SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One year after the shooting death of Stephon Clark, police and faith leaders are working to rebuild trust with the community.
Mervin Brookins spent time in jail and has had more than a few run-ins with police. Nowadays, instead of posing for mug shots, he's taking snapshots with the police chief representing his Brother to Brother outreach organization.
As someone who has been fighting to keep others out of trouble with the law, Brookins said building trust between the community and police is all about accountability.
"We can have a healthy relationship and build with the police department and hold them accountable at the same time," said Brookins.
And Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn agrees.
"It's not about that we can't get better or we shouldn't be held accountable," Hahn said. "It's about the belief that we are not going to progress if we don't do it together."
From community partnerships designed to expose officers to communities they might not otherwise interact with — and even arming officers with new technology geared at promoting more accountability — these leaders insist changes are being made to reduce fatal police interactions.
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"The onus falls on us to make sure Sacramento knows a lot of the things we are doing to make a difference," said Pastor Anthony Sadler, who hosts the Oak Park peace walk with police every Friday evening.
However, community outreach alone won't bring the type of transformation change many are seeking. State lawmakers at the capitol have also introduced a new use of force bill, AB 392.
If passed, the bill would authorize officers to use deadly force only when it is necessary to prevent eminent and serious bodily injury or death. This comes as the Sacramento Police Department prepares to roll out a new use of force policy of its own.
"So, for example, we're looking at things like drones to search yards before inserting people [or] officers into that yard to search for somebody," Hahn said. "...We want officers to perform their duties in the safest way possible not only for the officer but also for the suspect."
Hahn also said that the department is releasing video faster than they ever have before and created a research and development division to look into the best training and equipment.
"There are several things that we have implemented after the shooting that I think will pay dividends for years to come," he said.
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Stephon Clark was shot and killed by two Sacramento police officers on March 18, 2018. One year later we are catching up with some of the people who knew him. Anthony Pitts explains who Stephon was and what the last year has been like.