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Diary of a recovery: University & Euclid | Joshua Emerson Smith Jun 16, 2020

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Will life in the neighborhood around Euclid and University avenues quickly return to normal? Or will it take weeks, or months?

Read the story: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-06-14/reopening-san-diego-coronavirus-diary

More businesses open today. Here's what you need to know | Lori Weisberg Jun 12, 2020

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After almost three long and lonely months, San Diego County residents are legally cleared to meet their friends for a drink, take a date to a museum or the zoo, visit a campground with the family and hit the gym to work off those quarantine pounds.

Today marks the biggest reopening since county health officials began shutting down businesses and events in mid-March to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and it marks a return to some of the most-missed social connections and activities.

But the slow return to normalcy does not mean things are quite normal. Many institutions will not be ready to open today. When they do, expect to make a reservation for the gym or a museum, don’t expect to see any animal acts at the zoo, and you might have your temperature checked when you enter many places, including some that are going to seem rather empty because of new capacity restrictions.

Faulconer: SDPD will mandate de-escalation | Alex Riggins Jun 11, 2020

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Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced Wednesday that San Diego Police Department officials are developing a new de-escalation policy, which a department spokesman said should be implemented by next week.

The Police Department currently trains its officers in de-escalation techniques and has language addressing the approach — emphasizing that officers do all they can to avoid a physical confrontation — in its use-of-force procedure. But the new standalone policy “will be more robust,” Faulconer said during a Wednesday afternoon news conference.

Faulconer said the new policy will give “officers clear rules of the road on how to safely control a situation, and resolve it, with lower levels of force.”

La Mesa police release timeline of the May 30 protest | David Hernandez Jun 10, 2020

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La Mesa police on Tuesday released a step-by-step account of what happened when a peaceful protest against racial injustice and police brutality more than a week ago turned into riots marked by fires, vandalism and looting.

The timeline was pieced together from entries La Mesa police dispatchers made in a computer system as the May 30 protest unfolded in the heart of the city. It paints a picture of a large demonstration that gradually turned violent, at first within pockets of protest crowds, then more widespread as night fell.

The information is the clearest, albeit incomplete, account to date from La Mesa police of how they say the unrest unfolded and how law enforcement officers responded.

San Diego youth emerge as protest organizers | Lyndsay Winkley Jun 09, 2020

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When Ariel Gibbs arrived last Sunday morning at the Hall of Justice, the place where her protest was set to begin in downtown San Diego, she paused and turned to a friend.

“Wow,” she said.

She could not believe how many people showed up to march alongside her to demand justice for George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer in Minnesota knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

By 10 a.m., there were about 100 people present. Throughout the day, the crowd that gathered would grow to more than 1,000.

So you want to defund the police? | John Wilkens Jun 08, 2020

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Protest signs are meant to be provocative, but these were especially so: “Abolish the police.”

They showed up in San Diego and across the country over the past two weeks as thousands of Americans took to the streets to condemn the May 25 killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by a white police officer who knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes during an arrest over a counterfeit $20 bill.

As far-fetched as the protest signs seem, they are part of a growing national debate that’s moved beyond the usual calls for change — better training, more diversity, increased accountability — to openly question the fundamental purpose of police in society.

Are the officers guardians, or are they warriors?

The politics of policing in San Diego | Michael Smolens Jun 05, 2020

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Mayor Kevin Faulconer and his appointed police chief, David Nisleit, on Monday announced SDPD will immediately stop using the carotid restraint.

The neck hold used to subdue people has come to be viewed as dangerous and unnecessary, and minority groups in particular have condemned it. Other police departments increasingly have abandoned the practice.

San Diego police officials had continually defended the tactic, as they did in an in-depth article last year by Lyndsay Winkley of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The reversal was stunning enough. But Faulconer wasn’t done. Later on Monday, as protesters again marched downtown, he threw his support behind a 30-plus-year effort to establish an independent commission to investigate alleged police misconduct and examine police practices.

“That is moving forward,” the Republican mayor said at a news conference. “It will be on the ballot. . . I look forward to giving it my full support.”

Read the column: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/columnists/story/2020-06-03/column-san-diego-moves-quickly-toward-police-reforms

San Diego Sheriff calls in National Guard in La Mesa | David Hernandez Jun 04, 2020

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San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore has requested the help of the California National Guard to support police in La Mesa and deputies around the county amid continuing protests calling for racial justice and police reform, according to sheriff’s officials.

“San Diego County has requested the National Guard (to) assist with security in the region due to the recent civil unrest,” La Mesa city officials said in a statement Wednesday night. “A portion of them will be responding to La Mesa this evening. You may also see them throughout the county.”

Unrest in America: Where San Diego stands | Andrea Lopez-Villafaña Jun 03, 2020

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San Diego's protests following the death of George Floyd continue. The region is not immune to police brutality and racism, communities reporter Andrea Lopes-Villafaña discusses the state of things in the county.

Follow the movement here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/topic/george-floyd

SDPD bans the carotid restraint | Lyndsay Winkley, Teri Figueroa Jun 02, 2020

Show notes

On the heels of protests over the death of George Floyd, the San Diego Police Department announced it would stop using a controversial neck restraint that a U-T analysis found is disproportionately used on black San Diegans.

Floyd, a black man, died after a white officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Learn more from Public Safety reporter Teri Figueroa and Watchdog reporter Lyndsay Winkley.

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