GCJAC Annual Report 2020-2021

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

GCJAC is committed to continuing excellent work and increasing transparency and accountability. The past two years have demonstrated that this work will continue to require GCJAC to build and expand while maintaining a solid foundation in the community. GCJAC continues to seek and implement opportunities for improvement to achieve our mission.

Providing Impartial Oversight to Enhance Accountability

• Worked to provide impartial oversight of GPD to enhance accountability by improving on and creating new standards. • Ensured that community complaints were processed promptly and subsequent investigations by GPD were conducted thoroughly and fairly.

• Received reports on external complaints processed by GPD’s professional standards division. • Sent formal recommendations for policy changes to GPD and City Council. • Highlighted issues that arose from the community about GPD’s consent to search policy and challenged GPD’s current policy about illegal marijuana versus legal hemp. • Worked with the City Manager’s Office and GPD to revise the police’s current policy on bias- based policing.

Informing the Public to Increase Transparency • Released a statement in the wake of the George Floyd murder.

• Hosted two community–wide town halls on June 16 and 26, 2020. These gave an opportunity for community concerns to be discussed and gave GPD Chief Brian James the opportunity to discuss policy changes as a result of national

initiatives such as former President Barack Obama’s 21st Century Policing and “8 Can’t Wait.” These police policy initiatives call for things like bans on chokeholds and shooting into moving cars, mandating warnings before shooting, and training on de-escalation, among others. • Collaborated with GPD to host community educational forums on understanding the complaint process and body worn cameras.

Creating Sustainable Partnerships • Continued to focus on building and nurturing partnerships in a way that prioritized equity, empathy, and direct connection. • Made significant changes to its website and written materials to improve ease of access and address issues like language and digital access barriers.

• Created a GCJAC informational brochure in six languages, conducted user-accessibility testing for the GCJAC website, and ensured the GCJAC website was mobile-friendly and searchable.

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