Sacramento police chief: ‘Tough’ tactics can escalate protest violence. Let’s do better

In the wake of police killings of unarmed Black citizens, riots have broken out across the country. Sadly, Sacramento has not been spared. In recent weeks our city and our police department have been tested.

Most protests have been peaceful. But some have not. Vandals who falsely claim to represent the Black Lives Matter movement have hijacked a righteous cause.

They’ve broken windows of public buildings and small businesses downtown. They’ve smashed and looted. They’ve taunted and, at times, assaulted police. In the face of extreme provocation, my officers have exercised remarkable restraint.

By doing so, they’ve successfully contained the violence. So far, no one in Sacramento has been killed or seriously injured. No buildings have burned. There’s no smell of teargas wafting across our city, no “rubber bullets” have taken out eyes. On balance, this is a good outcome.

Still, there are those who criticize my department and me. We’ve not been tough enough, they say. Bring in the National Guard, they say. Break out the hats and bats, they say. In other words, let’s go crack some heads.

Make no mistake about it: If violence escalates, my department’s response will escalate. I will bring in the National Guard and the tear gas and the “rubber bullets.”

But to do so prematurely is foolish. It only invites more violence. It endangers my officers and the innocent citizens we are sworn to protect. It puts at heightened risk all those small businesses already pummeled by a pandemic.

Elected officials who post pictures of Kenosha burning, as one of our county supervisors did, suggesting such destruction is on its way to our city, only inflame the situation. That sends a not-so-subtle signal to armed outsiders, inviting them to come into our community to wreak more havoc.

Fellow law enforcement leaders who publicly second-guess my response make my job, and the job my brave officers do, even harder. It also weakens the ties that bind us and the cooperation necessary to respond together to emergencies across our region.

Got a problem with my actions? Pick up the phone and call me. Let’s talk about it.

As for Kevin Mickelson, the sheriff’s union leader who tweets insults at me while, at the same time, demanding my resignation for not turning my city into a battle zone, let’s get it on. Let’s have an honest debate about how to keep law and order in my city.

Our community, and our nation, is in a fight between the law enforcement forces of old — the Bull Connors with their billy clubs, police dogs, fire hoses and knees on necks and a new kind of policing.

I’m the face and spirit of that new kind of policing. I want to partner with communities of color, not disparage them. I want to tamp down violence, not inflame it. I want to reduce the number of guns in my city, not incite armed vigilantes seeking confrontation to invade it.

I took an oath to serve and protect. In these challenging times, that’s just what I intend to do.

This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 4:41 PM.