LA MESA HEARS FIRST REPORT FROM HIRED CONSULTANTS

Company shares info gleaned in early investigation

The company hired by La Mesa to take a deep dive into the events surrounding May 30 and May 31, when a social justice demonstration devolved into a night of violence, fires and looting, returned last month with its first report to the city.

Hillard Heintze, LLC staff, including Robert Davis, a senior vice president with the firm, Vice

President Robert Boehmer and Senior Director Chad Mcginty, told the city they have walked the streets and visited La Mesa businesses; interviewed hundreds of residents, business owners, city staff, government officials and public safety personnel; met with members of the city’s Citizen Public Safety Oversight Task Force; and conducted a community meeting on Zoom.

The group gave a midterm after-action report to the City Council and said it expects to share a final report within two months. The report will include a full assessment of the police department’s actions before, during and after the protest and riots of May 30, the transparency and accountability concerns and best practices toward a way forward.

The final report, expected to be shared on Dec. 8, will include insight into what the La Mesa community says it wants as qualities in a new police chief.

Relating to that, La Mesa City Manager Greg Humora said the city is close to signing a contract with a recruiting firm as it looks to find a replacement for Walt Vasquez, who announced his retirement in August. The process is expected to take two to three months.

Mcginty and Boehmer told the city the firm continues to review La Mesa Police Department policies and protocols and will measure them in part against principles espoused by the National Incident Management System and Incident Command System.

Mcginty said it is important for people to know that the report is not about where to place blame.

“It’s a learning process,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for a department to grow, to identify the issues, concerns, the challenges that arose in any particular instance and learn from those and apply lessons learned. LMPD did suffer some unique challenges but it’s important to understand nationally other agencies suffered the same challenges. These were unprecedented events not just in La Mesa but across the nation.”

City Councilmember Akilah Weber told the company that it needed to keep part of its focus on what city officials did before, during and after the events, “even though we weren’t necessarily in charge of who was going to do what where. We do have a responsibility to the residents of La Mesa... So if it happens again, it’s not just LMPD that’s doing a better job, we’re all doing a better job, for our city and our residents.”

City Councilman Colin Parent asked the company to be sure to include a review of partner agencies that La Mesa works with, and asked about participation from the San Diego County Sheriff ’s Department, the county and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Parent said if the firm is not able to get cooperation from outside groups, that the public needs to be made aware and that it should be noted in an interim report.