Vote ‘No’ on Measure E

City Hall’s introduction to ballot Measure E states: “Establish a Police Oversight Commission and add a Police Oversight Director.”
The mayor and council majority then declare that Measure E will “strengthen civilian oversight and ensure independent and strong review and provide a more responsive model for community input.”
All of that is false. The people of Long Beach already have a police oversight commission. The ballot measure in fact eliminates civilian oversight and ensures suppressed transparency.
Measure E is an inane bait-and-switch product of City Hall’s “meet and confer” process with the police union.
The argument advanced by Measure E supporters – that the new position of police oversight director, who will be hired, fired and made to report directly to the City Council, will in their words “be as close and responsive to the vote of the people as possible,” – is a deceptive assumption.
Mayor Robert Garcia concocted this dishonest assumption during council debate in response to Councilmember Al Austin’s motion and vigorous argument to shelve the backsliding Charter Amendment.
Austin, the senior Black member of City Council and a former chair of the current oversight commission, with support from two fellow councilmembers – Supernaw and Mungo – argued the measure is regressive and required more study to strengthen – rather than weaken – civilian oversight.
We agree.
The council majority that voted to override Austin’s motion has benefitted from endorsements, illegal campaign photo ops and cash donations made by the Long Beach Police Officers Association, which seeks to eliminate independent civilian oversight.
Measure E will turn our existing civilian oversight commissioners into irrelevant community liaison lackeys. Here are the facts:
FACT: Long Beach already has a Police Oversight Commission. It is called the Citizen Police Complaint Commission (CPCC) and is comprised of members of the public.
FACT: The CPCC empowered citizen commissioners to investigate complaints, subpoena witnesses and documents, swear witnesses, hold hearings, make findings and recommend dispositions to the city manager.
FACT: Measure E eradicates all of these authorities.
FACT: Instead of strengthening the existing system, Measure E will abolish civilian oversight and turn our citizen commissioners into irrelevant community liaison lackeys.
FACT: The addition of a police oversight director is bait-and-switch; the director is a city employee hired and fired by the City Council rather than citizen commissioners.
FACT: This “director” is restricted to conducting investigations of high-ranking LBPD officers and “other critical incidents” – ONLY IF authorized by the city manager.
FACT: The director is allowed to conduct specified audits ONLY, “observe” limited police investigations and report ONLY to the council.
FACT: The 32-year-old CPCC could be more effective. Political meddling insured the commission became a toothless paper tiger.
FACT: City Hall can put the teeth back into the tiger by removing the false barriers put in their way while a more effective – tamper-proof – Charter Amendment is developed for the next election.
FACT: Measure E robs the public of a vital role in police oversight under the pretext of legitimate calls for reform. The electorate established the CPCC in 1990 following a horrific police brutality scandal. The calls for reform – like those following the George Floyd murder – are being overturned rather than strengthened.
It is now up to the electorate to send a strong message to City Hall that it’s not the police union that dictates reasonable police oversight. It must be the people who decide.
Send a message to City Hall: Don’t kill civilian oversight. Fix it. Vote “NO” on Measure E.
Stephen Downing is a resident of Long Beach, a retired LAPD deputy chief of police and the lead ballot argument writer against Measure E. The other Long Beach residents who contributed to this article - also assigned as ballot writers against Measure E - include: David Clement, former chair of the CPCC, Richard D. Lindemann, former CPCC board member, Greg Buhl, attorney and head research analyst for CheckLBPD and Anne Profitt, a photo-journalist.
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What new the LBC acting like a criminal organization. The LBC council is all smoke and mirrors getting over on the uniformed-voter. Looks like these corrupt officials will never change. SMH