Debunking "More Cops is Safer" / And Sacramento Fails to Hold Police Accountable

Alec Karakatsanis debunks Malcolm Gladwell’s plea for even more police.

Why is Everyone Lying?

Excerpt:

Promoting ineffective policies that expand corporate-government surveillance and violence—and then telling people it’s good for them—falls well outside the bounds of reasonable massaging of “messaging.” Because once people on the left start repeating the fascist mantra that 2+2=5—in this case that more authoritarian policies, profitable surveillance, militarized policing, targeting of immigrants, etc. will create a safer and better society—it will become difficult or impossible to dislodge that framework in the future. That’s true not only from a communications perspective, but also because that same police and surveillance infrastructure will be used to hobble or eliminate the left in the meantime. 

...and locally: 

Sacramento Decreases its Police Oversight/Accountability 

Excerpt:

When the county grand jury concluded in June that the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission had become largely “window dressing” and recommended reforms to strengthen civilian oversight, City Hall rejected or disputed most findings when approving Mayor Kevin McCarty’s response Sept. 15. The response treated grand jury recommendations no differently than those of the review commission itself.

Of 178 recommendations submitted by the commission since 2016, the Sacramento Police Department voluntarily implemented 10 and the council formally approved one, according to the grand jury.

Nothing has prevented the city from taking up a recommendation from its own police review commission, voting on it or explaining publicly why it would not.

The grand jury report arrived nearly two years into McCarty’s tenure amid a systematic dismantling of Sacramento’s police oversight infrastructure.

The mayor was asked for his vision of police accountability and his response to critics who say civilian oversight has moved in the wrong direction during his time as mayor.

McCarty instead detailed the commission’s current authority and stressed that it operates with transparency.

“We are working to continue improving the committee’s efficacy, to strengthen commissioner training, and to better leverage existing public engagement tools,” McCarty finished. He did not acknowledge changes to both the Office of Policy Safety Accountability (OPSA) and the commission since he took office.


Half of the commission’s members have been replaced over the past two years. One persistent police critic was replaced by the mother of an officer, and McCarty proposed allowing former law enforcement officers to serve on the civilian panel.

Meanwhile, Dr. LaTesha Watson, longtime director of the OPSA, departed under a roughly $271,000 separation agreement, and the office has since lost critical positions to budget cuts.

OPSA provides independent civilian oversight of the Sacramento Police Department and Sacramento Fire Department, investigating officer-involved shootings and reviewing misconduct complaints.

....

[Conclusion]

Since 2025, key leaders have been replaced, oversight staff eliminated, and major findings by the grand jury rejected or disputed.

Sacramento spent years building a civilian police accountability system. Under McCarty and this City Council, much of what was built has been systematically dismantled.