Merced leaders, NAACP to talk police excessive force policies at virtual town hall
In the wake of protests nationwide over incidents of police brutality, Merced County and city leaders are scheduled to participate in a virtual townhall discussion 6 p.m. Tuesday, organized by the Merced branch of the NAACP.
Interim Merced Police Chief Tom Cavallero, Merced Mayor Mike Murphy and Merced County District Attorney Kimberly Helms Lewis will all be answering questions, as will Senator Anna Caballero, D-Merced.
“It’s important to have a town hall and a community conversation about what’s happening in our nation and in our city,” Murphy said, noting the town hall is an opportunity to share information with the public about what the city is doing and how it plans to move forward.
The Merced NAACP organized the town hall with the intention of getting community leaders to commit to real changes of policies that oppress minorities, said Merced NAACP President Allen Brooks.
“The marches and the protests were great . . . but now it’s actually time to put the motions in action for actually making change,” Brooks said. “These are the people who can actually make change,” he added, referencing the community leaders attending the town hall.
The town hall comes amid nationwide outcry over incidents of violence perpetuated by police and others toward unarmed black people following the deaths of people like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Demands for change
The NAACP recently released a list of demands to end police violence nationally, including the ban of knee or choke holds, a use of force continuum for escalation and implementing citizen advisory boards to hold police accountable during police brutality allegations.
Brooks said the Merced NAACP is using the national demands as guidance for local changes. More requests may be added for Merced-specific needs, he said.
Murphy told the Sun-Star he’s been following the “8 Can’t Wait” campaign — a movement that targets eight police reforms aimed at reducing police killings and brutality. They include required deescalation, warnings before shooting, comprehensive reporting and banning shooting at moving vehicles.
According to 8 Can’t Wait’s website, the City of Merced requires two of the eight policies: warning before shooting and duty to intervene.
Murphy said he’s taken a hard look at the suggested reforms and met with the police chief to discuss them several times.
One demand Brooks said will not be asked of local leaders is the total disbandment of police. Some requests amid rising cries to defund police have included scrapping departments altogether.
Although most reformers have not gone this far, a majority of Minneapolis City Council members said Sunday they support disbanding the city’s police department.
Brooks said he doesn’t believe dismantling the police is the answer, but concurred with other city leaders across the country who have been receptive to defunding police or slashing department budgets. The money instead goes toward departments and programs targeting communities in need.
“When you look at the budget, the police get so much of the budget and the community gets little,” he said. “I support reallocation of funds, and that’s just another word of people saying defund the police.”
Brooks said increased funding to the community would lessen the need for police.
The most recent Merced City Council meeting was flooded with over 70 comments from in person speakers, emails and voicemails asking the city to defund the police as council considers the proposed fiscal year 2020-21 city budget.
Community collaboration
Brooks said the NAACP and many other community organizations have recently been in frequent contact with each other and area leaders.
“Before this, we were all divided and everyone was doing their own thing,” he said. “Every group, everybody is coming together (now).”
The town hall’s first hour will field questions collected from community members at Friday’s candlelight vigil honoring Floyd and other recent protests. The second half will address additional comments.
“We want to be a partner and we want to makes sure that our residents are informed, and we want to hear from them and make improvements,” Murphy said.
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 6:44 PM.
