To: Marcus Jones, Norfolk City Manager, Michael Goldsmith, Norfolk Police Chief, Paul Fraim, Norfolk Mayor, Angelia Williams, Norfolk City Council Member, Thomas Smigiel, Norfolk City Council Member, Paul Riddick, Norfolk City Council Member...
Norfolk Citizens for Accountable Policing (NCAP) Call on City of Norfolk to Adopt DOJ Recommended...
The Norfolk Police Department (NPD) needs to enact reforms to avoid crises like recent events in Ferguson and Baltimore. We hereby urge City Manager Jones, Police Chief Goldsmith, and the City Council to adopt policies such as those established by the U.S. Department of Justice for Cleveland and other cities:
• End racial profiling and harassment of youths in our neighborhoods
• Allow public access to records and statistics, especially those stopped and/or arrested
• Improve hiring and training of officers and include civilian oversight to address mental health issues and cultural awareness, and to eliminate racist and sexist practices which impede fair and equal law enforcement practices
• Establish an Office of Inspector General headed by a paid professional civilian with subpoena power to review all investigations by the Office of Professional Standards (OPS), assess all discipline imposed, and collect data for public reporting.
• End racial profiling and harassment of youths in our neighborhoods
• Allow public access to records and statistics, especially those stopped and/or arrested
• Improve hiring and training of officers and include civilian oversight to address mental health issues and cultural awareness, and to eliminate racist and sexist practices which impede fair and equal law enforcement practices
• Establish an Office of Inspector General headed by a paid professional civilian with subpoena power to review all investigations by the Office of Professional Standards (OPS), assess all discipline imposed, and collect data for public reporting.
Why is this important?
We want to improve the quality of life for all Norfolk citizens and avoid the social unrest and destruction of property that has occurred in other cities due to incidents involving the actions of police. The conditions for such unrest exist in Norfolk because for years the NPD has operated with a lack of civilian review, independent oversight, accountability, and transparency. This has led to high levels of distrust of the police in certain neighborhoods, and hinders effective crime prevention and apprehension of law breakers. A number of recent deadly force incidents have occurred under questionable circumstances. In these cases, and others where citizens have complained of misconduct, there has been a lack of transparency and accountability by the OPS and other officials regarding the conduct of officers involved.
We request the following mechanisms to ensure greater community engagement with NPD:
• Create a Civilian Governance Board that represents the citizens and provides input on policies, training, oversight, and ensures bias-free policing
• Place a civilian with no connection to NPD as the head of OPS to ensure all complaints are effectively and expeditiously investigated with results publicly reported in all cases
• Reform practices and policies regarding search and seizure, use of force, crisis intervention, personnel recruitment, training and ongoing supervision
• Install and routinely use body and dash cams in all stops and public interaction with officers
• Hire additional police officers and provide race and gender statistics of applicants and new hires.
Reference: U.S. Department of Justice consent decree to Cleveland, OH. For more detail on reforms advocated herein see: http://cleconsentdecree.com/ and http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/cleveland-police-reform.
We request the following mechanisms to ensure greater community engagement with NPD:
• Create a Civilian Governance Board that represents the citizens and provides input on policies, training, oversight, and ensures bias-free policing
• Place a civilian with no connection to NPD as the head of OPS to ensure all complaints are effectively and expeditiously investigated with results publicly reported in all cases
• Reform practices and policies regarding search and seizure, use of force, crisis intervention, personnel recruitment, training and ongoing supervision
• Install and routinely use body and dash cams in all stops and public interaction with officers
• Hire additional police officers and provide race and gender statistics of applicants and new hires.
Reference: U.S. Department of Justice consent decree to Cleveland, OH. For more detail on reforms advocated herein see: http://cleconsentdecree.com/ and http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/cleveland-police-reform.