GAINESVILLE – The Newtown Florist Club held an online open conversation Monday evening to discuss what progress was being made in Gainesville to avoid the racial strife that has plagued numerous cities across the country.
At the start of the Zoom meeting Executive Director Reverend Rose Johnson made it clear that the meeting was the continuation of an effort started earlier in the year to bring her community’s concerns to leaders in Gainesville and Hall County, particularly those in law enforcement.
In June the club hosted a meeting to provide an opportunity for the concerns of its members to be verbalized and heard by representatives from the Gainesville Police Department, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, and the Superior, State and Magistrate Courts.
Out of that meeting came a list of fourteen recommendations that members of NFC considered vital to improving relations with law enforcement. In response to that list in early August Gainesville Police Chief Jay Parrish addressed the Gainesville City Council, telling council members that changes were coming to his department.
Parrish began the changeover process using seven of the items brought to him by NFC.
Now, two months after Parrish’s announcement, the NFC wanted to hear from the community if those changes were being noticed.
“A follow-up to the open air conversations is so very important to carry on, and I just want to make it crystal clear that this is not an anti-law enforcement conversation,” Johnson stated. “It will never be an anti-law enforcement conversation.”
The event was entitled: “Where Do We Go from Here? George Floyd Initiative Community Report-Back Conversation”.
“What we want to do tonight is just focus on these seven areas because these are the areas where we feel that we have made some significant progress, and that law enforcement has responded in a way that community should know and talk about,” Johnson explained.
The seven areas open for discussion included:
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Mandatory use of body cameras
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Officer requirement to self-identify and state reason for approach
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Issuance of citations rather than arrest for minor offenses
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De-escalation training for all officers
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A near-total ban on choke holds
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Duty to intervene if fellow officer exceeds force needed
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The establishment of a Citizen Review Committee
Most of the conversation supported strongly the banning of choke holds, the requirement for officers to intervene when a fellow officer uses excessive force, and the use of body cameras.
Christen Lott Hunte responded to a story told by one of the participants where he asked the officer if his body camera was operating, commending the man for asking the officer in a gentle manner about the camera.
“You can ask with respect,” Hunte said. “It’s important to be respectful, too, because you have to do your part…you have to help them, as well.”
Online participant Frank Watkins of Gainesville agreed that building a trusting relationship goes in both directions. “It occurs to me that if we’ve got badge numbers and could report to the authorities that they did a good job…people respond to positive feedback as well.”
“We know that we have a lot of work to do,” Johnson said in closing. “It’s now time for law enforcement to continue to hear the voices of the people in the community.”
