Ahead of protest at his house, Sacramento city manager says he’s disciplined dozens of cops
Sacramento City Manager Howard Chan has fired six police officers – and disciplined more than three dozen others – since 2016, he told The Sacramento Bee ahead of planned protests Wednesday at his house.
Activists are calling for the City Council to oust Chan because he has not fired the officers who shot unarmed Black men Stephon Clark and Darell Richards in 2018, or other officers who activists say frequently harass residents of the Black community.
Because of a new state law on police transparency – Senate Bill 1421 – Chan said the city will soon release details about five of the six officer terminations. That’s because they involved use of force, dishonesty or sexual assault.
Chan also shared the following data. For 2016 through 2019, his office oversaw:
▪ Six officers terminated
▪ Seven officers who resigned who retired prior to potential discipline
▪ 17 officers put on unpaid suspensions
▪ 23 officers issued letters of reprimand
▪ Five officers who were released during their probationary period.
While Chan said he welcomes demonstrations like the one planned outside his home, he said the city does take actions to hold officers accountable for misconduct.
“If there’s a basis to terminate an employee, I’ll do it every time,” Chan said.
Investigations by the Sacramento district attorney, the state attorney general and the police department cleared the two officers who shot Clark of wrongdoing. That dynamic made it more difficult for Chan to find a basis for termination.
If Chan would have fired the officers who shot Clark, the police officers’ union could have filed a grievance, which could have gone to binding arbitration, Chan said.
“It could be that officers get jobs back and back pay and sue the city for wrongful termination,” Chan said.
It does not appear that the six officers fired include those who shot Clark or Richards, the 19-year-old Black teen who police fatally shot in a Curtis Park backyard in 2018 while he hid under a staircase.
As of June 2, the two officers who shot Clark, Jared Robinet and Terrence Mercadal, were still on active duty, the city said in an email to The Bee. As of February, the officers who shot Richards, Patrick Cox and Sgt. Todd Edgerton, were still employees, according to a roster of city employees.
Chan said those examples alone do not tell the whole story.
“There’s been a lot of changes in the last three years,” Chan said. “We’re looking inward to see how we can continue to do better.”
After the 2016 police shooting of unarmed Black man Joseph Mann, the city began requiring police to release body camera footage of fatal incidents within 30 days, Chan pointed out. After the Clark shooting, the city updated its foot pursuit policy. In addition, the city adopted more than 60 recommended changes from an Attorney General’s report released in January 2019.
“That is phenomenal,” Chan said. “That is something we should not lose sight of. We’re constantly trying to improve how we serve the community and how we do it safely.”
In addition, the city will soon hire an inspector general for police oversight, which will result in findings being publicly released regarding fatal police shootings before Chan makes his decision on whether to terminate an officer, Mayor Darrell Steinberg has said.
Despite those changes, Black Lives Matter co-founder Tanya Faison said Chan still needs to go.
“Howard Chan needs to be fired because he has not fired any of the police officers that have murdered people while he’s been in office,” said Faison, who organized the protest. “We need to see consequences for the officers that kill us. We need to know that our city cares about Black people.”
Chan does not plan to attend the demonstration because he does not want to be a distraction, he said.
“I do support fundamentally what they’re doing,” Chan said. “They’re protesting for their government to do better and that’s what we intend to do.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 4:23 PM.
