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San Diego Commission on Police Practices impeded by slow transition chair says

A San Diego Police SUV is parked outside the San Diego Convention Center during Comic-Con Special Edition. San Diego, Calif. Nov. 27, 2021.
Ben Lacy / KPBS
A San Diego Police SUV is parked outside the San Diego Convention Center during Comic-Con Special Edition. San Diego, Calif. Nov. 27, 2021.

San Diego voters overwhelmingly passed Measure B in 2020 to create a new independent commission with civilian oversight of the San Diego Police Department. The process to implement the new commission, however, has been slow moving, leaving an interim commission impeded by a dwindling number of commissioners, as well as its inability to replace them.

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Rules on appointing new commission members may not be approved by the city council until Jan. 2023 , leaving the interim commission concerned about its effectiveness in keeping up with a growing caseload of complaints against police.

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In a recent letter to the San Diego City Council, Brandon Hilpert, chair of the Commission of Police Practices urged the council to allow for new commissioners to be seated immediately.

"The workload is simply not sustainable," he wrote.

Hilpert joined Midday Edition on Tuesday to talk about why he wrote the letter, and what his concerns are about the length of the transition process.

"We're kind of in this sticky area where we can't add new commissioners, especially as we've lost some. So the workload is going up, we have fewer people doing it, which is taking longer for us to do our review of cases. The community I think expects and demands that there is civilian oversight of police officers and complaints against them," Hilpert said.

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