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October 17th, 2022 Mayor Sarmiento and City Councilmembers 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 ecom entC s�.tnt�.t....ana o g Via Email RE: Santa Ana Police Oversight Commission and Agenda Item 22 Dear Mayor Sarmiento and City Councilmembers, UFCW 324 represents over 22,000 union members in the grocery, retail pharmacy, hospitality and cannabis industries. We have thousands of members who live and work in Santa Ana. Although we primarily focus on improving the lives of our members by fighting for better contracts and work standards in the workplace, we know our members also come home and deal with a wide range of issues, from housing insecurity, immigration, and even issues with police misconduct. To that end, we are committed as an organization to making sure that our members and the community at large are best served by the police departments that serve them. We believe that a Citizen Police Oversight commission is a crucial step to making sure that there is mutual respect and trust built between law enforcement officers and the communities that they serve. However, it also equally important that oversight is not just in name, but also done in a real and comprehensive way. To that end, we would like to echo the concerns and comment being brought forth from community organizations regarding the current version of the legislation scheduled to be discussed on October 18th, 2022 as agenda item 22, "Police Review Commission Draft Ordinance Discussion," and Exhibit 1. We commend the City Attorney's willingness to meet with community-based organizations to discuss our policy recommendations. We also commend the City Council for directing city staff to examine the Police Oversight Ordinance drafted and supported by community-based organizations. We are concerned, however, that the policy language of Exhibit 1 profoundly differs from the model policy that was discussed by the City Council on July 29, 2022, supported and written by community-based organizations. The Exhibit 1 policy language will establish an oversight model that largely mirrors the City of Anaheim's Police Review Board,which a majority of this council and the community have rightly labeled as insufficient. The Police Oversight Ad Hoc Committee previously recommended a hybrid investigation-focused and auditor/monitor-focused model of police oversight. The policy language of Exhibit 1 will fail to accomplish the Ad Hoc Committee's recommendation and the City Council's goal to establish an effective police oversight model. We cannot support the ordinance as written unless the fundamental police oversight provisions, listed herein, are included in the policy. We urge the City Council to introduce pivotal amendments to establish an effective police oversight commission. 1