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Cleveland Police Chief
Calvin Williams mingles with
students from a local high school following
a forum on race and law
enforcement.
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FBI
Race and Law
Enforcement
Director Urges Closer Ties Between Police, Communities
10/16/15
FBI Director James Comey is continuing to urge police agencies and
their constituents—particularly in communities of color—to take steps
to better understand one another to help stem what he sees as a growing
disconnect.
“I imagine two lines,” Comey said Thursday during a forum at Cuyahoga
Community College in Cleveland, Ohio that included local law
enforcement, community leaders, prosecutors, and high school students.
“One [line] is us in law enforcement and the other is the folks we
serve and protect. And I think those two lines are arcing away from
each other.”
The Director’s remarks echoed a speech he delivered on the subject of
race and law enforcement last February at Georgetown University in
Washington, D.C. The speech followed lethal police encounters that
occurred the previous summer in Ferguson, Missouri and New York
City—sparking protests and intense public debate—and the apparent
retribution killings of two uniformed New York Police Department
officers in December 2014.
At the time, Comey suggested his remarks were only the beginning of a
broader and much-needed exchange on the subject. “These are only
conversations in the true sense of that word if we are willing not only
to talk but to listen, too.”
In the months since then, the Director has continued to talk on the
subject and FBI field offices around the country have reached out to
their own communities to further that conversation as well.
In Cleveland, where violent crime rates have risen dramatically this
year, Director Comey joined Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams,
Cuyahoga County Sheriff Clifford Pinkney, and more than 200 members of
the local community to talk and to listen.
“I’m here because I think Cleveland is a place of great pain that is in
a way illustrative of that crisis of those bending arcs,” Comey said.
Cleveland Police Chief meets students
It was in Cleveland that a 12-year-old African-American boy, Tamir
Rice, was fatally shot by a police officer while holding a pellet gun
in November 2014. The city is implementing a federal agreement
following a Department of Justice determination last year that city
police officers too often used excessive force and violated people’s
civil rights. A provision of the settlement is to better train officers
in community engagement.
During the question-and-answer-style forum, moderated by FBI Cleveland
Special Agent in Charge Stephen Anthony, the panelists agreed that a
major step forward would be for police to get out of their cars and get
better acquainted with people in their communities. But the hard work
has to be shared, they said.
“For law enforcement to be successful—to make a better community—we
need your help,” Sheriff Pinkney told attendees, including some 40
young students seated in the front rows. “We need your support, whether
it’s publicly or anonymously—we need you to be a part of this team.”
Comey said the answer to finding more common ground was “unscientific.”
“It’s simply understanding that it’s hard to hate up close,” Comey
said. “We must see each other more clearly.”
In the audience, Ryan Hurley, a humanities teacher at St. Martin de
Porres High School, listened with interest, alongside a dozen of his
students.
“We’re having this conversation in our classes, we’re having this
conversation in our school because it’s important,” Hurley said
following the event. “I think the big takeaway is that it’s sort of a
shared responsibility. And they’re okay taking on that responsibility
if they feel like they have trust in the people at the top.”
After the forum, Hurley asked students what they thought.
“Their first response was, ‘They seem a lot different here than they do
on the news.’”
Cleveland Police Chief Williams was optimistic that things were
beginning to change. His department, along with the FBI, recently held
a “Safety in Your Sanctuary” program for about 40 local clergy members.
Another recent community event focused on police use of force.
“I think that right now, this moment, we’re at a point where we’re
going up,” Williams said. “I think we’re at a point where people are
actually coming together to really talk sensible solutions about things
that are happening.”
The Director said Cleveland was an ideal location to continue the
discussion of race and law enforcement. “This is a place of tremendous
promise,” he said. “Given the quality of the leadership you have here
and the folks here in this room, you actually have the best chance of
arcing those lines back together and showing this country how it can be
done.”
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