Three of California’s biggest police unions are calling for police reform on a national level.
“No words can convey our collective disgust and sorrow for the murder of George Floyd,” said the San Francisco and San Jose Police Officers’ Associations and the Los Angeles Police Protective League in a statement. “We have an obligation as a profession and as human beings to express our sorrow by taking action.”
The unions took out full page ads over the weekend in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Mercury News, the East Bay Times, the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times calling for a series of reforms.
“The goal is to start the conversation,” said Paul Kelly, President of the SJ POA. “This is a starting point to have some concrete steps to move ahead, not only in our own cities or cities across California, but also nationally.”
The statement comes after weeks of wide scale protests across the country have called for a major reevaluation of the role of police in modern society. Protestors have called for city leaders to reallocate funding for police departments, which in some cities make up nearly half of the annual budget, to social services.
The unions’ proposal calls for the creation of a national database of officers who have been fired for misconduct and a national use of force standard that “emphasizes reverence for life, de-escalation, a duty to intercede, proportional responses to dangerous incidents and strong accountability,” according to the statement.
The unions are also proposing a system to identify officers that may need more training, ongoing crisis intervention and de-escalation training and a publicly available website that allows people to access analysis of police use of force.
“Police unions must root out racism wherever it rears its ugly head and root out any racist individual from our profession,” the statement said.
But protestors and activists are skeptical that police unions, which historically have resisted adopting reforms, are ready for significant change.
Rev. Ben McBridge, a San Francisco-based activist who runs a campaign to transform police departments, says unions should be focused on listening to community members right now.
“What would it look like, if they are really committed to being public servants as they say they are, to follow the leadership of those most impacted by police violence and police brutality?” he asked. “It is the role of police departments, police officers and police unions to think about how, in this first phase, they shift their orientation in service to that.”
The advertisements came as controversy erupted in Atlanta over the weekend over the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks Friday. The police chief resigned and the officer who shot Brooks was fired.