supported the program. it makes so much difference if you get the program based with those who will really work on it. all of them have been good, but this has been special. we did an evaluation of the program this past year, and learned about so many things that have been going on. i brought the colombians here in person to report on that, the projects they have had. i will point out a couple of them. the health superintendent forced to resign. the government announced he would shut the hospital based on reports of inhumane practices. formation of quick response to mental health service teams. this is just something that had never happened.

changes in jailing procedures for families with mental illnesses. this one i really like, $47 million in state legislature budget allocated to psychiatric beds in one of those places -- we are always begging for money. i was glad to see that had been supported by the government, too. when we began our program, started in liberia. it is the first time we have ever tried to develop a mental health program in another country. so, our goal was to train 150 mental health the nations. before we started, they had one psychiatrist in the country. that was all. when we got 144, we had not reached 150, so we did one more class and just finish that in august. we had about the same number as

before in each class, so we actually trained 165 clinicians. we suspended it when ebola hit. we had an access to information in liberia, an access to justice and the mental health program. we suspended all of that to teach people about ebola and how contagious it was and what they could do. it was really gratifying, because they did overcome the ebola. we had one that came up later, but it was really satisfying to be able to do that. for the carter center to have that kind of input to that terrible disease. i want to thank people. we have had an outpouring of

support and prayers, and in spite of all that is going on, it has been really kind of wonderful. just to know we have that kind of support. [applause] >> president and mrs. carter will take as many questions as we have time for tonight. i want to thank those of you here, who submitted questions. and those who submitted questions via twitter. we had chosen those that represent the main lines of interest. president carter, there were a number of questions about your health but i believe you already addressed that. we will move on to an easy one. this is from the audience, the whole world is concerned by the european migrant crisis, how can

this be solved globally? [laughter] pres. carter: as you know, the united states has been the prime recipient of immigrants from the founding of our country. when we have had horrible crises like the vietnam war, that is when i became president. the united states was receiving immigrants from vietnam and cambodia. 12,000 a month. we continue to that, as we used our good example to encourage the europeans and others to accept immigrants as well. i would hope there would be a similar reaction, maybe with germany. as you know, the german government started out with very open arms, and lately they have closed down their borders pretty strictly. mrs. merkel called for a meeting

tuesday to try to get all of the european countries to agree to accept a certain quota of immigrants. the total quota is about 125,000 per year, and the estimate is 400,000 per year. so even if they are generous and opening their borders, i don't know what will happen. the united states will also take -- i think president obama announced to take 10,000 in two years. just a tiny group of the total. the best thing is to deal with syria. that is the main origin of those people trying to come through turkey and greece and go up through hungary all the way into germany. so, there is not an easy answer.

we now have more refugees from war zones on earth than we have ever had in history, even after the second world war. about one fourth of the total population of lebanon are refugees from syria. jordan is also heavily afflicted. turkey has taken a lot of those refugees. i really think the united states ought to follow up with this suggestion from earlier, from president putin. to convene some way, after the nuclear thing is approved, where russia and the nine states can try to lead the world in italy. the united states thwarted any possibility of president assad being involved in the future. the carter center to the opposite position.

we thought they should have included president assad. but russia and iran have supported the assad government, and now isis has taken over a good portion of the eastern part of syria. to deal with the war in syria would be the first major step, and i have my own ideas about what to do. our peace program is leading, in many ways, the constant effort to resolve some arrangement whereby there can be a general cease-fire, and orderly government process set up. we meet with the norwegians, the united nations and fellow leaders. even those involved in the war itself. trying to bring this about. we also have a mapping program that the carter center has originated, that lets the united

nations and others know where the rapidly changing forces are located in syria. to deal with syrian war and peace is the first step to be taken in dealing with the refugee situation, and to be accepting of those escaping for their lives or safety. there is no answer to it really. rosalynn: this mapping program was done by one of our interns watching social media, and he can tell people how to go safely with supplies, it is really remarkable. >> it is, indeed. president carter, this question comes from sarah and the audience. as a naval academy's most distinct graduate, what advice can you give a high school student seeking to attend the academy and serve our country after graduation? pres. carter: a lot of the candidates would disagree with that first thing you said.

[laughter] first of all, study hard and make high grades. secondly, if your parents are involved in politics, like mine, get your congressman to give a letter of favor on your application. and prepare yourself in advance. i knew at six years old that my soul purpose in life was to go to the naval academy. when someone asked, what are you going to do when you grow up, i always said, even in elementary school, i will go to the naval academy and become a naval officer. a few prospective candidates come to prominence like me, and i have been fairly accommodating -- i started to say liberal. [laughter]

looking at the people's families and students, grades in school. if i really believed there would be an outstanding applicant for the naval academy, i might -- letter ofevel approval. but i would not do that automatically. i am strict about making recommendations unless i believe that particular student ought to be at the naval academy. the best thing to do is to prepare yourself for a very difficult and challenging but very exciting career. host: mrs. carter, can you give us an update on your large family? rosalynn: it has exploded. [laughter] we have 12 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. the grandchildren have spouses, and we have 36 or 37, i can't keep up. [laughter] it is growing so fast. but we have 23 of us in georgia,

counting jimmy and me. we come to the carter center, we schedule one week a month to be here. we have to come at other times sometimes too, but during that one week, we have the 21 that are here, we have dinner one night at the carter center. we get to see them, it is quite wonderful. pres. carter: and lively. [laughter] host: president carter, with the recent it rain in nuclear deal, nuclear nonproliferation is in the news. in your opinion, how should the u.s. and global powers deal with nations who have nuclear weapons ambitions? pres. carter: north korea? host: in light of the iranian nuclear deal, how should we deal with other powers with nuclear ambitions? pres. carter: i am delighted with the agreement with iran. i believe it is good for the united states, iran and israel,

the whole world, to see this resolved, as has been done courageously by john kerry, with the backing of president obama. president obama has the assurance that the congress cannot block the implementation of the agreement. the next part of it is to make sure iran does comply with all the announced restraints on them, and access to information about their nuclear program that the obama administration has promised to the american people and the world. as you know, this was done not by the europeans or russia and china and others, so it is backed unanimously either leading countries on earth. i am very glad to see that done. north korea is going in the other direction. i think basically unnecessarily. i went to north korea in 1994. to deal with a crisis in north korea. some of you are familiar with

this. the leader of north korea then, kim il-sung, was revered and worshiped almost like washington, george washington and jesus put together. i am not exaggerating. the united states was on the verge of declaring north korea to be an outlaw nation, and kim il-sung to be a criminal. my chinese friends came to me and said, if the united states did that, the north koreans to save face would invade and attack south korea. the military general in charge was an american from arkansas, and he told me a million south koreans would be killed in the first 48 hours. i decided to go to north korea, and i negotiated a very comprehensive agreement with kim il-sung that ended their production of plutonium.

unfortunately, since then, other things have happened. this week, the north koreans announced they will expand their nuclear program. pyongyang is the capital. that is where the nuclear program takes place. anyway, i think we need to rigidly enforce the nonproliferation treaty negotiated under john kennedy. this permits iran, by the way, iran is a signatory on the treaty, they are a member of the treaty. they have the perfect right to develop a peaceful nuclear program. the problem is, many people don't think they would adhere to a peaceful nuclear program. the only countries that don't comply with the nonproliferation treaty are israel, india, pakistan, and north korea.

and a new country, south sudan hasn't had a chance to sign it yet. those four countries are the biggest threats now. others say that a possible outbreak of war between pakistan and india, with the pakistani government being shaky in the last few years, maybe the biggest threat to nuclear peace. i don't think north korea will attack anybody. that would be suicidal for them. i don't think iran, even if they cheat, would develop nuclear weapons and attack anybody. we would respond by destroying the government, the country of iran. this depends primarily on the enforcement of a nonproliferation treaty, and not help the countries that violate, refused to sign a nuclear nonproliferation treaty. i was disappointed early on when

george w. bush, and now obama, are helping india with their nuclear program. no other president before that would do so. but we let politics overcome the proper approach to that program. enforcing the nonproliferation treaty is the best way. host: we have a question now from steve, who wrote in online from orlando, florida. the question is for both president and mrs. carter. he writes, dear president and mrs. carter, can you address the role of forgiveness in the various peace initiatives you have been involved with, as well as whether peace is even possible without some level of forgiveness? pres. carter: i wrote a book about this years ago called

talking peace. the analysis i made based on my experiences as a mediator was, the same causes of war between two countries are civil wars inside a country, or those that cause a husband and a wife to get a divorce. or, that cause friction between a parent and a child. or, between students on a college campus. it is a matter of honest differences of opinion, and an absence of willingness to forgive the other person enough to communicate with them. and, to discuss the issue face-to-face, or if necessary, through a mediator. that is the basic cause of conflict in the world. if people within a family or university system or within a country, or between two countries, could meet with each other and talk to each other with mutual respect and mutual forgiveness, then most altercations could be resolved

peacefully. if they are not able or willing, to forgive the other person directly, then call on a mediator. that is what, if you want to go buy my book, you can read that. [laughter] i use some examples that i have experienced in my own life to illustrate this. i teach the same thing in my lessons, my bible lessons in sunday school. sunday before last, the subject was forgiveness. i used the same example. host: thank you. maybe steve was there for sunday school. rosalynn: i have been in negotiations, negotiating sessions with jimmy. i used to go years ago. i would take notes about the negotiations. you cannot believe how people hate each other.

they just never, they're never going to forgive. what they need is a good, a really good negotiator like jimmy. he has done some really significant negotiating and gotten people together. host: i certainly agree. [applause] mrs. carter, another one just for you. what progress and mental health issues do you see in the next five years? what are your goals for the united states mental health system? rosalynn: my goal is to overcome stigma and have everyone with a mental health issue get help. i think it ought to be what it is, have to cover mental-health issues the way they do other issues.

we are seeing a lot of progress. i have my fingers crossed, i think it is happening fast. the stigma is lifting. we are moving back to the community. the mental health community. working on integration, mental health and substance abuse. also, having mental health professionals and primary care doctors, in primary care doctors offices, does great things. so many people with illnesses have mental issues, too. to bring them together. and mental health professionals in a primary care doctor's office could recognize mental illness, and be sure that person got treatment.

the medical schools don't give training on mental health issues as they should. it is getting to be better, but when we started working on this issue, many years ago, some schools had six weeks, or three months, and that was unusual, but no school had trade -- training, because we didn't know how to treat people. when i first started. that kept up for a long time. there is still so much research going on, and we are working on prevention now. people can be, can recover from mental illnesses and lead good lives. it is just exciting to be in the mental health field. host: thank you very much. much of that is thanks to mrs.

carter's efforts over many decades. [applause] president carter, building on the success of guinea worm, is there another disease we could eradicate in the next 20 years? pres. carter: as many of you know, we have located at the carter center the only organization that analyzes every human illness regularly to see which diseases might possibly be eliminated from a particular region, or eradicated from the world. the international task force from disease eradication has been here, how long, john? years. it is the only one. we have with us, the gates foundation and world health organization's and others like that who have expert knowledge. they come to the carter center, and we analyze every human illness on a sequential basis,

and identify those that can be eliminated. i think that, if i had to say this from the carter center perspective, it would be river blindness. we shifted from consoling it every year to giving multiple doses, and by doing that, we can eliminate it from a certain country. we have targeted four countries and are on the verge of doing it in more. if we do it country by country, and get to the end of the river blindness, it would be eradicated. bill and melinda gates have talked seriously about malaria being targeted for total elimination from the world, which would be eradication. there are others, as well. they are not so well-known as those two. i would say those two are good possibilities. host: thank you.

here is a question from sherry, who signs it with a heart. president carter, would you like someday for one of your grandchildren are great-grandchildren would be -- to be governor or president or both? why or why not? and how would you advise that? pres. carter: i have one grandson, one particular grandson -- [laughter] [applause] carter: i don't know what plans he has for the future, but i have great-grandchildren, i think it is a good thing. because the sweep of republicans over the country this past election, we have learned about our state and ourselves. he is learned about what the people want and need. it is an educational process.

it hurts not to be elected at the end, i don't think i have known any close friends who have run for office who was sorry they ran. i think it is a wonderful educational process. i would be glad to see any of my progeny, or descendents, who wanted to get involved in politics directly or indirectly. host: terrific. how do you believe the united states should respond to the current threat posed by isis? pres. carter: i would like to see the united states be more aggressive in dealing with isis. as you know, isis has taken over the eastern part of syria, and has gone into iraq nearby across the border. they have taken over a good portion of iraq, as well. there was a program on television either last night or the night before about the

christians in iraq being decimated. they used to have, before we invaded iraq, not too long ago, christians and sunni muslims and shia muslims, the leaders came to my home to say how all three of them are thriving and getting along well with each other. the archbishop of a church there came along with them. they are now in hiding, and they have no guarantee that they will survive. from a christian basis, i think we need to concentrate on doing away with isis, which is dedicated not only to destroying mosques with which they don't agree, but also eliminating every christian that abides in areas where they live. i would like to see the united states be more forceful in dealing directly with isis. i would at least publicly favor sending ground -- i would not

publicly favor sending ground troops in, but i think better analysis of what is going on there, i think we could cooperate with others, even the russians and syrians, excuse me, the iranians, in dealing with isis. i don't think there's much doubt that the outside would not be able to work that out. but with the united states and russia and iran's cooperation they can concentrate on isis more. the first opposition to isis should be muslim countries that have good weapons and good money. but they don't want to put their people in danger, in direct combat. the main forces fighting isis in

iraq and syria are the irani -- the iranians. although we all want to attack isis, we have a hard time cooperating with the iranians. if we could get together with them, and the russians, and concentrate on isis, that would be the best long-term way to address the problem, perhaps. host: i have one little lighter for you. pres. carter: these are questions nobody knows how to answer. host: this one comes from seven-year-old elizabeth. she writes, what was your favorite thing to do as president? pres. carter: go to camp david. i think if everything we had -- my favorite thing was the family life we had in the white house.

amy was seven ars old when we got there. nine years old when we got there. three years old when i became governor. two of our sons and their wives and families were there. we had a grandson born the first -- the first month we were in the white house. so we had a good family life in the white house. the primary part of my official duties i enjoyed was dealing with foreign affairs. the president of the united states under the constitution has a much greater authority and responsibility in dealing with foreign countries than we do in handling domestic affairs. everything has to go by the federal board for finances or the federal bank or congress or the public. when somebody says a president is responsible for inflation, or

something like that, i would say the president has one fourth of the responsibility for the economy. congress has about one fourth, perhaps the federal reserve bank has one fourth. the private sector has one fourth. i think dealing with foreign policy was the best thing i did, the thing i enjoyed. i was able when i went into office national never asked me to bring together the egyptians and the israelis to promote peace. forne ever asked me diplomatic relations with china. no one ever asked to deal with the panama canal issue. no one ever asked me to try to do away with apartheid in africa. couldwith the things i initiate on mild. you see how it is much easier and enjoyable to deal with

issues that are foreign policy. thank you, president carter. here is a question from burrell meeks in richland, georgia. bothoing to address it to president and mrs. carter. growing up, but your favorite childhood game and what -- how did it influence your later life? carter: i think basketball. i think that is what i enjoyed most. i even wrote a donkey in a -- rode a donkey in a donkey basketball game. [laughter] mrs. carter: but i do enjoy basketball. president carter: thorogood trotters -- the harlem ouretrotters played in

town. at that time, i was very fast, but i didn't have any fast breaks. i couldn't reach the goal, of course, but not that height makes all the difference. every high school, no matter how small, if they couldn't have a football team and most of us could not, we did have basketball and baseball. baseball would have been my favorite, and still is my favorite sport professionally. baseball season took place during the planning and cultivating time. ,ll the farm boys, including me we felt like the first obligation is to help our farm.s on -- on the basketball worked the best with that.

mrs. carter: we had great competition and we could beat them. a champion.was nation can we do as a about civil rights? present court -- president i thought with the civil breathe als we could

sigh of relief, that we could ravages ofrcome the racism left over from slavery. after theundred years war we had supremacy for white people. it has been shown rightly that dream of overcoming it was misplaced. we still have a lot of racism in our country. and within the consciousness of some of the individual citizen. and i think a lot of it is indigenous to the south. racism is bill really important.

-- is still really important. i think having elected president obama was a step in the right direction. we have 22 voters in our family in the last election. we have another one now, an australian who has become an american citizen. he can vote now. we had 22 votes and all of them went for obama. we didn't have anything against hillary, but collectively we thought this would be a good step in the right direction. it hasn't worked that way. i think the best thing we can do is to go back to the universal declaration of human rights. as i said in college lectures and sometimes in my bible classes, the formulation of universal declaration of human rights in the late 1940's was when the citizens of the world reached the highest possible level of commitment to the basic

moral and ethical values that are exemplified by all the great religions, by judaism and christianity and islam and hinduism and buddhism. that is when we made a commitment, with 30 three paragraphs, that we would pledge ourselves to treat everybody equally and peacefully. and that would be, if we would follow that, we would bring racism, and i think most wars, to an end. almost two years ago now, i wrote an op-ed piece, and pointed out that of the 30 paragraphs in the universal declaration of human rights, that the united states was violating 10 of them. and we still are. we don't treat everybody in our country equally, to give them the rates they deserve.

-- the rights that they deserve. anyway, i think, to go back to the religious faith, or to go back to the universal declaration of human rights, is the only avenue in the long-term to do away with what is an almost inherent human trait, and that is mistrusting other people -- and that is, thinking we are better than other people because of race or where we live or because of economic status of our parents or something like that. we look down on other people as inferior. that is the primary sin in racism. host: thank you, president carter. we have time for one last question for both president and mrs. carter. the question is, over the lifetime of your work, what is the thing you are most proud of? that is addressed to both of you. pres. carter: i answered that in my previous press conference,

when i said the best thing that ever happened to me was marrying rosalynn. [applause] pres. carter: i think i was very proud when i was elected president of the united states. that is an opportunity that doesn't come to many people. i have been particularly blessed by that opportunity to lead a great country, and i was proud also to keep our country at peace for four years, which few presidents have done through history. we protect the interests of our country, and we promoted human rights as best i could. in general, i am proud i was able to serve as leader is this -- of this country. [applause]

rosalynn: and i was proud of him when he was president. jimmy passmore legislation than -- jimmy passed more legislation than any president except lyndon johnson. since the world war -- world war i? world war ii. good legislation. we made friends in the world. we worked on overcoming racism. it was just a great administration, and i think people are beginning to realize what a great president he was. [applause] mrs. carter: as far as i'm concerned, i think personally -- >> [inaudible] [applause]

carter: as far as i'm concerned, i think, mental health issues was the best thing i've done, because so much has changed and i was able to .xperience it not that i let everybody in the right direction, but at least i had the eggs. i had the experience of seeing all of this develop. host: you did a lot more than just watch. [applause] host: and with that, we will wrap up this conversation. i would like to thank president and mrs. carter for taking the time to be with all of us and i would like to thank you for all of your interest in the great work of the center. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> tonight on the communicators, commissioners for the federal trade commission, terrell mcsweeney and mari paul house and on protection of personal data and privacy. is inre the fcc steps and all of this unregulated space that is evolving very rapidly and where huge innovation is occurring, but directly impacts

tumors, their privacy, -- directly impacts consumers, their privacy and information. the -- >> now that the sec has reclassify broadband service as a common carrier, it is never too service. i am concerned that we will not be able to text consumers as well online because of the request occasion. >> tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific on c-span2. francis continues his tour today. he is in cuba and met with the cuban revolutionary leader fidel castro after warning cubans to -- to be aware of the ideology of selfishness. today. from the hill

again, the pope is coming to washington, d.c. tomorrow. live comments of the pope's visit, including his visit to the white house and his , see it allo mass live on the c-span networks and here it on c-span radio. get all the details i'd our website -- at our website www.c-span.org. attorney general loretta lynch and john conyers were among those on a panel at its 45th conference. trying to bring reforms to the nation's criminal justice system and others. this is 2.5 hours.

mr. goff: good morning. it is my pleasure to be at the top mike up here and to moderate what i hope will be a panel where we can get some wisdom on the topic of policing and police reform, particularly for our communities. when i was asked to speak today, asked to moderate today, i did as a normally do and went straight to bible study and thought, well, what wisdom can be offered on the issue of race and policing in contemporary america? and as is generally the case with my bible, which is wiser than i, i opened it straight to proverbs 4:7. it says wisdom is the principal thing and therefore get wisdom. and in all the get, get understand. somebody say wisdom. now in a moment when black lives matter is not just the call by

-- not just the call, but the response, is not just the art by the science, i tend to meditate on the wisdom of what does it mean? what are we called to do? what is required of us when a person or group of people matters to us? what is required of me if i love you, if you matter to me is not just that i get to know you, that i understand you, but that i get to know and understand the things that influence you. if i have a child, i am not a responsible parent if i love that child and ignore the friends that the child is hanging out with. if i have a partner that i'm thinking of marrying, it is not responsible for me to love him or her and have no idea with their friends are saying about me. and in black lives matter -- if black lives matter, it is not responsible of us as a people, as a nation, to be loving black folks while ignoring the law

enforcement that is affecting their lives every day. if i want to get wisdom on how to make black lives matter, i need to take seriously the idea that we need to increase our literacy on police issues. we need to understand policing. ok. and i don't just mean that we need to read about it in the paper. i mean, we need to answer some fundamental questions about the character and content of policing. so i have some fundamental questions here. how many people were pulled over in their vehicle by police last year? raise your hand if you know the answer. raise it high because we all want to know. ok, we'll skip that one. how many times was force used by a police officer against a citizen of the united states last year? go ahead, raise your hands up high, we need to know. maybe we'll skip that one as

well. how about this. are residentially segregated communities more likely to have increased police presence than racially i want grated -- than racially integrated communities? raise your hand if you've got data to prove that point. raise it up high, because i need to know. our lack of literacy on police issues to this date is a national embarrassment. we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. and all of us who want to proclaim that we need to do better, myself included, i've gone from the bible, i've got to go to my mama. you can't be loud and wrong. you can't be loud and ignorant. we need to know if black lives matter, then we need to take seriously the project of coming to understand policing.

of coming to become not just literate but fluent in the culture of policing on its own terms, its own sake, and the way we need to understand the friends of our children, the friends of our partners and the character of this country. if black lives matter, we need to take policing seriously. somebody say wisdom. so that is the goal of today. up here we have some of nation's best at fixing our national embarrassment of a lack of data and lack of understanding. i'm proud to have partners up here in the center for policing equities national justice database, the first and largest collection of data on police behavior and we are going to be hearing from people that, from their tireless efforts, from their lifelong commitments and from the job they're doing right now, today, right before they showed up and right after they leave this meeting, are helping to correct the embarrassment, the lack of wisdom that we have.

on how we can make good on our requirements of making black lives matter. so everyone up here and those who will come in at a later point, we'll get about seven minutes to speak -- will get about seven minutes to speak. we'll answer questions amongst ourselves and we want to make sure there are questions we get from you all. stay with us. stay engaged. i'll be giving very, very, very brief introductions for everyone. ok. then they will expand on their particular topic. we may not be in black church, but we are of black church, so some of you may be moved to respond today. coming from the middle of the panel, i'll pick on one of my very good friends, the director of the office, ron davis who thought he was going to be safe by sitting in the middle and wasn't going to have to go first, but i think it's important to hear from federal voices in terms of what is moving on this first. ron davis, having spent a lifetime in law enforcement in

oakland, then as one of the most distinguished chiefs in the nation in pa lo alto, a trendsetter, an innovator in policing is now the first african-american director of the cops office and has been doing tremendous work in collaborative reform and giving some carrots to police departments, and not just sticks. i'll allow him to go ahead and introduce his topic now. i would prefer to see you stand. join me in welcoming director davis. [applause] mr. davis: good morning. i will say -- i would say thank you, but i'm not. i'll get you later. it's great to be here. i think this is probably great timing and great topic. i spent 34 years in law enforcement before coming to the cops office. 20 years in oakland, a community that faces a lot of challenges, then 8 1/2 years plus at east palo alto, another great,

diverse city that faces challenges. i came to the cops office, i think what i brought with me was this understanding, watching the evolution of policing over the last 30 years. i think back when i was hired as a rookie cop in 1985, they had a special program for 12-year-olds. see if you catch that. [laughter] i got hired in 1985 as a rookie cop, where we were at as a profession. those who have been around a while, that was at the beginning of the crack epidemic. i think about what brought me value as a street officer, how i was evaluated, what was policing about? it was heavily about enforcing. the way you excelled in the organization was by making more and more arrests. that was it. if you came to me in 1985 saying you believe in re-entry, i would say, absolutely my job is to re-enter parolees back to prison, because nobody changes.

clearly we've evolved and know that's just not the case. and despite our best efforts, we have made a lot of progress since the 1980's, we're more diverse, more evidence based, but the things we haven't done have left a lot of communities behind. the first step we have to do, dr. goff is good at this the first thing to stop and start with is acknowledging the role law enforcement has played throughout history in oppressing certain communities. we have to acknowledge that because it creates generational distrust. when you see people demonstrating, who are disconnected, they're december in-- disenfranchised, this system doesn't seem to serve them the way it's supposed to. what i would tell you in 30 years here, i have never seen such an opportunity. i was in the police department when the rodney king incident occur. it usually seems to come and then go. this, i think, is fair to say, i believe we're amid a new civil rights movement in the united states. the question for my colleagues in blue and in uniform, what

role will police say in the -- will the police play in the civil rights movement. in the 1960's, we played a role of disrupting it, trying to prevent it. in the 21st century i think we'll play a role in facilitating it and being part of it because we need to make changes. if you recall a lot of things going on in the country in december of last year, the president announced he creation of the president's task force in 21st century policing he identified 11 outstanding members to lead this. i was honored enough to serve as executive director of the task force with the cops office. these 11 people were diverse. they were police chiefs, academics, young people coming off the lines in ferguson, demonstration lines, coming off the lines in new york. they were academics and civil rights attorneys who admitted their whole career was suing police departments. when we started this diverse group had such diverse views, people wondered could we come together to build anything. i think we learned that diverse

views are not divisive view. within the diversity they were -- there is a difference between being diverse and being divided. within the diversity they were able to come together and build consensus. i think the first lesson is that you can bring people with diverse views to the table and still build consensus. the challenge is you have to bring people that will stretch you out of your limits. you can't just invite the people you're comfortable with, you have to invite the people you're not. they came up with 60 recommendations, hopefully we'll have a chance to talk about throughout the day and throughout this session on how to build trust and how to make our nation safer. when the president charged the task force he was clear. he wanted concrete recommendations to build trust between the police and community and he wanted to make sure that we would continue and have thing -- continue enhancing public safety. that's what taps was able to do. this is the report out there. now the charge will be to make sure this report doesn't sit on the shelf, that it becomes alive, that it's operationalized that people embrace it around

the country that department will use it as a road map. i'm traveling all over the country and seeing police chiefs reporting to the community those things they have implemented, those things they need to implement, working with the community to advance it. this has to be driven by everyone, not just the police. we are co-producers of public safety, the community and police together. as we start talking about policing, i want to end with this. think about a couple of comments that drive me to be a police chief. that is, as we start talking about fighting crime and violence, sometime in that fight is where we lose our way. as we start struggling with crime rates and homicides and violence we can lose our way because we want to think the only thing we're supposed to do is reduce crime and we lose the fact that public safety is not just the absence of crime but also the presence of justice. so i want you to think about this. if you think about a

neighborhood, whoever controls the open public space of the neighborhood controls the quality of life for people who live there. think about your neighborhood, think about where you grew up, especially in you are been -- in the urban centers. whoever controls the open space controls the quality of life. if gang members and drug dealers control it people live in fear. if police control it, people feel oppressed. the only rightful owner of the public space is the community. the role of police is not to take over the public space, not to saturate it with stop and frisk, not to take thousands to jail. not to spread the incarceration rates. it is to empower and work with the community to take control of their own public space so they can be alive, well, and activity will reduce crime. it's all about regaining control of the neighborhoods by the community, with the community, and not against it and not fighting it. in 30 years i would say, we're at a defining moment in american policing history. we have a small window of opportunity that comes with any crisis. i caution, the window of opportunity will close very quickly.

it's usually replaced with a door of past mistakes. let's not go down that road, repeating past mistakes. let's have the courage to have the kind of discussions we're supposed to have. let's use words like race and bias, talk about excessive force, talk about supporting officers and not every cop is bad, not every young person is bad. we need to have courage to have the discussions, we need to have courage to talk about what we need in the future, we need to come together. this is one of those times, when it's time for know leave this office, i want to be able to say that we came together that we worked together and that the country is better for it. i'll tell you something, when i look at the officers right now, i'll say this, for those who may be apprehensive, take some solace knowing, i'm seeing a new generation of officers that are smarter, people will get mad at me for saying this, but i'll say it anyway. that come from more diverse environments. they want to do the right thing, we have to help them. i'm seeing chiefs willing to learn and willing to embrace. let's not make this a fight. let's make it a dialogue.

i'm looking forward to the questions that you all may have. i will get you back later. thank you. [applause] mr. goff: it is now my absolute pleasure and honor to introduce the representative of michigan's 13th district and the man who has introduced more civil rights legislation than any other individual in the history of this country, representative john conyers. [applause] mr. conyers: top of the morning, everybody. great to be here. i'm pleased to be here to help convene the annual forum on criminal justice reform. this year, we're joined by

policing practices experts to help us gain a better understanding of the challenges to resolving the growing divide between the police and minority communities which they serve. i say that carefully. we want to understand the challenges to resolve the growing divide between the police and minority communities which they serve. the tragic deaths of michael brown, eric garner, walter scott, freddie gray, have sparked pain and outrage in communities across the nation, calling for congressional action.

now, for many in our communities, the death of these men along with many others represents a continuing and dangerous cycle of disproportionate use of force against men of color. we must find here, today, this weekend, concrete solutions to stop this pattern. we need to ease racial tension in america by rebuilding our communities in a balanced way. where everyone receives equal education. that's where it starts.

job opportunities and a fair shot at the american dream. equal education is where it starts but the home is where it really starts, isn't it? it's the home. the sad truth about this kind of incident is that its root causes are tied together with societal racism, that brand black citizens as predators and police practice that treats them as potential perpetrators, breeding distrust between law enforcement and the community that they are bound to protect. responding to this destructive cycle requires a broad-based approach. to address police practices, i

was proud to pass 42 usc 14141, the federal statute, as part of a 1994 crime bill. to allow the department of justice to sue or provide local police departments with resources necessary to address dangerous and discriminatory practices that result in excessive force or racial profiling. this statute, this law has been used successfully across the nation to reduce the number of police-involved shootings, illustrative of the positive effect of legislative reform efforts. the effects of 42 usc 14141 along with the introduction of h.r. 1933, the end racial profiling act, play a crucial

role in breaking historically unjust practices of law enforcement. racial profiling is an issue that affects many people of color on a regular basis, let's face it, and is just one piece of the greater issue of unjust practices directed toward minorities in different communities across the nation. h.r. 1933 was introduced to directly address the issue of the illegal use of race by law enforcement agencies. it represents a comprehensive federal commitment to healing the rift caused by racial profiling and restoring public confidence in the criminal justice system. it is designed to enforce the constitutional right to the

equal protection of law by changing the policies and procedures underlying the act of racial profiling. and further, i've introduced h.r. 2875, the law enforcement trust and integrity act. this legislation provides incentives for local police organizations to voluntarily adopt performance-based standards to ensure that incidents of misconduct will be minimized through appropriate management training and oversight protocols. and that if such incidents do occur, they will be properly investigated. the bill also provides police officers, the vast majority of whom are pretty decent people

concerned with their communities, with the tools necessary to work with their communities to enhance their professional growth and education. we must continue the discussion on criminal justice reform, develop legitimate plans to make local law enforcement agencies more accountable to their communities. until we develop a concrete plan to address the root causes, we can only wait to see tragic events repeated across other communities. and so this panel will feature experts from the department of justice, law enforcement, and the advocacy community to provide an overview of the continuing challenges in police-community relations.

law enforcement accountability and transparency and racial profiling. and i am pleased now to turn the floor over to professor goff from the center on policing equity. thank you, and it's good to see all of you here. [applause] mr. goff: as the professor on the dais, i feel there are lots of different modes of learning

we have available to us. i'd like to now turn over the far end of the dais to ms. tonya bennett. she was -- sorry, i have the wrong -- her voice is here present with us. her spirit -- i apologize. let me have you introduce yourself so i don't get any more details wrong. i apologize. thank you. [applause] ms. house: good morning. i am tanya clay house.

i will be speaking on behalf of the lawyers committee, but i will be leading the lawyer -- i will be leaving the lawyers committee, my last day was tuesday but i'm still here on behalf of the lawyers committee. i will be heading into the department of education as deputy assistant secretary. so, of course, some of the issues that i want to talk about today are dealing with school discipline. we'll get to that as well. i do appreciate -- thank you phillip, for the introduction and thank you to mr. conyers, i don't know if he's still here, for allowing me to be on the panel today. i've been able to participate on these panels for a while, it's a

great opportunity to have you come here today and hear what things are going on. we don't often get that chance being, we're here inside the beltway. but you need to understand exactly how things are really working. and so as lone woman up here today, i want to talk about a couple of issues with regards to black women and policing. some of the distinctions, unique factors that are faced. so let me, without further ado, kind of go into a few things. as the lawyers committee, our mission is to eliminate racial discrimination. we were founded by former were founded by former president john f. kennedy back in 1963 and not only to eliminate racial discrimination but protect our civil rights laws. part of that mandate requires we engage on issues that we see there is an inherent discrepancy, that there's disparities that are occurring.

and the criminal justice system has been one of those for years. recently what has happened across the country, seeing a lot more focus on some of the policing issues, this is a larger function of what is happening in the criminal justice perspective. as result of the highlighting, which has been going on for years, with the advent of cell phones and cameras, we are seeing a lot of that now. the civil rights coalition on police reform was formed a little over a year ago, and we meet weekly. one of the things we did to ,ring in national organizations the state organizations, grassroot activists, and we tried to have a strategy where we can figure out what are the

things you need to be doing top to bottom. and so i appreciate the conversations that we have had throughout the months. we have had many conversations with ron davis. we had conversations with the department of justice. we met with them tuesday. that in formula of a couple things. part of our conversations in the department of justice is where are we on these investigations that are occurring, what are the updates, how're things being pursued? for uslways lightening to get this information because we also know that those beyond a lot of us in the organizations do not understand how that process is working. and so it was good for us to have the conversation because right now what we are want to do is we will put together a webinar to bring everybody together, this is how the process is working at the doj.

you need to understand things are going on, things are actually happening in baltimore, things are happening in ferguson. thats are happening happened in ohio and things are continuing the limitation program in louisiana. this is good work that the department is doing, but they're some words that can be done. part of that work needs to be about policy reform. so while we absolutely appreciate the creation of the force, there are some things we need to continue to work on, the broken windows policy, which is a policy engaged across the country by many law enforcement agencies that utilize more aggressive lesser crimes with the idea that somehow that is ymying furtherudyi

racial profiling. -- ofs the result of what these broken window policies. that is what we have to address that has to be done on a policy level, that has to be fundamental change within law enforcement. in addition to that, i mentioned we talked with the department of justice with issues of women, because we often hear about the impact of the profiling that we will hear more about, and black women have a unique perspective because the power structure is much different when it comes to the policing of particularlyral, black women, because we are xualized, and made to feel

we are overly aggressive. there is a letter respect him a lot of appreciation, and it over aggressive tactics that are engaged off and on black women in the of the difference power structures engaged. we have heard about sandra bland, hole over for changing lanes, and ends up dying in police custody. there's a concern about what is going on as there is an investigation happening and we are continuing to follow that situation. we have not heard as much of others, and many of our other mckenna.jones, in the month of july we had at least five black women that died in police custody. these are statistics have to get is been an issue of data collection, so we will hear more that we need to make sure we are getting information in so we know what we do not

know, because there is so much happening across the country. istly, with the two minutes have left, let me just say, i wanted to focus on where a lot of us are beginning, which is the policing of man and women often begins in the school. -- there is anow over criminalization that is happening within our schools. we have what are called school resource officers who are pleasing the school, in schools that have a high proportion of minority students. what happens is you have our kids he arrested. ader beingeate shackled and cut because he had an outburst. he had autism, and he was screaming for 15 minutes because nobody understood that there were other techniques that could

be used in order to work with him. we have kids that are being -- havingor bringing a volcano that exploded in the classroom and all of a sudden they are arrested. you have situations where preschoolers are being thrown -- preschoolnded -- what did you do in preschool? i'm serious. i have a two-year-old and a six-year-old. haven't heard it, they are boys. they got a little bit hyper, my goodness. when we were growing up, this was not the case. we have got to deal with what is happening in schools and how it is beginning that relationship with our children and between police. they are getting that really on, and our kids are being to not only early on to fear please, but police are being taught that our children are not worth the -- theyand not worth are not human beings. they are only look at as potential criminals.

his mentality has to stop. i urge all of you as we this discussion from the beginning. we've got to do what is happening in the schools, with the policing, and the racial disparities which is leading to our prison pipeline. i appreciate the opportunity to be here today, and i look forward for continuing engagement. i apologize it is not as a result of my changing jobs that i am overbooked and have to leave early. i am staying with you as long as i can, and want to make sure we have a wonderful opportunity to discuss. so thank you so much. [applause] goff: thank you, and i anya had too what t say. when we're looking at the way law enforcement is engaging with our communities, you are seeing the ways in which black vascular

entity, black men are being -- black masculinity, black men are being addressed. they were not captured things in test datesning and things that are happening under carter, human trafficking or sex work. as where women are most vulnerable. as we move to reform, let's make sure we keep in mind we do not reinstantiate the way men are -- we now have a perfect time to bring in mr. thomas. gregory has been a forward thinker on all these issues for quite some time. 15 tweetss, 17 blogs, in the last 10 minutes. he is an innovator from the old and new schools the and is a central voice and mickey for we

are able to see the humanity of this community and the humanity of the officers who are sworn to protect them. so please join me in welcoming canada. mr. thomas: officials recommended evaluation of developing process to address discriminatory practices and policies of police. they recommended the development of police unit to teach students to pass police entrance exams. finally, they proposed the establishment of departmental guidelines for field investigations, stop and frisk procedures, and identification all in an effort to reduce harassment. to better define the role of the black please second, official recommended black executives right to publish policy papers. it was recommended also that black police executives at the

gate a re-examination of assignment practices and promotion procedures to ensure equal opportunity for advancement. the officials also recommended that blackley's executives seem to establish the executive career development programs to ensure that upward mobility of black police officers. that blackmended police executives encourage black officers at the entry level ranks to prepare for exams by initiating study classes. lastly, it was recommended that black police executives be accountable to the black community and be urged to speak to the black community within the department and the community at large. good afternoon. the regulations i just read to you are a small bit of paraphrasing, recommendations that were made during the course of a law enforcement symposium held in washington, d.c. the symposium that was attended lawver 60 top ranking black

enforcement executives that representative 24 states. a symposium that was held to exchange views about the critically high rate of crime in like urban communities and the socioeconomic conditions that lead to crime and violence. the symposium i'm referring to was held in washington, d.c., on september 7 two the ninth, 1976. it was during this symposium that the national rosacea is of law enforcement executives was founded. i stand now as the president of organization. after hearing these regulations made over 39 years ago, and the second 19 century french critic itr seems to have gotten right when he made these statements -- the more things change, the more they stay the same. recent events like those that occurred in staten island, new york, ferguson, missouri, at

baltimore will forever be seared in american history and the american conscience as days and events were policing went bad. of have caused a tide regulations for policy interest groups, policy experts, and those in the public who think they are experts on how to fix a broken law enforcement and criminal justice system. 40e we are again, close to years after the founding of the met toation, after they discuss the very same issues we are discussing today. here we are again putting on a collective thinking caps to solve a problem or problems that our group already knew how to solve. we have mentioned the task force that the president together on policing. we are a member of that task force and did a lot of work to ensure we heard the voices of our members regarding the needs.

involved in been another work done by the cops office and have supported togressman conyers' work look at police reform. we involved to make sure there is pleased and ability, and make sure there is reasonable accountability, that we can reach those ceilings as it relates to assessing police departments, taking them better. i also took pride that i got a phone call midday on wednesday from the white house where the senior advisor to the president arrett called me to talk about more what became due to advance this conversation in please reforms. you should know that noble has been involved since 1978. also make sure we have a balanced conversation about beingour singular acts conducted by police officers around the country. we know that, but not all police are back.

we need to make sure we raise the level of expectation for police officers, to recognize those doing the work well and keep them on the forefront because i do not know anybody in this room that specs to call 911 no matter where you are and what answers. with thesomebody there right context and respect for your community and who you are in the community. as we discussed the need for police accountability and form, i would ask that we not discount and forget the lessons and challenges of the past because if we do, we are surely doomed to repeat them. thank you. [applause] goff: it is now my pleasure ckesson.duce mr. m twitter knowsn that he loves his blackness.

he does not speak for the movement. he's been from self, but when he hear many in the movement their voices echo. he has been an invaluable voice at making sure that those who are at institutions of power, who have positions of authority, changee that capacity to institutions and to use it for the good are held accountable and kept accountable to the voices of those are not used to participating in this democracy. it is my honor to bring mr. mckesson to the floor. [applause] mr. mckesson: i apologize for being late. i am a protester. i was one of the ferguson that has been too many cities, standing alongside protesters across the country. i have a big social media latform.

i will cover a couple points that, but often. one is the notion around community policing. it is really racially coded. it's a often means let's put police -- let's have been all over communities. for so many people that means another form of surveillance, not the type of policing we are thinking about. those communities are safe not because they are flooded with police, but they are resourced differently. we want to contemplate that for people, that when people talk about communities, it means something that is racially coded. there's the thing about what the police are in community and if they played basketball with people and if they knew it, neighborhoods would be safer because of relationships. you do not need to know my name, not to harm me. and when you think about the upper west side, it is those kids walking to school, the police are not escorting them.

?hat are you doing after school let's go play basketball. policing, have about raises always act like. i'd i was at another panel was and he said joined the police, being part of the change you want to be a part of or something. you should think about joining the police department if you want to be a part of the change. when we say to people, i do not need a police officer for the police to be doing their job well. we can press on the institution and expect instant of the institution because it is a public institution. i want to contemplate the way we think about crime. somebody said one of the police members present, the fleas is where the crime is. that was her response. i think the police is not from wall street. the police on the wall street on t side, that is

not true, and when i said that, i said that is also racist functioning. we talk about nonblack omeple, crime bec domestic violences about this pervasive notion of crime. is how we talk about baltimore, like this is to be unsafe. i was a the response to violence is violence. it might have been on sick, the notthat that communities is to press and harm people. there is a fascinating research out that i will push people to look at. we talk about implicit bias and the police and testing. there is research that test this him.ur research -- that's

you should read his research, it is great. about testing masculinity and as aity, we have to talk, better predictor of aggressive policing that racial bias might be. estimated research. and samson out of harvard came out with interesting research that pushes back on that we talk about the and of -- we believe that is important. he argues -- and he calls that public disorder. what he is saying is private disorder is what is leading to a lot of violence newsies, this idea that violence in communities, that it is leading to landlord-tenant disputes that ripple into violence that we call community phyla, but them -- community violence,. it is an interesting thing we are starting to explore. there's always this? can we work together?

that requires an acknowledgment from the police and institution of policing, that there is stuff to be worked on. the police are saying it is always conditional apologies. we over police the protesters in baltimore because they sat down on the street. it is not like we should have never sprayed that and who just had his hands up. until the police are willing to come to the table with a full acknowledgment of the thing we might not have done, i don't know how we work together. we had a great meeting the other day. there is something about the institution of policing that is problematic for so many people.

it's a platform of policy solutions around policing because we believe we can at least structurally end police violence. the police have killed people every day this year except for nine days in all states but three. and we believeem we can and this structurally and we want to complicate this notion of safety. the safety community is not predicated on the presence of police. policingo decentered and the way we think about what it means to be safe. safety becomes about jobs and workforce development. georgetown is not safe because we police are there. i will talk about policing and contracts. this is the institution of policing. there are a lot of cities where police officers are find or perched or system medically removed.

, there are afficer policeplaces where a officer cannot give a statement in the first 48 hours, all these mechanisms that guarantee there will not be accountability. chicago, for an officer to get a lie detector test, the person that accused him has to take a lie detector test and pass it. we do want to complicate this conversation and we struggle with things like community leasing and away the police come to the table to talk about how to move forward trade i appreciate being here. i apologize for being late. [applause] >> the next introduction it's my privilege to make is hilary

shelton. have your moments. she serves as a director of the ncaa. he serves the 101st senator. inhas been instrumental bringing forward the civil rights act of 1991, the voting rights restoration act and every act that needs to be restored and civil and justice and rights and rice, hilary shelton has been a part of this. [applause] shelton: good morning. i'm honored to be here. policing in our community is a comprehensive problem that

requires a comprehensive approach. i'm honored to sit on this panel because so much of what we are talking about now is systems, research, assessment, even implementation. to ron davis, for me, is almost like the story of -- hear about the weekend fisherman who loves to tell the stories about the big one that got away? i'm that weekend fisherman and he is jonah from the bible. i appreciate that. all the other brothers and sisters around this panel and those who will come in later. i would remiss if i did not john conyers. we were delighted to be with him. we talk about these issues and challenges, we have to talk about the issue of ending racial

profiling. mr. conyers introduced the stop racial profiling act. outside there -- i hope on your way out you will grab this packet. i hope you will grab these because it particularly details it there as well, the understanding and next nation of these and dissolution of these are in this packet. it is laying down a foundation and understanding what the issues are. there, fromh is this moment and beyond, for us to be actively involved in a process that has stalled for years and years on commonsense approaches to approach policing within our communities. the end racial profiling act starts that process. we have many police officers that involve themselves in

racial profiling. i say the words racial profiling, it's quite fascinating to me that the men who led the charge just walking out of this room, i hope you will give him another huge round of applause for mr. john conyers. [applause] thank you so much. there's not one professional law enforcement person will tell you that we need to have change of policy without data. good data leads to good law enforcement. for some reason, some of those within the law enforcement immunity have stopped us from collecting that data -- community have stopped us from collecting that data. police uniont the -- fop, thank you very much. the fraternal order of police sent a letter to john conyers

when we introduced a data collection bill and they said simply, mr. conyers, we oppose your bill simply to collect data on routine traffic stops. he said, we do not want our police officers "involved" in sociological experiments. on one hand we want data to craft policy. on the other hand we don't want to collect the data. that is why this bill is so crucial, the end racial profiling act. making sure they do what they're supposed to be doing. for those of you who drove down we determined about 17% of the driving population is african-american. of all delaware, 70% routine traffic stops, african-american. we have a real problem, but only the data will tell. conyers, for.

making sure that happens. we have to change our policies around policing. training is only as good as the policy on which you are training. at what point can they use force leading to deadly force? we would all be quite amazed, this has happened with a number of people including a 12-year-old kid playing on a playground. for some reason it became acceptable in every one of these controversial cases. whoever was the chief spokesperson for law enforcement agencies, to come to the microphone and say they went by the book. i thank god that john conyers recognized this as well and said, if you're thinking this is what the law says, you have to change the law. when can they use the taser?

when should they use it? gun can they pull out the and when should they use that and when is it acceptable? it is not acceptable for a police officer to pull up to a playground has a kid was reportedly playing with a gun on ,he playground, 12 years of age and within two seconds should him twice in the chest. we have a problem when the police leadership steps forward and says, this is ok. i what point is it acceptable for a child to play with his toy? if it's not on a playground, i don't know where it is. let's pass this will as quick as we can. thank you, mr. conyers, for your leadership on this as well. in essence, we do want body cams. we thank god for dash cams. we want to make sure our policies are in place and at what point they have to leave them on, we have police officers

using body cams. obstructedy become at the time in which the most controversial issues occur. policies must be in place to hold them accountable. it's not just there. -- we want gun cams and taser gams. many of us thought the taser was the nonlethal form of use -- utilized.rce to be we had a case two months ago where young men was tasered once, then three more times before they stopped. because of death wasn't a taser froze up his muscles and he fell off the roof. it was that he fell on the street and hit his head on the corner of -- wasn't that he fell on the street and hit his head on the corner of a curb. it wasn't that a child was taste or somebody was taste and a guide as result of it. he was taste four -- tased four times, and the official cause of death is electrocution.

company has been making one of those for over 10 years. we want all those things recorded. want to make sure we have police accountability review boards, and not this whitewashed stuff we have been seeing where the head of the police department reports back to the police chief what happens. if you have a problem with the irs, it's on you. have a problem and what i should be able to say is, i will do a full review of my taxes, i will do a duplicate report, i will share it with you in 12 font and doublespaced to make sure you know exactly what happened and i can tell you in every single case not only did i not pay enough taxes or i did a too much taxes, you will me a whole lot of money back.

having internal affairs at police departments to oversee police behavior is wrong and it has to stop. in too many of these cases they say the same things, the policy is fine, they adhere to the policy, the kid is dead but that's the way it goes. in that document is a number of policy principles we recommend for local police accountability review boards. it includes independents. you should not go into the police department to complain about the police officer that beat you up on the street. we've had cases in which we did testing. testing, much like the lunch counters of the 1960's, we sent well-trained people into the police department to ask for the form that complaints about police misconduct. i love google. googlehe internet and these cases and what you will see is a young man well-trained asking very nicely for that

report, a form, to fill out. as he stood there first, the desk sergeant said i won't give you a form unless you tell me what you have and to complain about. he said, i don't want to talk about it right now, i want to take it home and fill it out. the sergeant said, i will you do that until you tell me what happened. he said, i really don't want to talk about it. i just want to fill it out and take it home. anotheris was going on, police officer walked out the backdoor of the police station. he went around the corner to come in the front door. at the time the young man was still asking very nicely for that form. he was tackled to the ground for asking for the form to complain. that has to stop. independence is very important. the power to subpoena is very important. the power to compel a grand jury is important. the power to compel the prosecuting attorney, to bring the indictment and work this out

in court is also very important. let me say to my things and i'm out. we just for the first time passed a bill to actually collect data. on u.s.ber of 2014, citizens who die at the hands of police officers. we did not have the data to see how pervasive the problem is. this, because president obama wants to move as quickly as he could, the policies in place. now we have the start collecting data on every time everyone of our children, brothers, mothers, and fathers are killed or harmed by police in our society. if were going to solve the problem, let's make sure we have the proper data to do it right. thank you so much. [applause] >> i feel the need to pass the

offering plate now. hite. chief richard vanguardesident of the just a society, the organization that represented lack chief officers -- black chief officers in baltimore pd. ask him about that experience. please join me in welcoming him. [applause] mr. hite: good afternoon. i was asking myself how i was going to start this conversation. i'm going to be brief. thent to take you back on

course of a 37-year-old cop who child i we did not need police to raise our children in our communities at one point in time. how many people remember dialing 911? raise your hand. when did we dial? we needed police. what number did we dial? zero. there was a lesson learned as a child when you are told how to dial a phone an old rotary. those that don't remember the rotary phone. we dialed zero on only one condition. what was that condition? in an emergency. the only time you dial zero or

911 is an emergency. what did we do before we dial zero? we had to fix the problem, didn't we? we had to talk about it here and we had to share with the community and family. we worked on fixing the problem. why did we stop fixing the problem? even during that time -- i was a young man in the 19 these -- a lot was happening. it was a misuse of power back then even when police were sent ofschools to block doorways colleges and universities and prevent people of color from getting into education. why would we think we would not have to continue maintaining a sense of order and understanding? we had to have conversation in our community before we dial that zero. the other thing that was important to note was in 1968i remember the young man being in school and i remember alastair

friendly came to class. april 4, 1968 came. i got a chance to see officer friendly in another light, standing on broadway in gary, indiana as a young man, watching him don is different uniform, tellingon his helmet, us, forcing us, making us get off the street because of dr. king's death. i realize then that officer friendly had more than one job in our community. how we go about the business of understanding what that looks like an making a difference. the whole notion of community whening really took off people in our community talked about it extensively. i remember 1937, the first

police officers in baltimore -- [indiscernible] i remember hearing that people came from miles around and sit outside those officers' houses and waited for them to go to work. they were proud of the fact that they were police officers. why did we stop? we stop sending people who will make a difference in our community to law enforcement? attention stop paying to those things that are important in our community before we dial zero or 911? why are we using police in a way that we know they don't have a tools to address the issues in our society? the 1980's brought about a change in how we looked at mental health. what happened in the 1980's? what happened to institutions? they close them down.

who decides that law enforcement orderly and jail becomes institution we take people to? a lot of this is origin based. we have to look at how we started this and how we got here. how many of you want to let your sons don a uniform and uphold the constitution? how many people are willing to do that? raise your hand if you're are willing to send a relative to law enforcement today. only a few hands. that's exactly about the number we receive who really care about changing the culture of law enforcement. we have to be involved. it cannot be a spectator sport.

we have to be active participants. i'm a second-generation police officer and we try to make a difference. prejudice. rollcall.t we had to deal with people who had nappy head, was the description they gave act in those days. we are talking the 1970's. discussions about, the natives are restless. who are the natives? whoe's those of us endured it because we fought against it. it started inside the police department. if we allow that to happen at rollcall, we knew what you were facing on the street. people like mr. conyers and

hilary and others and naacp and churches were still behind this and supported this, but it came at a price. there is their platform to speak out about injustice. what happens when you speak out about injustice? support of you will those officers who speak out about injustice? are we prepared to stand behind as they support them speak out about injustice? are we also going to stand behind those officers who go about the business of doing more than putting drugs, guns, and money on pool tables talking about high-fiving and for of the media that says that is the role of police? we are encouraging our kids when they walk up to a police officer, are we encouraging ?on't talk to him

are we really willing to do what's necessary to make a difference in our society? if so, why did we stop? i want us to move forward in our reforms through vanguard and noble. but noble became the organization that recognized the 30's to the leadership. they are making sure there is a difference in policing today but here is the problem -- we have to have a voice larger than this room. we have to have executives in this position. there are only 83 departments, 1000 or more police officers. the question becomes what does the next leader look like to you.

it's important to have this discussion because they bring about the change in our country but it comes at a price again. we lost one in cincinnati this last week. a good chief and a hard-working man. it is important to know and pay attention to those on the forefront taking hits you lastly, in indianapolis i had the opportunity to be the deputy director. i was doing consulting work and minding my business. i saw a young man whose face was brutally beaten and i saw a community divided over that and a police officer involved in an accident where he struck a motorist and killed him. the question is, if we stand by and watch it happen, the divide continues. we have to find a way to bridge

the gap between community and police. we also need a conversation about accountability on both sides. we have to have transparency and data. need resources to do that you -- to do that. we don't have the money spent it is the blueprint for change in this country. we will need your help with grants and money to talk about body cams. everybody loves body cams? raise her hand if you want to see body cams in your community. what about car stops? we have consensus. foot chases? good stuff. what about when it comes to your home? can you trust big brother to come in with that camera and walked through your front door?

one of the questions was asked, if my family is scantily clad in the middle of the night are you going to turn that camera off, chief? what is the answer? you wanted on or do you want it off? your next-door neighbor once -- wants that video, by the way. under the freedom of information act, do we give it to them? this is why we need to talk about policies and practices. to ask ourselves what we really want to see. are we willing to pay for and support it. i am looking forward to the discussion this afternoon. [applause] >> the next individual that is my honor to introduce has at least 17 different hats. bennie, from wayne county michigan is not only law

enforcement but a lifetime naacp mender -- member. he also has his own private practice and is a part-time professor. basketball coach, a mentor, a father of someone pursuing her masters degree. so i heard asked, when was the last time in the black freedom struggle we asked for more state superveillance? please join me in welcoming the sheriff. mr. napoleon: good afternoon.

i have been told that the attorney general's arrival is imminent and that i can speak as long as i want to as long as i am done in five minutes. i will be briefer than i had anticipated. i would like to thank them for putting together this very important discussion. i was interested as i heard talk about my career, after hearing everybody i have been doing this 41 years. it is hard to look back and see that 41 years later we are still having the same discussions. the same very issues we have talked about in law enforcement, no matter how progressive we have tried to be, we have achieved african-americans leading many of the police department's in this country, we have challenges.

those challenges have not gone unnoticed. we have recruiting issues. what goes into determines how good it is coming out. if you fail in your recruiting effort to bring the right ones in you will not have them in your agency. i heard this talk about officer friendly -- i would like to have known officer friendly. we did not have any officer friendly's. we had stress. we had a challenging police agency that did not represent the community it was serving. that is why recruiting is important. something as simple as being willing to live in the community you want to police is critical.

yet, we no longer require it in detroit. as i was challenging residency and the elimination of it in the chief of police and saying this is bad policy, how is it that a person could live 100 miles away from the city that is 90% african-american in a community that does not look like the community they want to police and visited only 10 times in their life and the become a police officer in it. there is something wrong with that policy. education is key. we are in turbulent times. it is worse than it was in the 60's. the sad part is, there are people who think that everything is ok. you heard some leadership say that what you saw is all right. policy was followe