Leila Aziz was only 16 when she had her first violent run-in with police.
“There was a party, a graduation party,” said Aziz, director of operations at Pillars of the Community.
She says it happened as her and a group of friends left that party.
“When we left, all of a sudden a group of police made us get on the ground, on the asphalt,” Aziz said. “We had dresses on, we thought we were really cute. They put guns to our head, on the ground, (and they were) yelling ‘get down, get down.'”
Aziz remembers feeling confused and terrified so much so she never filed a complaint against the officers.
“That traumatized me and that traumatized the young girls I was with," Aziz said.
This morning she woke up with the hope that change is on the way. Measure B, a proposal aimed at increasing police oversight received overwhelming support by voters.
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“It shows that (here in) San Diego we’re willing to work together and we’re hearing each other and that makes a lot of difference,” Aziz said.
Measure B will replace the city's current community review board with a commission on police practices. The new group will have the power to subpoena and conduct investigations into police officer misconduct.
Something Andrea St. Julian, author of Measure B, says the original board didn't count with.
“Those people are great it's just that the structure they were in they had didn't give them all the tools they needed,” said St. Julian.
Still, as Measure B moves forward there is some who don't agree with the change.
“It's kind of unfortunate that we’ve gotten to this point where we have to establish a separate committee with subpoena power an attorney to investigate the people we rely on the most," said Jesse Navarro, ex-law enforcement officer.
Navarro fears this will send the wrong message to the men and women who serve our city.
The new commission will come into existence on December 3. Members of the current community review board will transition over to the new commission while the city council appoints new commissioners.
