The City of Orinda has received hundreds of emails and inquiries regarding our police services in light of the rising national and local concerns over racial injustice. We appreciate the engagement of our citizens and want you to know that your voices are being heard by the City of Orinda’s leadership.
The City of Orinda will begin a conversation on these very important concerns at our City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 16th, 2020. Details of how to attend the City Council meeting via the Zoom platform will be posted to the City’s website on Friday, June 12th under the meetings/calendar icon. Members of the community will have the opportunity to speak at the meeting.
The City of Orinda contracts for our police services from the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department. As such, our City Council is not the first line of governance for our police organization, but certainly cares about the way those services are provided. The City retains control over how we decide to furnish police services in the future and whether to continue contracting with the Sheriff’s Department.
Orinda’s Police Chief, David Cook will be speaking at the June 16th City Council meeting and will be available to answer questions. In the meantime, the Sheriff’s Department has also received numerous inquiries regarding their policing and has posted information on their website at http://www.cocosheriff.org/cominfo/principled_policing.htm. We encourage you to review it prior to our City Council meeting.
We do not expect the June 16th meeting to resolve all of Orinda’s concerns and questions – however we believe it will be an important starting point. City leadership will stay engaged with our policing issues. Our goal is to achieve positive community policing that safely protects all our residents and the public.
We also want to thank the organizers and participants of the Saturday June 6th demonstration in Orinda for a peaceful and powerful message.