Community must be included in criminal justice policy decisions

Recently I learned that the city council has, since August of this year, considered bringing community representatives to the table in the discussion about certain policy initiatives, namely an expansion of the protections for low-level offenders in the “Cite and Release” policy but neglected to do so.

Although this option has been before City Council for several months, the only representatives who have been present, until just last week, were people with direct connections to the San Marcos Police Department.

I wasn’t present at these meetings, so I won’t speak to what transpired behind the closed doors, but as a long-time resident of San Marcos, I am deeply concerned with the preference being shown for SMPD over actual residents and people who have direct experience with being arrested and detained in this city.

By not bringing community members, and other field experts such as prosecutor Anita Gupta, to the table to discuss legitimate concerns regarding the rate at which low-income people of color in San Marcos are incarcerated, you take the unfortunate route of making decisions based on only one version of the story, putting your more at-risk constituents at a disadvantage.

As it stands, a portion of the community, not all of it, believes that the San Marcos Police Department is doing just fine and that improvements to their protocol when it comes to discretion, additional diversity training, and policy changes that provide more protection for the rights of innocent until proven guilty resident-is just not needed.

The fact is, low-income people of color are rarely represented in these discussions regarding criminal justice on the local leve but are often the ones most likely to end up behind bars because of the decisions made by everyone from our City Council on down.

When you leave the community out of the discussion about policy and structure, depending on only the same few people to check themselves, you end up with policies that do everything but serve the community they are designated to protect.

The result is a city dominated by people who openly carry intimidating weapons, have the discretion to approach anyone they think might be doing something unlawful, bully them into their vehicle, and stick them in a box they know that person couldn’t possibly afford to get out of.

Of course, I am aware that not every single officer is capable of this. But the numbers released by analyst Samantha Jones in regards to the rate of arrest for the Possession of Marijuana in 2018 is enough to make me wonder. What improvements could be made to the process to better serve everyone and not only the few SMPD decides to let go of or charge with possession of paraphernalia, based on a number of undefined and unmeasurable factors that could or could not include their race, demeanor, age, and location?

Why is it that SMPD is more concerned with making less paperwork for themselves than with making sure they take every opportunity offered them to keep people accused of low-level, nonviolent offenses out of the Hays County Jail pre-trial? These people are not guilty upon the charge, they are innocent until a judge finds them guilty and they should be treated with the same respect and given the same freedom as every other innocent resident until their fair trial.

Why wouldn’t you want to follow Texas’ lead and include all seven of the cite and release eligible options in our city’s Cite and Release Ordinance? It honestly suggests that the city council is worried that by enacting a thorough and comprehensive Cite and Release ordinance that includes provisions meant to protect the rights of low-income people of color, students, and the community in general, they will polarize our city’s Police Department.

I would think the Police would be behind a Cite and Release ordinance that proves their commitment to protecting the constitutional rights of all citizens, guaranteeing equal treatment for all.

I truly hope City Council decides to move forward with a transparent cite and release ordinance that will provide explicit protections for the more at-risk members of their community, and I hope the San Marcos Police Department will support any ordinance that gives more freedom to community members, not take it away.