Wesson Names Nancy Bohl To Speaker's Commission On Police Conduct

Sacramento - Assembly Speaker Herb J. Wesson Jr. (D-Los Angeles/Culver City) today named the final set of commissioners to the Speaker's Commission on Police Conduct, which he created in July in response to the videotaped beating of a handcuffed youth.

The appointment of Assemblymembers Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) and Lou Correa (D – Santa Ana), psychologist Dr. Nancy Bohl, law enforcement training expert Sgt. Pat Gomez, youth advocate David Kakashiba, attorney R. Samuel Paz, and psychologist Dr. Sandra Smith bring the current number of commissioners to 25. The Commission’s five subcommittees will hold public hearings across the state over the next three months.

"My goal from the beginning was to create a balanced panel of experts from academia, law enforcement, psychology and other related fields," Speaker Wesson said. "And I am confident these latest appointees will help us reach our goal in California—that there will be zero incidents of police abuse and zero tolerance when incidents occur. One incident is too many."

The Commission will review past research and recommend legislation that addresses issues of police training, community policing, police accountability and the use of force. The Speaker hopes that the work of the Commission will foster a stronger bond between law enforcement and the citizens they protect through mutual respect and understanding.

Assemblymember Chu represents the 49th Assembly district in Southern California. She graduated with a bachelor's degree from UCLA and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology, and served as a faculty member in the psychology department in the Los Angeles Community College District for twenty years. When racial tensions surfaced in local schools, Dr. Chu broke new ground and built new bridges between communities by establishing a conflict resolution-training program for students. Prior to becoming a member of the California State Assembly, she served on the Monterey Park City Council for thirteen years starting from 1988 to 2001, and served as Mayor of the city three times. Chu was an U.S. Department of Commerce appointee to the Race and Ethnic Advisory Committee of the U.S. Census Bureau and she currently Chairs the Assembly Select Committee on Hate Crimes.

Assemblymember Lou Correa represents California's 69th Assembly District in Southern California. He holds a degree in Economics from California State University, Fullerton; and both a Jurist Doctorate and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to becoming a member of the California State Assembly, Correa was an investment banker, a real estate broker and a business consultant. Long active in community affairs, Correa served on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Community Development Council, the county's anti-poverty council, and on the California Small Business Board. Recently, he received the Legislator of the Year award from the state's leading crime victim advocacy organization, the Crime Victims United of California.

Dr. Nancy Bohl has been providing psychological services to law enforcement officers for the past 19 years. She has worked with agencies such as the FBI, the Secret Service and the San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Department. She is currently serving as Director of "The Counseling Team," an emergency counseling team in Southern California. Bohl is an adjunct faculty member of San Jose State University, Riverside City College, San Bernadino Valley College, and a frequent lecturer at the FBI Academy.

Sergeant Pat Gomez has over 21 years of law enforcement experience and currently is the Director of the Professional Peace Officers Association. He trains and supervises deputies who teach topics such as use of force, anger management, tactical communications, critical decision-making and use of less lethal weapons. He is the past President of the Sheriffs Relief Association.

David Kakishiba, of Berkeley, currently serves as the Executive Director of the East Bay Asian Youth Center, a private non-profit community organization serving the interests of children, youth, and their families. In 1999, he was awarded the Charles Bannerman Memorial Fellowship in recognition of his long-time service to and advocacy for children, youth, and families. David has also served as an appointee to various local government boards and commissions, including the City of Berkeley Police Review Commission. He moved to the East Bay in 1977 to attend the University of California, Berkeley, and began working for the East Bay Asian Youth Center in 1980.

R. Samuel Paz has practiced law in Los Angeles since 1974, working on high profile cases such as representing victims of the LAPD Rampart scandal. He has served in a number of community and legal organizations including the National Police Accountability Project, the Hispanic Advisory Council to the L.A. Police Commission, the ACLU and the Mexican American Bar Association of L.A. County.

Dr. Sandra Smith is a clinical psychologist from Oakland, California with a practice focussing on individual, couple and family psychotherapy. She has received a BA from Howard University in Washington D.C. and a Masters and Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley. She has worked as an organizational consultant for the private sector and government on such issues as cultural diversity, communication and work-place violence. Dr. Smith performs psychological screenings of applicants for police officers, firefighters, communication dispatchers and probation officers

With the addition of these seven commissioners, the Commission will be composed of the following members:

Speaker of the Assembly Herb J. Wesson (D – Los Angeles/Culver City), Commission Chair

Assemblymember Jerome Horton (D – Inglewood), Commission Chair
# Assemblymember Wilma Chan (D – Oakland)

# Assemblymember Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park)

# Assemblymember Lou Correa (D – Santa Ana)

# Assemblymember Marco Firebaugh (D – Cudahy)

# Assemblymember Jay LaSuer (R – La Mesa)

# Assemblymember Ken Maddox (R – Garden Grove)

# Assemblymember Gloria Negrete-McLeod (D – Chino)

# Tom Anderson

# Dr. Nancy Bohl

# Erwin Chemierinsky

# Sgt. Pat Gomez

# Alice A. Huffman

# Ted Hunt

# Earl Ofari Hutchinson

# Rev. Norman S. Johnson, Sr.

# David Kakashiba

# Joseph D. McNamara

# Maribel Medina

# R. Samuel Paz

# Constance L. Rice

# Laurie Smith

# Dr. Sandra Smith

# Police Chief Arturo Venegas, Jr.

Each commissioner will sit on at least one of five subcommittees. The Commission will gather the subcommittee reports early next year and recommend legislation for the 2003 legislative session.