Next week the City and the B'game Police Department will be holding a Zoom Townhall meeting on the "use of force" and will be responding to questions from the public. While it's tempting to question if this topic should be our first priority for BPD community outreach, I decided to go ahead and submit my questions. Here they are:
- What are BPD’s responsibilities for mutual aid to neighboring cities that “defund” their police when we are fully funding ours? Have we notified those city councils of the potential for reduced aid?
- If the city allocated 10% more funding to BPD today, how would it utilize the funds?
- What evidence exists to support Councilman Brownrigg’s public assertion that “so many of our neighbors and friends and residents fear the police”? (Daily Journal, June 19, 2020)
- Please describe in detail what the City Council would like to see happen when:
-A 6’2” 220 lb. male reacts physically to a 5’6” 145 lb. female BPD officer?
-A driver with fully opaque windows refuses to lower all windows?
- What is the risk of senior, tenured officers taking early retirement or filing for disability due to the demonization of police nationally, in the Bay Area, and in Burlingame?
- How many slots will there be in the training program for new officers in the next three years?
- What are our current capabilities to repel a violent outbreak in Burlingame? What Police PPE, vehicles, canine support, etc. is fully operational?
- In the event of a natural disaster or violent outbreak, how many hours or days will it take to have at least 80% of the entire police force in town and on duty?
- How many of Burlingame’s 23,000 adult residents have been issued active concealed permits (CCW) today? What are the requirements for a Burlingame resident to obtain a concealed carry permit today? Does the city offer training classes to provide the skills required to be granted a concealed carry permit?
The meeting is on July 23 at 6:30 pm and the City is requesting questions by 4 pm the day before at publiccomment@burlingame.org. We'll see how many questions can be addressed in the 90 minutes allocated. If you want to ask the council why they sold the Measure I sales tax as a new BPD funding source for two more uniformed officers if they were unhappy with the force, now would be a good time to do so. The times they are a'changing especially for those with short memories.
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