Healing and Safer Communities – Community Update, November 23, 2020

In the proposal and plan we released in June, we outlined 4 steps. Step 1 has been completed, and the remaining 3 steps are in progress:

Step 1
Law enforcement agencies will no longer have contingents in the San Diego Pride Parade or booths in our Pride Festival. This may be reassessed after the completion of Step 4. Completed, June 2020

Step 2
The City of San Diego will recognize the San Diego Pride Parade as a free speech event and no longer bill the organization for road closures and safety. Proposed to Mayor in June 2020, not adopted by City or Mayor.

Step 3 (page 7)
The adoption of the #8CantWait campaign’s policies for law enforcement has made quick progress with City policymakers, with additional thanks to community members and partners that have also called for reform in police practices. Reforms that have been adopted this year include: 1) ban chokeholds and strangleholds, 2) require de-escalation, 3) duty to intervene, and 4) requiring the reporting of use of force. The final reform called for in the #8CantWait campaign is a ban on shooting at moving vehicles; while SDPD has adopted a new policy on this practice that takes a step in the right direction, it fails to meet the standards of the policy called for by #8CantWait. (Citation: Police Use of Force Project)

Additionally, San Diego Pride has continued and renewed our focus on advocacy around police accountability.
San Diego Pride joined the Coalition on Police Accountability & Transparency (CPAT) as a supporter in calling for the Police Accountability Now package, which includes passage of the P.R.O.T.E.C.T. Policy by City Council (“Preventing Over-Policing Through Equitable Community Treatment”). PROTECT would ban consent searches and stops and end pretext traffic stops. When the PROTECT Policy comes before the City Council later this year, San Diego Pride and our supporters will join CPAT in voicing our support for the policy.

As part of this advocacy, for the first time in years San Diego Pride has taken positions on three ballot measures in the November 2020 election, including a support position for Measure B, Establishing an Independent Commission on Police Practices. In November, voters overwhelmingly approved this measure by almost 3:1. San Diego Pride will be monitoring the implementation of this commission, and will continue to engage in this process where appropriate as this commission is formed.

Step 4
Finally, we are currently in the first phase of Step 4, and have invited five committee members to join us to guide these conversations, all members and leaders of the Black LGBTQ+ community: Charlie Brown, Sakeenah Gallardo, Rickie Brown, Dwayne Crenshaw, and Jeremy Wells. Members of this committee represent both themselves and two community organizations: the San Diego Black LGBTQ+ Coalition and The Humanity Movement. Action items within phase 1 that are underway or coming soon:

1. Our community survey will solicit feedback from all members of the community – Black, Indigenous, people of color, and white folx.
2. These five committee members will be reaching out to other Black LGBTQ+ community members and leaders to conduct in-depth one-on-one interviews to collect data about the experiences of Black LGBTQ+ community members and Black LGBTQ+ visions for the future of safer communities in San Diego.

The data collected from both the community survey and the one-on-one interviews will guide our future conversations and will help this committee to establish goals and ideal paths forward. It is important to note that all identified goals or paths forward will be in consultation with and guided by the Healing & Safer Communities Committee.

We look forward to sharing progress with you as we go forward, and as we launch our community survey and one-on-one interviews with community leaders.

We always welcome additional feedback. You may reach members of the committee and the committee’s staff liaison at [email protected].