Despite scandals and divisions, City Council approves Louis as police chief
The Berkeley City Council has officially appointed Jen Louis as the city's top cop — the first woman, Asian American and openly gay person to lead Berkeley's Police Department — despite controversy during her tenure and two pending misconduct investigations.
Tuesday's decision deeply divided the council and community, coming nearly six months after damning allegations of arrest quotas, racial profiling and a targeted focus on homeless people first jeopardized efforts to confirm Louis, a 23-year department veteran who spent the past 26 months as interim police chief.
Her appointment is clouded by controversies — one involving a racist arrest scandal among officers, the other past allegations of sexual harassment against Louis. Results of two investigations of misconduct within the department won't be made public until early July.
City officials, however, insisted that Louis' appointment be finalized, saying that continuing to delay the appointment of a police chief is negatively impacting public safety and the department's recruitment and retention efforts. Louis' annual base salary will be $301,820.
In November, a former Berkeley police officer emailed the entire City Council dozens of text message screenshots that appeared to implicate several officers — including Sgt. Darren Kacalek, a 20-year department veteran and president of the police association — in disparaging statements made against unhoused residents and people of color from October 2019 to December 2020
Kacalek, who was the supervisor of the Police Department's Downtown
Task Force and Bike Detail before being placed on leave last year, was accused of focusing on homeless people to successfully make 100 arrests each month — a violation of California law explicitly banning arrest quotas. Investigations led by the city's Police Accountability Board and an outside San Francisco law firm were tasked with determining the legitimacy of the alleged messages and arrest quota, as well as who was aware of the texts and what actions they took in response.
Subsequently, a bombshell story from the Los Angeles Times in December revealed that Louis had been investigated for allegations of sexual harassment while working as a police captain in 2017. An outside investigation concluded that she had made inappropriate comments to another female officer at a party, but claims from two other women were not substantiated.
She was suspended for five days by former Police Chief Andrew Greenwood but successfully appealed that decision and was given a written reprimand instead.
Following a three-hour discussion late Tuesday night, Louis was appointed in a 7-0-2 vote. Councilmembers Kate Harrison and Ben Bartlett abstained. Mayor Jesse Arreguín and Councilmember Sophie Hahn originally supported a motion to delay the decision two months to wait for the investigations to be finalized but eventually sided with the chief when that vote failed.
“In the end, the (Police) Department has the power to alter people's lives forever, for good or bad,” Harrison said, clarifying that she felt Louis has done a good job so far. “There's a lot of crime that has to be addressed in Berkeley — I'm not denying that — but moving forward tonight would undermine the voters' will and damage the Police Accountability Board's independent power.”
Hahn agreed, adding that Louis “deserves to start her tenure without a cloud of doubt.”
On Tuesday, Louis said she is the right person for the job, despite the controversies.
“My focus and vision for the future of the Berkeley Police Department and the entire law enforcement profession are grounded in leaving a legacy that my children can see and be proud of,” Louis said Tuesday. “My appointment will ensure that the critical policies of fair and impartial policing as well as reimagining public safety continue to move forward.”
Defending the decision to appoint Louis before findings into both of those controversies become public, City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley said she already had “sufficient information” about the investigation that persuaded her to move forward with the appointment.
She said that when the racist text messages were shared, Louis was serving as a captain overseeing an entirely different area of the Police Department, lacking any command authority over the unit facing scrutiny.
“I am confident Jen Louis will not only provide that needed stability for the department but will also continue to provide the leadership and vision our police department needs and deserves,” she said.
Dozens of Berkeley residents spoke during public comment Tuesday.
Local business leaders largely supported her appointment, as did several parents who shared fears for the safety of their children studying at UC Berkeley.
But a majority of the speakers — including a large number of UC Berkeley students — opposed Louis' appointment, arguing that to reform policing, the city needs to conduct another nationwide search.
The loudest opposition criticized city officials' timing of the decision.
“It's hard for me to think of something you could do that would further erode public trust then to undermine the institutions that are supposed to be a check on unchecked policing,” Avery Arbaugh, the incoming president of the Cal Berkeley Democrats, said before the vote.
But Berkeley resident Josh Buswell-Charkow instead lambasted how long the appointment had been dragged out, arguing that ongoing violent assaults, carjackings and armed robberies across the city are a bigger concern than who leads the Berkeley Police Department.
“The vast majority of opponents of Jen Louis don't oppose her, they oppose police, and as such, they don't believe in the position of police chief,” Buswell-Charkow said. “The fact that the council has been held hostage by these anti-cop zealots for so long, that is what is shameful. Enough playing Russian roulette with the lives of Berkeley residents.”