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NAACP, ACLU And Law Enforcement Leaders Unveil Plan Adopted For Better Police Policy
The President of the Hills- borough County Branch NAACP, a member of the ACLU and chiefs of police throughout the county and the sheriff held a press conference in the parking lot of Tampa Park Plaza on last Wednesday to show solidarity for proposed changes to law en- forcement policies.
After over a month of na- tionwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, the police chiefs and the Sheriff were open to coming up with a uniform plan of action.
The group that consisted of NAACP president, Yvette Lewis, Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan, Sheriff Chad Chronister, Temple Terrace Police Chief Kenneth R. Al- bano, Plant City Police Chief Edward Duncan, USF Police Chief Chris Daniel, the pres- ident, Darla Portman and vice president of the Police Benevolent Association, an at- torney from the ACLU and At- torney Joseph Diacco, who facilitated, met on Wednesday, June 18th after each law en- forcement leader was sent a 4- page document of recommendations prepared by the NAACP and ACLU.
After many hours of hashing out realistic goals, according to Ms. Lewis, 5 of the top con- cerns were adopted by the group as starting points for change within the policing agencies.
Tampa mayor, Jane Cas- tor, however, followed 2 days after the group met, with a press conference to announce her plan of action for changes to the city’s police policies.
At last Wednesday’s press conference the 5 policy changes were unveiled.
The new policies and prom- ises include:
a commitment to fund the expanded use of body cameras and dashboard cameras for all law enforcement officers and ve- hicles in the county; Tampa po- lice will be expanding its camera program, and this month the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office agreed to adopt body cameras.
County law enforcement leaders also agreed to: explicitly ban choke holds and neck re- straints; expanding officer train- ing on de-escalation and crowd control tactics; improving teach- ing community policing tech- niques to officers; and training officers to exhaust all non-lethal options when they find them-
Law enforcement leaders, NAACP and ACLU reps at press con- ference.
selves in volatile situations.
The leaders also agreed to strengthen policies requiring of- ficers to intervene when they witness a colleague using exces- sive force, and require them to file a report about what they
saw.
The press conference was
not without some controversy. Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan, who did attend, made statements to the local press last Monday that his officers were ‘ambushed’ during a weekend incident. He stated, “the police, we always have everybody’s back and nobody has our back. Right now the officers feel like they can’t win. And I would have to agree with them.”
On last Tuesday night, pro- testors and activists lined up at the Citizens Review Board, and called for Chief Dugan to be fired and his agency defunded. The next morning the chief was a guest on the ultra-conservative and often anti-Black ‘Fox & Friends’ show. Chief Dugan spoke about his officers being ambushed. And that his officers were ‘setup.’
“In this incident, we actually sent nine officers and it was clearly just a setup to get the cops there and surround them,” Dugan said. “This is what we’re
dealing with — are these block parties? Are they demonstra- tions, you know? What are they?”
After he made the declara- tion that he did not know what the gathering was, nearby resi- dents in local Facebook groups responded that the location is a spot for weekly block parties that regularly draw hundreds.
Dugan also said his depart- ment “can’t win” no matter how they respond to the protests and put State Attorney Andrew Warren on blast because he did not charge 67 protestors who were arrested. Warren said he declined to prosecute after evidence showed that those arrested were protesting peacefully.
Dugan continued during the Fox interview saying, “If we show up and take action, we’re heavy-handed, it’s excessive force. But these peaceful protests, these demonstrations, they turn on a dime and they can turn on the cops very quickly and then it just becomes difficult.”
Later that morning at the NAACP press conference, Chief Dugan adjusted his comments and said, ‘it’s time to listen to the community and avoid the mistakes of the past’.
The list of 5 top concerns for policy changes.
“That’s what we need to fig- ure out, just how does the com- munity feel about it and what changes do they think need to be made. I think the problem is law enforcement is driving too many of those conversations, and maybe we need to start listening
more so we can get to where we need to be.”
His statement, some ac- tivists feel was a piggyback to Mayor Castor’s plan to ap- point a 40-member Task Force for 2 months to talk about re- form.
Uniform Hillsborough County Policing Proposal
1. Duty to Intervene – All officers would have a duty to intervene and stop other officers when they witness the use of excessive force or a violation of other Standard Operating Procedures. The required report will be filed with- out any retaliation.
2. When a fatal shooting or an “in custody death” occurs, immediately
appoint an independent investigator - When a fatal shooting or an “in cus- tody death” occurs in Hillsborough County, an independent investigator from the FDLE will be appointed to investigate the fatality. At the conclusion of the investigation and/or prosecution, the independent investigator shall provide a report to the public with the findings of fact and conclusions of law.
3. Uniform Policies and Procedures for all Hillsborough County Law
Enforcement Departments:
A) Implement Uniform Policies, Procedures and Training Concerning
Crowd Control at Protests – Present uniform protest and crowd control training so all law enforcement agencies in Hillsborough County handle lawful protests and crowd control in a uniform manner.
B) Require Officers to engage in Uniform De-escalation Training – Train all Hillsborough County Law Enforcement Agencies to utilize uniform de-es- calation techniques and require continuing education periodically in the use of those techniques.
C) Ban the use of Chokeholds and Neck Restraints – Ban the use of Chokehold and Neck Restraints, unless someone’s life is in immediate peril. D) Require Exhaustion of all Non-Lethal Force Options -- All officers will be regularly trained on how to exhaust all non-lethal force options, when pos- sible, to avoid the use of lethal force.
E) Annual Implicit Bias Education, Training and Re-training – Annual ed- ucation and re-education programs to make officers aware of the problems associated with implicit biases and training them in techniques to overcome such biases.
4. Expanded Use of Body Cameras and Squad Car Cameras – Hillsbor- ough County Law Enforcement Agencies will endeavor to expand the use of bodyt cameras and squad car cameras and will explore funding opportunities to do so.
5. Continue and Expand Community Policing – Hillsborough County Law Enforcement Agencies will continue to use community policing techniques, in addition to regularly consulting with local leaders on innovative ways to build trust and improve the relationship with the communityUniform Hills- borough County Policing Proposal
filed without any retaliation.
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