Participants in Antioch Bridging the Gap #2: Racial Disparities in Policing want more information

Police Officers observe, Police Crime Prevention Commission Chair participates; not shown on Comcast Channel 24 due to “connectivity issues”; online feed ends before breakout session reports completed; will be on City website “ASAP”

By Allen Payton

The second of three Bridging the Gap dialogues, sponsored by the Antioch City Council, on the issue of Racial Disparities in Policing ended early with a communications gap. Held Saturday morning, Feb. 6, the session was introduced by consultant Hildy Saizow, Senior Advisor, CNA Center for Justice Research and Innovation, who said, “As your city confronts the critical issues of racial injustice and police community relations… (the forum) provides a wide, cross-section of people who live and work in Antioch to share their perspective on the issues. Ultimately these Bridging the Gap discussions will result in actions” by the city council and police department.

Antioch Police Officers would be participating as observers only, she said.

CNA’s “expert on policing” Stephen Hickman introduced the issue for the days discussion by defining racial disparities in policing as, “the percentage of a racial group in a general population compared to a specific racial group in police actions. Nationally, Blacks make up 13% of the population but 25% percent of arrests. That’s a racial disparity. Where they exist, they may require examination.”

“Since the hiring of Chief Brooks, the high number of disparities has been addressed,” he shared.

“Acknowledging disparities is the first step in moving forward,” Hickman concluded.

The 75 randomly selected participants then broke into five, small-group sessions for about an hour. At least one of the members of the Antioch Police Crime Prevention Commission, Chair Sandra White, participated in the second session.

Breakout Session Reports

After returning from the breakout sessions, a member of CNA’s team from each of the sessions reported a summary of what their groups discussed.

Ben Carleton said his group “wanted Antioch Police to be out in the community, more” and “start treating people as human beings, with respect. This goes both ways. Individuals need to treat each other respectfully.”

“Everyone had something to say,” said another CNA team member about his group. “Everybody felt strongly in this regard…there has to be a two-way conversation…between police and citizens. Coupled with that in some sense…the police department has been held back, stifled a bit. There was a sense that they had not learned enough about what the police department had done. Community policing is important…there’s a desire to get back to those practices. There needed to be outreach to those communities and individuals who might be more affected.”

“On the three types of bias, there was a strong sentiment that this police bias is very important and a desire for a better explanation of why,” he continued. “There might be training but they need to know more.”

“There was discussion that the police department look more demographically like the population,” he concluded.

At 11:20 a.m., as another presenter began sharing the comments from her group the City’s online video feed cut out. Mayor Lamar Thorpe told the Herald, “I’ll make sure it (the video) gets on the website, ASAP.”

The session wasn’t shown on Comcast Channel 24, either. When informed of that Thorpe replied, “We had connectivity issues.”

CNA will provide a report following the third and final Bridging the Gap forum to be held on Thursday, Feb. 18 from 10:00-11:30 am. on the topic Police-Community Engagement. To participate in that forum, register here.

Please check back later for more details from the remainder of the second session or watch it on the City’s website once it’s been saved, here. Watch the first Bridging the Gap Dialogue on Police Oversight, Accountability and Transparency, here. (See related article).

 


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Bridging the Gap offline 2-6-21


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