Andy Lopez task force readies its findings

The task force created in the wake of the Andy Lopez shooting, and charged with creating a better community in Sonoma County, met Monday, Jan. 5, and is preparing to take its recommendations to the Board of Supervisors.

The Community and Law Enforcement Task Force, with 21 members appointed by county officials, was created after the tragic shooting of 13-year-old Andy Lopez in Santa Rosa in 2013 when a sheriff’s deputy mistook his BB gun for an AK-47 assault rifle.

The task force consists of three subcommittees, the Community Engagement and Healing, Law Enforcement Accountability, and Community Policing.

The subcommittees have been meeting since early December to discuss recommendations on which they will gather community feedback from local residents and stakeholders before taking their findings to the Board of Supervisors.

El Verano Elementary School Principal Maite Iturri was appointed to sit on the task force’s Community Engagement and Healing subcommittee. Initially, Iturri was skeptical of how effective the task force would be, but now she is hopeful that these proposed programs and efforts will make a difference.

“We are seeing nationally that there is a need for a deeper look between law enforcement and community – it’s evident on both ends,” Iturri said. “It is tragic and this is our way of being proactive. Some of these recommendations have the potential to make some great change.”

Iturri said her group has made these program recommendations: counseling and mental health services, countywide community engagement forum, a pilot mural program in Roseland, a county Social Action Music Center, school resource officers, community service officers, a student congress, restorative justice, cultural awareness and education on law enforcement policies.

“A couple of the recommendations have strong roots in Sonoma Valley,” Iturri said. Sonoma has both a community service officer and a school resource officer and is an example of how beneficial these positions can be as a link between law enforcement and youth, said Iturri. El Verano Elementary School has 10 murals alone on its campus and also has a student orchestra program.

“We are looking at these recommendations as an opportunity to build community and build resilience in the community,” Iturri said, noting her subcommittee is particularly focused on prevention.

Funding, Iturri explained, will come from the county, private organizations and other stakeholders.

“My hope is that all of these recommendations will all be funded. That to me is where we will see how effective these meetings have been.”

The next draft presentation will be made Monday, Jan. 12, at 6 p.m. at the Department of Human Services Building, 2227 Capricorn Way in Santa Rosa.