Police Heed Citizen Panel’s Call to Improve Training

Based on recommendations from the civilian review board, the San Diego Police Department is now requiring its officers to requalify quarterly on the department’s use-of-force procedures, as well as to attend continuous cultural awareness training programs to improve police-community relations.

The Rev. George Walker Smith, spokesman for the Civilian Advisory Panel on Police Practices, announced the changes Thursday as the year-old panel released its quarterly report.

The report was devoid of any statistical information on citizen complaints because of a state attorney general’s opinion in July that prohibits release of the data.

Smith and Denise M. Lavell, a review board member, said the use-of-force training was important because of some community concerns on how officers treat suspects with police batons, chemical agents and handcuffs. The extra training will be included in each officer’s quarterly re-qualification on firearms, the board said.

New Recommendations

“We basically felt as though that some of the complaints that have been lodged might have had some justification in them and we wanted to make sure that these types of things were corrected,” Smith said.

He added, however, that, after reviewing police practices and procedures for more than a year, the panel has actually seen “no more than four” complaints dealing with serious police brutality. He declined to discuss those cases.

The board also sent new recommendations to Chief Bob Burgreen, such as the passage of legislation to get around the attorney general’s opinion and the granting to the review board of power to refer complaints to the grand jury and other independent investigative agencies.

In addition, 11 of the 12 board members endorsed Proposition G and urged the defeat of Proposition F on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Proposition G would create a review board similar to the existing one except that the police chief would not participate in selecting board members.

Proposition F would create a mayor- and City Council-chosen board with subpoena powers.

Smith said board member Leonor Ferrer chose not to join in the endorsements because she does not feel the panel should be involved in political activity.