of key opportunities that unexpectedly present themselves.
Last Sunday, we were expecting a number of citizens to come forward to describe their encounters with the police and in the court system. What we got was much more than that. Much of the credit, however, needs to go to Lt. Delaini, who had the exact right personality to be able to handle being on the hot seat.
In fact, he seemed very much to enjoy the opportunity and, as noted, he was engaging, used humor to reduce tensions and anxiety, and put people at ease.
The wrong person in that position could have and would have had a negative impact. Instead, I believe that most of the people at that meeting, some with literally years of pent-up complaints and frustration with the West Sacramento Police Department, came away feeling like there would be a new opportunity.
Where that goes will really depend on the approach of the new chief, but the stage is set for perhaps a series of engaged community discussions.
For our part, we see an opportunity, as well, to do this not only in West Sacramento, but across the county. And we are hoping maybe that working with the police will only be the first step in a series of discussions.
There has been a lot of distrust that has built up over the years between segments of the community and law enforcement. And, while it was not our original intention to act as a facilitator for community discussions, that might be a role that we end up playing.
Our next meeting is Sunday, July 28 at 5 pm in Woodland, and we are still working to secure a site.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
One of the more interesting developments I’ve seen here. This will put interesting pressure on the DA’s office is the Vanguard is able to partner with local police agencies.
I’m really impressed with how this initiative is playing out. Getting citizens who might not have much access to or opportunity to communicate grievances, concerns or suggestions with justice system representatives is a valuable contribution to the community.
I’d hope that each representative who shows up is as open and effective as Lt. David Delain appears to be. Obviously, there’s potential for more contentious forums in the future. But, getting a solid, cooperative start bodes well for for your new council.
Excellent idea, good work.
not to be a downer, but the DA’s position is an elected one. The DA doesn’t really answer to anyone except the voters. While I was working the table at the Davis market to get the repeal of the death penalty on the ballot (and then later to get it passed), there were a boatload of people who expressed a ‘hang ’em high’ opinion of criminals. many people in Yolo are very conservative in their views about crime, etc. and may well approve of the DA’s approach.
I think the only pressure to be exerted is a good strong opponent come election time, with a good campaign. I’d be willing to work for an opponent with some good values.
Same for some of our judges, esp the ones who seem to hold the concept of due process in contempt.