BERKELEY — Aiming to address a texting scandal among some Berkeley officers, the city council adopted a resolution Tuesday disavowing racism and misconduct, affirming confidence in the police department and two oversight bodies, and calling for a state ban on arrest quotas.
The council’s actions come more than two years after a whistleblower revealed text messages sent between some members of the Berkeley Police Department’s Downtown Task Force between 2019 and 2020 contained what officials have described as racist and anti-homeless sentiments.
The texts also appeared to reveal a practice of arrest quotas among the task force, according to a 2024 report by the city’s Police Accountability Board, a nine-member body of civilians charged with police oversight powers.
Drafted by Councilmember Brent Blackaby, the adopted resolution was meant to reflect the concerns raised and requests made by the Police Accountability Board in their report, Blackaby said.
Four recommendations in that report — for the council to affirm the board’s ability to access records during investigations, pass a resolution committing to holding officers accountable for misconduct, create a public database of substantiated officer misconduct, and call for a state ban on arrest quotas — was given a negative recommendation by the Public Safety Policy Committee.
Blackaby, along with councilmembers Rashi Kesarwani and Shoshana O’Keefe, serves on the subcommittee.
“I served on the PAB and so I appreciate the work that it does. It’s important. I also appreciate the job that the chief does. It’s important,” said Blackaby, a former Police Accountability Board member, during the meeting Tuesday. “It was my effort to try and be responsive to do what we could to sort of acknowledge the recommendations and put something forward that the council could review and adopt.”
Police Accountability Board Chair Josh Cayetano, who presented a separate resolution during the Tuesday meeting with fellow Board member Kitty Calavita, acknowledged that Blackaby’s resolution attempted to align with the board’s recommendations.
Cayetano and Calavita expressed concerns about the message being sent by rejecting the board’s recommendations.
“The negative recommendation is not warranted and indeed sends a message that the council has no confidence in the board’s diligence, expertise, recommendations and efforts, which are entirely geared toward ensuring policing here in Berkeley is fair, transparent and accountable,” Cayetano said.
Berkeley Police Chief Jennifer Louis shared appreciation for the work of the Police Accountability Board and its report while also asserting the department has made progress on expanding transparency, accountability and training opportunities.
“There’s always room for improvement. There’s always room for growth and that’s my commitment to you,” Louis said. “I also have to balance my duty to provide public safety to the community against some of the administrative burdens that can be placed on some of our data collection and things like that.”
The main area of contention was arrest quotas. California currently prohibits arrest quotas for citation and ticketing in the vehicle code. Louis said the department broadly interprets the ban to cover all quota practices. Assistant City Attorney Brendan Darrow said the law has a narrower interpretation that only applies to vehicle enforcement.
Whether or not the police department has a practice of setting arrest quotas, Cayetano argued a policy would act as a statement of values and set expectations for officer conduct, similar to an existing city prohibition on chokeholds.
“We do not write policy to correct past acts. We write policy to prevent future acts from happening. Written policy is the only way true accountability exists,” Cayetano said.
Councilmember Cecilia Lunaparra was the lone no vote against Blackaby’s resolution. Lunaparra said she’d prefer a policy with teeth and shared concerns the council was signaling support for the police department without holding anyone accountable. Some officers implicated in the texting scandal remain employed with the department, she said.
Alternatively, other councilmembers said they felt the Blackaby’s resolution contained key aspects of the Police Accountability Board’s recommendations while leaving out pieces that are still being negotiated between the city and the Berkeley Police Officer’s Association or could be developed under existing policy development pathways between the chief and Police Accountability Board.
“I want to make sure it’s clear that this negative recommendation doesn’t mean doesn’t mean we’re saying we don’t agree with PAB at all, that we don’t think your work is important or that we don’t value all the house you put in,” Mayor Adena Ishii said. “It’s my sincere hope that going forward BPD and PAB work together to ensure the police department is operating at its best.”