Central Florida activists focus on ‘use of force policies’

Central Florida activists focus on 'use of force policies'

Tire Nichols death: Police chief says no evidence found that Nichols was driving recklessly

Police bodycam footage released Friday night shows Tire Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man from Memphis, being beaten by five police officers during a traffic stop back on January 7. He died three days later, leaving his 4-year-old son without a father and his family without many answers.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Police bodycam footage released Friday night shows Tire Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man from Memphis, being beaten by five police officers during a traffic stop back on January 7. He died three days later, leaving his 4-year-old son without a father and his family without many answers.

The new video has many Americans upset and praising the decision to fire and arrest the officers involved. But some people in Orlando are wondering what they can do to show their support. FOX 35 spoke with those who were heavily involved in organizing local protests following the death of George Floyd nearly three years ago.

Tire Nichols (Photo credit: Ben Crump Law) (Ben Crump Law)

Orlando saw protests after Floyd’s death, which led to changes in some of the local law enforcement policies. Orlando’s mayor and police chief announced a community trust and equity initiative and Orlando police banned chokeholds and no-knock warrants.

Memphis Police Department Officers Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills and Justin Smith were terminated on Jan. 18 for their role in the arrest of deceased Tire Nichols. (Memphis Police Department)

MORE NEWS: Tire Nichols: Florida leaders react to body cam video of Memphis beating death

They put together “Neighborhood Patrol Units,” with a diverse team aiming to connect with as many people as possible. Police also hired mental health professionals to respond to people in crisis in appropriate cases and they started a junior reserve law enforcement course at a local high school.

Local activists say in the wake of Tire Nichols death, the focus should be on police “use of force.” After George Floyd’s death, the city of Orlando also hired its first equity officer to make sure the city is fair, equal and accessible to all.

Hurt in an accident? Get the help you need instantly by calling 888-577-5988

The post Central Florida activists focus on ‘use of force policies’ first appeared on Daily Florida Press.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Committee week in Florida’s Capitol: Welcome to the festival of ignorance

Image
Legislators came to town for the autumn ritual of political harlotry they call “committee week.” Tallahassee’s collective IQ dropped by a good 60 points. That’s bad, but what they propose doing to Florida is worse. Seems Sen. Joe Gruters, R-$ara$ota, who also is chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, was intimately involved with a plot to quash the Democratic vote. Remember that “ voting reform ” bill the governor signed on “Fox and Friends” last May? The one that restricts access to ballot drop-boxes, limits vote-by-mail applications, forbids giving people standing in long lines a bottle of water, and lets partisan poll watchers police canvassing boards? Even though Florida ran an immaculate election in 2020, Republicans goose-stepped in time with the Madman of Mar-a-Lago and claimed with straight faces they merely wanted to prevent election “fraud” — which is about as common as polar bears in Miami. (What fraud there was, was courtesy of the GOP .) Joe Gruters ...
Read more

U.S. House GOP would make it easier for feds to give public lands away to states

Image
U.S. House Republicans included in the new rules for the chamber they passed this month a provision meant to make it easier for Congress to give away public lands. The provision is a fairly technical piece of the 55-page  rules package . It affects internal House accounting and requires that anytime Congress were to give any federal lands to a state, municipality or tribe, it would not be counted as a loss to the federal budget. House Republicans had an identical rule when they controlled the chamber from 2017 to 2019. Advocates and critics agree the measure would be helpful to any effort by the House to transfer federal lands to states. But they disagree about the wisdom of such giveaways. Republicans and conservative groups see states as preferable stewards of most public lands. Those closest to the land are in a better position to make decisions on how to manage them than those in Washington bureaucracies, they say. Environmental groups and Democrats see federal divest...
Read more

Democratic governors press U.S. Senate to act on voting rights legislation

Image
WASHINGTON — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and 16 other Democratic governors are urging the U.S. Senate to pass two bills that aim to protect voting rights. Both measures need 60 votes to advance under Senate rules but have been stalled by Republican opposition in the evenly divided Senate. “Without decisive action by the federal government this year to protect voters’ access to the ballot and ensure the integrity and transparency of our elections, the voices of Americans across the country, especially Americans of color, will be suppressed,” the governors wrote in a Monday  letter  to U.S. Senate leadership. Governors who signed the letter include Jared Polis of Colorado, Tim Walz of Minnesota, Steve Sisolak of Nevada, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Kate Brown of Oregon, Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania and Tony Evers of Wisconsin, among others. One bill, known as the  John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2...
Read more