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August 29, 2023 <br /> Mayor Amezcua and City Councilmembers <br /> 20 Civic Center Plaza <br /> Santa Ana, CA 92701 <br /> ecommentC@santa-ana.orq <br /> Via Email <br /> RE: Item 14: Approve Master Service Agreement with Lexipol, LLC to Provide Policy Manual <br /> Maintenance and Support to the Police Department <br /> Dear Mayor Amezcua and City Councilmembers, <br /> Stop the Musick Coalition (STM) urges you to vote NO on Item 14, the proposal to Approve the <br /> Master Service Agreement with Lexipol, LLC to Provide Policy Manual Maintenance and <br /> Support to the Police Department (Department). Instead, we urge you to explore alternatives <br /> that involve community driven policies with public feedback. The City should explore options <br /> such as allocating additional resources to the City Attorney's office for in-house police policy <br /> maintenance and collaborate with the newly established City's Police Oversight Commission <br /> (Commission) to oversee and monitor the Department Policies. <br /> We are a coalition of individuals and organizations committed to decarceration in Orange <br /> County, California. Our vision is to reduce the jail population, stop the expansion of the carceral <br /> state, increase alternatives to incarceration, and build housing-first and care-first models in <br /> Orange County. We believe in a community that invests in public safety and community <br /> wellness through care, not cages. We believe this work includes responding to the concerns of <br /> community around controversial companies like Lexipol who have a troubled history of creating <br /> cloudy policing practices that don't abide by California laws that are in place. <br /> Last year, the Council unanimously delayed the approval of the proposed contract with Lexipol <br /> due to community concerns. City staff committed to come back with alternatives to the company's <br /> services, ones involving public feedback. However, as of now, no further updates or public <br /> feedback have been provided to determine alternatives. The City must remain committed to <br /> addressing community concerns and ensuring transparency by having the public provide their <br /> input in the process. <br /> Lexipol is a police lobbying group that subverts state law and best policing practices by selling <br /> boilerplate policies to police departments. In 2020, after the California Legislature passed AB 392: <br /> the necessary standard for police use of deadly force, Lexipol released an unlawful use of force <br /> policy that several local law enforcement agencies, including the City's Department, purchased <br /> 1 <br />