Frequent meetings with black student organization leaders and local law enforcement may be necessary to give the African-American student body an opportunity as to where they can speak to law enforcement officials. These meetings may regard police practices students do not understand or feel they need to know more about; for example, the use of horses for crowd control and appropriate police conduct. These were the key points brought up Sunday by a University of Florida black student representative at the first black student town hall meeting.
Edwyna Hill, UF student, said, “My concern isn’t the police protection, it’s some of the avenues and mechanisms that are used in crowd control.”
Student representatives Hill and Jamie Davis expressed concerns they felt were important to the African-American community based upon a previous meeting with 10 to 15 leaders and presidents of black organizations, representing over 500 black students at UF. Hill and Davis took a special interest in the issue due to their own personal complaint filed regarding harsh police treatment.
Captains from the Gainesville Police Department as well as the University Police Department, all of whom graduated from UF, were in attendance. Also in attendance was U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service representative Mildred Duprey de Robles, who came from Miami to assist in conducting the negotiations between the students and the officers.
Intimidating horses, impolite officers and the use of canines against African-Americans more than against other races, were several factors that bothered the representatives that Hill and Davis met with. “Maybe it’s a cultural difference,” Hill said. “Even in being protected, we feel that we aren’t treated as equal citizens.”
GPD Capt. Lonnie Scott said that as officers, and as parents, citizen safety is always their top priority and that moving people to their cars quickly after events, whether horses or other forces are used, is a way to protect citizens.
“It cuts down on the number of fights and conflicts. If we don’t do that we have a huge number of increases. Regardless of the race, gender or religious affiliation, we do that because there are crowds in the streets,” Scott said. Increases in gang violence in neighboring Ocala, Fla., as well as unruly out of town visitors, are huge concerns for officers, Scott said.
With the 20th Annual Florida Invitational Step Show quickly approaching, crowd control mechanisms are a big concern for the police department due to the large number of UF students, alumni and out of town visitors that attend the event. However, Scott said he is proud of the fact that last year, two of the largest black events held on campus, including the step show, had zero arrest of any participants, causing less trouble than the average football crowds.
Self-marshaling, a practice where students receive training to learn how to handle crowds themselves and use their training during and after their own events, was an idea recommended by the captains. Hill said that her sorority used a form of self-marshaling last year which she accredits to the decrease in arrests after the step show. Brochures entitled “Things you should know” regarding laws that the officers believe many are unaware of, may also be passed at events.
The captains all agreed that their attendance at cultural organization meetings would benefit both the students and the officers in maintaining a relationship with students while assisting the community in remaining as safe as possible and gaining an understanding of one another.
The captains agreed to attend the cultural meetings that Hill and Davis suggest to them. Capt. Ed Book said, “In all my 21 years I’ve never been involved in this level.” Scott said that he believes his officers take only the necessary steps to ensure citizen safety, but that each officer has a different personality, with some having less patience than others.
Scott suggests that all discrepancies regarding officers be reported to the police department to create a written record of any potential officer wrongdoing. Cursing, for example, could warrant a suspension for a day but on average they will only receive a reprimand, Scott said.
Horse and canine meet and greet sessions were also recommended by Scott to give students a chance to see how friendly the animals actually can be. Scott jokingly said he believes the canines are a lot like the officers. “Canines, you can pet when they are in play mode,” Scott said, “officers are in work mode once they put on their uniforms.”
“We make mistakes and those need to be brought to light,” Scott said.
Hill and Davis will be gathering a list of meeting dates with several organization presidents to arrange meetings with the officers regarding laws they feel students should be aware of as well as officer protocol and reasons as to why they practice certain procedures.
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