Put the gun away and talk: What police reform could look like in SLO County
Police must stop shooting.
They must stop putting people in choke holds.
They must stop yelling and waving their guns at innocent civilians, especially people of color.
And they must stop applying dangerous rules of engagement that aren’t even sanctioned by the military in a war zone.
The time has come for a wholesale re-evaluation of law enforcement’s standard operating procedures to refocus their mission around their entire reason for existence as peace officers, which is to protect and serve their communities.
Basically, they must stop assuming the world is guilty until proven innocent.
Yes, the issue is far more complicated and varies in every town across this country. Its severity is deeply impacted by systemic issues like the racism that allows certain people to be profiled and targeted in ways that others are not.
And we must recognize law enforcement is a dangerous job that requires officers to be constantly vigilant. They deserve respect for that.
But they can’t be cowboys. This isn’t the lawless Old West.
A deputy shoots a dog in Atascadero
Here on the sheltered Central Coast, we should count ourselves lucky we don’t see the manifestations of this problem more often or with greater severity.
But that doesn’t mean we are immune.
Example: Late Monday night when SLO County sheriff’s deputies rolled up on the scene of an Atascadero man unloading supplies at his family’s dry cleaning business.
The Sheriff’s Office says the deputies were on patrol when they “observed a business with the front door open and the lights off.”
They saw a man pushing a laundry cart and a car with its trunk open, so they got out to investigate.
Junior Gonzales, who had just returned after 11 p.m. from an out-of-town trip, said he walked out to find the deputies in the parking lot. At least one had his gun drawn and yelled to identify himself as from the Sheriff’s Office, Gonzales said.
At that moment, Gonzales’s two pit bulls, Roxi and Luna, ran out barking. Gonzales said the deputy told him to restrain Roxi, but before he could do that, the deputy fired three shots, wounding the dog.
The Sheriff’s Office says the deputy was afraid Roxi was going to attack him.
Fortunately, Roxi survived and no one else was hurt.
But the response raises the reasonable question about what kind of action is appropriate in such a situation.
It’s also the second time in the last nine months that officers have shot a local dog while investigating a potential burglary.
In September, San Luis Obispo Officer Joshua Walsh shot and killed a 7-year-old pit bull-boxer mix named Bubbs while checking out a property in broad daylight one block from the Police Station.
In both cases, the owners say officers approached aggressively onto private property with guns drawn and did not give them time to restrain their pets.
In both cases, three shots were fired, hitting animals and ricocheting in a way that could have hit the owners themselves.
You can say the officers were justified and felt threatened, but is this the kind of result we want to see happening in our towns?
We don’t need a system that encourages over-aggressive officers to put themselves in dangerous situations by coming out with guns blazing. When you do that, too often the officer’s route to exit the situation is by shooting the gun.
That’s a recipe for tragedy, and they’re lucky none of those six rounds hit a person.
Another similarity about both cases? The tendency for law enforcement to clam up about incidents that make them look bad.
We have asked for the video of the SLO shooting, but the department refuses to release it. We learned about the Atascadero shooting thanks to a citizen’s tip four days after the incident. Only when we asked the Sheriff’s Office about an officer-involved shooting did they get around to writing a news release — at 8 p.m. on a Friday night.
That is not transparency. That does not build public trust.
What can we learn from this incident?
The one good thing about the Atascadero incident is it comes amid a national discourse on police reform and could be a catalyst for training improvements. Maybe SLO County could be a model for better standards and practices.
We can start by asking, how else might this episode have gone down?
Perhaps the deputies could have stayed closer to their car while assessing the situation and retreated to safety when the dogs came out.
Or, what if they just stayed in the car to begin with and initiated contact by calling out the window?
What if the first interaction was simply a deputy asking Gonzales, “Just checking the neighborhood. Is everything OK?”
Think about how that changes the interaction, as opposed to jumping out with guns drawn yelling “Sheriff’s Office!”
One, it assumes innocence. Two, it’s collegial and sets the person at ease. Three, it allows time for understanding before any aggressive action is taken.
The core tenet here is positive interactions with the public that withhold force unless absolutely necessary.
Frankly, even taking a gun from its holster should be an officer’s last resort, not a common behavior that intimidates, frightens and opens the potential for disaster.
It’s worth noting, also, that this idea of community policing isn’t a new thing. But at this moment, we have perhaps the best momentum for real change that we’ve ever seen.
If we instituted this kind of response, think about the other ways it would improve citizens’ relations with police.
Take the traffic stop, for instance.
For most people, getting pulled over by an officer will be the worst part of their day, whether they get a ticket or not. That’s because the encounters are often undertaken with an air of suspicion, by officers trained to look for the worst.
In many cases, these are minor stops. Officers could initiate a friendly conversation, but instead, too many look for the enforcement moment rather than the educational one.
Can’t we build a more collegial relationship? What if police assumed innocence before guilt? What if that was a fundamental part of their training? What if instead, the officer who pulls you over walks up with the intention of care? To see if you are all right?
“Sir, I noticed your headlights aren’t on and wanted to make sure everything was OK. How are you doing tonight?”
A skilled officer could start from that point and in the process tease out the information he needs to see if there’s a more serious problem, like the person’s intoxicated. Then, when he determines nothing is amiss, he can send the driver on with a cordial goodbye.
This is just one tiny example, but if taken as a core approach in law enforcement, it could have profound life-saving ripple effects.
A new approach to policing
How does that kind of mindset look as a practical application in the field?
First, we must reduce the reliance on guns as a common reaction.
An officer should never fire a gun unless fired upon. EVER.
Enough with shoot first, ask questions later. Ask questions first, don’t shoot if at all possible.
Next, we must outfit every single local officer with a body camera, both to hold them accountable for failures and exonerate them when they respond properly.
Finally, we must train officers so they focus on their people skills first and foremost.
How much time do officers spend at the gun range vs. in de-escalation exercises? Shooting a gun is escalation. It is a last resort. It should not be their most-prized skill.
Yes, that will not always be possible, and extreme measure will be required at times, quickly and with deadly force. In Paso Robles this month, we needed police to be at their best using deadly force when a gunman threatened the community and no other option was available. And they were.
But that should be an exception to the norm. Instead, the norm should be to prioritize words over actions And if something does go wrong, law enforcement must be honest and forthright with the public. Maybe then, we will come to see police as true friends and allies and not people to fear or dread.
That’s how you become the kind of good guy who helps our community by trusting its citizens, lifting them up and empowering them.
That’s what it will look like when peace officers truly “protect and serve.”
This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 12:12 PM.
