Police Enhancement And Community Engagement (PEACE) ordinance

Summary

• Institutes new reporting and metric tracking requirements for:
  • Community policing, 
  • use of no-knock warrants,
  • gun violence statistics,
  • gun and pawn shop reporting,
  • domestic violence,
  • how and when the armored vehicle is used
  • other policing metrics
• Establishes community policing guidelines. (some of this is already done by the APD)
• Creates training requirements for officers that includes implicit bias and de-escalation, prohibited practices such as bias-based profiling and discriminatory policing, training of police communication operators to identify mental disturbance calls.
• Ensures Officers are aware of mental health facilities and services available to them.
• Requires that before consent searches are made that a person has to be notified of their rights in that regard.
• Codifies the escalation of the use of force, the prohibition on discharging a firearm from a moving vehicle or a fleeing suspect on a misdemeanor charge (already in the General Orders)
• Codifies guidance on how pepper spray shall be used, and prohibits its use including other crowd control methods from being used on peaceful protesters. 
• Bans the use of choke holds and requires that another officer witnesses such an action must immediately provide first aid to the victim and call for emergency medical services. 
• Establishes a duty to intervene and protects intervening officers. 
• Requires uniformed officers to wear identification during first amendment activities.
• Prohibits “stop and frisk” searches for weapons based solely on the race, gender, sexual orientation, or other discriminatory profiling practice that is unrelated to the description provided to the officer of a suspect. 
• Places restrictions on when “no-knock warrants” can occur. 
• Requires the establishment of procedures governing the response and investigation of alleged crimes of domestic abuse by establishing minimum requirements that will ensure adequate follow-up and arrests, and that the victims are made aware of resources available to them. Also requires the creation of an internal policy that mandates the temporary confiscation of weapons from an officer if being investigated for such crimes. (much of this is already the practice in the General Orders)
• Allows the Human Relations Commission to receive complaints about discrimination by officers, though they cannot investigate at this time. 
• Extends the probationary period for newly hired and lateral transfer police officers. 
• Requires that pawn and gun shops keep a register of the name and address of the person purchasing any firearm or ammunition (already partially required elsewhere in code)
• Prohibits the use of military weaponry by the APD, including bayonets, firearm suppressors, .50 caliber firearms, grenade launchers, or potentially lethal crowd control methods. 
• Doesn’t require that we get rid of the armored truck, but requires General Orders be drafted that govern how and when it’s used, and prohibits it from being used on peaceful protesters or from being within view (so it isn’t used as intimidation).
• Prevents these minimum requirements from being subject to collective bargaining negotiations

The complete legislation can be found here.