More Praise Than Criticism for Police at Shooting Forum

The San Diego Police Department’s first public forum in response to recent fatal shootings involving police was unexpectedly low-key Monday and yielded mostly positive comments from San Ysidro-area residents.

Police officers have shot 23 people, nine fatally, this year. In four of the fatal shootings, officers were confronted by people carrying baseball bats, a garden stake and a cement trowel. The fatal shooting total is one less than the department record for a year. The district attorney’s office has not filed criminal charges, relating to a fatal shooting, against a police officer since 1984.

Critics of the department, once widely regarded as exemplary, say officers have gotten out of control in their use of deadly force. The department has also been plagued this year by allegations of incompetence and corruption regarding a string of prostitute murders.

However, none of that was evident Thursday night. About 65 people attended the forum to question a panel headed by Police Chief Bob Burgreen and members of the department’s citizen oversight committees.

Many in attendance were hesitant to ask questions and few voiced the criticism that caused the department to schedule seven public forums during the next few weeks as part of its massive review of the department’s policies and practices on the use of deadly force.

“I want to praise the policy. There are too many guns and street gangs” terrorizing law-abiding San Diegans, said Joyce Holly, to the crowd’s applause.

The only criticism came from Irma Castro, executive director of the Chicano Federation, who said many of the police shootings were “senseless” and unnecessary. Castro said many San Diegans have come to fear police rather than look upon them as protectors and enforcers of the law.

Castro said the Chicano Federation will issue its own findings on the shootings by early November.

Burgreen said changes in the department’s policy and procedures regarding deadly force may come by Christmas, when an internal task force releases its findings on whether officers are properly trained, carrying the right equipment and making the correct shooting decisions.

The chief said the scope and thoroughness of the department’s study, which is at the mid-point, is unprecedented among major city police departments.

The task force has studied deadly force policies, tactics, practices, equipment and training of the FBI and 15 other law-enforcement agancies across the country, he said.

Burgreen also has spoken with the City Council about public criticism of police, and he even put council members through a simulated shooting scenario recently to demonstrate the difficulty of determining when to use deadly force.

A department ethics board also is considering recommending random, department-wide drug testing, a special anti-corruption unit to deal with potential abuses among officers and more extensive scrutiny of job applicants.

Also, the department’s second-in-command is conducting a management audit designed to test whether the department’s policies are being carried out and whether its organizational structure is sound.

After the final public forum, Burgreen plans to meet with members of his department and all the chiefs of police in San Diego County and the sheriff. He said he will solicit ideas from two public review boards and then meet with his top commanders to develop a new policy in November.

Burgreen said the department policy is to train officers to shoot someone who poses a threat to their life. He said officers shoot to stop a threat, not to wound.