Community Forum in light of July 5 police videos

max_weisenfeld said:

DaveSchmidt said:

That would jibe with what was said at the Township Committee meeting, where the mayor and two Hillard Heintze represenatives stressed that the report would include recommendations for changes in department operations, based on best practices followed by other police departments around the country.

This ^^

Both Vic and the HH reps stressed best practices and a comprehensive review at the TC meeting.

I neglected to add that the Hillard Heintze reps said their recommendations would also take into account community feedback, and they encouraged residents to email them. (I didn't get an address, but a contact form is on their website.)

I want to know what happened when the kid spat on the officer from Irvington.  Apparently, he was not involved in the response, because only Maplewood officers were identified in the press.  If I am right in my assumption, that sounds good; he didn't escalate the issues, others did.  

I regret calling the officers "bullies", because that has a negative connotation.  A more neutral word would be well-developed super egos.  That is transactional analysis speak.  So we have a transaction between children and super egos; that is never going to go well.  They had to move to an adult to adult transaction, and since the police officers were working in teams, the solution from 7,000 miles away is to have officers who are not immediately involved, to step in and take the kid aside and the officer aside and to start talking to the kid separately from his friends and to have an empathetic officer help the officer regain his dignity. 

Where do you live?  Are your parents home?  Can you get them on the phone, because I would like to ask them to come and pick you up. Etc., etc..  The end.

max_weisenfeld said:

Copihue said:

It seems to me that everyone is trying to focus on condemnation, and that is understandable, since no one liked what happened. 

Actually, a lot of us moved past condemnation on Tuesday, and are focused on the next steps to create a level of trust and accountability.

Some towns, especially the ones that have had issues with their police chiefs, have changed over to the Public Safety Director management model. It increases accountability to the elected leadership.

Was the crux of why the chief asked to resign because of the decision to bring the teens to Irvington? Or was it the behavior of the officers? Naively, I would not think it would be the behavior of the officers, they would be dealt with after the incident. Four of the teens who were arrested were from Maplewood/South Orange. When were they arrested? Did they do the walk to Irvington and then arrested? Maybe this is on the transcript when they were arrested. 

If teens are from Irvington, first how is this determined and secondly is it justifiable to bring them back to their town if they are acting unruly? Sounds like this has been happening in South Orange...

And most importantly how will this be dealt with in the future? Race or behavior that is calling attention? And what to do to break up these big groups?  The Mayfest incident brought together I think 5 police departments, can this really happen in the future? 

Is there a response from the chief explaining the decision to lead teens to border and I wonder what the response is from the Irvington cops? 

BG9 said:

max_weisenfeld said:

Copihue said:

It seems to me that everyone is trying to focus on condemnation, and that is understandable, since no one liked what happened. 

Actually, a lot of us moved past condemnation on Tuesday, and are focused on the next steps to create a level of trust and accountability.

Some towns, especially the ones that have had issues with their police chiefs, have changed over to the Public Safety Director management model. It increases accountability to the elected leadership.

See my post earlier where I alluded to it.  I think this is a likely option, though not definite.  I'd say almost assured if the chief fights this.  We had one before, and can do so again. 

ctrzaska said:

BG9 said:

max_weisenfeld said:

Copihue said:

It seems to me that everyone is trying to focus on condemnation, and that is understandable, since no one liked what happened. 

Actually, a lot of us moved past condemnation on Tuesday, and are focused on the next steps to create a level of trust and accountability.

Some towns, especially the ones that have had issues with their police chiefs, have changed over to the Public Safety Director management model. It increases accountability to the elected leadership.

See my post earlier where I alluded to it.  I think this is a likely option, though not definite.  I'd say almost assured if the chief fights this.  We had one before, and can do so again. 

  I didn't see that. Thanks.