Community Police Review Board - Regular Meeting

2026 community police re review board meeting to order. Uh just a quick announcement. Um before proceeding I would like to provide the board members some guidance on how to use the technology at the dis to speak. You will need to use the mics which are activated by pushing the talk button or push button and you will need to wait for the chair to acknowledge the speaker before proceeding to talk. Will the clerk please call the role? Member Beasley Day. Present. Member Bryant. Member Bird. Present. Member Christensen. Present. Member Drell here. Member Grant here. Member Smith. Member Han here. Chairman Sorio

here. Are you sure member Grant is here? It sounds like he's he spoke from a different country or something.

Yeah. Good. Alrighty, moving on. Uh, declaration of conflict of interest. Do any of the board members have any conflicts of interest pertaining to items listed on the agenda? Seeing none, um, we'll go ahead and public comment in person. As noted on the agenda, public comment will only be in person. Zoom will still be available for viewing and wordly translation. And please note there are no public comments for items 5 through 8 as these items areformational only in nature. Does anyone wish to speak on any item under public comment? This is for items not on the agenda. You have three minutes to speak. Anyone wishing to address the board is asked to follow the rules of the quorum. The rules of the quorum are posted at the entrance of the chambers. All right. Seeing no public comment, I will go ahead and close public comment. Um, on to consent. Consent A, consider approving the minutes from the community police review board meeting on November 19th, 2025. Um, would anyone like to remove the consent item for any further discussion? If not, I'll be asking for a motion. Okay, I have a motion and I have a second. Will the All in favor say I.

I. I. Thank you. And then we will be moving on to new business, the election of the chair and vice chair for the CPRB for the calendar year 2026. At this time, the meeting floor is open for board members to nominate fellow board members for the position of chair and vice chair for the 2026 calendar year. Motions will be considered for the appointment of chair and vice chair. Um let us begin with the chair position.

I'd like to make a nomination for Ken Bryant. for the chair position. I second that. Okay. So, I'll I'll call for a motion. So, we had a first if if I could just for a moment if there is a board member that's like you get nominated and you're like I'd rather not. It's okay to say that too. We've actually we were talking about that during the week. So, just wanted to put that out there so people feel free. In that case, I'd rather not. And I would like to place a nomination the name of board member Damro. I'd rather not.

Maybe we just should find out if who want who would do it. Is there anyone that would like to um nominate themselves? I would have somebody else. Okay. I nominate the Trica Beasley Day as chairperson. Okay. Second. All right. So, it looks like we have a motion for Latricia as chair. You have any comment or anything on that? I mean, okay. Um, so we have a motion, then we have a second, and then all in favor, um, second was Kenneth.

Yeah. And then, uh, you want to do a roll call on this or Okay. So, then please, can we get a roll call, Phil? Member Beasley Day. Yes. Member Bryant. Hi. Member Bird. I. Member Christensen. Hi. Member Drell. I. Member Grant. I. Member Smith. Yes. Member Han. I. Current chair Solorio. I.

All right. Motion has passed. So, our new chair after the vice chair will be Latricia. Um, moving on to vice chair. Is there anyone that would like to nominate someone for vice chair?

Frank, are you interested in continuing on as vice chair? Are you interested in continuing on as vice chair? Yeah, I'll I'll do that. I make a motion for Frank Emerald for vice chair. Okay. So, we have a motion. Um and then we also have a second. Can we get a roll call vote on the moving on to the vice chair position? Member Beasley Day. Yes. Member Bryant. I. Member Bird. I. Member Christensen. I. Member Drell. Hi. Member Grant. I. Member Smith. Hi. Member Han. Hi. Chairman Sorio. Hi. I have a question. Motion passed. Uh

the motion. Yes. Awesome. Um for certain circumstances, uh police calls, uh going to scenes and everything like that. Are we able to have, you know, a chair, vice chair, and a possible alternate just in case if we have a a person unable to attend or person unable to attend a crime scene due to time conflict, is there any way that we can have an alternate just in case? The the chair as the um point person for that and then if they're not available, the the vice chair fills that role. And that's just it.

That's what Yeah. Brian, um, has there ever been an instance where both chair and vice chair wasn't available? Well, there was one. Okay. Yes. In August. Yeah. What did What did you do? You just stopped at them and that was Yeah. I Right. I didn't want to call everyone unsolicited at 3 in the morning. So, so I stopped with I called both of them several times, but uh I stopped with those. But I I also think a good question and it's something that we can talk about later on, especially if nobody can be contacted. You know, that's a good question to bring up.

Okay, cool. Yeah, maybe in a future topic or something we can bring that up. Okay, perfect. You could always call the next person and ask them if they it's okay if you call them at 3 in the morning. Call first. Yeah. Alrighty. Um at this time, the new chair will go ahead and lead the remainder of the agenda. So, we will be switching seats. Okay.

All righty. Take your name. Okay.

Presentation. All right. Well, thank you. And we'll now go on to where we are item B uh with Ralph and Brown Act training and overview of the ad hoc committee. Our lovely city attorney is here.

Good evening, chair, members of the the board. Uh my name is Alex Mong. I'm the assistant city attorney for Modesto. And it's it's good to be here this evening. Uh we it's the beginning of the year, so now's a good time to do a a Brown Act training. You're on my circuit of of boards and commissions that that I'm going to to give this training. And if it's okay with the chair, feel free to interrupt with questions. You know, we don't need to hold those until the end. Feel free to um ask as we go. Go ahead.

So, the the Ralph M. Brown Act uh is the state's open meeting law, and it's the the law that guarantees that the public is able to participate in local government in the decision-making process of city council and all of the city's boards and and commissions. So the the basic requirement of the Brown Act is that meetings of legislative bodies shall be open and public and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting. So we'll talk about what each one of those requirements means. But that's the general um rule. So what first question what is a legislative body? So obviously the legislative a legislative body includes the governing body of any public agency. So the city council, the board of supervisors, MID's board of directors, those are all legislative bodies. It also includes any body that is appointed by the the governing body. So like you all the planning commission um you know the board of zoning adjustments the equity commission uh as well as standing committees. So all of the city council standing committees are um are legislative bodies subject to the Brown Act as well as any standing committees appointed by a legislative body. So if the CPRBE creates a permanent standing committee that body is subject to the um Brown Act as well. What is not a legislative body is a ad hoc committee and uh in order to be an ad hoc committee it needs to be comprised of only members of the board and less than I mean there can be staff that is um

assisting or providing guidance but there can't be like some committees we have I was just at an audit committee for the city there was three council members and two members of the public who are appointed to that you you can't have that kind of mix and be considered a a ad hoc committee. It needs to be only members of the board and less than a quorum. So since there's nine of you, a maximum of four. And then an ad hoc committee has to be for a limited or or single purpose that has um an end date. It doesn't have to be a defined date, but it can't be something that's um perpetual. So, you know, let's take the city council for example. they could create a ad hoc committee to deal with the fiscal year uh 2627 budget right they come up with that proposal that budget you know it's for one year they come up with a proposal take it to city council and then it's done it doesn't go on in contrast there is a finance committee that the city council has that sort of dealing with finance issues as they come up and just remains in in process um forever ever. So there there's no and so that is a standing committee. There's no um you know black and white rule on a length of time that a ad hoc committee can remain in place. It's really what is the purpose of the ad hoc committee? So is the purpose of this committee to look at an issue and and make a recommendation on a report or or a policy and and that takes two years for them to do. As long as you know the purpose is finite and specific and has a what we'll call an end goal or a limited purpose, it could qualify as an ad hoc. So main rule legis meetings of legislative bodies need to be open and

public. So we talked about what qualifies as a legislative body. The next uh uh element is what qualifies as a meeting. So a meeting is any and this is straight out of the Brown Act. anytime there's a congregation of a majority of members at the same time in place to hear, discuss, um, deliberate or act on item of business within the agency's subject matter jurisdiction. Um, so, you know, it doesn't have to be that the the board is taking action on something. It could be that they're just meeting to discuss something that qualifies as a meeting. It could be that the board is all in one place to just hear about something that's within the subject matter jurisdiction and that would would qualify even if there's no um discussion going on

really.

Um but it has to be within the agency's subject matter jurisdiction. So, you know, if you all want to um get together and watch a Warriors game, you know, that's not something within your subject matter jurisdiction. if you're all uh getting together to talk about you know mids uh electric rates that's not something within your subject matter jurisdiction so it doesn't apply so while that's the general rule there are a lot of exceptions to the rule so um you know you can go to other uh meetings of legislative bodies that are notice so you could all go to a city council meeting for example Even if the city council is talking about something within your subject matter jurisdiction, um you can have one-on-one contacts with each other um or with staff and that doesn't uh qualify. You can go to ceremonial event or you know something like that and it doesn't qualify and and you or conferences um and you can also go to community meetings and that doesn't qualify. But in order to qualify as a community meeting, uh the event needs to uh have a couple components. One, it needs to be open to the public and publicized. So if a organization is having a a private event, you know, invitationon event that doesn't qualify. It needs to be a meeting that's open to everyone. Um it needs to be hosted by um a third party. It can't be something that the city puts on. So that that means not just the CPRB but any you know department of the city. So if the police department's putting on a van or city council or anything like that um that that wouldn't qualify. So I don't know some of you may have gone in the past to the mayor's state of the the city speech

that doesn't qualify as a community event because it's put on by the city. So we issue actually and post a an meeting agenda for that for the city council because the majority of the city council is is normally there. A majority can attend a community event together even if it's about something within your your jurisdiction uh if it qualifies meets those first two requirements. But you can't discuss among yourself. And that's the same with all of these require exceptions, right? You know you're all watching the Warriors game together. We can't in the corner also talk about the business of the CPRB. So I mentioned that individual contacts are fine, right? It's it's okay for one of you to speak with one of your colleagues and that is not a a Brown Act violation, but serial meetings can become um a Brown Act meeting. in a serial meeting occurs when enough of those individual contacts um add up to a majority of the board interacting with each other. Not directly, but through this series of of conversations or events. Uh one thing to point out is is that's only a series of conversations between uh you individually, right? Each one of you can talk to Scotty and that's okay. uh as long as Scotty is not relaying uh what he discusses with you. So

that mean I could talk to each and every one of them individually on my own time about a specific topic. Correct. So you would only be able to talk to three others of them because number

Yeah. Quum number. So you could talk to three of them. Um although they have to consider who they're talking to and if suddenly now you know those numbers are adding up but so there's two common types of serial meetings. One is what we call a hub and spoke where uh there's someone who's the hub uh who is relaying it back. So let's say you know the chair spoke with had individual conversations with four people or and is telling each person what they've said you know has a chair has a conversation with member A then has a separate conversation with member B and during that conversation with member B tells member B what member A says and then has a separate conversation with member C and tells member C what member A said and so even though member a isn't, you know, talking to all these other people only talking to the chair. The chair is sort of the the hub in the wheel that's that's creating a majority that's talking and that could be a indiv you know a staff person as well. So even though staff might have individual conversations with you, they're not passing along what they hear um from other board members. And then the other example is a daisy chain. And this is basically a game of you know telephone where member A talks to member B, member B then talks to member C and says this is what member A said. Member C then talks to member D and says this is what I heard member A is thinking and so on until a majority of people have have discussed an item um you know indirectly. Yep.

Going back to the ad hoc, you said we can get four, but I believe the way we're constructed, one is the uh chairman, right? So, it's really three is the chair. Okay. Just Yeah.

And so, an ad hoc is a good example of a serial meeting, right? You're having a not of not a serial meeting, but what could become a serial meeting, right? Four of you are discussing a topic together. Um that means if any one of you discusses that topic with someone else, you've now hit five, right? If you if you talk about what the ad hoc committee was doing and they discuss that with a fifth member, now five members are aware of what the ad hoc committee all discussed even though that ad hoc committee wasn't agendaized and isn't subject to the brand act. That's why ad hoc committee reports are on the agenda so that during the meeting in a notice fashion you can give an update on everything that's that's going on and hear feedback or answer questions from your your fellow board members.

Um point of clarification for us specifically based on what Frank just said. So if we are three plus the chairperson and if the chair person is not available or interested in sitting in that one, can we add a fourth then or are we designed with three plus the chair or just those three without the chair? So the the committee could ch and John I don't know if you want to speak to that the the bylaws state that the chair is a de facto member of the the ad hoc it is can be the fourth

emails are another example of a a serial meeting like it doesn't have to be in person conversation or verbal. It can be by phone, I mean or email, you know, uh replying all to email. That's why staff is often, you know, might BCC you on emails just so you don't accidentally respond and have that type of serial meeting.

Do you have to have three in order to even have the ad hoc meeting or if you don't meet qu you can't have? So, and I don't know if our the bylaws say something uh but the Brown Act doesn't require does since it's not a Brown Act committee, the quorum doesn't apply. So if if the bylaws don't specify like you could have that meeting with less than the full attendance of an ad hoc committee. But the Brown Act since it's it's not considered a a legislative body subject to the Brown Act. The Brown Act doesn't prevent it from happening the way it would for a regular meeting of this board. Uh, social media is also a common way you can have a serial meeting and the legislature has actually created a pretty specific rule that that basically says, you know, you guys can of course go on social media and post about what you're doing and it's it's possible you post something and all, you know, eight of your fellow committee members see that and know what you think. That that's okay under the Brown Act. But what the Brown Act says is you, it's an a strict rule that you cannot interact with anything your fellow board members do on social media that's related to this subject matter jurisdiction. So again, you know, they post, you know, I had a great time. You know, when saw a great movie yesterday, it's fine. You can like it. You can comment it. But if it's something about, you know, this board or a board's jurisdiction, um, you can't engage with it at all. can't comment on it. You can't repost it. Um or things like that. Um if a member of member of the community posts something, you guys also can't have a a conversation or interact with each other, you know, in the comments replying to that person's uh post. You can you can reply to that post, but if you see another when one of your uh colleagues has also responded to that

post, you shouldn't be responding to to their comment. just you know the a member of the public's comment a question. So let's say it's an article in the Modesto about zero homicides in in 2025 and someone posts that and says great job MPD and then other people come in. I mean, can I comment on So, if a member of the public posts that, then you can comment on it. But if if one of you posts it, you guys, you can't comment on that post. You can't like it. You can't repost it or do any of those things under the Brown.

Okay. I do have a question as far as that. So, okay. So, so like what about meeting dates? like we couldn't we couldn't all post about a meeting date for for people to come to our meeting.

You you could each you could post about a meeting date. Your colleagues could post about a meeting date and like a meeting date is that really you know a conversation but like let's say um and there are some exceptions in the Brown Act for like scheduling meetings so that might fall under that. But let's say that article like each one of you could post that article individually and there's no problem with that. You just can't engage with each other through social media. So you could say, you know, public come to our meeting next Tuesday, uh, next Wednesday, you know, at 5:30. That's fine for each one of you to do. You just can't engage with each other's posts. Okay, one more clarifying question. So the medb example, Medobb post is there. Frank posts a comment. I just can't reply to Frank's comment, but I can comment on the Modesto article.

Correct. So sorry if Frank right if Frank reposts it you shouldn't be commenting on Frank's post on the Modesto B post yeah you have director you can both comment on it as long as you're not commenting with each other with each other. Okay, perfect. I just wanted to get that clarified. Thank you. I asked for an article that was um displayed in the Modesto B to be forwarded to all of the members of of our board and I I think I sent it to Sim. So is that can she send that out to

Yeah. So So she could send that out um to other people. What she couldn't do is if you sent it to her and you said I think can you share this with everyone um I think this article is really good because of ABCD and E reason and now she she forwards your comments too because now you're sharing your comments on on the substance but if you just say here's an article it's not something that's produced by you so it doesn't reflect your you know your thoughts or feelings. It's just a third party something. Staff could send that out without your comments. Um, if you sent if you said I wrote this summary of issues I I think are concerns in Modesto staff, can you send that out? That's something she wouldn't be able to do outside of a, you know, a agenda packet.

Did that answer that?

So, the article can be forwarded. Yeah, the the article could be itself could be forwarded. Your your commentary on the article if any couldn't be forwarded, but the actual article written by, you know, from a third party could be. So, um, Brown Act requires that meetings of legislative bodies be open to the public. And that means that one of those requirements is that the public needs to know what's going to be discussed. They need to know whether they want to come to the meeting or not based on what's on the agenda. Um so there needs to be an agenda posted for each meeting. If it's a regular meeting, it needs to be posted 72 hours ahead of time. for special meetings. Uh the law allows it to be posted as little as 24 hours ahead of time, but you know, the city's practice is to always try to to do that 72 hours um absent unusual circumstances. And that way the public knows what's going to be discussed at this meeting, whether they want to attend or not. There are some exceptions where you can um well, let me take a step back. At the meeting, you can only discuss, deliberate, act on, you know, those items that are on the agenda itself. Um, there are some exceptions for emergencies or or urgent situations. Those those generally won't apply to the the board. They really only can happen to the um the city council who has decision- making uh uh authority. you very rarely like we had a some of these situations during during COVID or um you know when there's been really big storms or emergency repairs that needed to be made and like had to get author like the

you know agenda's published on a Thursday and something breaks over the weekend and you know the council needs to authorize the repair immediately like those types of of situations but otherwise you can only act on what's on the agenda. that um every meeting has to allow for public participation. That's the the cornerstone of of the Brown Act. Um it comes in two forms. Uh the public has the right to comment once generally on anything within the subject matter jurisdiction of of the uh board just a regular general public comment. Um, and then also on individual items that the the board is going to be discussing or deliberating on for general public comment. If it's not on the agenda, you know, the the public has the right to speak on everything, anything they want, but the board does not. So, if it's an item that's not on the agenda, you know, you can receive those those comments that the public made. uh if you want a you know a brief response to that is allowed. It's not a a definition of what a brief response is but you know it should not be a long conversation and it also um you know one board member speaking for one minute in response is probably brief. It you know you get to a point where if each board member is you know making a brief response suddenly it's not so brief anymore. Um, of course, if there's something that a member of the public uh uh brings up in their public comments that is not on the agenda, but it's important, the board thinks it's important to discuss, that's something that could be put on a future agenda uh for the board to discuss because it's important that, you know, there may be other members of the public out there who think that topic is

important as well and they had no reason to come to that that meeting because it wasn't on the agenda. to discuss. So um going to talk briefly about remote participation in meetings. I would say that um you know this is a option um but in general it's always better you know the city's um standard and sort of practice is that whenever possible people should be attending in in person. Um so there are traditional teleconference rules. These are the rules that I'd say existed before COVID. Um you have to um you can participate remotely but your address from where you are participating needs to be on the agenda. You need to post that agenda at the location that you're participating from and that location needs to be open made open and accessible to the public. So if you're at home, you got to put your home address on the agenda. you got to post it and you got to let people come in who want to participate in the meeting from your living room. Um, you know, generally that's not something you see people do. Uh, before um COVID, the only time you really saw this being used is if people were maybe on vacation and they weren't worried that someone, you know, was going to show up at their hotel in Hawaii. So, they would do that. um city.

Yeah, that was pretty especially it was two o'clock in the morning when the council meeting was probably not very many people following me around. So I was safe

and there is a requirement still that uh you know majority of the board would or you know for a city council meeting a majority of the council needs to be in person in that in that location. Um during COVID, the legislature started to think, well, maybe we don't want um people who are sick to feel they have to go to the meeting or post their home address or we don't want people if someone's home because they're sick, we don't want members of the public showing up for for that. So they um created an alternative process um for uh AB2449 um which allows um remote participation. You don't need to post your your address. It doesn't need to be included in the agenda. Um but you can only do it for what we're call just cause and you can only use it twice a year. Um, and you have to use audio and visual technology. So, you have to have a camera on and be uh invoice. You can't just call in. With the traditional way, you could just call in and just have your voice there. Um, uh, just cause uh there's a, you know, six categories in the law. you know, you have a family caregiving need, you're you have an illness, you are a family member is an imuno compromised, there's a disability, you're you're traveling on official business for the city or another public agency, you know, if you happen to work for the county and you're traveling for the county, even though this isn't a county board that that qualifies or or military service. Um, so and and you can only use these twice a year. And then for AB2449 um separate from this you know you could

get a accommodation to participate remotely under the um ADA but for these um if you're using AB2449 there's a a two meeting uh limit but again inperson attendance is is really strongly encouraged that's um you know always been the position of the the city. Yeah, I do have a question on this. For the AB2449, is there like a time frame that needs to be given um prior to the meeting starting if

so you um for traditional you need to let staff know pretty far in advance so they can include it on the agenda. Um for uh teleconference you um there's no specific time. I mean, it's helpful to let staff know as soon as possible. Um, these meetings are um on Zoom already. Um, so there's no strict requirement. You have to announce at the beginning of the meeting that you're participating by two, four, you know, pursuant to this law and you have to state a general basis for it. So, you don't have to go into, you know, private medical details, but you just have to say, you know, I'm I'm at home because I'm taking care of a family member or something like that. Uh, and you have to say whether there's anyone over 18 with you in the room. Um, but there's no you have to do that at the beginning of the meeting. But there's no strict deadline for when you have to tell staff. But I would say as soon as you know or they you know it it may not be possible, you know, if you're telling them last minute because, you know, we're not regularly we don't accept public comment um by Zoom. So, you know, is the sound set up for you to be projected here? Like there may not be time to test all that stuff out.

Okay.

Thank you. Um so violations of the the Brown Act, you know, um there are it's possible for um criminal prosecution for knowingly violating the Brown Act. I mean that that has happened um it happens for egregious violations, right? where um you know usually maybe closed sessions that shouldn't be closed sessions or really you know serious violations not because um you accidentally send an email to the whole uh commission or anything the board or anything like that. Um there there are procedures of you know for someone to sue if they think this you know border commission is violating the Brown Act or to invalidate an action. You know they can make you redo a whole meeting you know in compliance with the Brown Act. But the the number one thing is really just a loss of of public trust. um that the public doesn't think uh you know you're operating in a good way or that you know the city council does decides this board isn't operating in compliance with the Brown Act or its bylaws like you know that's let's replace all the members or things like that. So that's you know while it's possible to have these more serious violations that you know realistically the most serious and most important is uh the possibility of of the board losing it. It's sort of trust from the council or or the public um because you know don't want to be in a Modesto article where that's what the headlines about. Um so with that I'll pause this if there are any other questions from the board.

Um you mentioned about public comment at our meetings and um it's my understanding that um we're not to engage with a a member of the public that's stating, you know, whatever their issue is. Um, I I think we were told that we could ask a question for clarification or we could refer whatever the issue is that they're bringing up to a staff member for action. Yeah. But we can't engage in a back and forth with them is my understanding. Is that correct?

Correct. So you you can have a brief, you know, the the board as a whole can have a brief comment. So if that's that shouldn't be, you know, a whole back and forth. definitely should not be back and forth and it shouldn't be in a long statement about your positions, but you know, if someone's saying, you know, complaining about X, Y, and Z, you know, you might you could say, "Hey, I refer you to staff. Go follow up with the police chief or who'sever or the deputy city manager or whatever." Or you could say, you know, we've actually adopted a policy um on that. It's on our website. You should go take a look. Um something short like that um is fine, but you know you wouldn't want to sit there and say and our policy that we adopted was and describe it for 10 minutes and and have a back and forth. Well, for example, you know, if if a member of the public says, um, and and and this has come up, um, we think you should do this and you should require the police department to do this or that. And is it permissible for us to refer them to our bylaws, which basically says that we're an advisory committee, that we have no enforcement authority? Is that permissible? Yeah, I I think it would be, you know, a short statement from from one of you or or staff saying you you know, our bylaws say this is what we're able to do. Um uh would be fine. Uh you know, short short and sweet. What would be a problem is if you then started, but we disagree with our bylaws and we think you're right and we should, you know, I agree with you and we should go to the city council and do x y and z.

Thank you. Just for point of clarification, can you define just in general why it is that a group like ours is not extended closed session privileges compared to like a council or

so the great question. Um so Brown Act requires meetings to be in public and let but close sessions are allowed for very specific reasons. So, um the council can uh anybody can meet in, um close session to, you know, have a performance evaluation of an employee that reports to them. No employees report to to the board. um the um bodies can meet in close session to discuss, you know, labor negotiations or uh litigation that they're a party to. But none of those apply to this body. They're all, you know, um only apply to the city council because the city council is the decision maker. So let's say there's litigation involving a officer involved shooting, right? like the the council is the decision maker regarding those types of litigation. So they can have the close session, but u this body can't. And so there's no um none of the very limited exceptions for why you can have a close session would apply to this body or frankly to any of the the city's other, you know, boards and commission, you know, the planning commission. There's no reason they would ever be able to be in close session. It's really just the city council

transparency and I've lived under the Brown Act for eight years on the city council and it's it's at times very difficult to get business transacted because I'm I can't just talk to people, you know, uh according to the law, I I could I never could see why we have um this an advisory committee that's subject to the Brown Act. It doesn't make sense to me. I understand the transparency part, but we could still be transparent and do the meetings without this kind of ownorous uh limitation on what we can talk about. And it's it's a pol is that a policy of the city or

No, that is the uh part of the Brown Act. It's not a policy of the city. Um the Brown Act itself, the the legislature, the the law they passed says that the Brown Act applies to any body that is appointed by the city council. And so it applies to no no authority to do

even if it's advisory. It it also says it applies to um you know body if the council has the ability to appoint someone to out a third party board and commission. You know the the city has the right to appoint members to the the chamber of commerce. Um and uh you know we give them money like that that subject to the Brown Act. Um so the only way that um that this could be a non brown act is if some other method of selecting of the people here was

so um you know uh if for example the you know city manager said I want to get a or the chief of police said I you know I want a a body to help advise me or give me some recommendations and I'm gonna select them and I'm gonna they're gonna you know, respond to me. That wouldn't be subject to the Brown Act. But anytime the council is making um the appointments, it's subject to the um Brown Act. Sorry.

I I think what's a little confusing is that we like our recommendations and our annual reports go to the city manager and they don't go to the city council, but city council appoints us. So, it's kind of like So I'll say the the law is very clear, but I don't disagree with your your point about like it it is a

is it a productive policy that the legislature has incorporated, right? Could they just rather than say it applies to any, you know, any body who is appointed by the the city council, would it be better if the legislature changed the rules to just say it applies to any body that has decision-making authority that's appointed by the city council or something, but that's not what the Brown Act says. Um, so I I hear your frustration. It is it is frustration. We, you know, you hear on many boards and and committees, you know, a golf course advisory uh committee, you know, they have to comply with this too. And it's the same thing like they're also just making recommendations.

So somebody else other than the council, if they say this is the good thing to do, even in even say the police chief, would that make it?

Yeah. So if the um city if the city manager you know independently said I want to create a a committee and appoint members to it and I'll control you know it it will just be reporting to me. The members won't be appointed by um the city council. The city council won't establish bylaws. I'll decide what the the committee can and can't do. um then that wouldn't be subject to the Brown Act. Okay.

Could I ask um a question of you Scotty? So this board was formed modeled on the Anaheim model and Anaheim was by the city council. I mean the city manager, right? I think that's correct. That they're not subject to the Brown Act. Yeah, I I know they're not subject. They are not subject to the Brown Act. And they're not subject. Was that conscious? Do you know if that was

so I'll say I mean it was consider I mean I think it was something that was discussed in evaluating things and at the time you know as for together w was making recommendations. Um, I think also the council, my understanding from the council is they wanted these discussions to be public that they they thought it was important for the uh board's activities to be public. Um, you know, they not to say that can't change their mind in the future, but at the time I think that was a important the council thought that was an important thing.

Yeah. I and they they were given that choice because I have I've never I mean all of not just this body but everything in the city of Medesso is and I see it in other places where they're not

well so and maybe this will help clarif um you know the city manager can go independently decide he wants to appoint a group to help advise him. Uh it's not really the city manager independently appointing group. If the city council directs the city manager, you go appoint this this group. Um and so that's part of the issue too is like I think at you know at the time the council thought you know it was important that this board's process be public. doesn't mean, you know, as part of your annual report, you can't say, you know, it's been it's been three years and and we think it would be more productive to to, you know, eliminate this and and hopefully the same manager will decide to move forward. Um, I see our mission as being kind of unique because we're supposed to be the community police review board, but this process really stifles us from having a lot of dialogue or or anything and we're pretty much just listening. Um, and then, you know, I don't know. I think that first of all, is it possible to request that we not be placed under the the Brown Act based on the nature of what it it's it's Yeah, it's not possible um that you know this body will always be under the um Brown Act, you know, unless the legislature changes the law. you know, if uh uh city council wants to eliminate this body and you know, the chief of police decides to create something that that would be different, but this this board will always be

subject to the Brown Act. Um and and I hear you on the um it's hard to have a back and forth conversation. if there is a topic, you know, you want to discuss um and have more of a back and forth, it's hard to do that and just come to us and talk about anything you want because then we can't really agendaize that. Um but if you say like we really want to talk about um yeah the department's uh use of force policy and have a back and forth with members. You know if it's a more limited topic you know we could work with staff on how can we agendaize this so the public can come in there talking on this topic and you know we'll be more flexible with the time limits. you know, we maybe won't have a strict three minutes or allow people to talk for longer and and you know, then we can all make comments and have more of that. Um, but that's hard to do for just uh come talk to us about any anything related to um police and have that back and forth because then the public doesn't know what what's going to be talked about or where this going to go.

What about town halls? Um, if our our is it okay for our whole board to attend a town hall if it's related to a subject? A town hall um I guess put on by who would or a town hall that this the city is sponsoring. No, it doesn't have to be one that the city's sponsoring. And are are we as a board

could we possibly sponsor a town hall? Um the the board could sponsor a town hall. um you know we would have to decide how to structure that in order to make sure uh people could discuss right you can't take even if it's a town hall there's still no action that can be happen you know you could possibly agendaize it so that people can come and ask questions and get responses or or share their opinions um but not uh you know there's still no action that could be taken or direction given to to staff, you know, because that's hasn't been agendaized that way. But just to have a a more open back and forth, uh that's possible. It just have to be agendaized in that way and not in the way a normal meeting is agendaized where you know there's a defined public comment as a time for me you know the public to bring up something but without uh the ability of anyone to respond

and do we always have to the location of where our meetings are does it always have to be here or could we have a meeting out in the community? Um, so under the Brown Act, you could have a meeting out in the community, you know, someplace that's accessible. Um, you know, we have to work with staff to see, you know, is that particular location feasible or not? You know, there's technology that goes into to all of this um that maybe isn't as mobile, but it is possible to have meetings outside of this location. Any uh members of the public have any comments, questions to ask?

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

We're going to close the public comments. The board has no further actions. Now we're going to go to C. Let's discuss the CPB priorities for 2026. Our very own Scotty Douglas. Thank you members of the board. Chair person Beasley Day. Um I appreciate the opportunity to talk about um the board priorities for 2026. So just as a reminder in the past uh in the past couple of years you know we've revisited topics um but kind of in planning for this year's meeting and really you know around some of the conversations regarding ad hoc committees and things like that um you know it uh you know it's the suggestion you know kind of working with the prior chair and stuff regarding setting priorities for the board and then topics can kind of fall within you know what the board's wanting to accomplish in 2026. I do want to just acknowledge that sometimes things eb and flow. Maybe there's a new topic that comes up, something happens and kind of put these things to the side. But this is just kind of, you know, some discussion for planning purposes for 2026. If you'd like to accomplish something, um the ad hoc committees that we have right now, they've been in place for a while and it's an opportunity um you know to start kind of planning into the future. Is there another ad hoc that we may need to form? Um there's also kind of the consideration, you know, on the other side of that about time that needs to be spent on certain topics, who needs to be included, that sort of thing. Just as a reminder, this is not an opportunity to mention a topic and then do a deep dive on a topic. It's really just kind of to talk amongst yourselves about the priorities. And if there's a particular

topic that you want to mention too, we can note that down. um but you know kind of what you're what you're really aiming for as priorities to accomplish as a board in 2026. So I turn that back over to you madam chair so that you kind of discuss among yourselves and we're here to take notes. The next part of the process will be sorry I was going to turn it over to you but just a moment is the next part of the process will be that we will receive your feedback tonight. we we will compile, you know, uh what you all would like to to contribute for your priorities for this year and then we will bring that back in February kind of as more of a final draft product so that you all can take a vote on that and then we will can we will move forward in 2026. Um, also just in, you know, meeting with the prior chair, it's like, you know, the annual report and things like that, I think it'll be helpful to have some of like what are the pri the board's priorities and then the things that you have all accomplished throughout the year. So, now I turn it over to you, Madam Chair. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Any board members have any uh comments on that or ideas? Yes. Um are we able to make um recommendations for ad hoc committees right now? Like just for ideas, right? Yeah, this is to set the priorities like what do you want to accomplish as a board this year and then when we bring it back next month, you all will vote on it and then at that time it it might be appropriate to uh you know make those recommendations. Thank you.

Anybody have priority number one, two, three? Um, I I think February's creation of ad hoc committees, I think that's great to have it in February. Um, we should try to close out the current ad hocs that we have

and come back with what we requested of Masto Police Department is uh smart goals with our new created ad hocs um being more specific. So you know for example um reducing youth arrest that's very broad but if we want to get specific with it we can talk about the wakeup program um we can do a deep dive in that and create an ad hoc around the wakeup program meet with Lieutenant Kber and see how we can work together to you know lift that program to make it more available for more kids in the Um, so that's just kind of an example of what we can do. So, I I think February is great for that. But I'm also thinking maybe to bring a topic of the bylaws and I heard, you know, a few people not too fond of our current structure and possibly bringing up the topic of our bylaws and making a recommendation for a change of structure and how we work as a board and maybe um trying to go away from that Brown Act. And so that's just another um topic that I think is a priority of mine. Okay. Um thanks for that. Um I would just like for the board to kind of think about since we are not necessarily uh putting out like certain creation of ad hoc like committees today, but I would like to throw out some ideas. Therefore, you know, if an idea was presented on in February, you know, people had time to at least have 30 days to think about it. Um and so um I would like for us to create um two well three ad hocs possibly and um one of those being a quarterly ad hoc report committee um therefore that we can

create an ad hoc that actually does um and helps out with reporting for our annual report throughout the year. Um so then it's just an easier creation for us. Um secondly, I would hope that we would actually create an ad hoc committee that actually focuses on the communication between the police department citizens and also the city of Modesto. So that would consist of um an ad hoc reaching out to specific nonprofits that have come to our our meetings to discuss certain topics um complaints and etc. Then also communicating with police department about certain things that they would want us to accomplish and look at as well and as well as the city of Modesto. I truly believe that those three ad hocs, well, those two ad hocs would be very beneficial and then also a third ad hoc that is structured around focusing on like we like we focused on youth arrest um but more so of like youth leadership. Um one of the things that one of our um citizens has constantly told us week in week out is that can we have a volunteer student be a part of our board? Um the police department currently already has an explorers program. the the community police review board doesn't necessarily have that function. And then um and also partnering with schools to do certain things as far as career day. So more events that way. And so I have more but that those are just the three ad hocs I was also thinking. And then also because I've been hearing about Brown Act um and that was one of the presentations today. I would hope that um the city could kind of do more so of live simulation training on the Brown Act. Therefore, like putting them putting us in position to where we would have to enforce the Brown Act and use it. So then we understand ways and not necessarily how to work around it, but we work with it. And so just my considerations,

Madame Chair. Yes. Um you know, we've had discussions or comments about this uh item um numerous times in the last couple years, but I think a priority of this board should be to um have a more visible presence in the community. And by that I mean having like one of those popup canopies y

uh with some signage that identifies who we are so that we can attend community events and and and the public can see us. And obviously we'd have to comply with the Brown Act. we couldn't have a majority of the board there, but I think we could rotate that on a a regular basis so that we were we were present in a number of different community settings so that um you know the community becomes more aware of us and feels more engaged with us and able to uh you know offer ideas and and comments, complaints, all of those things that I think would help us in our mission. in overseeing the activities of the police department. I think um you know having that presence in the community, that visible presence is important. I think should be a priority of ours to get that accomplished this year. If I might, um I I think outreach and ways ways to do it should be a priority for the next year

and some of the ways Ken talked about um and the other ways that that that we had our committee that talked about that as well. And so I think that's really important in in view of kind of what we're supposed to be doing and sort of combining what Nico and Austin said. Um, I think a student representative on board would be good, but I think that would take either um an amendment of the bylaws or um asking the city council for perhaps a volunteer to step down so that a student member could be appointed. I I I don't know. But that would have to be addressed either through the bylaws or some change now. Right, John?

It it might be difficult because the uh the the city charter has certain requirements for board members and one of them is that they be uh essentially voting age. So they have to be an adult to be a member of a board. But they're a volunteer, not a member. That's the same the same concept. Same thing. I don't know because I felt like when I was in high school, I did the I was a I was a volunteer for boards when I was in high school. I didn't I didn't I don't know. I just I that's why I felt like I could do it because I did it when I was in high school.

It depends on what what you mean by volunteer um and what the intended role is. But they wouldn't be able to, you know, as as our our laws set right now, they wouldn't be able to have a a vote on the board or seat on the on the board of like a vote. I don't think

Am I talking uh some of the boards that have youth on them, they're not governing boards and that's where we're pulled up under like the Brown Act and everything because we're appointed by a governing board. So that applies to us. I think there's some risk having minors engaged in like when we get our debriefs after an incident. I think there's some concerns around that. But I think a way to plug youth in if they're minors would be on some of our ad hocs advising and adding commentary from the community might be a way that we can bridge between but under 18 non- voting to come on to here. I see the challenge there.

I understand I understand exactly what you're saying but however like um when we are when you have a volunteer I'm pretty sure we the criteria for them, but we don't necessarily have to have them attend an incident that is happening at 3:00 a.m. They don't necessarily have to mean our debriefs our briefings on those.

Yes. Yes, ma'am. I don't I don't think they would have to necessarily attend those either. I just think just attending these and just understanding the Brown Act and how some of the things that we go through as far as these presentations I feel like is very valuable. And then also when you're talking about voting, I don't think a student would need to vote on anything else, especially when um we kind of don't necessarily make decisions. We have an advisory committee and so I don't even think that we would even make true decisions if we needed to make a vote. We would just kind of just need a student to just understand our process and our process. Sorry to interrupt, but um Okay. Yeah, we're kind of getting off into a deeper discussion on non-aggendaized item.

Thank you. To that point though, I mean it is something that we've noting we're noting down that there is an interest in this particular topic that we can mark down for you know possible consideration as part of the priorities and then if you decide to agendaize it at some point um to discuss it further then we can certainly assist with that. Well, and I don't think the the assumption that you have to be a minor to be a student doesn't make sense because I was going to college when I was I shouldn't tell you because it took me a long time to get through, but no.

Yeah. I I I interesting discussion happening, but we'll we'll like I said, we'll continue to take these down. I'm seeing some interest, you know, in certain areas. And so that's what we're here to discuss is the priorities. What would you like to focus on? And then also kind of like just considering your resources as a board to put towards these as well. Right. Madam Madam Chairman. Yes.

Um I have a question for you, Scotty. Um the the items that I talked about having a visible presence and and you know having a pop-up can canopy and signage and that sort of thing. Obviously there's an expense involved in that. So does that have to be considered by the city council in their budgeting process? and and and if so, can we can we request that they consider that in the budget cycle?

So, as a top as a topic, you know, or a priority for the board, I actually made a note here regarding having a physical presence in the community and interacting with the community. I know that member Bird has brought this up before, you know, there's an ad hoc that has been kind of discussing some of these things in the past. Simei and I have been working um kind of behind the scenes. Um, just so Wendy, so that you're aware, I'm trying not to get too deep into discussing a topic, but just to let you know that we've we've got your list. Sammy and I are working on putting something together so that we can bring this back. We're looking at the potential for the budget. I don't think it's a lot of funding. So, this is a a request. It's already been made uh of us and we're going to I I'm working with our budget manager to take a look at that. There's also um travel budget that has been, you know, assigned for like attending the conference. um the NAL conference and so I think there's some opportunities there. So I just kind of wanted to float that out there. That's already something staff is working on but um

we appreciate you bringing that up and as a board priority, you know, the physical presence in the community and interacting with the community in 2026. I think that's uh I think that's good because I think our main priority should be strengthening relationships between community and law enforcement. Yep. that's in your everything here seems so one-sided. Um, even in terms of presentations, who's allowed to give a presentation at one of these meetings? It seems to me like it's

mainly like city staff or, you know, the police department or whatever. So, uh, will it ever be possible from for other members of the community that want to give a presentation to us to be placed on an agenda?

I'm sorry to kind of put it this way. I mean, if it's a particular priority in 2026 to determine that, um, but that is a question to staff and we can actually take that back. Great question. We can take that back and then we can provide a response. So, you know, kind of staying on the priorities topic, but we appreciate the question. So, Miss B or board member Bird, I can we can certainly follow up on that. talking about with volunteers. You're on top for

um is it is it a possibility that we we created like an ad hoc for volunteers? Is that even a possibility or is that like breach brown hack violations? Is that a priority question? It's a part of outreach. the uh the ad hocs have to be composed of actual board members. They can't be no like outside people. You can't and you can't include

let's say you have three board members. You can't say you can't have another person from the member be a member of the ad hoc. I was mostly thinking of like we had three ad hoc members and let's just say uh part of our outreach component were attending an event and none of us could make it and um would we be able to go to our ad an ad hoc our volunteer ad hoc committee and say hey one of you guys can you guys see if you have any volunteers in the community that would be able to attend this event for us that's yeah that's that's a you know I can I can get back to you on that requires Because a volunteer doesn't necessarily discussion.

Yeah. Because a volunteer doesn't necessarily have to be a citizen. It could be a police officer, too. Yeah. So, I can I can I'll I'll take that down and get back to you on that.

All right. Any other priorities? Yeah. Um, if I may just add, if we can try to lock in some of these topics for at least a quarter or a few months so that we can be sure the city staff has appropriate time to get things, you know, organized. Um, you refer to the future topics that are

um, I mean, we can we can go over future topics at the bottom. we can, you know, currently we're in January, so that's going to be crossed off, but we need to lock in February, March, April, and possibly May. Um, so we have those future topics at the bottom. And I also wanted to just add in there was a policy goal to protect committee members civil rights during interactions with the police. if there's a way I don't know if we can include not just local police interactions with local police but like federal you know how do we protect our community members if they do interact with any federal police officers um so you know one of them was sponsor know your rights training and I know we brought this up last year and it and it didn't follow through but if that can be a priority I don't know how you guys all feel for this year but it is sponsor community know your rights training and I don't know how that will look but if it's having to hire an outside organization to give a presentation on knowing your rights um I think that would also be a priority of mine for this upcoming year

know your rights train so yeah so just you know the topics right there's topics and then there's the priorities of the board so the priorities of the board so these are some of the topics that would fit within some of those priorities and I think that you know staff we're more than happy to take the the input if you all are in consensus as a board you're not voting on anything tonight but you can have consensus we can we can observe that and then we can bring back the proposed at this next um month's meeting for um you know stating the pol stating the priorities and then noting the topics and then putting them in that particular order like what you're talking about right now. Okay. Sorry, I missed. These are my just my suggestions trying to guide the conversation a little bit.

That's how I caught it, too. We're kind of putting it all out there. They're going to give us the list back and then we kind of form it into our pit list. Yeah. Task list, I should say. I just looked up the future of next month and one thing on there. I was kind of like maybe we might need another topic on there.

Maybe it depends on I mean, we're looking at this what we're talking about right now, right? And I know that there's a lot of discussion on this just sorry this just me kind of Scotty chiming in as I'm kind of observing is um you know this takes some time and you know it's I mean the city council has two like you know strategic planning sessions every year to kind of set the next two-year priorities and so you know it it takes time to do that and so in February we're going to solidify this there might be additional discussion on this particular topic and then the potential for ad hoc committees you know and obviously the um the annual report with one that was brought up as well for ad hoc. So, I'm just kind of throwing that out there. We we're happy to, you know, kind of make, you know, adjustments where we we can and need to, but um I certainly am appreciating the conversation I'm seeing. And I don't know if Stephen's on as well. If you guys want to, you know, call in Stephen for any of his thoughts, feel free to do that. Sorry, Stephen. I'm I'm kind of offering you up here.

Hi, Stephen. Scotty, you you just said something kind of interesting. You mentioned that the city council has a strategic planning meetings. Is that Brown Act? Yes. And so, well, I'm going to defer to our attorney to kind of explain explain that part of it. I could explain. It feels like we need a strategic planning meeting. Well, that's kind of what I mean that's what tonight what this is

is happening. Yeah. And so that's it's it's discussion. Um, you know, but it's setting your priorities. I wouldn't say that it's a full strategic plan and we don't have any other boards, commissions or committees that set a strategic plan. The city council does and so, you know, if there's anybody that wanted to chime in on that, um I I guess sort of clarification how I'm seeing this and this is more to Nico. I think what next month is, it's not simply ad hoc committee formation, but it's also what are our priorities and that will help us then expand out the topics for the future. So, I think those are going to get meaty enough because there's so much that we just came up with.

Yeah. No, I I'm on the same page now. Thank you. I have a top I have a topic

um recommendation for November 18, 2026 and December 16, 2026 that um that we have he would have but I would I would just say if it was recommendation it would just possibly be better if we actually um did our priorities in November and actually did this calendar in December so then it's not going into the new year but I understand that the possibility of of having an election of a chair and vice chair. Does that prohibit us from having the priorities and the topics in November or or revisiting the ad hoc committees if we want to restructure them in December?

Honestly, I don't think that there's anything prohibiting that. um you know working with the chair obviously we work closely with the chair vice chair to kind of guide us through the the year but setting the priorities you I mean the board members are the board members and so sometimes but but I will say that I mean there will be some changeover of the board members at some point and so maybe you know that's kind of something to consider as well I you know honestly there's no rule that's that says you can't set priorities in November December to start off the next year, right? You know, this was kind of our first round and I think, you know, we took January as kind of like we're going to conduct business in the January meeting and that's what I think that's kind of how it landed here.

Yeah. Because when you just look at kind of like how our board has operated in the past, sometimes we I mean just kind of like with the where we're kind of moving today. Um it would seem like we would have everything done particularly in March and then in nine months we're changing things over and so I just thought it would just be better if we had in November, December, we get a full 12 months. So just kind of just consideration for the board to look at as far as the topics and priorities. Thank you. Board member,

one of the topics I would be interested in is um to take a deeper dive into the RIPA uh data that we received and um to take a closer look into why there's such a disproportionate amount of stops or use of force specifically uh with African-Americans. So, I'm hearing a topic. Is there is there a board priority that that maybe we could title that here so that we can consider because I know that this is a particular topic that might go in within that. But is there is there a board priority that that that we could note down?

I think it fits into the uh priority of improving community relations.

Okay. So, we can we can note the you know improving community relations topic. it kind of there's a couple of ones that are related here. It's the physical presence in the community and interactions with the community. Um, and this is this is these are great great priorities and topics we're talking about because next month we're going to be talking about the potential of ad hoc creations and stuff as well. Um, so you know with the the RIPA data that sort of thing might be a component of that. I do know that we had and I think we've mentioned this before that uh you know there was a presentation on that by staff um in the past. I know that um you know and we're actually able to go kind of take a look at the archives if anybody's interested to know where that is and the information that was presented and the potential of an ad hoc if there's one created. I'm not suggesting anything here, but if there is that you know that sort of information could be helpful as well. Uh

I would have to agree with you on that uh Scotty. I think since we've already gotten a presentation on RIP data, Wendy, if there's specific things in that presentation that you want to talk about, create an ad hoc. We can create an ad hoc for that. We can meet on that and then we can bring it to the full board so that we don't get the same presentation that we received already. Well, I think that one thing that we we've gotten is just the data, but we don't have the context, a lot of context

and an ad hoc you we can invite Lieutenant Klyber into that meeting and ask him specific questions of the data and and then from there there can be further um there can be that brought back to the full board of what you guys spoke about about RIPA and then we discuss it because if we just discuss it how we are now we're going to be asking the same thing and we can't really go back and forth and get into the

we can of it but like I was saying we can certainly note you know the relationship you know community relationships with the police department we can note these particular topics we can have kind of I kind of thinking like a little parking lot area where it's like we have these priorities for the board that have been discussed and and then you'll we'll all you know do a final decision this next month um and then you can start placing those topics in certain areas and if there's an ad hoc that you all desire to create kind of what I'm hearing here then you can certainly discuss that because we'll have that agendaized this next month also so I think there's more more to come on that

yeah the the topic of priorities is high level kind of concept of you know the prior priority is not necessarily at this point the the details of the specific topics.

We're just as staff we're trying to be kind of your organizers of like, okay, we're going to get the information have we're going to put it in certain formats. We're certainly capturing all of this. And it's kind of nice that this meeting's recorded, too, because Sime and I kind of go back and make sure that we got everything captured. And if we didn't, then obviously next month would be your opportunity to kind of make sure that's still in. Well, what about um I have a priority. You know, we were just told we could do town halls. So, can we make that a priority to schedule a town hall? It seems like that would come under community outreach as our priority.

And I think some of where we're taking ourselves here to carry some of what Scotty was just saying another step forward. If we're going to create ad hocs, that has to come with a focus point. And what are our priorities? If you listen to a lot of the things we just talked about, community outreach and relationships is kind of a priority.

I think the way we went around ad hocs before was taking a policy goal. We can't solve the goals for what they are. They're very broad and they're nuanced. So, we tried getting data on them. I think if we look at it as what's a priority for example community outreach and relationship development what would fall under there that creates priorities and from there maybe we need a community presence ad hoc committee for an example I think we we get an opportunity to think this through differently that makes sense it was a statement not a question I was saying I know that was question I didn't have a question I have a statement

okay I had I had something to Okay. So, as far as the priority for community outreach, um it just kind of bogged my mind a little bit because I was thinking about Nico when he said about the Know Your Right Summit. So, I actually have something for that, an idea for that. So, is it okay that we make a topic um to create a a CPRB and police department community service or community day? Therefore, we can cover know your rights. We can have that as a segment somewhere in there throughout the day. They could the police department can put up a recruitment tent and that and then the police department can also provide a live simulation simulation as far as like what we did for um the series that we did, you know, a couple years ago. I can't think of it right now, but then they can do that and then and then we also have board members there. We pass out information. Just a thought, you guys.

Yeah, I I I appreciate that. I think that you know per your bylaws I mean there's also you know the board members are on ride alongs and and you know do things like that. So might be an opportunity I'm just kind of thinking there might be an opportunity to explore um further you know if there's an ad hoc created you know for some of these to work with the police department on something like that. So, I think there's opportunity, sir, and we'll I'll definitely note that down. Board member Grant, thank you. So, are we

Yeah. Is there any other priorities coming forth? No. At this point, we're sort of considering that is there part of what was just shared. Is there I'm going to use the word scorecard. That's not exactly what you're talking about, but it's similar. Yeah. To show that every board member is contributing somewhere or plugging into something in the community piece. And that is kind of like another piece of the same conversation. I think I think you're on to something. I just don't know what that would look like.

Yeah. It's like it's like um it's exactly kind of what you put. It's just to kind of show like because I've heard multiple community members say that we don't do anything. Like they don't think that we do anything. And so I believe that would be like a really good visual thing to put out like maybe a measurable goal like we attended 80% of ridealongs that are produced throughout the year or like we attended five NAACP events this year or we we went to Elconilia, we went to LGBTQ. But just something that it shows that we're actually going out here to the community and talking to people and understanding who they are and trying to bring some of their problems and issues up here. And I just feel like if we posted that out, put that out, whether it's, you know, Instagram, whatever, I think it just proves to proves to the community that we're actually doing the work and we're actually communicating with the police department, we're actually communicating with the community, we're actually communicating with the city. So then they could visually see that rather than us just telling that this is what we're doing. We put out a report. Are

you talking talking into the mic? Did you press your button? Um I agree with what you stated us and I think all of that can be captured in the annual report where what did we do? Um a lot of that can be captured there and you know when we do create an ad hoc we can possibly do that quarterly ad hoc committee like you said. Um, but noting all of that, someone on our board capturing all of everything that we're doing and then putting it into the annual report, that can be another way to make sure the community knows what we're doing. Yeah. Did we give you guys enough to write down tonight?

Yeah, I think we got a lot to work with. You know, I So, just observing I kind of really saw two pretty clear themes coming out. one was um sorry I'm kind of in a facilitator role I guess but one theme that I saw was um let's let's get connected with the community and let them know what we do right and that we're available and to provide um that connection between like the board I'm sorry not well the board and the community and then the other is

the community and the police department and so those are kind of like the two lanes that I kind of saw forming there but I think that there's other priorities that that you know we have we're going to go relisten to this meeting but um that we can pull out and then we can put this together and we can bring it back this next month. Um I don't know how impressed you'll be but I think that we got enough material here here to work with and then we can solidify it this next month. Indeed. Now you did mention Stephen is on Stephen he's he's he's on Stephen. Do you have any we'll defer to the the chair? Yeah. Sorry, I'm done being facilitator.

No, I I First of all, good evening. I'm very happy to be with you uh remotely. We're not able to hear you and Simmy can't unmute your microphone. Yeah, I'm showing unmuted. Are we good? Uh well, he might want to weigh in on this topic. I'm not sure, but I know he's up next. There we go. Can you hear me now? I cannot hear you. Sorry. Yeah. I'm sorry that my mic's my mic's showing it's working ASL. Can you hear me now? Yeah. No. No. Is it? Yeah.

Showing what he's saying, but we can't hear him. Hold on just a second. Yes. How are we doing? All right. Actually did Sammy actually unmuted you here. So, well, thank you, Timmy. I think she was just bus, right?

She was messing with me uh per usual. So, uh very happy to be with you. I I um you have enjoyed the discussion. I think you are on the right track certainly in structurally or mechanically. I don't really have anything to add to what what Scotty has said by way of facilitation and and just trying to organize your your core themes and goals first really and then uh deciding what specific action it makes sense to take uh in order to actualize those goals. It sounds like you're already moving in that direction. So that I think your basic approach makes makes perfect sense. So uh I want to thank Scotty for throwing me in front of the bus on this one and and just kind of cold calling me, but I I am happy to be here and looking forward to my report on the next agenda item.

Awesome. I I have a question for Stephen under priorities. Correct. Yes. Okay, Stephen. Um the priority that we mentioned about engaging with the public, you know, having a visible presence, uh attending community events, um is OIR able to attend any of those events with us? I

I certainly would be happy to do that. It would require a little bit of pre-planning, but I I I remember I will tell you my experience last year in in February was was very positive when I had the chance to be up in town for a couple days and there were two events at the same location. One of them, the second one being your um your monthly board meeting and I thought that was terrific just in terms of the level of of public engagement. and the night before I was happy to participate in a panel with board member Grant and and the chief and I think our representative from the sheriff's department. So yeah, we are are certainly happy to to um let people know in as direct a way as we possibly can what our role is and and how we are hopefully contributing to to oversight and effective law enforcement in your community.

Thank you. Awesome. Any other comments from the board? Any comments from the public? All right. No further comments, no action needed. All right. Now, we're going on to Stephen.

All right. So, I am back. Thank you, Chair Beasley Day. Uh, and and I certainly want to start by congratulating you on your your lofty new responsibilities. I I'm sure you're going to be firm but fair in in in handling that. And thank you very much uh uh board member Solorio for all of your work. I know you really took the the role seriously as as Chair Han had done the year before and I appreciated the the interactions and just kind of what you were were bringing to the party there. So, thank you very much for your service and and looking forward to continuing to work with you. Um, with regard to my presentation uh tonight, uh the only update that I that I want to give is just to let you know that that uh in terms of of the OIR calendar, the independent police auditor calendar. We are kind of in crunch time for our our work in Modesto now that that 2025 has closed out. I have begun my interactions with with Lieutenant Klyber in terms of rounding up the the subject matter for this year's audit which is obviously kind of the main public-f facing function of of my office. So just to refresh everybody's recollection uh I there are a few categories of things that are established in the scope of work that that are going to form the basis for for this year's audit and this year's report. Um, one of those things is is critical incidents and and um deadly force events like officer involved shootings. As you will remember, the the the department had two uh officer involved shooting incidents in 2025. Neither of those is complete, however, with regard to the various investigative processes that ensue after one of those. So, um, those will not be featured in in the report in terms of any assessment of the department's, uh, administrative review of it and and

presumably that'll be something that'll come up, um, for the 2026 calendar year and and obviously that'll be a ways away as far as public reporting. But as far as the other two main content areas, it's it's internal affairs cases and and uses of force. There is a formula for the cases that get looked at and it is a combination of certain automatic selections and in the internal affairs arena that's that's going to be any case involving an allegation of bias and any case in which a supervisor is named as the subject because there are some special sensitivities involved with that. Uh and then as far as all the remaining uh complaints and investigations, we look at a third of those. My understanding from Lieutenant Kber is that numbers are up a little bit from from last year year-over-year just in terms of the the number of complaints. Uh I probably will spend a little time exploring, you know, what what are some potential reasons for for that increase and and theorize about it a little bit, but uh it's not that unusual for for variations from year to year to occur in some of the different jurisdictions that we work with, but it just sort of means a bigger pool of things for me to look at at the outset. And then the other category is uses of force. And I will be looking at a quarter of those. And again, it's pro it's going to be effectively a random sampling. I'm not going to have any details about the cases. I am going to want to know uh some of the different force options that were used so that I can really get a a sampling of of a lot of different types of of force incidents and the way the department responded. But as far as the content of the cases or anything else, it's it's really just kind of a blind sampling of a quarter of those cases. So, I should be getting the materials from from the department within another week or two and then

we'll start in on my process and uh remain on track to report out to you folks in in April per the calendar that you were just taking a look at. So, uh I'm looking forward to getting started with the process again and and um being back in in uh Modesto in person at some point in the near future. Awesome. Any questions?

Yes. Okay. Um, are you Stephen, are you able to select anything you want to review or is it all given to you? So I I do the random selection is done by me but as far as asing for a particular case or a particular kind of case that's that's not the the protocol.

Okay. I I guess just what's on my mind is and only if you're able to answer um you don't have to. Will you or your department be reviewing the June incidences with the protest?

So, it's a great question. I know and I know what a prominent part of of the the city's focus and the board's focus was in the past year. My understanding from Lieutenant Kber is that there were two cases that that emerged from that and because of the nature of the allegations, they are going to to uh fall under the umbrella of of things that I will be receiving. So uh I I will be looking at at least a couple even specific complaints that emerged from that uh and and we'll be reporting out on them. Thank you, Stephen.

Wonderful. Anyone else? A question for Stephen? Well, thank you so very much, Stephen. All right. You're very welcome. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We're going on to be staff comments and reports. Um, you're on again. I've talked enough, so I'm I'm pretty good. You good? All right.

I have one thing to say. Um, currently working with Silven Union School District, I created a a plan for atrisisk youth um to help their situation over there with their reading literacy and and just trying to get those kids on the right track and prepared for high school. Um, one of the things I came here to ask for is that um just more um MPD involvement. Um, one of the the parts of the plan, just because I come here a lot, is to have some type of involvement with MPD. Um, that could just be with their wake up program, some of their student activities that they currently have, and and just partner with Silven Union School District. And I know you guys do a lot of work with MCS and I understand the location of Silven Union School District is is pretty much on a good part of town, but however, um there are still some atrisisk youth over there that are still struggling with reading comprehension and and just gang gang lifestyle. And so just hoping that uh MPD just slight ask if they can kind of help in that effort. We just kind of started talks and we're going to start a pilot at um looking like Prescott Middle School and and Savage Middle School. So,

all right.

I don't know what that fell under, but that was good information. That was 6 coming up low. 6E. Okay. Uh board comments and reports. Uh policy goal number eight, review use of force policy to minimize likelihood of death resulting from use of force. That would be the committee. I have our report. You do? All right. Awesome.

We we understood that we should be wrapping up our what our committee was doing. So, the last thing we wanted to discuss was a we alluded to this when we reported um back in October about um recommendations that we would be making to the board. Um and at that point we reported that we had met with Chief Gillespie and Lieutenant Clyber um about our suggestions and there were what we are asking or recommending to the board based on our work um or our discussions is that the board set an agenda item discussing the recommendations that I'm about to outline to you. Um, we would like to see the board consider these recommendations and if in agreement include them as part of the recommendations in it would be next year's the annual report for 2026. the the four recommendations that I have basically recommend a change in MPD um sections a change in language from should to shall and what we're recommending that in uh those changes in MPPD policy manual section 300.4 about deadly force applications. Um this section provides among other things that an office quote an officer should not use deadly force against a person whose actions are a threat solely to property. So our recommendation and what we'd like the board to put on an agenda to discuss with all of us would

be a change in the language from should to shall um section 300.6 Six, medical con considerations provides that once it is safe, reasonably safe to do so. Properly trained officers should quote should promptly provide or procure medical assistance for any person injured or claiming to have been injured in a use of force incident. And again, we recommend a change in the language to shall section 300.7 supervisory responsibilities sets out the responsibilities of supervisors to respond to any reported use of force. Section 300.7F provides that supervisors are expected to quote conduct a use of force investigation for all uses of force incidents and review and approve all related reports. The investigation should include a review and documentation of deescalation tactics or attempts pursuant to this policy. And again, we're recommending uh that the board consider looking at that language and a change in it. And lastly, section 402.6 administration calls for internal affairs to prepare an annual report on the efforts of the department to provide fair and objective policing and submit that annual report to the chief. This report quote should be reviewed by the chief to identify any changes in training or operations that should be made to improve service. And it further provides that supervisors should review the annual report and discuss the results with those whom they

are assigned to supervise. And again, both of those shoulds we believe shall be should be changed to shall. Um, we discussed this as I said in October and we met with the chief and Lieutenant Kber and we welcomed we had a pretty robust ch exchange of views and the department chief articulated the reasons that they didn't think that he as chief of the department didn't think the language needed to be changed. And I don't want to attempt to articulate that. I don't want to misrepresent anything that that the chief or Brian discussed. Um so what we would like to see is hopefully it'll fit into one of our priorities, but um consideration of you of review of policies relating to to use of force was our priority for a couple of years now. And um we think the that the whole board should take these up for discussion and invite or specifically request input from the the chief and Brian as well. So that is our final wrap up here.

Thank you.

Awesome. Awesome. Uh policy goal number one improve relations between the community and the department as she looks at me. Um I think I will unless either of you want to add something different. Um our goal uh set us on a mission initially to learn about programs in our community. We saw a lot of crossover with the work that Wendy was uh working on and the goal in and of itself to improve relations between the community and the department is not a solvable statement in and of itself. The work that we're doing collectively is moving in that direction. So I'll say we didn't there's not a specific thing we concluded or are actively working on. It was sharing and intaking of information. So I think at this point it's best to wrap it as I don't really feel it was an ad hoc task type of thing but I look forward to seeing what we do next.

Thank you. Beautiful. Policy goal number three reduce youth arrest particularly among Latino youth.

Know how I got on that? In uh in summary, what we did over the the year was um we did conduct some interviews, not us personally, but with some of the staff. We gave them some interview questions for youth that were uh in uh juvenile hall. Uh we also invited a judge to speak uh to give his uh perception, a judge that works with youth uh all of the time to give his perception of um what he felt some of the um problems and solutions were. And um we want to close out with uh data. Again, Lieutenant Kburn was nice enough to get uh some data for us and I had requested that that data be shared with the rest of the board. Did Did it go out? Did everybody get it? Okay.

So, that's a conclusion then to our our uh committee's goal.

Wonderful. Um if I may real quickly just add um I also last year attended a few of the wake up program uh meetings. So through that I actually want to continue on that conversation into this year. Um so once we create new ad hocs we'll probably be getting more specific with what it is it will entail. There anyone else? Okay. So,

that's it. The board comments and reports.

Board comments and reports. At this time, board members may take make a brief announcement or report briefly on his or her activities. Anybody have anything um to share? Yeah, I just quickly want to share for um an announcement that in our bylaws we do have to have um a specific hours of training. Um so for anyone that has any upcoming time, I know Modesto Police Department is having a citizens academy. Not all of us may attend, but some of us may. Um it's going to be February 12th. It's on a Thursday and it'll be for 6 weeks from 5:30 to 7:30. Um, I did ask if we can attend. So, if you guys are interested, I would reach out to Scotty or and Chief Gillespie or Kber. Okay, reach out to Klyber um so he can help set that up. But again, it's February 12th for two hours on a Thursday, every Thursday for six weeks. It's a citizens academy.

What was What was the time again? um 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Like we rebrand we rebranding that as the community academy. Oh, community academy. Okay, awesome. Yeah. Community and that's all I had to uh announce. Anyone else? And thank you for that, Nico. Of course. No one else has any announcements.

All right. Then we'll move on to item number seven, future agenda items. I think we'll be talking about those in the future. Yes. To be determined. We gave Scotty enough to work with All right, with that being said, we are going to adjourn this meeting. He has love.