LA MESALA MESA — The 11-member La Mesa Community Police Oversight Board released a draft of its 2022 work plan last week.
Among its goals for the coming year are to keep open lines of communication between the police department and the community; develop community outreach programs; review audits by the independent auditors; make recommendations to Police Chief Ray Sweeney regarding department policies and procedures; and continually evaluate the police department’s policies, such as use of force, officer training, de-escalation and employee wellness.
The advisory group expects to finetune the document at a meeting on Dec. 15 and present it to the City Council in January.
The City Council on Dec. 14 will review a separate procedures plan developed earlier by the group that outlines how the police department should manage complaints and handle audits. The oversight board’s draft procedures plan — which can be found at https://tinyurl.com/47te8bu4 — has not yet received council approval.
Oversight board spokesperson Janet Castanos said that a student studying for a master’s degree at San Diego State University will be analyzing data from more than 200 survey responses collected by the city regarding attitudes toward policies and practices of the La Mesa Police Department.
That information will allow the board to have a baseline that it can measure over time. The group also continues to collect data from the department on arrests, vehicular stops and more so it can measure changes through the months and years ahead.
At the meeting, La Mesa Police Capt. Matt Nicholass told the board the department is closing in on its search for a second captain. Some of the oversight board are part of that process. The new hire will Nicholass in that capacity. Earlier this year, the city promoted Sweeney from captain to police chief.
The La Mesa City Council in October 2020 approved the creation of the oversight board, made up of volunteers from the community, and a contract with an independent auditing group, BartlettJames LLC. Auditors Rick Rasmussen and Dennis Montejano attended last week’s virtual meeting and will oversee quarterly department reports, review police complaints, audit investigations and provide recommendations.
The push for more oversight of La Mesa’s police force began in early 2018, after an incident in which a La Mesa police officer was recorded twice body-slamming a female student at Helix High School. In September 2019, the City Council created a community task force to consider possible police oversight models.
The need for oversight became even more urgent after a May 2020 demonstration against police aggression and racial injustice that turned into rioting, looting and fires set to several La Mesa buildings. Protesters in La Mesa were also demonstrating in response to a controversial encounter on May 27 between a White police officer and Black man outside a San Diego Trolley station near Grossmont Center.
The La Mesa police officer, Matt Dages, was later fired, and is now in Superior Court facing charges of intentionally lying on his police report to justify why he approached, detained and arrested Amaurie Johnson at the trolley station. The trial is expected to last until at least next week.
