He referred to the City Charter, which maintains that any initiatives or amendments “shall not be subject to veto, or to amendment or repeal except by the voters, unless such initiative or declaration of policy shall otherwise provide.”
“This is something that the voters voted on and voters supported,” Walton said. “So you can’t just eliminate a charter commission without the voter approval.”
Lurie’s task force also recommended that if the board is eliminated, the Department of Police Accountability, a separate entity, could absorb its responsibilities. Walton called that a “poor recommendation.”
“The Department of Police Accountability doesn’t even have the capacity right now to adequately provide oversight for the police department,” he said. “Let alone adding the additional services of the Sheriff’s Oversight Board.”
At the Wednesday meeting, Wechter appeared alongside other citizens to push back against the task force’s elimination.
“If the SDOB is eliminated, we will be going against national trends,” Wechter said. “We will be moving backwards and setting a very bad example.”
Yoel Haile, the ACLU of Northern California’s director of the criminal law and immigration project, said that he has received multiple reports in recent years of assault and negligence by jail staff. He said the board’s elimination would only exacerbate incarcerated populations’ vulnerability.
Haile called the potential elimination “a naked power grab and consolidation of power at the mayor’s hands, masquerading as streamlining our efficiency.”
The commission tabled the issue of recommending the Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board for later discussion. Streamlining task force chair Ed Harrington reminded concerned citizens that the group can not roundly “make it go away.”
“It will go back to the voters,” Harrington said. “It’s only a recommendation.”
