I am reaching out to ask for your endorsement and financial support to help pass
Passing Measure P (the Evelyn Cheatham Effective IOLERO Ordinance) on this November’s ballot in Sonoma County could change how sheriffs’ offices and police departments operate across California, serving as a model for legislation in every general law county, as well as for suburban counties across the United States.
Currently, there are only 12 jurisdictions with police reform measures on the ballot in the entire country, but those are in big cities. Sonoma County is the only suburban county in the U.S. proposing any significant reform.
If passed, Measure P will:
• Guarantee IOLERO (Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach) the budget and staff it needs to provide effective, independent oversight of the Sheriff’s Office
• Mandate IOLERO’s access to the information it needs from the Sheriff’s Office to perform its oversight functions
• Legally bind the Sheriff to cooperate with civilian oversight of his office
• Remove political interference with decisions of the civilian Director of IOLERO
• Authorize independent, civilian-led investigations of deaths of community members caused by Sheriff’s Deputies
• Improve transparency of the actions of the Sheriff, his Deputies and staff
• Elevate the role and importance of the Community Advisory Council
For more than twenty years, community members have been working towards achieving effective community oversight of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. After the killing of Andy Lopez by a sheriff’s deputy, a partial victory was achieved with the County’s creation of the IOLERO.
But IOLERO was created without all the tools to be effective – no subpoena power, no independent investigatory power, no requirement that the Sheriff’s Office cooperate and not enough money to do the job. Measure P provides the remedy.
We believe now is the time for this measure to pass, with the Movement for Black Lives, #MeToo, and the deep, widespread yearning for systemic change.
Our endorsements (below) include leaders from all over our diverse county.
Yet we face entrenched opposition to reform, from the Sheriff, Deputy Sheriffs Association and the Farm Bureau.
To help pass this urgently needed policing reform measure, we are building a broad coalition of indigenous, Latinx and black people, alongside white people. Together, we can ensure that policing and jailing is humane and responsive to all communities in Sonoma County.
NOW WE NEED YOUR HELP.
Please SHARE this endorsement and tell your friends and family to vote Yes on P.
If you are moved to donate now you can click here to donate online.
Yes on Measure P is supported by:
Sonoma County Democratic Party, NAACP, Sonoma County Black Coalition, Sonoma County Latino Democratic Club, National Organization for Women, North Bay Labor Council, Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County, NACOLE, Redwood Psychological Association, North Bay Organizing Project, Green Party, ACLU, Supervisor James Gore, Supervisor Susan Gorin, Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, Supervisor Shirlee Zane, Teresa Barrett, Ernesto Olivares, Rubin Scott, Alicia Sanchez, Jerry Threet, Herman G. Hernandez, Susan Jones
