Mendocino County Resident Pushes for Creation of Citizens Review Board of Law Enforcement - Redheaded Blackbelt

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Troyle Tognoli believes a citizen review board overseeing Mendocino County law enforcement would improve local policing.. [Background image from Wikicommons]

There is a grassroots movement afoot in Mendocino County regarding the establishment of a Citizens Review Board overseeing local law enforcement. On June 9, Ukiah resident Troyle Tognoli proposed the idea to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors and continued her campaign in a June 12 interview on local radio station KZYX. Inspired to activism by the death of Minnesota man George Floyd at the hands of a police officer Derek Chauvin, Tognoli argues that “we are not immune to this national reality” and hopes to create structures in Mendocino County to further police accountability.

Tognoli is a 42 year resident of Mendocino County that is currently spearheading a Black Lives Matter coalition for Ukiah and considers herself a “community activist.” Tognoli said, “The purpose of the Citizens Review Board is to develop a clear understanding and stance on racism in our local policing.”

She understands that “many people believe that a town such as sweet little Ukiah doesn’t really have that problem. It is imperative that [we see that] even in our one-horse buggy town we do too have similar situations as we see in every other community in America.”

Tognoli delineated the goals of the proposed Citizens Police Oversight Committee:

The goal of the Citizens Police Oversight Committee is to review the training practices, the tools, and leadership of our local law enforcement community and to help develop and establish the use of force guidelines and monitor the effectiveness of those guidelines. We would also like to support the development of crisis intervention training through policy, practice, and procedure. We would also like to resolve the issues around inequity in hiring. We would like to identify and support legislation that includes the revamping of the Police Officer Bill of Rights and the Police Officer Association. We would like to look at and disaggregate local policing data by race through legitimate and evidence-based inquiries and to review the outcomes and stop some of the disparities. After we do this, we intend to take our stances to all domains within the community including schools, housing, and other areas of concern.

Tognoli sent letters to local law enforcement leaders regarding concerns of police practices and characterized most responses as “vague,” “generic,” and “lacking details regarding what sort of tools are being used and the issues within the department.”

Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall

Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall said he welcomes all communications with Mendocino County residents but is skeptical about the implications of establishing a Citizen Review Board. He expressed concern about politics influencing the work of MCSO and emphasized the importance of law enforcement remaining apolitical. He asserted that the “Citizen Review Board would put pressure to change policy and I will not work with any policy that puts deputies and citizens in danger. When tools are taken away, we will see increases in injuries and deaths.”

As to the calls for increased transparency, Sheriff Kendall pointed towards structures already in place that mandate law enforcement’s transparency including California law SB1421 which allows the public to access records related to police misconduct that that fall under the three categories: serious uses of force, sexual assault, and dishonesty related to investigations.

Sheriff Kendall clarified the department already participates annually in non-violent crisis intervention training and works hard making sure the use of force is used only when necessary.

Sheriff Kendall did consider the restoration of the Use of Force Review Board, a practice that has gone dormant within MCSO. The Use of Force Review Board would consist of several representatives from law enforcement to determine if there are any violations of the department’s policies. In the spirit of including the community’s voice, Sheriff Kendall proposed having one person from the public serve on the board who is trained with an investigative eye to assess use of force.

Mendocino County 5th District Supervisor Ted Williams

Mendocino County’s 5th District Supervisor Ted Williams said he was “thankful that the sort of reprehensible behavior we’ve seen recently in the news is not something we regularly read about in Mendocino County.” Having interacted with MCSO on many occasions in his role as a firefighter, Williams opined, “My experience with our sheriff’s department is officers showing up as problem solvers and having a lot of compassion and empathy.”

Williams acknowledges the value of a Citizen Review Board saying, “The idea of more transparency and having the people involved in the process and oversight makes a lot of sense. It’s a way to highlight some of the work being done by the sheriff’s office in a way that’s more approachable to the public at large. I think it may give some assurance that an independent review of complaints is conducted and that there is follow-up. Where the system needs some tuning, perhaps this independent group can provide policy and training recommendations.”

Williams has been reminding Mendocino County residents that “[Kendall] is their sheriff. He is elected by the people and essentially reports to the people and the state Attorney General. The Board of Supervisors does not direct the sheriff. We put together the budget that includes the sheriff’s department but it would be improper to use budget restrictions to drive policy. Law enforcement policy is at the discretion of the elected sheriff.”

Williams encouraged concerned citizens to reach out to Sheriff Kendall: “Our current Sheriff Matt Kendall is very approachable. You’re in a county of 88,000 people. You have the privilege of getting to personally know the sheriff. This is part of the reason many of us choose to live in this county. We like that rural nature where we get to interface with our local officials directly.”

Williams clarified the authority a Citizens Review Board would have if established: “The idea of having an independent office of law enforcement review doesn’t infringe on the sheriff’s autonomy. These committees do not change decisions made by the sheriff, they don’t direct the sheriff in any way, they don’t create policy, they don’t impose discipline on the sheriff or any sheriff’s office employee, they don’t even conduct their own investigations. Essentially, it’s a means to bolster communication between law enforcement and the public at large that is independent and hopefully unbiased.”

Even though Mendocino County law enforcement has a limited history of inappropriate use of force, Williams asserts that: “Often we’re reactionary and create a program when there is a problem. There is value in being preemptive.”

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Mendocino County Resident Pushes for Creation of Citizens Review Board of Law Enforcement - Redheaded Blackbelt
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