CC Dem Club Officially Opposes Police “BearCat” Purchase

At their February 12 meeting, the Culver City Democratic Club unanimously adopted this resolution:

Resolved: The Culver City Democratic Club Condemns the Purchase and
Use of the BEARCAT Vehicle

Whereas policing is the single largest expense in Culver City,
consuming 35% of the 2019-20 budget, compared to 16% in Los Angeles
and 29% for police and fire combined in Santa Monica,

Whereas the Culver City Police Department intends to purchase a
BEARCAT armored personnel carrier at a cost of over $400,000, not
including ongoing training and maintenance,

Whereas the City has repeatedly misrepresented this military transport
as an “emergency rescue vehicle,”

Whereas the staff report did not include a single anecdote or data
point from the use of the BEARCAT in other departments, although there
are over one hundred of these vehicles in the field in California
alone, or information on past situations in Culver City where it could
have been used,

Whereas the City only solicited public comment on this specific item
after its purchase was approved by the City Council,

Whereas peer-reviewed research has shown that militarizing police
equipment, attitudes, and policies harms community relations,

Whereas perceived and practiced police bias continues to damage the
image of the City,

Whereas CCPD have increasingly requested military and surveillance
gear (including drones, automated license plate readers, and the
BEARCAT armored car),

Whereas the “warrior policing” model embodied by this vehicle
contradicts the “community policing” one espoused by the City Council
and supported by most independent social science research,

Whereas militarized police vehicles have been deployed to intimidate
and incite peaceful protestors in Ferguson, Oakland, and other
locations,

Whereas the BEARCAT requested by CCPD includes a “water monitor
system,” which is a direct descendant of the firehoses turned on Civl
Rights protestors and the water cannons used in Standing Rock,

and whereas the proposed policy banning the use of the BEARCAT and its
“water monitor system” against “legal protests” would have permitted
their use at Selma, Stonewall, Occupy Wall Street, and Standing Rock,

Therefore the Culver City Democratic Club condemns the purchase and
deployment of the BEARCAT and the fear-based police mindset it
represents.

From Culver City Democratic Club 

The Actors' Gang

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