Readers on improving community-police relations
Cops have a dangerous job, but it doesn’t help that we keep calling them warriors.
Dayton Daily News Community Impact Editor Amelia Robinson asked Dayton area Facebook users how the relationship between Dayton’s black community and police can be improved.
The question was sparked by the May 25 police killing of George Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis and the protests that followed here and around the world.
Here is a sampling of responses:
Martin Hunter, Centerville
1) We must aggressively reach out and recruit more black officers into the various departments.
2) We must hire the very best trainers we can find, those that will instill the right attitude.
3) We have to make it safe for good cops to expose bad cops. Right now, if a good cop turns in a bad cop, his or her career is over.
4) We must teach the skills of de-escalating situations. So many bad outcomes were the result of the police losing their cool.
5) End qualified immunity. If a cop breaks the law and there is probable cause, arrest him or her. Equal justice is equal justice. It is the only way the system can work.
6) Dig deep into the background of new hires. Bad cops just move around.
Joe Hamlin, Kettering
Respect. Both ways.
Randal Oliver, Troy
There needs to be fundamental reform. If it’s not happening now,
The DPD (Dayton Police Department) needs to release comprehensive stats of any police use of force. One of the major issues is we really don’t have solid numbers about police violence to make public policy decisions.
Also, there needs to be civilian control with some teeth. Typically there may be an oversight board or some panel of community members and cops, but they’re in an advisory position. Whatever group comes next needs to have a role in discipline and senior leadership hiring decisions.
Third, there should be independent investigators and prosecutors for allegations of police use of force. Too often an internal department will rule the shooting is justified or if the case does go to the district attorney or attorney general, it either dies at the grand jury phase or the officer is acquitted. Prosecutors have a lot of power but they don’t want to rock the boat with the local force. If you had independent, objective prosecutors and investigators you may come closer to seeing bad cops be held to account.
One last thing, there’s obviously a culture problem, especially when it comes to the militarization of the force. Cops have a dangerous job, but it doesn’t help that we keep calling them warriors. A cop and a soldier are two totally different things. At least they should be.
Tasha Washington-Harris, Clayton
Everyone involved has to want it. We can have as many donut, coffee, tea talks and community forums as we want, but if someone’s core belief is they are superior to another person or another person is inhumane, then it will not matter. Go through all the police with the majority of complaints, ask them what will change their beliefs about black people, then try and do that. Otherwise it’s preaching to the choir. Often times I go to these things to hear how black people need to behave in order not to provoke the police, and then I see a black person on the news who did what we were advised to do, and then boom, they’re dead.
Nat Mendenhall, Dayton
End qualified immunity for police actions. Make every use of force subject to a civilian review board.