Dear San Diego community members and concerned citizens,

The City of San Diego has proposed a city ordinance named “Preventing Overpolicing Through Equitable Community Treatment (PrOTECT).” Also known as the Protect Act, this new proposal is a dangerous experiment of social engineering that risks public safety in the name of equity and racial justice. We urge you to reach out to the mayor and your San Diego City Council Member to voice your opposition to the Protect Act.

Essentially, the Protect Act aims at eliminating “racial or identity profiling” with byzantine restrictions on police actions and bureaucratic red tape. Police officers would not be empowered to make our communities safe when they are prohibited from investigating outstanding warrants, stopping dangerous vehicles, and questioning the person stopped.

“The Protect Act wouldn’t protect San Diegans at all,” commented Frank Xu, president of the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CFER). “Race-based thinking is plaguing our public life. In K-12 schools, mushrooming Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and antiracism initiatives will undoubtedly erode the quality of public education. In the area of public safety, equity-driven reforms like the Protect Act will certainly lead to more crimes and less accountability.”

“As a career law enforcement professional with decades of experience, I can attest that the proposed San Diego’s Protect Act is bad public policy, and will only serve to severely limit the efficacy of our police officers,” said Paul Cappitelli, CFER advisor and Former Executive Director of California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. “It is touted as an initiative to address ‘disparities’ in policing. However, restricting police officers from their assigned duties will NOT address the issue of implicit bias. If adopted, it would allow criminal activity to flourish in our city, and would do nothing to ameliorate racial inequality.”

Construed on a false premise of systemic bias and over-policing of “Black and Brown people” in the forms of “discretionary stops and searches,” the Protect Act is supported by far-left lobbying interests such as Community Advocates for Just and Moral Governance, the San Diego Black LGBTQ Coalition, and San Diego Showing Up for Racial Justice. The primary organized proponent, Coalition for Police Accountability & Transparency, propagates unverified and exaggerated data of police bias to manufacture racial animus, divisions and confusion.

To voice your opposition to the reckless Protect Act, please contact your city council. You can:

1. Find your city Council Member here and reach out to him/her via email.

   Councilmember Joe LaCava, District 1, JoeLaCava@sandiego.gov

   Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, District 2, JenniferCampbell@sandiego.gov

   Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, District 3, StephenWhitburn@sandiego.gov

   Council President Pro Tem Monica Montgomery Steppe, District 4, MMontgomerySteppe@sandiego.gov

   Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, District 5, MarnivonWilpert@sandiego.gov

   Councilmember Chris Cate, District 6, ChrisCate@sandiego.gov

   Councilmember Raul Campillo, District 7, RaulCampillo@sandiego.gov

   Councilmember Vivian Moreno, District 8, VivianMoreno@sandiego.gov

   Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, District 9, SeanEloRivera@sandiego.gov

2. Contact San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria here.