***CITY-WIDE CALL TO ACTION FOR POLICE BODY CAMERAS*** In the wake of the police shooting deaths of Cortez Washington and COPS sound engineer Bryce Dion -- in addition to the plethora of national incidents of police killing unarmed suspects -- those who are compelled to action must not let this moment go by without public input, but more importantly, not without a public display of power for the people. This is not a call to a rally or demonstration. This is a call to mobilize the people towards an actionable plan with defined outcomes. In our local struggle for accountability and oversight the community has offered up a workable solution in implementing preventive measures in the form of on-body cameras for all Uniform Patrol Officers, in tandem with a publicly elected review board. Over time the Mayors Office has created a volunteer appointee board lacking in any accountability directly to the people of Omaha. Chief Schmaderers Office has worked diligently to meet the demands of the community who demonstrated against the city in the aftermath of the police attack on Seward Street. While Chief Schmaderer has lived up to many of his promises on greater transparency -- creating and implementing a pilot-program for on-body cameras -- the Mayors Office has played political games with OPDs reputation and the public and OPDs safety by not prioritizing funding to purchase the cameras recommended by Schmaderers pilot program. August 2014 was Mayor Stotherts second chance to have oversight spending be part of her budget only to continually kick the can down the road while OPDs image locally and nationally slips into further ruin. The Mayor is not only undermining the public who fall victims to police misconduct and brutality, but also undermines the genuine efforts at communal reconciliation by Chief Schmaderers administration. So what is the plan? Many over the years have gone to different city councils and mayors in an effort to sway a few individuals to act on behalf of the whole city. This can no longer be our approach. What we can do, in accordance with our own city charter (essentially Omahas Constitution) is put the decision of funding on-body cameras up to an initiative of the people. This would bypass the willfully obstructive Mayor and gutless City Council and empower the people of Omaha, both past victims and concerned citizens, to enact a solution on their terms without delay from the ineffective, elected local bodies. What is needed for an initiative to be successful? We will need signatures equal to 15% of the last mayoral election. While this is around 31,000 required signatures easily double will be needed to ensure the validity of the initiative. In addition to the signatures we need an identifiable source of funding to enact the purchase and use of body cameras for OPD. There are a few options to explore. Lastly, we will need the adequate number of volunteers to make this plan work. There will be limited time for a petition drive to gather signatures. Before we embark on a fools errand we need to guarantee that we have the people in place to make this operation a success. It will take at minimum 100 people committed to a month long effort of gathering signatures; preferably 200 volunteers would be needed to ensure a timely and valid effort. If you understand that your commitment can truly make a difference and want to be involved in the planning and action process send your RSVP to DShawn Cunningham or FTP Omaha on Facebook. The initial exploratory meeting will be Thursday August 28th at 7PM. Location will be sent to serious inquiries only.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 07:37:01 +0000
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