“We still have not reconciled our past and some of the things that are going on today. What we are recommending is that we need to start a racial reconciliation process. The first part of that process is the acknowledgement process of the role that police have played historically and continue to play in this country, in this community and in communities of color.”
That is Ron Davis, principal for 21stCentury Policing speaking to a crowd of about 100Community members during the presentations of the 38 recommendations from the Procedure Review Task Force to the Grand Rapids Police Department.
21stCentury Policing was hired last year after the release of a traffic study showed that between 2013 and 2015 the GRPD was twice as likely to stop black drivers than white drivers and Latinx drivers 1.6 more times than whites.
“That when an officer is engaging to the extent he or she doesn’t compromise their safety that they may pause a moment and realize that that reaction or non-reaction, that yelling or not listening may not be complete resistance and may not be obstruction; it could be that the person is in crisis, and when they are in crisis everybody knows here, yelling and putting hands on them is probably the last thing you want to do.”
Dana Knight, a resident of Grand Rapids would like to see an apology from the department for the police brutality her community has experienced.
“Black people here know stories of the 60s and 70s of all the bad cops in beating black peoples’ butts so there needs to be an apology.”
Grand Rapids Police Department is one among the 5% law enforcement agencies in the country that have created a Youth Policy. Chief of Police, David Rahinsky said it is a work in progress.
“This is a continual dialogue to give this community to give this community the police department that they deserve.”
As part of the 38 recommendations from the Taskforce, Grand Rapids Police Department has made all of its’ policies available to the public via the city’s website.
Michelle Jokisch Polo, WGVU News.
