S.F. supervisor proposes act to ban discriminatory police calls

The law aims to protect communities of color who are often targeted and victims of fraudulent emergency calls.

Following a spate of highprofile 911 calls against people of color, San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton on Tuesday introduced an ordinance that would make discriminatory calls for police illegal.

Walton dubbed the ordinance the Caren Act (Caution Against Racially Exploitative Non-Emergencies), in an apparent nod to the popularized slang name that refers to an entitled white woman complaining about people of color. The legislation would amend the San Francisco Police Code to make it unlawful for someone to “fabricate false racially biased emergency reports,” according to a news release from Walton.

“This is the CAREN we need,” Walton tweeted.

The law aims to “protect the rights of communities of color who are often targeted and victims of fraudulent emergency calls,” Walton said in a statement. “The CAREN Act will make it unlawful for an individual to contact law enforcement solely to discriminate on the basis of a person’s race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”

In June, a white couple called the police on James Juanillo after accusing him of defacing private property. Juanillo was stenciling “Black Lives Matter” on the wall in front of his Pacific Heights home. In Alameda, someone called the authorities to report a Black man dancing and exercising on his street, according to Walton.

In New York, a white woman called 911 on a Black man who was bird watching in Central Park. The incident was recorded on video that was widely circulated through social media and national news outlets.

Walton’s ordinance follows similar proposed state legislation. State Assembly Member Rob Bonta, DOakland, introduced a bill, AB 1550, in June to end discriminatory police calls by classifying them as hate crimes.

False police reports are criminal under California law, but there is no punishment for people who summon law enforcement due to a perceived threat based on someone’s race, religion or appearance, Bonta said in a statement.

People should not be discouraged from reporting real crimes or dangerous situations, Bonta said, but discriminatory 911 calls themselves are “dangerous, demeaning and demoralizing.”

“If you are afraid of a black family barbecuing in the community park, a man dancing and doing his normal exercise routine in the bike lane, or someone who asks you to comply with dog leash laws in a park, and your immediate response is to call the police, the real problem is with your own personal prejudice,” he said.

Perpetrators of the state and local laws could be held accountable through monetary fines. Under the proposed state bill, a victim of a discriminatory fraudulent call could sue the caller for up to $10,000 in damages.