Protest concerns are aired at police ‘listening session’

People disappointed with the Phoenix Police Department’s response to protesters after President Donald Trump’s Aug. 22 appearance in Phoenix were given a chance to tell Chief Jeri Williams face to face Tuesday evening.

And the majority of the speakers who attended the “listening session” at Steele Indian School Park did just that.

After a brief introduction, Williams remained mostly silent as the speakers took the stage. She nodded and took notes as about 10 speakers aired their concerns, or in some cases, accolades.

Police plan to hold more of the listening sessions. They are open to a variety of police-related topics, but the majority of speakers Tuesday focused their two to three minutes on the Trump rally in downtown Phoenix.

Tuesday’s session was less heated than last week’s City Council meeting, when about 200 people effectively took over the meeting to complain that the officers’ use of force against protesters, which included the use of pepper balls, smoke and gas to disperse crowds after Trump’s appearance.

Many of the speakers Tuesday spoke calmly of their disappointment, or offered suggestions for handling future protests.

Bob Troidl said he heard Williams on TV say that if police pull their masks down and step forward, ‘that should be a warning.’ ”

“(But) there are people who have never been to a rally before,” he said, noting that this may not translate. “I think you really need to address the issue.”

Rebecca Johnson echoed Troidl’s comments, and said police needed to

provide a more thorough warning system before they deploy pepper balls, gas or other items designed to make people disperse.

“I have not lost hope,” Johnson said. “I think the police really are there for us, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out in the future.”

Others, like speaker Scott Edmunds, offered his support.

“I know that you have done the right thing and I just want to let you know, that there’s many in the community that does support what you are doing, and thank you very much for your time,” he said.

The event was the first of 13 such events scheduled for this fall around different areas of Phoenix, billed as a chance for residents to provide feedback on their officers.

At the end of the session, Williams thanked the attendees for the “courage” to speak up in front of a bunch of “blues.” She assured the speakers that the department would take their comments to heart.

“It’s one thing to listen,” she said. “We want to act on this information.”

Phoenix police Sgt. Vince Lewis said police would look for consistent themes throughout the sessions and compose a list of recommendations afterward.

It’s a listening rather than Q&A format, he said, because it’s often useful for residents just to be heard.

“It’s not about us trying to prove our point,” he said. “It’s not about us trying to argue through these things.”

The sessions are the second round in a nowregular event of the city’s Community and Police Trust Initiative. The first, last summer, addressed police-community relations with a focus on mental-health calls.

The latest listening sessions were scheduled prior to the Trump event, which ended in police deploying pepper balls, gas and flash bangs against protesters.

Phoenix officials, including Williams, have stood by the officers. Williams said it was a response to a few in the crowd who initiated violence against police and stressed that inaction could have resulted in chaos similar to that seen just days earlier at a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Phoenix police Sgt. Jonathan Howard said Monday that officials were hoping for a “reasonable dialogue” at Tuesday night’s meeting.