City of SacramentoCandidate for City Council, Council District 5

Sacramento has found itself in the spotlight in recent years after multiple incidents of citizen deaths by law enforcement. 

While the increased prevalence of cell phone camera footage has sparked a national conversation about police brutality and the use of force, names like Stephon Clark and Joseph Mann remind us that these events don’t always happen far from home. Since 2016, there have been 18 officer-involved shootings in Sacramento, all of which were deemed justified.

These incidents sparked some changes to the Sacramento Police Department, including requiring body cameras to be worn and footage of officer-involved shootings to be released within 30 days, as well as appointing an Inspector General to review shootings. 

This, along with the decision to create an Office of Community Response that will help field 911 calls and ensure law enforcement is only utilized when necessary, is helping to transform how Sacramento addresses public safety. Such changes have shown success in reducing adverse outcomes for communities of color and those struggling with their mental health. I recommend reading this recent in depth reporting on the topic.

The city also chose to move the Office of Public Safety Accountability directly under the City Council and establish the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission to provide recommendations on improving everything from interactions with the public to increasing diversity within its ranks. 

However, many advocates believe more reforms are necessary to begin rebuilding trust.

This makes sense considering members of the commission have spent significant time and energy reviewing hundreds of pages of material, listening to experts, and crafting specific and well-researched recommendations — only to have many still left unimplemented.

To their credit, the Sacramento Police Department has decided to change some policies, including banning the use of choke holds, changing procedures related to shooting at moving vehicles, and requiring police officers to render medical care as soon as possible.

Still, many recommendations are still waiting to be put into action. Some of these include requiring data collection and reporting on all “Use of Force” incidents, using force only as a last resort when all other reasonable alternatives have been exhausted, and requiring drug and alcohol testing of officers after an incident.

Mario Guerrero, chair of the Sacramento Police Review Commission, expressed at a recent meeting that he will be pushing hard for the City Council to take a formal vote on this issue. “We expect that our recommendations be taken seriously and be given a vote,” said Guerrero.

While most of the commission’s work has centered around changing the department’s Use of Force policies, another area of focus includes incentivizing a more diverse police force. Notably, they recommend creating long-term strategies to encourage hiring of more Black and Indeginous residents, women, and members of the LGBTQ community. New researchsuggests that increasing diversity in law enforcement can lead to better outcomes for communities of color and may help rebuild trust in neighborhoods that have been historically overpoliced.

This is a crucial moment for Sacramento to make meaningful change.

We have the opportunity to lead with compassion and make sure we prioritize public safety for everyone. If this city is serious about real reform and respecting the labor done by its own Police Review Commission, it’s recommendations should be taken into consideration and adopted as soon as possible. Otherwise, what was the point?

We can’t wait for another death to do the right thing.

You can read an overview of the Commission’s recommendations here.

Last month, Sacramento tried to answer a seemingly unanswerable question: how many of our neighbors are unhoused?

It was the first Point-in-Time Count since the pandemic began, and as I walked with my fellow Sacramentans gathering information on the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, I was reminded of the power we have as individuals, even on issues that may seem insurmountable. But a question lingered: What if we all worked together?

As a candidate, I find myself talking to people in Sacramento every day, and inevitably, the conversation leads to homelessness. At a recent event, a business owner in our Oak Park neighborhood shared a very personal story about his experience with homelessness, and how, if not for the kindness of one stranger, he would still be struggling with addiction and unhoused. He and that stranger now own homes near one another and have formed a lifelong friendship.

Based on the last Point-in-Time Count Sacramento conducted in 2019, we know that the number of unhoused residents was 5,570 — a number that has likely doubled since the pandemic began. On top of this, we learned that just last yearnearly 200 people died on our streets. Homelessness is on our doorsteps and at the forefront of our collective consciousness because, quite truthfully, this crisis is a reminder of the human suffering our policy decisions can produce.

In order to truly move forward, we must work together to learn from the mistakes and successes of others while being strategic and utilizing an economy of scale to maximize the impact of our tax dollars. I applaud a recent article, which looked at Mayor Steinberg’s call to the County Board of Supervisors to partner on a coordinated system to establish a single point-of-access for homeless services in our region. It is a model that has shown promise just to the north of Sacramento.

This past year, I met with community members in the City of Marysville who explained that representatives from two counties, several cities, school districts, hospitals, churches, nonprofits, and local businesses all came together to create the Sutter Yuba Homeless Consortium (SYHC). These representatives meet regularly, set goals, share resources, and most importantly, have created a regional strategic plan to address homelessness.

The SYHC works with organizations to share resources in innovative ways:

• Partnering with schools to install washers and dryers for unhoused students to wash their clothes.
• Working with local hospitals to dispatch nursing teams to encampments.
• Collaborating with district attorneys and judges to provide legal support.
• Teaming up with local businesses for job training and placement.
• Pooling funds to build much needed affordable housing.

Just imagine what a similar model could look like in this community where our resources are far greater.

Research shows us that a lack of affordable housing is one of the most significant factors driving so many Sacramentans into homelessness, and that number will only grow. The Sacramento Bee recently reported that roughly “1,250 Housing Choice Voucher holders in Sacramento do not have housing.” That number rose even with a new state law looking to make it easier for voucher holders to find housing. But how can they find affordable housing when the median rent price in Sacramento is now more expensive than in Seattle, Washington, D.C., and New York? To address our housing shortage, we would need about 17,000 new housing units for low-income residents by 2029.

I fear we will continue to fall short if we don’t find ways to collaborate.

California has 58 counties and 482 cities. My professional career has allowed me the opportunity to work with policy makers at every level of government across the state and taught me that, on the issue of homelessness, most local governments believe they must come up with their own unique solutions and rely on their own individual resources. Unfortunately, Sacramento has found itself in a similar situation. But, as I know from my personal experience with homelessness, you neither know nor care whether you live on city, county, special district, or state land when you live in your car. You just need help.

The leadership of Sacramento County, Yolo County, and the cities throughout the region should consider a collaborative path forward, pool resources, and work together to build shared prosperity.

It is our moral imperative.