Correspondence - #14 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ADO A f V� �C II� A J'otl0.f� August 29, 2023 Mayor Amezcua and City Councilmembers 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 ecommentC@santa-ana.orq Via Email RE: Item 14: Approve Master Service Agreement with Lexipol, LLC to Provide Policy Manual Maintenance and Support to the Police Department Dear Mayor Amezcua and City Councilmembers, People's Budget Orange County (PBOC) urges you to vote NO on Item 14, the proposal to Approve the Master Service Agreement with Lexipol, LLC to Provide Policy Manual Maintenance and Support to the Police Department (Department). Instead, we urge you to explore alternatives that involve community driven policies with public feedback. The City should explore options such as allocating additional resources to the City Attorney's office for in-house police policy maintenance and collaborate with the newly established City's Police Oversight Commission (Commission) to oversee and monitor the Department Policies. The People's Budget OC is fighting for a better Orange County: a more vibrant and humane place to live in which every community member has full access to housing, health and mental health care; where our children and youth, our environment, and racial justice are top priorities; and where people have freedom from policing and jails. Our mission is to advocate for a participatory public budget that allows marginalized communities to be involved in decision-making through public education, directly engaging representatives, and listening to and uplifting the voices and needs of marginalized communities. We believe this work includes responding to the concerns of community around controversial companies like Lexipol who have a troubled history of creating cloudy policing practices that don't abide by California laws that are in place. Last year, the Council unanimously delayed the approval of the proposed contract with Lexipol due to community concerns. City staff committed to come back with alternatives to the company's services, ones involving public feedback. However, as of now, no further updates or public feedback have been provided to determine alternatives. The City must remain committed to addressing community concerns and ensuring transparency by having the public provide their input in the process. Lexipol is a police lobbying group that subverts state law and best policing practices by selling boilerplate policies to police departments. In 2020, after the California Legislature passed AB 392: the necessary standard for police use of deadly force, Lexipol released an unlawful use of force 1