Community leaders, activists, elected officials and scholars will gather for a #BHeard program called “Cops and Community: Innovations Around Policing.” The Town Hall, sponsored by BRIC, the leading presenter of free cultural programming in Brooklyn, will be held on Wednesday, October 5 at 7:30 p.m.
The event, at BRIC House on 647 Fulton St., will include panelists presenting innovative ideas to strengthen ties and heal the divide between cops and community, now in a heightened state in the wake of a series of nationwide killings of unarmed black civilians. Panelists include David Kennedy, professor at John Jay Center for Criminal Justice; Samuel Sinyangwe, data scientist at Campaign Zero; Carmen Dixon, police reform organizer at NAACP Legal Defense Fund; and Mariame Kaba, Open Society Foundations Soros Justice Fellow.
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BRIC TV Senior Correspondent Brian Vines will host, and you can watch in person, on TV or online as the panel discusses, among other things, the state of reforms — such as the ones that former New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton implemented with a remade training regimen. New officers are now required to do six months of field training with 800 community partners citywide; veteran officers now receive three days of training on how to de-escalate confrontations.
Can these and other reforms work? This is your chance to #BHeard and be part of creating a solution. Opening remarks will be made by Borough President Eric Adams.
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The town hall will include segments of ‘Fit the Description,’ a short film series featuring conversations between black male officers and civilians, aimed at healing and reframing police and community relations. The film series is sponsored by Project Inkblot and Humbleriot.
BRIC’s #BHeard Community Town Hall event is free with RSVP. You can register online.