Letter of intent sent to express interest in joining, working toward 2015-16 energy goals

With the intention of making progress on its 2015-16 goals, which are part of the Community Choice Energy Advisory Committee (CCEAC), the Davis City Council sent a non-binding letter of intent to explore possible membership to Marin Clean Energy (MCE). MCE is the first Community Choice Aggregation program in the state of California.

MCE provides a greener source of energy than the traditional energy provided by PG&E. MCE allows residents of its member communities to opt out of PG&E, and opt in to energy from a clean resource.

“Davis has not committed to joining the Marin Clean Energy joint power authority,” said Councilmember Robb Davis.

According to Davis, the city is currently looking at three different clean energy options. One would be to for the city to form its own Community Choice Aggregation program, similar to that of the City of Lancaster in Southern California. Second would be to create a joint power authority for all of Yolo County, for the cities that would be interested. This option would allow the City to have the most control over the energy product and more flexibility. However, this option is also the most risky. The third option would be to join an existing CCA. There are only two in Northern California, Sonoma Clean Power, which is not taking new members, and Marin Clean Energy.

“Marin Clean Energy is thinking of adding additional members this fall,” Davis said.

Marin Clean Energy, a local government agency, was founded in 2010.

“We provide a choice to customers [to decide] where the generation of their energy comes from,” said Dawn Weisz, chief executive officer of MCE.

MCE energy supply is generated from double the amount of renewable resources than PG&E’s power supply. The MCE energy supply comes from both local and non-local sources and relies on wind, solar, geothermal, bioenergy and hydroelectric power generation. The power is still provided through PG&E’s grid and consumers are also bill through PG&E. The only difference is the source of the power.

Customers are able to select from different packages that allow for 50 to 100 percent of their power supply to come from renewable sources.

Currently, MCE services all of the cities and towns within Marin County, Richmond, Benicia, San Pablo, El Cerrito and unincorporated parts of Napa County.

According to Weisz, customers saved $5.9 million last year mainly because the company is not a federal for profit company.

“Our rates are cheaper, the default product [Light Green package, which is 50 percent renewable] is saving customers money,” Weisz said.

Efforts to buy local energy at competitive rates have also contributed to the low cost of MCE’s energy supply.

“Citizens wants choices…it’s good for the marketplace to have competition then all the vendors are forced to provide a high value product,” said Barton Clark, a Marin County high school science teacher and MCE customer.

Clark said that he appreciates MCE’s promise to citizenry that the sources they use for energy generation don’t have adverse effects on the planet.

“As a consumer, I have chosen the Deep Green option, it does cost a little more, but what I like is the idea that I am not personally contributing towards nuclear power plants or PG&E building a new super nuclear structure,” Clark said.

The Deep Green package provides the customer with 100 percent of their energy generated by renewable resources.

In the end, Clark said he feels the price increase he pays is marginal for the benefits he gains from being an MCE customer.

“A vote for MCE isn’t a vote against PG&E, it’s a vote for free market and a changing energy landscape where more and more citizens are saying we want options.” Clark said.

Davis said that he feels Community Choice Energy is increasing all over the state, partially because it gives local jurisdictions control over the purchase of their energy.

“Even though we see opportunities with MCE, we still have some decisions to make about it,” Davis said.

Oakland, Stockton, Salinas police departments to implement procedural justice-based law enforcement training

Following an amendment made to Assembly Bill 1118 (AB 1118), California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced on April 17 the results of a 90-day review of the police training that will now focus on implicit bias and use of force.

Over the past two years, the Oakland, Stockton and Salinas police departments underwent new law enforcement training that was centered around procedural justice. AB 1118, which aims to support procedural justice-based training across California, was introduced by State Rep.  Rob Bonta on Feb. 27. The bill was amended twice, on March 26 and April 16. The revisions will incorporate community-oriented policing by following the Chicago training example of promoting procedural justice and police legitimacy. An act was added that focuses more on public safety and law enforcement.

Several community leaders and the California Partnership for Safe Communities (CPSC), have teamed up with local police departments to create the new curriculum.

Paul Figueroa, assistant chief of police at the Oakland Police Department, explained that the attorney general’s involvement spreads much needed change.

“The partnership with the attorney general’s office really gives us a wide reach and connection that we would not have had otherwise, so that’s why [Harris’] leadership is so crucial…because of how she can get it implemented statewide,” Figueroa said.

According to Figueroa, procedural justice emphasizes four tenets — giving people a voice, treating them with respect at all times, being neutral parties and being trustworthy in the process.

“There’s been decades of research about procedural justice and the positive effects it can have,” Figueroa said. “The more procedurally it is fair in the organization it perceives, the more it leads to higher levels of police legitimacy… [which encourages] higher levels of voluntary compliance with the law. At the end of the day, that’s really what we’re going after.”

Police legitimacy, which is the trust and confidence that citizens have in the police and the community’s acceptance of police authority and belief in law enforcement’s fairness, is a major component of the new training.

About a year and a half ago, the Oakland Police Department felt the need to address issues that were occurring between the police and the community. As a result, they began following the training model of Garry McCarthy, the current superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.

In August 2011, McCarthy’s recognition of the mistrust that existed between law enforcement and communities of color led to collaboration with the Chicago department’s education division and training division. The joined efforts of these groups resulted in training based on police legitimacy and procedural justice.

“We went to Chicago as a team…as Oakland police officers and professional staff, and managers went to Chicago and looked at the training. Our community members helped us build the training so that it fit Oakland and brought in the Oakland community voice,” Figueroa said.

According to Figueroa, over 600 officers have already been trained under the new curriculum.

“[The community members] actually co-instructed the course with us …and it’s been really, really powerful,” Figueroa said.

Training was separated into three phases — planning, orientation and delivery.

According to Joe Silva, public information officer of the Stockton Police Department, part of the curriculum was to reach out to the community through surveys that recorded how citizens felt about the police department.

“During this training class, the officers have open dialogue and discussions on the community expectations of the police force, and what we’ve learned from the community…[is that they] want the officers to be really good, active listeners… meaning a lot of the problems don’t lead in arrest to help solve the problems, it’s more of just listening and helping the person get the types of resources that they need,” Silva said.

The goal of this new training is ultimately to promote voluntary compliance to the law through increased community involvement and police legitimacy.

“On the flipside, it also talks about what the police expects from the community in turn, and that’s to be cooperative and also compliant,” Silva said.

The Oakland, Stockton and Salinas police departments approached the training in different ways. Stockton and Salinas made teams that were exclusively composed of  police officers, making officers responsible for training other officers. The Oakland Police Department wanted to incorporate the community to create a partnership-based training.

“In Chicago, the training is taught by police only, basically officers teaching officers. We added in community instructors with us because we felt that it was a really important voice in our training,” Figueroa said.

In a press release provided by the CPSC, improvements resulting from the new training include the establishment of the first certified implicit bias and procedural justice training in the United States, the creation and implementation of the first Department of Justice policy on implicit bias and racial profiling and the training of all of the division’s command-level staff to train special agents on Fair and Impartial Policing and Implicit Bias.

There was also the adoption of new body camera technology, the expansion of the pool of candidates for special agents and trainees and the development of a 21st century working group made of sheriffs, chiefs and various law enforcement officials.

Harris expressed in her April 17 press release that California is leading the way by releasing a review of special agent trainings on implicit bias and the use of force.

“These actions are being taken with the goal of increasing transparency and with the expectation that California’s law enforcement agencies will use this work as a roadmap to review their own policies,” Harris said.

Serving as a blueprint for other police departments, the new training seems promising.

“The sacred trust between the men and women of law enforcement and the communities we serve is essential to a strong and safe California,” Harris said.

Graphic by Jennifer Wu.