Respect for police a hot topic at Merced candidates forum

In a discussion organized by some of Merced’s young people, Merced City Council candidates disagreed on how to improve relations between people of color and the police.

Only half the council candidates on the upcoming November showed up Wednesday night for the youth-led discussion on violence in Merced and other topics.

South Merced native Ronnie De Anda, who is running a write-in campaign for District 2, said Merced needs more police officers and training. He said parents should teach their children to respect officers.

“They are there for you,” he said. “We need to tell our children to respect officers. That’s a two-way street, of course. But if you show respect to an officer, he in return will show respect to you.”

He said it’s important to ask young people why they don’t trust officers. “You need to express your fear. Why are you afraid of police officers?” De Anda asked.

Positive interactions with police officers are key to improving the relationship with the community, according to Karla Seijas, a UC Merced employee and Merced native running for District 4.

“A police dialogue with police officers and youth is very important,” she said. “The youth can voice their perspectives as well as the adults in the community. So police can understand our community more.”

Beyond that, greater transparency could help citizens trust the actions of officers, she said. “Diversity and implicit bias training for police officers is important to ensure that each officer understands different perspectives, cultures and can relate to the community they work in and that they serve.”

She went on to advocate for more programs and job-training skills for young people as a way to keep them out of trouble.

Merced County Sheriff’s Sgt. Delray Shelton said part of his job as a supervising member of law enforcement includes developing programs in training deputies, including developing relationships with the community.

“I know there’s a lot of negative things we currently hear on the news, like civil unrest problems,” he said. “I’m not ignorant to that. There’s very many times we transition people out of the agency because they are not marketing the brand well.”

Shelton went on to say it’s important to invest in Merced’s public safety. He said deputies are reprimanded for bad behavior, but noted the public rarely hears about it because law enforcement officers in California are given a number of protections.

“We have to build those relationships of trust in one another,” he said.

Councilman Kevin Blake, whose is running for District 4, did not take part in the forum. Neither did District 2 candidate Fernando Echevarria nor District 6 candidate John Bliss.

Election Day is Nov. 6.

This story was originally published October 19, 2018 at 7:45 AM.