AgdaPkt 2020-10-26 Joint SA PFA - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

doesn't work within our public safety system. Councilmember Bain that we speak from my own experience. I am a person diagnosed with major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety, traits that run in my family. Four members of my family have had suicide attempts, including myself, and one has died. If I were to be in a position where I was so depressed that I needed help or feared I would harm myself, I would NEVER call 911 in Redwood City for help and I have instructed my partner not to either, because of what happened to Kyle Hart. I say this even with the knowledge of the mental health pilot in place, because the likelihood that the —1.25 FTE of a social worker Redwood City will receive as part of this pilot. The only model in which I would feel safe calling is one like CAHOOTS, where a social worker would arrive unarmed, without police. Am I just supposed to wait several years until we get there? Is that what you're asking of me? Are you asking that I wait another six months to a year for you to hire an equity manager to tell you what the community members already told you via the listening sessions? As a white woman, I cannot claim to truly know the experiences of my community members of different races, but I do know that all over the country and in this city, there are people who I deeply empathize with who, like me, are afraid of the police because they know that the police have a track record for harming people like them, for traits they cannot change. There is NO solid evidence that Redwood City is any different. In fact, the over $1.75 million that the city has paid out in settlements on behalf of the police department in the past ten years would actually suggest that our police department, like many others around this country, has a problem. Further, the use -of -force reforms that RWC is just now implementing have been tested in other cities, where citizens are still dying at the hands of the police (see Minnepolis, Seattle, San Francisco, etc.). And that is why I am afraid. And that is why I join my community members tonight asking you to take bolder action than what is proposed in this budget. Just because you feel safe with the police does not mean that all your constituents do. Just because you have faith the police will not kill someone in our city (which they already have) does not mean that all your constituents do. Just because there hasn't been a wrongful death lawsuit that wipes out this budget proposed tonight does not mean there won't be in the future. Redwood City has the potential to be a city of equity. A city of radical compassion, where everyone is housed, where no one dies at the hands of the police, where we preserve our climate. But we aren't going to get there without leadership, and we aren't going to get there when we try to continue business as usual with a few small changes that would only appease the "white moderate" Dr. King so disdained. Thank you, Olivia "Livey" Beha Redwood City Resident, District 2