City Leaders Review Sacramento Police Response To Local Protests
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Sacramento leaders are calling for clarity after a series of local protests put Sacramento police's response under the microscope.
City councilmembers demanded the department submit a report spelling out how officers have responded to Black Lives Matter demonstrations and political protests over the last several months.
Chief Daniel Hahn told councilmembers his officers will continue to show up and do their job, and the job they have done so far is something he is very proud of. It comes in the face of weekly demonstrations that left 27 people in handcuffs and 11 officers hurt.
New videos provide more perspective of the vitriol and violence Sacramento police have been trying to contain over the last several months.
Clips from protests were part of the department's report to the city council Tuesday night, detailing how officers have responded and plan to respond to the growing number of political demonstrations in the downtown corridor.
"We have routinely assigned almost a third of our entire department on those weekly Saturday occurrences over the last two months," Chief Hahn said.
Since the beginning of the year, Hahn says more than 2,000 officers have been assigned to staff protests made up primarily of Proud Boys members and Antifa.
When they've created crowd control lines to separate the groups, Hahn says officers have had to use force at times, which was criticized by some during public comment for not being the same force used during Black Lives Matter demonstrations earlier in the year.
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Hahn says it's a delicate line, balancing the protection of people and property from violence and allowing people to express their first amendment rights.
"The Sacramento Police Department is not perfect. I make mistakes. Our department makes mistakes. We need to continue to get better as a department," Hahn said.
With no specific plan laid out for future events, Hahn says he is hopeful more dialogue will help our city heal.
Another aspect of the police response is the financial impact on the city. According to Sacramento Police, $616,000 has been spent on overtime since the first of the year.
