DAYTON — The City of Dayton has begun what Mayor Nan Whaley acknowledged last month, may not be a “quick or easy” process, kicking off conversations about how to reform its police department.
Tuesday, two of the city’s five community work groups centered around police reform met for the first time.
These groups grew out of a desire shared by city officials in early June to make changes to the police department, as part of demands for change and calls to end racial injustice both nationally and locally.
The five work groups, each co-led by a city commissioner, include focuses on police oversight, use of force, training, recruitment, and community engagement.
The group focused on community engagement, and community-police relations, was among those that met Tuesday evening.
Dayton City Commissioner Chris Shaw, co-chairing the group, said in his remarks at the beginning of the virtual meeting, “We’re here to address a deficit of trust that exists in the black community in Dayton between the black residents, and the Dayton police, quite frankly. So we’re not going to shy away from that.”
The more than 90-minute meeting largely included about two dozen members introducing themselves, and discussing the group’s direction moving forward. Members include Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein, Dayton Police Department Assistant Chief, Lt. Col. Eric Henderson, educators, clergy, and community activists.
Shaw said his goal is for conversations in this group to translate directly to action by the city; a sentiment echoed by group co-chair and Dayton YWCA CEO Shannon Isom.
“Believe and trust that the hours that we’re going to spend here is a direct acknowledgement and result that we have something to fix that needs our attention,” she said.
Dayton’s group centered around police training meets Wednesday morning. The groups will continue to meet regularly moving forward and report back to city commission.
Cox Media Group
