On Tuesday, 29 September, Salem’s Racial Equity Task Force (RETF) hosted a “virtual town hall” with Acting Police Chief Dennis King to discuss the Salem Police Department’s policy on the use of firearms and use of force. The town hall was moderated by RETF Chair Shawn Newton and Mayor Kim Driscoll. The invitation explained that this summer Mayor Driscoll signed on to the Reimagining Policing Pledge developed by the Obama Foundation. The pledge includes the following action items for mayors and other officials:
Review your police use of force policies.
Engage your communities by including a diverse range of input, experiences, and stories in your review.
Report the findings of your review to your community and seek feedback.
Reform your community’s police use of force policies.
You can watch a recording of the 90-minute town hall on Facebook on demand (no Facebook account is necessary) or broadcast on SATV. Dustin Luca’s article in the Salem News is a good synopsis.
Major takeaways
This was a good opening, introductory Q&A session, but we need more opportunities for in-depth discussion and community input into the policy, so that it may be improved. We feel there is still a need for a line-by-line review.
The current Use of Force policy has some strengths; for instance, the SPD acknowledges the immeasurable value of human life. The policy weaknesses include omissions and vague wording. The policy does not acknowledge the nationwide context of racial disparity in use of force; it does not affirm that Black Lives Matter; it does not affirm protesters’ rights, but instead explicitly allows police to use pepperballs against “unruly . . . crowds threatening property damage.” While acting Chief King attempted to clarify the “reasonable person” standard used in the policy, he did not distinguish the difference between a “reasonable person” and a “reasonable officer.” Both standards are referenced in the policy.
If you are interested in digging into the policy with us, we are making the LWV-Salem’s line-by-line notes available to the public. We submitted our questions to the RETF in advance of the town hall.
Salem by the numbers
The Mayor and Acting Police Chief are both working towards the SPD having body cameras, and said they are “very close to doing a trial run.” Curious about cost?
It is an estimated $750,000 to $1,000,000 to outfit 90 officers
While we are not sure why these numbers don’t add up, and we also have raised questions about self-reporting, the Chief gave the following metrics regarding use of force in 2020:
33 use-of-force incidents have been self-reported by the SPD in 2020
8 incidents where SPD drew a firearm, but only 1 in which SPD fired the gun
10 taser incidents, including one where the probe was “deployed”
24 incidents in which SPD used physical force, but not a firearm or taser
In 2019:
56 use-of-force incidents were self-reported by the SPD in 2019
10 with firearms
14 with tasers
3 with pepperballs
29 uses of physical force other than with firearms, tasers, or pepperballs
The highest number of use-of-force incidents in a recorded year was 57.
You are encouraged to share your thoughts with the Racial Equity Task Force at raceequity@salem.com or the Mayor at mayor@salem.com.