HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/23/2021 Item 1, Hampian February 19, 2021
To: Mayor Harmon and City Council members
Subject: Follaw-Up to After Actian Report
Admittedly, I am not an avid viewer af council meetings these days. But I am interested
in community policing and reform, and so I tuned in to the February 16 after-action
review. Wow. Of the 1200+ council meetings I have observed/participated in over the
years (yes, I've counted them), I can`t recall one with more uncivil moments. Without
rehashing those moments, overall, the hearing that followed the staff presentation fell
far short of civility standards the Council pledged to uphold in 201$.
I dan't have much to add about the use of tear gas. I'm not sure that Council can ever
emphatically answer the question Should it have been used on.�une .T, 2020? Perhaps it
is enough to agree that it's use is not desired by anyone, including SLOPD, and that the
"after action" steps will hopefully diminish it potential use in the future.
� I would like to share these thoughts about going forward:
In your role as the elected leaders of the community, you have the difficult task af
weaving passion and the need for change into decisions that can effectively move the
community farward.This often requires making decisians that are not entirely satisfactary
to the most passionate advocates of one path or another.
In this era, you have the opportunity to rethink aspects of policing in a way that enhances,
rather than diminishes, community safety. This requires careful thought and the
engagement of many stakeholders, including your police department. But beyond only
including them, your leadership duty also involves supporting your police department,
and not unintentionally degrading it.
Degrading a city department can happen by arbitrarily depriving it of resources to
accomp/ish the tasks they have been given. It can also happen more passively by
withholding recognition of good work and not defending it against dispropartionate,
relentless and ultimately corrosive condemnation.
During my time in SLO (20 years), I saw our police department up close in many different
situations, including two Poly Royal riats and as the lead agency amang 30 police agencies
assembled here during a very long, difficult and violent Mardi Gras weekend. Our officers
modeled restraint and demonstrated skills with yaung people that set the tone far the
other agencies. I was proud of them.
Over the last 12 years, as a trainer for the California POST program (Police Officer
Standards and Training) and the Califarnia Police Chiefs Association, I have been exposed
to hundreds af law enfarcement staff fram all over the state. Today, I have an even
greater appreciation for the quality of aur police officers and managers.
I believe that our department has the right attitude and track record ta adapt and change
; with the times. Indeed, the culture of good departments is to embrace continuous
impravement. We have that culture. But culture is fragile and how the Council leads the
way forward matters. What you say— and what you withhold — shall be equally impactFul.
Nothing is more toxic to organizations and healthy change than cynicism. Organizations
� are most at-risk to cynicism during prolonged, unaddressed periods of low morale. Goad
employees flee cynical organizations. Recruiting equally goad people to replace them
''� becomes enormously difficult (recruiting is already hard). Everything the Council, the
community and staff hope for in future palicing will be impossible in such a climate.
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We are livin thrau h a ve challen in time and emotions are runnin hi h. Let s a ee
9 9 rY 9
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that we've had our moment of raw venting, and now it's time to shift the energy in a
more positive way and engage those who are willing to proceed in that fashion. I am
. confident that your police department, as it has in the past, will be a most willing partner
in such a constructive endeavor.
Respectfully yours,
/`' �„-��„�.--
Ken Hampian