For the first time since public meetings regarding policing were held last summer, the Windsor Town Council heard an annual report from Windsor Police Chief Michael Raasch regarding use-of-force incidents and police practices at their regular meeting Aug. 18.
According to Raasch, a member of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office which administers police services to the town by contract, 12 out of 11,204 total contacts were classified as use-of-force incidents.
Use-of-force is considered to have occurred whenever a police interaction includes contact more severe than handcuffing a cooperative suspect, Raasch said.
“Where we can use force is to affect arrest, prevent escape, protect ourselves and protect other people. Simply handcuffing someone when they’re cooperative doesn’t classify as use of force. When someone doesn’t want to be handcuffed and they’re pulling their arms away and (we) grab them and force their hands behind their back, it’s classified as a use of force,” Raasch said.
Ten of the total use-of-force incidents involved using a “control hold” to subdue uncooperative suspects, with one use of maximum restraints and one use of a taser.
Officers in 2020 did not use any other methods of force, per department reporting, including pepper spray, discharge of firearms, impact weapons (like batons), K-9 deployments or “personal weapons” (such as “palm strikes” or “body strikes”).
Per a recent change in department policy going into effect in July 2021, drawing a firearm on a civilian is documented as a use-of-force, however, no cases have been documented since that change.
There were also no uses of the carotid hold, the use-of-force method that killed George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, sparking protests across the nation and in Sonoma County. The increased public awareness of policing following the Floyd murder led to Windsor’s public meetings over policing last summer, according to the staff report. Similar pushes to engage communities in creating best practices over transparent policing have happened in cities across Sonoma County.
The 2020 number was half that of 2018 (24 incidents) and eight fewer than 2019 (20 incidents), which Raasch credited mostly to an overall decline in crime during the pandemic.
When use-of-force occurs, the deputies with the Windsor Police Department first seek medical aid for the suspect, before reporting the incident to their sergeant. The sergeant responds to the scene and obtains statements from the deputies involved and any witnesses, before reviewing body camera footage and forwarding the footage and a report to Chief Raasch. Raasch then assigns a lieutenant to once again review the incident for compliance with policy and may either assign additional training or send the case to internal affairs, if warranted by violations of department policy.
Of the 12 civilians subject to police force last year, there were 10 men and two women. Five were white, four Latino, two black and one Asian. Raasch said the department has implemented policies in compliance with the California Racial Identity Profiling Act (RIPA), which requires documentation of all data on police stops to help departments assess whether racial profiling is occurring. The first round of statistics on Windsor stop data will be available next year.
Moving forward, the Windsor Police Department will engage in four-hour annual training sessions to address unconscious prejudices that may manifest in unfair treatment. The department began implicit bias training last year, with a two-hour training session.
Raasch also told the council about police responses to incidents involving mental illness, which he said could be the most dangerous for officers due to the unpredictability of mentally ill persons. There were 68 total mental health contacts in 2020, with four resulting in the use of force (one third of total use-of-force incidents).
He said the department utilizes the county’s Mobile Support Team (MST) to respond to mental health calls as often as possible. The MST does not contain police officers, but helps to de-escalate mental health crises and connect those in need to mental health services and hopefully prevent further need for intervention — police or otherwise.
“They’re trained professionals that deal with mental illness, and they can provide early intervention with someone who’s having mental problems,” Raasch said. “I have a lot of experience with (mental illness) because I have a brother who’s schizophrenic. I got to grow up and see the revolving door (of the mental health system). It’s emotional when I talk about it because he passed away last year.”
Currently, a model based on the successful CAHOOTS program out of Eugene, Oregon is in development in Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park, according to City Manager Ken MacNab. The Windsor Police Department is looking into the potential development of a similar program.
Raasch said statistics don’t support public concern over supposedly rising crime rates. Of serious crimes reported to the FBI such as aggravated assault, homicide and forcible rape, Windsor had 272 in 2020, compared to an average of 817 when looking at the other eight Sonoma County cities. Of those crimes, there were: zero homicides; three forcible rapes (all solved); 10 robberies (five solved); 25 aggravated assaults; 20 burglaries (two solved); and 22 motor vehicle thefts (five solved). The vast majority of major crimes reported in Windsor last year were grand thefts, with 95 out of 192 incidents solved.
The Windsor Police Department has the lowest per capita expenditure on police in Sonoma County, with an annual budget of $8.7 million, 37% of the General Fund. That’s $276 per person compared to an average of $445 per citizen looking at other Sonoma County cities.
Complaints made against Windsor police officers can be made to a higher ranking officer via telephone, mail or in person, and can also be made through the county’s police oversight office IOLERO.
