UCD reforms under way

Following the recommendations of four reports on last year’s pepper-spraying incident, UC Davis has compiled a long list of campus reforms.

Among the steps taken, in progress or planned are:

* Inviting 18 people, including California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and state legislators Lois Wolk and Mariko Yamada, to evaluate the campus’ progress. Chancellor Linda Katehi has requested that the task force complete a draft of its report in March 2013.

* Creating a Campus Community Council to promote open discussion on a variety of issues.

* Forming an emergency management team, with campus leaders taking federal emergency management and state Commission on Peace Officer Training and Standards training for university administrators.

* Hiring a consultant to help the campus establish a system of police oversight, either through a police commission or auditor.

* Putting protocols in place requiring a designated senior leader be present at any event where police involvement is being contemplated.

* Forming a provost-led group that meets weekly to discuss campus-level policies and emergency management.

* Recruiting a campus ombudsman to resolve conflicts for faculty and staff.

* Reviewing the campus’ Student Judicial Affairs processes “to determine if and how they can effectively be used as an appropriate and effective alternative to police intervention.”

* Moving oversight of the Police Department from Administrative Resource Management to the Office of the Provost.

* Updating the emergency operations plan to clarify leadership roles and coordination between administrators and field operations.

* Updating police policies to meet federal and state laws and best practices.

* Writing the department’s first crowd management policy, following POST guidelines, and updating all policies to clarify active vs. passive resistance.

* Developing with students an information card explaining to protesters what to expect that can be handed out before any interaction with police.

* Requiring all police operations plans to be reviewed by a campus executive.

* Purchasing new software meant to improve handling of citizen complaints.

* Training for officers and supervisors covering a number of subjects, among them incident command training, bike training and training in a method called compliance, direction and takedown billed as using “minimum justifiable force.”

* Holding a meeting between police management and representatives from the Museum of Tolerance to discuss campus issues.

* Completing POST audits of officer training and background files.

* Funding a student facility security program, including the creation of 20 new student positions.

* Making plans to expand the department’s Volunteers in Police Service program for students interested in a career in law enforcement.

* Adding faculty and students to department hiring and promotion panels.

* Expanding officer orientation so that new hires meet more people on campus.

* Encouraging more events based around the Principles of Community, including training for new students and UCD employees.

* Developing new materials on freedom of speech and expression and explaining how to report hate and bias incidents on campus.

For a full report on UCD’s progress on recommended reforms, see http://demonstrationreviews.ucdavis.edu/combined-report-recommendations/index.html.