Who: Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood, City Solicitor Attorney Ed Pikula, Health Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris, Retired State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roderick Ireland, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Attorney Talia Gee, CPHB Members, and Mayoral Aide Lavar Click
What: Community Outreach Event on Police Reforms
When: Saturday, December 19, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 Noon
Where: Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic the Community Outreach on Police Community Relations and Reforms will be conducted virtually via Zoom and streamed live on the City’s Office of Communication Facebook page
Springfield, MA – After hearing feedback from participants from the last community public forum, this third community outreach event will have a different platform and setup to make participation easier and more user friendly for both panelist and attendees.
Below are the steps on how to participate and the steps to take during the meeting:
- There will be one link for participants to use. Attendees will register at the following link: focusspringfield.com/police-forum-dec20
- Once the registration is completed, a link will be automatically sent to the email address entered to attend the ‘webinar’.
- Once logged on, participants will be on as ‘attendee status’, where they can watch and listen but not speak.
- Those who are interested in actively participating (asking a question or providing comments), will be able to use the command function on this webinar to ‘raise their hand’ and the moderator will call on them and allow them to speak. More information on this feature can be found here.
- Those who will be speaking will be moved from ‘attendee status’ to ‘panelist status’
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- During this process, the webinar will re-log the participant into the webinar as a panelist where they may speak and provide comments. (During this process, the user will experience the webinar reloading where the live video feed and audio will cut out temporarily as they are transferred and switched to attendee and panelist)
- Once the participant has given their comments or their time is finished, the moderator will move them back into ‘attendee status’. Again, during this process the webinar will re-log the participant into the meeting as they were when they first joined the meeting.
- Attendees may also type questions into the Q &A comment section of the webinar, with the option to do so anonymously. Panelists may answer the questions as they appear in real time or save the question for a later time.
- Anyone wishing to present a question in advance of the webinar on December 19th may submit their questions by email to meshea@springfieldcityhall.com and lclick@springfieldcityhall.com
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno continues to hold a series of community outreach public forums on police reform. Mayor Sarno will join with Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood, City Solicitor Attorney Ed Pikula, Health Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris, Retired State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roderick Ireland, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Attorney Talia Gee, Community Police Hearing Board (CPHB) Members, and Mayoral Aide Lavar Click, as the City of Springfield continues a respectful dialogue with key community stakeholders on meaningful police community relations and reforms.
Mayor Sarno states, “These ongoing sessions will continue discussion and will allow key stakeholders within our diverse community input on enhancing police/community relations. Commissioner Clapprood and I have implemented a number of new reform initiatives from body worn cameras being worn by all police officers, including the revamped Narcotics Division; creating the Office of Racial Equity with our new Coordinator Chrismery Gonzalez under Health and Human Services (HHS) Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris; having mental health workers (Behavior Health Network) on the street to assist our police officers; having under our Health and Human Services Department street gang outreach workers (Mission Inc. – Brother Johnnie Muhammad) to intervene, defuse and mediate street gang violence.”
“In addition, my administration has sponsored measures to give our Civilian Community Police Hearing Board (CPHB) subpoena powers, and extending the timeframe for a police complaint to be reviewed from 90 days to 120 days – these two initiatives and reforms are currently pending before the City Council for their approval,” said Mayor Sarno. “We have also continued to work collaboratively with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and with retired Chief State Supreme Court Justice and Springfield native Roderick Ireland. His continued advice, wisdom and guidance have been invaluable to me. There is more work to be done. We are looking forward to again hearing from our community members and organizations – any and all are welcomed. Again, invited to participate will be the NAACP, Urban League, City Council, Pioneer Valley Project, New North Citizens Council, police representatives, Arise for Social Justice, Council of Churches, our local state delegation, School Committee members, and of course our residents and business community.”
Retired Chief Justice Ireland stated, "Getting feedback from the public is a critically important part of the city of Springfield's effort to reform the police department. We want to understand your thoughts and feelings about how to make things better. The city is not claiming that everything is great now and you can go about your business. No, we are asking for your input so that we can go forward, together, in partnership, to make the changes that you think need to be done. We are here to listen and learn. We want all the citizens of Springfield -- all of the stakeholders, starting with the community, but also including the business sector, the elected officials, the churches, the many community organizations, and the police themselves, to participate. So, please join us on December 19th. We would love to hear from you."
Those wishing to participate can register as attendees at the following link: focusspringfield.com/police-forum-dec20
Once the registration is completed, a link will be automatically sent to the email address the user entered to attend the ‘webinar’.
In addition, the program can be viewed on Channel 17 on Springfield’s Comcast Cable Channel and online at http://focusspringfield.com/watch/government. The program will also be livestreamed on the City of Springfield’s Office of Communications Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CityofSpringfieldMA
