The Berkeley Police Accountability Board, or PAB, met March 8 for a special meeting to discuss a policy review report on various Berkeley Police Department policies.

After approval of the meeting’s agenda, public commenters thanked the PAB for its recommendations to the Berkeley City Council and BPD. Another commenter said they were thankful PAB meetings were moved back in person after years of Zoom.

Board member Kitty Calavita then presented a PAB report on BPD’s proposed policies. The two policies discussed, Policies 351 and 1304, both concern the operation standards for police use of fixed video surveillance — meaning a camera that stays fixed in a single location.

Questions from the PAB to BPD Sergeant Joseph Ledoux followed. Though Calavita initially moved to vote on the policies, attendees expressed a desire for a public comment period. In lieu of a vote on the policies, a motion was instead approved to allow members of the public to share their ideas about the proposal.

The PAB then discussed sending a letter and report to the City Council and BPD about the policies.

The proposed letter included four key points for the two to address: the need for clarification about why two policies exist concerning the same technology; inconsistencies between the BPD policy and what the council intended to address in the policy; ambiguous points in the policies that must be elaborated on; and clarifications about data retention practices.

After a motion to send the letter and report passed unanimously, a closed session began to hear a presentation on a complaint case submitted to the board.

When the session ended, PAB vice chair Regina Harris announced the PAB would convene a hearing panel to discuss the case.

Shortly after this announcement, the meeting was adjourned. The PAB will meet next for its regular session Wednesday.