The Richmond City Council voted Tuesday to change how police communicate with the public after an officer-involved fatal shooting or in-custody death.
The proposal, which was tabled last week because time ran out, was approved by a 5-2 vote with Districts 1 and 2 council members Vice Mayor Cesar Zepeda and Jamelia Brown voting “no.”
District 6 city council member Doria Robinson amended the proposed communications protocol to call for the city manager to work with the police chief to establish a clear timing and frequency of communications after a “critical” police incident where a person dies.
According to police, the department usually aims to issue a press release in the immediate aftermath of an officer-involved shooting or in-custody death but there hasn’t been a timeline for when that must happen.
Now the city must issue the initial press release within 24 hours and must make it clear which agencies are investigating the incident. It also must issue investigation updates at least every 30 calendar days.
The initial press release also must now include: a link to the Community Police Review Commission (CPRC), explaining its purpose; information about how the public can request to see unedited police body camera footage under California’s Assembly Bill 748; and information about how those directly affected by the incident can access support services.
The council also directed City Manager Shasha Curl to work with city staff to conduct an assessment of mental health services and, within six months, offer recommendations for how the city could improve access to mental health services.
The new communications protocol, which was initially authored by council members Sue Wilson and Claudia Jimenez, was developed in response to two fatal shootings of suspects by police in the first half of 2025: Jose De Jesus Mendez, in February, and Angel Montaño, in August. Both suspects were known to be suffering from mental health crises or substance abuse.
Police Chief Bisa French disagrees with releasing only unedited body camera footage
The main point of debate at Tuesday’s meeting related to only releasing unedited body camera footage.
In the case of Montaño, a 27-year-old man fatally shot by police in the Iron Triangle in August, family members and friends criticized the department’s edit of the video, saying it failed to show how many rounds were fired by police officers Nicholas Remick and Colton Stocking.
In an email sent soon after Montaño’s death, Wilson was especially critical of the edited footage which showed “freeze frames” and select audio excerpts of what Montaño’s family members and police dispatchers were saying.
According to AB 748, police body camera footage can be redacted for privacy reasons. French told the council Tuesday night that she disagreed with the requirement that only unedited clips be released, saying the department needs to provide “contextual” information.
“We don’t want people to run with misinformation,” she told the council Tuesday. “I would want to still provide some context in the release of our body-worn camera.”
French said that the department’s policy has been to release an edited version and the unedited clips. In the case of Montaño, the department released the edited version along with Remick and Stocking’s body camera videos. Those showed a three-minute version of Remick’s point of view and a seven-second clip of Stocking’s point of view, neither of which showed how many shots they fired. The videos are only accessible through the city’s website and are shown as “unlisted” on KCRT’s YouTube channel. Body camera footage for the Mendez case has not been released.
Jimenez said that releasing unedited footage, with the proper redactions for privacy guided by AB 748, is to limit “narratives.” Jimenez seemingly referenced the edited Montaño footage, which included drawn circles pointing out the knives Montaño was holding in each hand.
“We are trying to avoid that,” Jimenez said. “These particular (edited) videos give one side or point of view which is the police department. We are not asking the witnesses or the family what they would like to be pointed out.”
Council member Brown said since the department already releases both edited and unedited versions there was no need to outline that in the new policy.
“Both are released at the same time. It is the person who is logging on, their decision to view which one they want to,” Brown said. “We can all view the same video and all walk away with totally different understandings of what we’ve seen. I just don’t understand the push back if the chief is saying she is not comfortable with putting out the unedited version with necessary redactions.”
Wilson said that specifying the type of videos that should be released is to avoid creating a “document” that contains one point of view prior to the conclusion of the independent investigations that happen with police-involved fatalities.
“I think the most important thing we can do as leaders is try our damndest to just be impartial and hand it over to the investigators and let them do their work on it,” Wilson said. “I was a little embarrassed when I saw that the city had released that (Montaño) video because it had to me such a strong perspective of trying to justify the actions and no one has investigated it yet. That’s why it is not enough to say you can choose what video you want to look at.”
Council adjusts meeting start time from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
In other business, the council considered reducing the number of times it meets each month but ultimately, by a 4-3 vote, decided to keep its current schedule while moving the open session start time from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. The meetings will end at 10 p.m., unless the council votes to extend the meeting by an hour on an as-needed basis.
The update will go into effect for the meeting on Oct. 7.
Zepeda, Brown and District 4 council member Soheila Bana cast the “no” votes.
Richmond’s City Council meetings have historically lasted late into the evening.
Deputy City Manager Lashonda White had suggested that reducing the number of monthly meetings would help improve staff morale and would be consistent with other East Bay cities such as Oakland, Berkeley and San Pablo, but Robinson said she was concerned that eliminating a meeting would affect closed session business.
“If we are going to reduce the meetings, I fear that it is going to have a huge impact on what we can review and important things like negotiating union contracts and dealing with legal cases are not going to have the time they need to move forward in a timely way,” she said, pointing out that union negotiations with city employees is weeks behind schedule.
Mayor Eduardo Martinez said the city must work “smarter” by reducing certain recurring topics, such as the city manager’s report, to once a month and by addressing more complex topics toward the beginning of the meeting. He also said they should be better about enforcing existing time limits.
“People talk about cutting time. There are a lot of suggestions in the rules and regulations that we don’t follow,” Martinez said. “We have a lot of preambles and some people run out of time asking one question. We can save a lot of time. I would venture to say that cities with two council meetings per month don’t have a port, don’t have their own police department, fire department or library. These are things that this city has that are special.”
