Seaside safety panel shrinks wording on work plan after debate over "use of force" reporting

The City of Seaside Community Safety Advisory Commission on June 17 approved edits to its 2025–26 annual work plan and agreed to remove a specific reference to a “use of force year-end review report,” citing concerns about scope and public perception.

Chair Jones and staff presented side-by-side drafts of the prior and current work plans and highlighted language suggested by Commissioner Velasquez that prompted discussion about tense and clarity in the mission statement. Commissioners agreed on minor grammatical edits and to clarify the commission’s role as a conduit between residents and public-safety departments.

The most sustained debate focused on whether the work plan should commit the commission to producing or hosting a comprehensive "use of force" year-end report. Chief Borges told the commission that the department maintains internal use-of-force records and that it already shares reportable incidents via department channels and social media. “For the police department, that would be the way we're doing it now — the most transparent manner of which we're doing,” Chief Borges said, noting the department currently prioritizes publicizing serious or reportable incidents and that compiling every minor use-of-force instance into an annual public report would require a new process.

Commissioners expressed concern that the phrase could give the public the impression the commission would review individual use-of-force cases or undertake reporting beyond the commission’s authority. They also noted that public-records requests and city-clerk processes govern release of many records. After discussion, commissioners directed staff to remove the line referencing the "use of force year-end review report," retain broader language about creating an online police-activity communications channel, and rely on linking to existing department reports or social-media posts where appropriate. Staff (Gina) said she would implement the deletion, save and circulate the revised work plan, and send the updated draft to commissioners before the next meeting.

The commission also confirmed other work-plan edits, directed staff to add ongoing community-engagement items where appropriate, and agreed to revisit longer-term goals — such as the civic-seal initiative — in the fall cycle. The commission did not take a roll-call vote specifically on the deletion; minutes record consensus and a staff action to update the document.

Next steps: staff will circulate the corrected 2025–26 work plan by email for commissioner review and place any additional changes on the agenda for the next meeting.