Last night's Zoom Townhall on the Police Department's "Use of Force" policies, its track record and its responses to residents' concerns was somewhat enlightening. But not in the way you might have expected. If you were expecting to learn that this is an actual problem in B'game and that major changes are needed, you were disappointed. It's not and they aren't. But if you wanted to see how much some people need to learn about how the City is organized, how it operates, or how it interoperates with the County and other entities then this was the place to be.
First, what has been the extent of Use of Force in B'game? Chief Mike Matteucci saved the statistics until near the end. I was writing as fast as I could but missed a couple of numbers that I will add when the recording becomes available. From 2016 to present there have been 2,643 arrests in B'game. I missed the 2019 figure for uses of force, but all the other years totaled 35 and I believe all but 3 were "empty handed" use of force. Tasers accounted for 3 in five years, if I heard right. Hospitalizations totaled....zero, except for a few officers. After the Chief noted that BPD policy doesn't allow choke holds and now "carotid holds" are newly off the table, the elephant in the room is how exactly empty-hand force will work? Only my first two questions in the post below were addressed, but I am really anxious to get the answer to the fourth question. I wrestled in high school and a bit in college. I know what a challenge it is to just get a guy down on a mat who weighs exactly the same as me; with both of us wearing tights and a referee to prevent eye-gouging, head slaps, etc. It ain't easy.
The Q&A took up about an hour of the 90 minutes. Attendees were informed that the City doesn't have mental health professionals (it's a County function and BPD works with them if they have advance notice), the Taser policy is one-time-only except in rare cases where a second might be needed, and MOST IMPORTANTLY that there is NO SUCH THING as routine call or routine stop. City manager Lisa Goldman's shining moment in an overall excellent performance last night was when she pushed back completely on the idea of some officers going unarmed. Thinly-veiled, leading questions about the use of a private company (Lexipol) for legal updates, officer "impunity" (it's qualified immunity), and the police unions were deftly handled by the Chief and the City attorney Kathleen Kane.
There was more on the education front and I'll link to the recording when it comes out. This webinar was billed as the first step with more to come, but I really don't see why we should bother. Maybe provide written or video'ed answers to the rest of questions in the hopper and let staff get back to work. I took this photo during the Avenue shut-down for potential rioting and I like its nuanced message.
So, our City Council calls it a "Use of Force Townhall", while the rest of us, namely those more grounded in reality call it a "Gigantic Waste of Time"
Folks, Bruce Dickinson originally said I would be surprised if we had any inkling "use of force" problem in Burlingame. Not only do we not have a use of force problem, we barely even use force! period!! I'm quite surprised at how low the statics are, after all this is a transient town, next to an airport with a lot of hotels. Like this is barely moving the needle and is a tiny fractional percentage of arrests.
I think some of these council people like Brownrigg really haven't seen very much suffering or adversity so that normal "facts of life" aspects get so blown out of proportion, that you get this hyper-sensitivity to issues that in a grander scheme of things, aren't really issues. The Minneapolis PD has problems, LAPD has had problems, Burlingame's PD really doesn't...end of story!
Agree with Joe on this, Bruce Dickinson doesn't believe we need any more "Solutions in Search of a Problem." It's really a waste of time, money and resources that could be directed to so many more productive endeavors that can have a real impact on people. COVID is devastating our communities, let's direct all our brainpower and resources at real threats, not imagined ones!
Posted by: Bruce Dickinson | July 24, 2020 at 04:44 PM
I agree completely with Mr. Dickenson and Joe.
BLM
Burlingame Lives Matter!
Posted by: [email protected] | July 24, 2020 at 05:49 PM
Nice recap Joe- Spot on
Yes an education, I know I was educated.
Matteucci, Goldman, Kane were on their game(same with the cleck, I forget her name!).
Ortiz, Colson, Kiergran- Common sense
Brownrigg -Brown nosed Matteucci & BPD, acknowledged he got beat up for his comments, then went directly into the mainstream media narrative.
Mayor Beach- Super Disappointing, but seems to be her pattern lately. Said very little in regards to BPD tactics, but had much to say on the media narrative. As Resident pointed out in the below post, her bigger aspirations are loud and clear. Gross....she has taken a hard left without using the turn signal.
Posted by: Barking Dog | July 24, 2020 at 08:46 PM
I agree with Bruce, EXCEPT Covid is not devastating our communities. The poorly thought out over reaction to Covid is devastating our communities.
Posted by: uhap | July 25, 2020 at 01:50 PM
Guy, I don't disagree that the general response to COVID is poor and not a smart reaction (both over-reaction on certain things, and under-reaction on others). Point being that COVID has been devastating to our elderly and especially nursing home population, where death rates are 15x of the flu and is indicative of a very bad late life/nursing home situation which pre-existed COVID. For the general population, it seems like the death rate will settle in at about .05%, which is like a bad flu season.
As for the solution, Bruce Dickinson believes a public health model such as Sweden, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany, South Korea was significantly smarter and in the end will have been proven to have been the right balance of protecting parts of the population while keeping things largely open. There are costs to shutting down the economy that are still being calculated and in the end, I think many will realize it wasn't worth it, or at least we were not smart about it at all.
Closing down schools for essentially one year is very very bad both in the short term and in the long term for our children. Think that will prove to be a bad mistake. Will save other comments for the COVID threads, but being a voracious reader and consumer of the intellectual media, I will say that both the response and the reporting in COVID has been poor and vastly over-simplified.
Posted by: Bruce Dickinson | July 25, 2020 at 03:22 PM
The shame of it all is Emily isn't dumb like most of the lefties. Just really power hungry IMHO. Maybe Just Visiting can say if the Mullin ass-kissing will work?
Posted by: resident | July 25, 2020 at 10:02 PM
The DJ summary tracks very well with what I wrote. If you subscribe ti it you can compare here:
https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/burlingame-holds-police-policy-talks/article_317db0b2-d086-11ea-8e70-bfc6d3157a78.html#utm_source=smdailyjournal.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1595944803&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read%20more
Posted by: Joe | July 28, 2020 at 05:06 PM
Emily has become a very big disappointment.
I expect much more from Notre Dame grads than simply being power hungry politicians.
I suspect she never has to worry about calling 911 for her personal safety. The rest of us do.
I will never vote for her again for anything.
Posted by: Concerned | July 28, 2020 at 06:26 PM
Let's check in with today's Crimegraphics report and ask ourselves how important it is that BPD and the Council stay focussed on whether or not officers can use a carotid hold on a violent suspect:
20-2071 7/23/2020 21:15-10:15 7/27/2020 10:15 Larceny Theft Petty Theft Misdemeanor 1300 Block of MONTERO AV,
20-2072 7/26/2020 00:55-00:56 7/26/2020 15:37 Larceny Theft Petty Theft Misdemeanor 1000 Block of LAGUNA AV,
20-2073 7/24/2020 23:48-23:48 7/27/2020 23:49 Larceny Theft Petty Theft Misdemeanor 1300 Block of DRAKE AV,
20-2088 7/28/2020 10:35-10:37 7/28/2020 10:37 Larceny Theft Petty Theft -$950 Misdemeanor 1800 Block of EL CAMINO REAL,
20-2097 7/27/2020 20:50-05:30 7/29/2020 05:30 Larceny Theft Grnd Thft:prop/Etc $950+ Felony 1400 Block of LINCOLN AV,
20-2098 7/27/2020 15:00-10:00 7/29/2020 15:00 Larceny Theft Petty Theft -$50 Misdemeanor ADELINE DR/EL CAMINO REAL,
20-2099 7/27/2020 19:30-15:00 7/29/2020 15:00 Larceny Theft Petty Theft -$950 Misdemeanor 1400 Block of FLORIBUNDA AV,
20-2100 7/28/2020 21:00-08:00 7/29/2020 08:25 Burglary Burglary:second Degree Felony 1200 Block of CORTEZ AV,
20-2106 7/28/2020 20:00-10:30 7/29/2020 10:49 Larceny Theft Petty Theft -$950 Misdemeanor 1300 Block of EL CAMINO REAL,
20-2131 7/30/2020 16:02-16:02 7/30/2020 16:02 Larceny Theft Attempted Petty Theft Misdemeanor 1600 Block of ROLLINS RD,
Notice that since hotel/business travel has declined, car break-ins on the Bayfront have moved into the neighborhoods. It may be listed as "petty" but if it's your stuff getting thefted, it does not feel "petty".
Posted by: Joe | July 31, 2020 at 10:40 PM