CC Minutes - 04/25/05 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Majeska Seese-Green, PO Box 1214, speaking on behalf of the Whiteaker Community Council, conveyed the community council's recommendation to form an independent external police review process. She was pleased to see that it was the fourth recommendation in the report. She expressed the Whiteaker council's support for the first and third recommendations, regarding the development of mechanisms to access more segments of the community and the determination of community expectations of the police department respectively. She stated that the Whiteaker Community Council, together with the Police Commission, planned to co-sponsor a discussion of the report and also of the progress on the independent police review at 7 p.m. on June 1. Speaking for herself, Ms. Seese-Green urged implementation of nearly all of the recommendations. She appreciated that the report was done and expressed hope that the community would get its "money's worth" out of it. Tim Laue, 124 Spencers Crest Drive, thanked the council for the opportunity to address the issue. He said the Police Commission had sent a memorandum regarding its recommendations on the report. He noted the City Manager said the report had provided a "road map" for addressing some of the most critical hiring, training, and management practices that were at issue in the organization of the EPD. He stated that while the commission acknowledged that ultimately successful implementation of the report would require significant resources and leadership from the City and the council, the commissioners were hopeful that through such a commitment, police services to the community could be enhanced and the complaint system could be redesigned to provide accountability and increased transparency. He averred that this would ultimately yield the changes that would in turn generate trust and confidence in the EPD. He said this would prevent the reoccurrence of the type of activities that brought about the report in the first place. Mr. Laue averred that social scientists had understood for decades that in trying to build a better community, people were unwilling to cooperate with people they do not know and unwilling to trust people they had not met. He asserted that in order to reestablish the mutual trust and support necessary for the community to get past the crisis and to diminish the isolation that separated and divided people, people needed to reintroduce themselves to one another and acknowledge the mistakes made and address the attitudes and practices that allowed such mistakes to be made in the first place. He felt that no report and no amount of money could accomplish this. He said this result could only happen if the community found common ground and worked together to serve the community that the residents loved. Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing and called for comments from the City Council. Councilor Pap6 appreciated Police Commission Chair Laue's contribution to the hearing as well as the substantive report provided to the council by the commission. In response to a question from Councilor Pap6, City Manager Taylor stated that input and recommendations had been encouraged from all citizens and the Human Rights Commission and Police Commission. Councilor Ortiz thanked everyone for testifying, particularly those for whom it took great courage to speak. Councilor Kelly noted that the Police Commission memorandum made the point that it was the initial reaction to the report and not the final analysis of it. He underscored that the Police Commission would be providing further input regarding the results of the review. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 25, 2005 Page 4 Regular Session