Southern Oregon Black Community Policing Forum

Seeing and experiencing the horrible abuses of our people that continue to take place in this country has left many of us with more than just a heavy heart, it has left us with a burning need to see change happen now. We have watched the largest protest and civil rights movements in the history of this Country take shape this summer. America is burning because of the deep-rooted racism that has permeated for generations, comprising this nation’s most shameful legacy. The murder of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers was brutal, violent, and senseless, as were the recent killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and so many others before them. They deserved better. All Black people deserve better!

Although we may not be able to change the entire Nation, we do have an opportunity to change and improve “Our Community”. As Black community members we know these protests around the country are a deep and mournful reflection of generations of pain, suffering, anger and fear that many of us have endured far too long. 

Now is the time for our collective voices to be heard. We know that policing in Southern Oregon is fraught with bias, and harassment that results in racist acts against Black bodies. Because of this, there will be a forum held for the Black community on September 9, 2020, with Sheriff Nate Sickler, and the Chiefs of Police from Ashland, Central Point, and Medford on Zoom. This will be the first step to voicing our concerns and challenging law enforcement to change and to also begin bridging the gaps between them and our community for a more healthy, accepting, diverse, socially conscious, and prosperous Southern Oregon. It is important that as a community we build unity and a foundation so that we can prioritize our concerns, sharpen our criticisms, and organize our stories so that we create the greatest opportunity for progress in Southern Oregon.

This forum will be a space for Black voices to share experience, ask questions, suggest policy change, and force answers to tough questions like never seen before. In this forum, law enforcement will have to answer to the Black Community as we will ask for specific changes. At this moment and in this way, we can achieve the deepest concessions towards a more beautiful, inclusive, and healthy society. 

In preparation for this meeting, it is important that the community provides input and shares questions they wish to have apart of this forum with the BASE team. 

If you can’t do that, we ask that our community members come to the meeting with a few ideas in mind. This is merely the beginning, unfortunately. We will be having likely more follow-up meetings, to keep the fire lit and Law Enforcement accountable to our community in Southern Oregon.  

Things to consider:

Police Training

What kind of training in policing would you like to see? 

What training is important for a police officer to have in order to interact with communities of color?

Who should train the officers, and how should the trainers be vetted?  

How much work should be required? 

After training, how should a department verify that the training is being utilized and placed into practice? 

How should the police re-engage with our community so that we can see if the training is working? 

Phases of Interaction with Law Enforcement

What questions come to mind about each phase of interacting with law enforcement? 

What would make you feel more comfortable calling in or interacting with the police as a crime victim? What stories of experiences as a crime victim being treated poorly by the system do you have? Have you not reported any crimes because of your fear? 

Traffic Stops:

What about traffic stops? How often have you been stopped? What would make you believe there was not profiling in traffic stops? Would statistics, tracking and standards help? What should those be? What stories of experiences being stopped due to profiling – or stories of poor treatment during a traffic stop do you have? Have you felt harassed? How do you feel during a traffic stop?What might make it so that, if you have to be stopped at some point again in your life, you would feel comfortable in that situation? 

With regards to searches – what factors might law enforcement stop taking into account before asking to search that would reduce racism in the number and type of requests to search? Have you felt unfairly asked to search or have you been unfairly searched? How can we suggest that be fixed? 

Arrests? What should law enforcement do to stop arresting so many more of us than they do of everyone else? Have you seen arrests that should not have happened against people of color? We should share those stories together. What statistics about arrests would you be most interested in? 

Finally, we have all seen the impact of mass incarceration and disparate sentencing for people of color and white people. What has to happen the fastest to eliminate that disparity? Should law enforcement agencies have to report regularly on the sentences given to those they arrest? Should they and the Courts be held accountable to make immediate changes? How can this best be tracked? What stories of terrible sentences or of mistreatment in the Court system do you have? 

Police Oversight and Discipline

How should police complaints be handled? Particularly where people of color are involved? 

Would you feel safe making such a complaint? 

What penalty should there be when a police officer does not turn on their body cam? 

What penalty should there be when an officer does not report a stop, as required by Oregon State Law? 

How can a LE department be accountable to the community?

Why are no Southern Oregon agencies currently posted on the STOP website for tracking demographics of those stopped, searched, seized and charged?

Information Gathering

What statistics about policing would you like to see? 

Should LE publicly release details about all traffic stops and detentions on a regular basis?  

What should be public about past disciplinary actions against an Officer? 

How much should the public know about officers and their records? 

How should information about hot officers be shared and disseminated? 

Community Connection

What is the single most important act that a police department can do to gain the trust of the Black community?  

Would you utilize an appointed diversity officer in the LE department if they were not a person of color? 

Would you use an App to upload information about contact with an officer that made you feel uncomfortable or harassed, or worse?

What role, if any, should the community have in outreach to LE? 

What outcome do you want most for this meeting?

-BASE TEAM