Police brutality forum hopes to inspire action
People often see the story of what gets recorded during interactions with the police but almost never what goes on after. Families United 4 Justice and The Forced Trajectory Project, among other organizations hope to shed light on this situation.
The group of activists and filmmakers hosted a forum on Aug. 18 to give a platform to those affected by alleged incidents of law enforcement misconduct.
“Police brutality is nationwide, but in terms of fighting it, we have to start local,” Forced Trajectory Project co-founder, Nissa Tzun said to the public.
“It’s not just one incident or one police homicide,” Tzun said. “We’re talking about rape, racial profiling, murder and intimidation. We’re talking about a systemic issue,” she continued.
Citizens from around the city shared their testimonies about incidents of excessive force, including a woman that received third-degree burns from being held down on the asphalt in the summer.
Tzun is hopeful that outreach such as a new docuseries called Residuum will help broadcast their message about the effects of police violence and brutality.
Tzun believes that these issues are being largely ignored by many public officials; of the 80 invitations to public officials in the state of Nevada, only five attended the forum. Among those attending were State Senator Melanie Scheible, Assemblywomen Ellen Spiegel, Dina Neal and Bea Duran and Assemblymen Richard Carrillo and William McCurdy II.
Carrillo, citing California’s transparency laws regarding access to video and audio from police body cameras, hopes to see laws passed to have greater accountability for the state’s officers.
Assemblyman Richard Carillo speaks about the police department and hopes his for positive changes.
“We need to see what we’re doing in the state of Nevada,” Carrillo said. “If they’re doing good, they’re going to be noted for that. We want to know that they’re keeping the people in our community safe without infringing on their rights and their safety.”
The use of excessive force by the Las Vegas Metro Police Department has been under federal scrutiny before. In 2011, Las Vegas ranked third in officer-involved shootings per capita in the United States, behind Houston and Chicago. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services found 75 instances regarding officer-involved shootings and uses of excessive force.
The report recommended the use of body cameras, which were approved by then Gov. Brian Sandoval in 2017 to be required to be worn by all statewide police officers. At least 200 were deployed in North Las Vegas earlier this year, costing an estimated $1.5 million in grants.
COPS a US Department of Justice agency aimed at strengthening community policing, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, has said that LVMPD has taken adequate steps to address its issues.
Melanie Scheible, Nevada State Senator, listening to the many speakers at the first Police Use of Force Forum. She represents, the 9th District, the southwest corner of Las Vegas, which includes Spring Valley and Summerlin. Aug. 18, 2019. Photo by Eduardo Rossal.