Sacramento Police Union Open To Policy Changes Following Stephon Clark Shooting

The union that represents Sacramento police officers is signaling it's open to change in the aftermath of the Stephon Clark shooting.

"We need to be responsive to the direction that our city wants us to go and the type of policing that they want to see in Sacramento," Sacramento Police Officers Association President Tim Davis told Capital Public Radio.

"No person or police department or government agency anywhere in this world is perfect,” Davis said. “And so we’re open to finding ways that we can improve ourself, that we can become better, that we can better serve the citizens of Sacramento."

Davis has called the actions of the officers who shot Clark "legally justified" and said the city should focus on changing policy rather than criticizing them. He declined to specify changes the union would support.

The city adopted its existing use-of-force policy in response to the 2016 Sacramento police shooting of Joseph Mann, a black man who had a knife but didn't appear to be a threat to officers in video that was released.

Two of the officers involved, who tried to hit Mann with their car, are no longer on the force. The city's Office of Public Safety Accountability said the internal affairs investigation had “determined the officers actions violated several policies" in Mann's pursuit and shooting death.”