On Monday, the Fresno Police Reform Commission announced a new community survey that will assist it in making informed recommendations to the city of Fresno and its police department.
The survey asks community members questions like how comfortable would they be calling the Fresno Police for help and whether the community should have a say in the department's funding. D'Aungillique Jackson, the chair of the community input subcommittee, says the goal is to include responses from underrepresented communities.
“We are trying to do our best as those from the community to reach everybody that is commonly left out,” Jackson said. “So we are trying to make sure we are including and highlighting southwest and west Fresno.”
The committee has already received over 300 responses from English, Punjabi, Arabic and Spanish speakers. And more languages will be available soon, Jackson said.
“We will continue to add and make this survey as inclusive and understandable as possible,” she said. “So the languages that are pending are Hmong, Lao, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Tagalog.”
Fresno residents can also make suggestions over the phone or through email, Jackson added. For more information, including the online survey, visit the commission’s website.
In addition, the police tactics and training subcommittee concluded that police officers should not be the first to respond to calls regarding mental health or non-violent behavior, according to Scot Baly, a public defender and committee member.
The commission has been granted an additional 30 days to provide recommendations that will be voted on by the Fresno City Council, Councilmember Miguel Arias confirmed at the meeting over zoom. The commission will meet again on September 28th.
