Page 33 - Florida Sentinel 7-31-20

Local
Mayor Establishes Community Task Force On Policing
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
Mayor Jane Castor re- cently met with her newly es- tablished Community Task Force on Policing. The group was joined by Chief of Police Brian Dugan. The group held its second meeting on July 18th. Their final meeting for the year will be in August.
The Community Task Force on Policing is tasked with fact-
finding with a third party, the University of South Florida, which is taking information and will be delivering a pre- sentiation once it is completed.
One of the members of the group, Monica Williams- Harris, Esquire, felt very good about the meetings.
“I felt that the meetings have been very good – a good first step. This is a good opportu- nity for all invested persons to have conversations about what
is going on.
“The group (of members) is
very diverse – young, old, com- munity persons, leaders. I’m one of those who will ask pointed questions, and I did. But I wasn’t the only one. I overheard a group of young people talking with the Chief and they were asking him some tough questions. So I see this as a good first step.
“The group I was in had some concrete ideas; the offi-
cers were open to hearing what we had to say and shared their concerns as well.”
She’s excited to see what will happen after the meetings.
Ms. Yvette Lewis, Presi- dent of the Hillsborough County Branch NAACP said:
“The first meeting was in- tense. It was more the commu- nity being able to speak. There was a police officer at every table. The officer at my table tried to understand why we (African Americans) were frus- trated.
“He stated that he wanted to learn. We talked about po- lice training, community polic- ing, and treating the African American community with re- spect.
“During the second meet- ing, we discovered that com- munity policing disappeared under Chief (Bennie) Holder when he imple- mented quotas on the officers. The police officers felt pres- sured to write tickets, which led to over policing the African American community.
“When talking about police training, the Mayor stated that new officers in training go to the Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg. So, they will un- derstand the Jewish commu- nity. I was taken aback by her words. Because, 1. We do not have an African American Mu- seum; 2. When are the officers in training going to learn about the African American commu- nity? I said, “to know me is to teach me and if you teach me, I’ll learn.”
Clarence Nathan, a re- tired officer of the Tampa Po- lice Dept. and President of Pastors on Patrol, said, “Some of the agenda topics, were: What behavior eroded trust between the community and police? What programs can help restore and increase trust between the community and the police department. Ways the department can be more transparent with information sharing with the community. Devising action plans to im- prove on police community re- lations.
“TPD is better today than
MONICA WILLIAMS-HARRIS, ESQ.
YVETTE LEWIS
REV. CLARENCE NATHAN
ever before, but that doesn’t mean there are no issues that need fixing. Some areas of con- cern are: the Use of Force Ma- trix, Cultural Diversity Training, and True Commu- nity Policing. These are just a few areas where improvements can help foster a better Police Community relationship,” Pastor Nathan said.
Members of the Task Force are: Donna Davis, Copry Weckerle, Yvette Lewis, Lenore Brinson, Gretchen Cothron, Esq., Kim Williams, Brian Serrano, Rev. Anthony White, Mon- ica Williams-Harris, Esq., Justin Coffie, Rozell Coffie, Jr., Aida Mackic, Idris Muhammad, Ray Wong, Cesar Hernandez, Nestor Ortiz and Robert Blount.
Also, Marquavis Hamil- ton, Jalem Robinson, Ronnie McCullough, Stephen Smith, Bishop Michelle Patty, Rev. Dr. Glenn Dames, Rev. Larry Roundtree, II, Rev. Clarence Nathan, Tim Jones, Maya Brown, Roberto Torres, Tonya Lewis, Ben Gainer, Robin Lockett, Raniah El-Gendi, Chaikirah Parker and Avis Harrison.
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