We have received many inquiries from the Town of Colma community about our police department’s policies and how they may or may not meet some of the guidelines being advocated for by police reform organizations including #8cantwait, created by police reform group CampaignZero.org. We’ve re-examined our policies and feel that most, if not all, directly align with the spirit of what is being asked for in the recommendations, but there are nuances in verbiage.
Our policies are very close to the recommendations being asked for and we also understand there is work to be done with room for improvements. Your police department recognizes and respects the value of all human life and dignity without prejudice to anyone. Vesting officers with the authority to use reasonable force and to protect the public welfare requires monitoring, evaluation and a careful balancing of all interests.
In that spirit, our City Council and members of the public have discussed changes to the verbiage to more closely align with recommended practices at City Council meetings in July and September of 2020. The newly updated policies that are more in alignment with the 8 Can’t Wait Policies can be found in the link below.