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01 November 2022 <br /> Mayor Sarmiento and City Councilmembers <br /> 20 Civic Center Plaza <br /> Santa Ana, CA 92701 <br /> ecomment2Santa-ana.org <br /> RE: Santa Ana Police Oversight Commission Ordinance and Agenda Item 15 <br /> Dear Mayor Sarmiento and City Councilmembers, <br /> All Politics is Local. <br /> Orange County Young Democrats is writing to express our strong support for a robust police <br /> oversight Commission for the City of Santa Ana. We commend the City Council and the City <br /> Attorney for reviewing and incorporating amendments provided by Chispa, ACLU SoCal, and <br /> other community based organizations on Exhibit 1 to strengthen and create a strong effective <br /> police oversight commission. <br /> We commend the council for adopting much of the community's policy framework in to craft <br /> this ordinance. As the Council approaches the first reading of the draft ordinance, we urge the <br /> City Council to support this draft ordinance and introduce the following amendments that will <br /> clarify and refine the scope and powers of the commission. <br /> We urge the City Council to introduce these amendments to establish an effective police <br /> oversight 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 <br /> reviewing the police complaint process, and provide a forum to review, evaluate and <br /> make recommendations." Instead, add language that includes the purpose of the <br /> commission and independent oversight director to provide investigative authority over <br /> police practices, police misconduct, officer-involved shootings, and other serious use of <br /> 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 <br /> to ensure the Commission is not an entity to review IA investigations or to review <br /> the PD complaint process. With this language, the Council will be giving the <br /> Commission investigatory power, as opposed to the more auditor language provided <br /> previously. <br /> Qualifications of Commissioners <br /> 1 <br />