The Council voted to hold a special meeting of the Public Safety Commission on Monday, February 13th at 4PM. In the time between now and then, the City Manager will direct the Santa Cruz independent police auditor, Robert Aronsen, to review all data available on the case so far and to make at least a preliminary report at the February 13 Public Safety Committee meeting. Discussion will probably continue at the next regularly scheduled PSC meeting a week later.

While many people are impatient with the seemingly slow internal investigation, Councilmember Fitzmaurice and Coonerty pointed out that the police personel involved in this situation also have rights derived from the US Constitution, State Law regarding police matters, and from contracts between the Police Officers union and the City. To short-circuit that process for the sake of having a public discussion a week sooner wouldn't buy the community anything but hard feelings, or worse.

Everyone who has spoken about this has agreed it shouldn't happen like it did again and I feel certain the City will look at it thoroughly, and listen and respond to the recommendations of everyone in the community who wants to contribute to the changes that will be made as a result of this incident. Further, wider ranging policies will doubtless be developped that address "other" concerns that have been expressed about the use undercover officers in general.