It is time for a change when it comes to policing, says the head of BART’s board of directors.
Lateefah Simon has just been assigned to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new police reform task force, and she says she and the Governor want to see nothing short of a transformation in policing, and so do communities of color.
“There is a deep willingness from communities of color who know all too well that these realities didn’t just start to take shape two weeks ago when we saw the relentless murder of George Floyd,” Simon told KCBS Radio. “They’re sick and tired of the concept of just reforms.”
Simon and the task force have been meeting with experts all over the state who have spent their life working on reforming policing, including some law enforcement leaders as well.
“Folks without homes, there are folks suffering from addiction and don’t need their first intervention to be with someone with a badge and a gun, they need a nurse or treatment and housing,” she said. “I think forward-thinking law enforcement leaders know that to be true.”
High on the list of changes is redirecting police funding towards mental health workers. It is a policy she believes would work based on her experience with BART.
“Advocates have been telling us for too long, folks who are in a mental health crisis - they might not need someone approaching them with a badge and a gun. We have to be thinking differently about what safety looks like,” said Simon.
And she admits that BART has room to grow in this area as well, and is hopeful that the national conversation around policing is an opportunity to make it happen.
“This moment across the country is inspiring,” she said. “It’s an inflection point for us to address racism within law enforcement, to shift policy and opportunity, not only for reform but for transformation.”