CC 06-05-2020 Oral Communications_Late Written CommunicationsCC 06-05-20
Special Meeting
Closed Session #1,
City Attorney
Evaluation
Written Comments
1
Cyrah Caburian
From:Joseph Fruen <jrfruen@gmail.com>
Sent:Friday, June 5, 2020 4:30 PM
To:City Clerk; City Council; Heather Minner Law Email; Kirsten Squarcia; Deborah L. Feng; City Attorney's
Office; Darcy Paul; Jon Robert Willey; Liang Chao; Cupertino City Manager's Office; Rod Sinks; Steven
Scharf
Subject:City attorney performance review 6/5/2020 - for public comment
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the
sender and know the content is safe.
Mayor Scharf and Members of the City Council:
As you are aware, I voiced significant concerns about the general approach this city's prior city attorney, Randolph Hom,
took to dealing with the city's nonprofit organizations, and his overall lack of presence at city functions and reticence in
offering guidance to council from the dais.
I am pleased, as everyone should be, that Ms. Minner and her team from Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger actively
participate in the civic life of Cupertino. From the dais, she and they appropriately intervene to keep council and city
commissions' business within the scope of meeting notices and work to prevent prejudicing city acts. Similarly, in my
dealings with Ms. Minner, I have found her to be a consummate professional who promptly responds to queries that
require timely replies. These are all praiseworthy attributes that Cupertino should seek to reward.
As an attorney, I'm painfully aware that sometimes clients or their agents don't always like the advice their attorneys
give them or of their reading of the law. That appears to have been on display in the public comments sent or offered to
this council last week before closed session began. I have always found that clients are better off making decisions based
on true facts and honest legal assessments. Ms. Minner knows this city and its issues well. It would do well to continue
to rely on her advice.
Many thanks for your attention,
‐‐
J.R. Fruen, Esq.
408-828-2859
CC 06-05-20
Special Meeting
Oral
Communications
Written Comments
1
Cyrah Caburian
From:irene vital <irenev35@yahoo.com>
Sent:Friday, June 5, 2020 3:30 PM
Subject:Police Reform
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
To whom this may concern,
My name is Irene Vital and I am a resident of Fremont California. I urge you to consider researching the 8 Can't Wait
project and implementing the outlined policies. The project 8 Can't Wait by Campaign Zero is a police reform campaign
that outlines eight policies that can decrease unnecessary police violence by up to 72%. These eight policies are:
requiring deescalation, banning choke holds and strangleholds, banning shooting at moving vehicles, requiring
comprehensive reporting, requiring the exhaustion of other means before shooting, implementing the duty to
intervene, requiring warning before shooting, and having use of force continuum. The following explanations of these
policies come from the website for the 8 Can't Wait project, found here.
Requiring deescalation would "require officers to deescalate situations, where possible, by communicating with
subjects, maintaining distance, and otherwise eliminating the need to use force." In police departments that have
implemented this policy, police killings have decreased by 15%.
Not banning choke holds and strangleholds "[allows] officers to choke or strangle civilians, in many cases where less
lethal force could be used instead, [resulting] in the unnecessary death or serious injury of civilians." By banning choke
holds and strangleholds, these unnecessary deaths and serious injuries can be avoided. In police departments that have
implemented this specific policy, police killings have decreased by 22%.
Exhausting other means before shooting would "require officers to exhaust all other reasonable means before resorting
to deadly force," resulting in less dangerous situations for civilians. In police departments that have implemented this
specific policy, police killings have decreased by 25%.
Banning shooting at moving vehicles would "restrict officers from shooting at moving vehicles, which is regarded as a
particularly dangerous and ineffective tactic.” In police departments that have implemented this specific policy, police
killings have decreased by 8%.
Developing and requiring the use of force continuum "that limits the types of force and/or weapons that can be used to
respond to specific types of resistance" is an essential policy for police departments, as it outlines which weapons are
appropriate to use in different situations. Making this use of force continuum available to the general public, in addition,
would enable civilians to recognize which weapons would be deemed appropriate to use or not. In police departments
that have implemented this specific policy, police killings have decreased by 19%.
2
By requiring comprehensive reporting of use of force, "officers [would be required] to report each time they use force or
threaten to use force against civilians." Officers would be held more accountable for their actions. In police departments
that have implemented this specific policy, police killings have decreased by 25%.
The duty to intervene “requires officers to intervene and stop excessive force used by other officers and report these
incidents immediately to a supervisor,” which holds officers more accountable for their actions. In police departments
that have implemented this specific policy, police killings have decreased by 9%.
“[Requiring] officers to give a verbal warning, when possible, before shooting at a civilian” will allow the citizen to
change a certain behavior that could possibly lead the officer and the civilian to have a violent encounter. In police
departments that have implemented this specific policy, police killings have decreased by 5%.
I implore you to continue researching the effects of these policies and consider implementing them into the police
department of your city, as they can overall decrease up to 72% of unnecessary police violence.
Sincerely,
Irene Vital