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the Crime Prevention Officer to continue proactively reaching out to different groups in the <br />community and would like emphasis on building relationships with the non-English speaking <br />community through bilingual officers. She expressed support for National Night Out as an <br />important event for building trust and community. She would like to see a program that builds <br />relationships with youth who are not interested in a law enforcement career and for those youth <br />who are interested in a law enforcement career, how they pursue those goals in Pleasanton. <br />Councilmember Balch believes the City Council should continue to support police officers to <br />ensure they are prepared to answer any call and have all the equipment they need to do their job <br />proficiently. This includes implicit bias training and race relation training so they can continue to <br />build trust with the community. He stressed the importance of supporting the mental health of the <br />City's police officers because they need to be grounded to make comprehensive decisions to <br />benefit the community. He reported he was able to go to PPD's webpage and download the use <br />of force policy and was happy to see the site is transparent. He is happy to see the Police Chiefs <br />Advisory Board getting underway and the Crisis Response Program coming in January. He <br />believes it is critical to reach out to the Youth Commission and have a body that brings broad <br />public and private school groups together regarding SROs. <br />Councilmember Balch referenced Councilmember Arkin's request earlier regarding the <br />information on sustained violations or complaints. He cited examples of how the data may be <br />presented and believes the information is important for the City Council in its oversight role to <br />identify trends and work with police staff to address those issues. He expressed appreciation for <br />the command staff and the City Manager looking into the request. He thanked PPD for their work. <br />Councilmember Arkin advised she is happy to see the Crisis Response Program starting next <br />year, the Police Chiefs Advisory Board being finalized, and SRO discussions beginning. She <br />expressed support for PPD and knows they have a very hard job. She advised the City Council is <br />the policy-making body and noted the oversight role including transparency and accountability is <br />within its purview. She noted in light of recent legal matters, a regular policy review is needed and <br />would like it to return at the next update in March or earlier if possible. <br />In response to Councilmember Testa, Chief Swing confirmed the 2020 Annual Report is not <br />online yet and is working to obtain an update from the vendor. He explained the bi-annual report <br />will not be in lieu of the annual report. In reference to Councilmember Testa's previous inquiry, he <br />advised there is a critical incident link located on the PPD website. <br />Councilmember Testa expressed support for the report and noted it helped her connect the dots <br />when looking at some of the different programs. She requested staff further explore how to obtain <br />the information for civilian independent oversight. She noted best practices indicate a civilian <br />independent oversight should not be a political body. She believes there should be independent <br />oversight that has a law enforcement perspective and the professional background to do justice to <br />the department and officers. She requested the City Attorney provide her in writing the reasoning <br />why Pleasanton legally cannot be provided information like Palo Alto's website. She requested the <br />City Council investigate what independent oversight or an auditor might look like and noted it is <br />very modestly priced. She expressed excitement for the Crisis Response Program and concurred <br />with conducting policy reviews. She requested a discussion about roles and responsibilities of <br />oversight be held. <br />Mayor Brown advised Pleasanton's officers have always ranked extremely high on City surveys. <br />She believes Police Chief Swing and City Manager Fialho are a big part of the oversight. She <br />thanked Chief Swing for meeting with John and Rose Bauer and taking a sincere and honest <br />interest in what they had to say. She expressed confidence in the Police Chiefs Advisory Board <br />and looks forward to hearing updates in the next report. She is proud that Pleasanton has a Crisis <br />Intervention Team and stated the City Manager and City Council have invested deeply in the <br />City Council Minutes Page 11 of 16 September 7, 2021 <br />