Executive director of the San Diego Commission on Police Practices is asking for testimony about interactions with cops
The San Diego Commission on Police Practices held a community feedback event to ask the public to participate in an effort to bring more accountability to the San Diego Police Department.
Written by Rami Alarian, Edited by Kate Morrissey
The executive director of the San Diego Commission on Police Practices said last week that he wants to hear about community members’ experiences with police.
In Valencia Park, at an event the commission held to gather community feedback on June 6, San Diegans told Roger Smith, who joined the commission earlier this year, that it hasn't done enough to investigate police harm. Smith said the commission has struggled with buy-in from local government offices, but he hopes gathering testimonies will help it hold police more accountable.
“What needs to happen is the ability to develop an independent narrative of what the true relationship between the San Diego community and the San Diego Police Department is,” Smith said.
The San Diego Commission on Police Practices oversees the city’s police department with authority to investigate and evaluate misconduct and offer recommended changes to officer practices. According to Smith, police vet complaints before deciding which ones to pass along to the commission, meaning that it only receives a fraction of them to investigate.
Community members and organizers who attended the event appeared skeptical. Some brought up their own personal experiences with law enforcement that they said the commission did not do enough to investigate.
Anthony Carolino said, through tears, that San Diego police shot his brother Dennis Carolino seven times, killing him, during a mental health crisis call in 2019. He said the case has yet to receive a proper investigation.
“Sometimes my brother wakes me up looking for justice,” Carolino said. “How are you going to answer my brother?”
After many interim directors, the City Council hired Roger Smith as the first permanent executive director. Smith said the vacancy caused inefficiency in the past.
Smith and the commission are asking San Diegans to submit testimonies regarding what they have seen, experienced or heard about San Diego police directly to Smith’s office.
“This is a small commission, but it has large issues that we are confronting,” Smith said.
Currently, detective sergeants get initial review over complaints, according to the San Diego Police Department Internal Affairs Unit manual. If police categorize the complaints as frivolous, then the commission does not receive them.
San Diegans for Justice co-chair Andrea St. Julian, who worked on the measure that created the Commission on Police Practices in 2020, said during the Valencia Park event that the city attorney’s office is partly responsible for complaints staying in the hands of the police. St. Julian said the city attorney's office has complied with a request from police to withhold some complaints from the commission.
“The city attorney is also the attorney for the police, so she has to act on their behalf,” Julian said.
Smith said the city attorney’s office has not been fully cooperating with the commission. He said the commission hopes to put pressure on the city attorney by using San Diegans’ testimonies.
Ferbert’s office declined to comment, deferring to San Diego police. The San Diego Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Attorney Kylee Belanger, who attended the meeting, questioned whether community support and testimonies were enough to make meaningful change to police practices.
“Are you prepared to use your general counsel as a sword in this fight, not just a shield?” Belanger asked.
Smith said his background was proof that he was willing to fight for San Diegans. He said he has previously worked for five other cities in senior positions involved in police oversight. Just in the past two and a half years, Smith worked in both Phoenix and Oakland as a head of their police oversight agencies.
“If that wasn’t part of who I am, I would still be in one of the cities that I’m no longer in,” Smith said.
San Diegans wishing to give feedback can contact Roger Smith’s office via email or at 619-215-3254.
