Berkeley City Council Starts Investigation into Police Tactics Against Protesters

The Berkeley City Council amended a proposed moratorium on police use of tear gas, projectiles and over-the-shoulder baton strikes to only ban the practices against “non-violent” protesters before passing it unanimously Tuesday night. The moratorium will last until the outcome of a review of massive protests last December against police killings of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York.

During demonstrations on Dec. 6, police deployed tear gas on crowds early on as some protesters smashed the windows of a Trader Joe’s store on University Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Over several hours that night, there were numerous reports of vandalized windows, injuries to police and protesters, and continued use of tear gas and batons. Protesters alleged that police used force indiscriminately on crowds of peaceful protesters. City Councilman Jesse Arreguin said prior to Tuesday’s meeting that he thinks the Police Department violated its crowd control policies that night.

The City Council directed the Police Review Commission to look into whether the crowd control policies were broken and recommend possible changes to the policies. Arreguin questioned the use of tear gas by police in any circumstances, pointing out that most countries ban it in warfare. In another move inspired by the recent protests, the council directed the city manager’s office to come up with a plan for implementing body-worn cameras for police officers and dashboard cams for police vehicles.

The Obama Administration has encouraged body-worn cameras as a means of improving police accountability, and Attorney General Eric Holder endorsed them during a visit to Oakland last month. The city of Oakland has said its data shows use of force incidents have gone down since the police department began using body-worn cameras, but their usefulness came under question last month when an Emeryville police officer who shot a suspect in Oakland last week forgot to turn his body camera on.

Berkeley’s City Council also issued a statement of support for the broader goals of the Black Lives Matter movement, including improving police accountability, curbing the militarization of local police departments, taking steps to end racial profiling and encouraging community-based alternatives to incarceration.

By Bay City News

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