Durham, Raleigh, Cary mayors join Obama’s calls for police reform
Durham Mayor Steve Schewel and Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin signed a pledge from former President Barack Obama this week calling on mayors to reform police use-of-force policies.
Schewel said during a Durham City Council meeting Thursday that he agreed to examine the Durham Police Department’s use-of-force policies. Baldwin said during a press conference Friday morning that she also signed the pledge.
Obama sent the pledge to mayors Wednesday asking them to reform how their police departments de-escalate situations.
“We want our use-of-force policies to be a model to the nation,” Schewel said. “We are so lucky we have powerful voices for change that are speaking up right now for the kind of change that we need in our society.”
The pledge asks mayors nationwide to complete a four-step process: review use-of-force policies, seek community input, report their findings to the community and then reform the policies.
“The elected officials who matter most in reforming police departments and the criminal justice system work at the state and local levels,” Obama wrote on Medium Monday. “The more specific we can make demands for criminal justice and police reform, the harder it will be for elected officials to just offer lip service.”
In September the Obama Foundation will identify the cities that report their progress.
“We believe a transparent review of our policies is necessary,” Baldwin said. “We will review Campaign Zero’s 8 Can’t Wait recommendations about police violence, including a formal ban on police chokeholds and strangleholds.”
The 8 Can’t Wait project, run by police reform organization Campaign Zero, offers eight strategies for police departments to reduce their use of force. Those strategies include banning shooting at moving vehicles and de-escalating situations verbally instead of physically.
Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin, Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht and Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan said Friday that they also signed Obama’s pledge.
George Floyd protests
Schewel’s pledge came as people marched in the streets of Durham for a sixth-straight night of protests Thursday. The demonstrators joined a nationwide campaign for change after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week. The march ended without a major confrontation as Durham police mostly managed traffic.
“I would love to work closer with any other entities that can help us from a holistic standpoint to make our community a better place to work and play,” Durham Police Chief C.J. Davis said during Thursday’s council meeting.
“Everybody is screaming at the police department to make it stop,” she said. “If there are other effective ways to make it stop, I am certainly open to that.”
Council member Mark-Anthony Middleton asked Davis about a rumor that someone was allowed to drive past the protest perimeter Wednesday night. Davis said the car entered through a side street, and that police are reviewing footage to learn more and prevent such incidents in the future.
“The Police Department would never intentionally allow people to be hurt or harmed in the middle of a protest,” she said. “I think we’ve been able to prove that. I mean a lot of things happened that we didn’t intervene in. ... It is disappointing that people thought something like that would intentionally happen.”
A different scene in Raleigh
One county over, over 100 people in Raleigh criticized the police and City Council at a virtual public meeting Thursday night for using tear gas on protesters during last weekend’s demonstrations.
Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown told protesters Wednesday night that “all lives matter.” The marches in Raleigh have been tenser than in Durham, with the city setting a curfew to require marchers to leave. Dozens of speakers Thursday called on Baldwin and Deck-Brown to resign.
Several Raleigh city council members Tuesday night asked for a report from the city detailing their police department’s use-of-force policies. City council members will receive racial equity training this summer, and the city has about 150 applicants for its recently approved police oversight board, Baldwin said Friday.
This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Durham, Raleigh, Cary mayors join Obama’s calls for police reform."