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Latino Health Access <br /> LATINO 450 W. Fourth Street, Suite 130 <br /> HEALTH Santa Ana, CA 92701 <br /> ACCESS I 714-542-7792 <br /> www.latinohealthaccess.org <br /> November 1, 2022 <br /> Mayor Sarmiento and City Councilmembers <br /> 20 Civic Center Plaza <br /> Santa Ana, CA 92701 <br /> ecommentg,Santa-ana.org <br /> RE: Santa Ana Police Oversight Commission Ordinance and Agenda Item 15 <br /> Dear Mayor Sarmiento and City Councilmembers, <br /> Latino Health Access has been proudly working alongside community residents for over 29 years to improve <br /> the social determinants of health in our city. We provide services that address immediate health needs while <br /> providing information and facilitating opportunities to increase civic participation and impact policies that will <br /> improve those social determinants in the long term. <br /> We are writing to express our strong support for a robust police oversight Commission for the City of Santa <br /> Ana. We commend the City Council and the City Attorney for reviewing and incorporating amendments <br /> provided by Chispa, ACLU SoCal, and other community based organizations on Exhibit 1 to strengthen and <br /> create a strong effective police oversight commission. <br /> We commend the council for adopting much of the community's policy framework to craft this ordinance. As <br /> the Council approaches the first reading of the draft ordinance, we urge the City Council to support this draft <br /> ordinance and introduce the following amendments that will clarify and refine the scope and powers of the <br /> commission. <br /> We urge the City Council to introduce these amendments to establish an effective police oversight <br /> commission.Amending the following sections of the ordinance: <br /> Establishment and Purpose <br /> • Remove the language that provides the commission and independent director"to assist in reviewing the <br /> police complaint process, and provide a forum to review, evaluate and make recommendations." Instead, <br /> add language that includes the purpose of the commission and independent oversight director to provide <br /> investigative authority over police practices, police misconduct, officer-involved shootings, and other <br /> serious use of force. The Commission must have a clearly defined purpose: to conduct independent, <br /> community-led investigations and deliver recommendations. The purpose of this edit is to ensure the <br /> Commission is not an entity to review IA investigations or to review the PD complaint process. <br /> With this language, the Council will be giving the Commission investigatory power, as opposed to <br /> the more auditor language provided previously. <br /> PREVENTION EDUCATION ACTION <br />