California County plans to ban racist 911 calls

[ad_1]

By Jessica A. York Santa Cruz Sentinel, California

SANTA CRUZ Seeking to deter unwarranted racially motivated 911 calls, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart is seeking support from county officials to ban the practice.

The Santa Cruz County Supervisory Board will consider on Tuesday the first reading of an order to make illegal the practice of reporting a suspected crime to law enforcement “only to discriminate against the person” in the absence of any threat or real harm.

Current state law prohibits hate crimes and false police reports, both of which can be punishable as criminal activity. The local ordinance would go a little further.

If approved, the ordinance can go to a final vote as early as September 28 and go into effect a month later.

In a report to the supervisory board, Hart described emergency reports that were based solely on the person’s race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity. targeted as “a real public safety problem”. In particular, the report mentions calls to 911 that are knowingly made and unjustified.

It is still unclear how prevalent these practices were locally, as no county calling statistics were available on Monday. However, the board of directors in August 2020 voted unanimously to declare racism a public health crisis in Santa Cruz County. At the time, the resolution called on all county departments to “integrate educational efforts to combat and dismantle racism.” Separately, the Santa Cruz County strategic plan, “Vision Santa Cruz,” calls for the enactment of legal measures that “protect members of the public from harm caused by false and racist crime reports and that promote overall public safety. “.

[RELATED:Suspicious person calls and third-party racial profiling]

“While there has been no increase in local cases that we are seeing, there are cases where we have seen it in recent years,” said Ashley Keehn, spokesperson for the office on Monday. of the sheriff. “We want to move forward to make sure our community knows this is not something we will tolerate.”

Hart’s report cited high-profile cases that caught national media attention. Other municipalities, he wrote, have taken action to address discriminatory and racial emergency reporting practices, including San Francisco’s 2020 “CAREN Act” (Caution Against Racially Exploitative Non-Emergencys) and similar efforts in Grand Rapids, Michigan, according to Hart’s report. to the blackboard.

“When a person deliberately racially profiles an individual in the community with the intention of violating a person’s right to live their life and to go about their business, it is very harmful and dangerous to the person. individual signaled and diverted crucial time from the deputies’ response to deal with real emergencies, ”indicates the report on the agenda.

Hart’s report went on to note that such misuse of law enforcement “may further deteriorate the relationship between the community and the police …”

The proposed law would give victims of such discrimination the opportunity to prosecute their false accusers in court, where judges could impose fines of up to $ 1,000, plus attorney fees and costs of the action. .

(c) 2021 Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, CA)

[ad_2]