City Council voices support for public safety reforms
The City Council expressed support this week for recommendations put forth by a subcommittee tasked with reimagining public safety and policing in Davis.
City staff now will take the recommendations, along with the council’s input and return with a range of options and roadmap for moving forward, according to City Manager Mike Webb.
Nine recommendations in all were put forth by the subcommittee, which included members of three city commissions: Human Relations, Police Accountability and Social Services.
They ranged from shifting non-violent service calls to unarmed personnel to decriminalizing victimless offenses and expanding crisis services for behavioral health emergencies.
In March of 1965, Davis Community Church’s pastor at the time, the Rev. Dewey Pruitt, boarded a bus with people from around the country. He marched the 54-mile highway from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to leverage his whiteness for the sake of justice and equality for black Americans.
Ever since, DCC has worked to balance the scales of justice for all Americans. These last few years, our advocacy for immigrants, DACA status students, and the Black Lives Matter movement has meant, among many things, that we post banners here in our downtown location to promote justice, equality, and leverage what power we have to end discrimination and declare that the injustices for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color must end. We’re working to birth a new era here in Davis.