|
<br />Orozco, Norma
<br />From:Melissa Palmerin <palmerinmelissa@yahoo.com>
<br />Sent:Tuesday, June 16, 2020 3:59 PM
<br />To:eComment
<br />Subject:Item 85A
<br />Dear Santa Ana city council,
<br />
<br />
<br />My name is Melissa Palmerin. I live in ward 6, and I am commenting on item 85. I am opposing the oversight
<br />committee and below I will provide data supporting my claim.
<br />
<br />
<br />In 2017, members of the Santa Ana city council proposed to create an oversight committee after Santa Ana
<br />police officers unjustly killed an unarmed homeless person, named Richard Gene Swihart. However, it was not
<br />only the killing of Richard that sparked the need of an oversight committee but the deaths prior to that, which
<br />caused taxpayers, in 2016, to payer $8.5 million to settle three cases of police shootings. According to Voice of
<br />OC, from 2007 to 2017, Santa Ana Taxpayers covered more than $17 million in legal costs for cases of police
<br />brutality. Another proposal intended to create an oversight committee was brought to the city council in
<br />2019 by Cecilia Iglesias but did not come to fruition. Yet, now in 2020, the city council will again revisit and
<br />"consider" creating a police oversight committee, which does not clearly indicate if it is a community oversight
<br />committee. The Santa Ana residents can see the false narrative that has been perpetuated in our city council
<br />for years, the equity of perception without the integrity of actionability.
<br />
<br />For the past week, I have been researching Santa Ana's funding and our police department, what I found was
<br />alarming. Each member of the city council decided to allocate 43% of the city budget to the police department,
<br />plus the pensions and raises, which will equate the police department getting half the budget. The same police
<br />department that has been ranked among the 8 departments in California to kill black men at a higher rate than
<br />the US murder rate (Mapping Police Violence). We are among many cities, where Black people are killed at
<br />9.4 x the rate of White people and Latinx people are killed at 1.2x the rate of White people (Mapping Police
<br />Violence). The city council is giving half our city budget to the department who was given 34% in policing
<br />(California Police Scorecard). The Santa Ana police department has 13 deadly force incidents between 2013-
<br />2018, that is 70% higher than the other California police departments. According to the Urban Peace Institute,
<br />Santa Ana has experienced a 62% increase in homicides since 2014 (Santa Ana Community Safety
<br />Assessment 3). Urban Peace Institute pointed out that the majority of resources are invested in the SAPD and
<br />not in service providers that serve the youth and families (5). Our city council needs to invest in the community
<br />and not in the police department. We need to re-allocate the police department budget to social workers,
<br />affordable housing, youth programs, education, helping those who are undocumented, healthcare,
<br />employment, counselors, mental health programs, drug addiction programs, and homelessness. The police
<br />department was given these jobs by default and it has put many individual's lives at risk, not only physically,
<br />but mentally and emotionally. It has been stated by the American Public Health Association that policing is a
<br />public health issue. We have seen the adverse effects of policing in the Black community, the Latinx
<br />community, and the Native American community.
<br />As our city council, we are telling you, increasing the police budget, will not deter the 46% increase in violent
<br />crimes (20). Santa Ana has 52% of the homeless population from all OC, 26% are women who are vulnerable
<br />to sexual assault (4). Santa Ana has 33% of documented gang members in OC, the majority of those in gangs
<br />are young people (4). We do not need Santa Ana police's gang suppression strategy, who has shown in the
<br />past 5 years to be unable to help these gang members. When I say help, that does not mean send them to jail,
<br />this means to get them into programs, help them get a good-paying job, housing, health care, and education.
<br />There is a reason why crime has not gone down. There is a reason why homelessness has risen 77% just in
<br />2017, 37% of which have mental illnesses (31). There is a reason why our poverty rate is 17%. There is a
<br />reason why only 22.3% of those who live in Santa Ana graduate from high school (Data.census.gov). There is
<br />1
<br />
<br />
|