Town Hall Meeting Held In West Philadelphia To Discuss Relations Between Police And The Community
By Dan Wing
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Law enforcement officials and some community activists hosted a town hall style public meeting on Wednesday night to discuss the perception of, and policies of police in a "Post-Ferguson" world.
To say the crowd at Catalyst for Change Church was emotional would be a massive understatement.
Mothers shared stories of losing their children to police, others called officers on the panel "racists" and "leaders of a lynch mob," while others stayed on topic and discussed ways to possibly make a change.
Among the ideas was replacing the people in charge with people more familiar with the issues being faced in the black community, another was to make law enforcement to change policies and become more transparent in these situations.
"That's not going to happen overnight. We have to force the police department to change it's culture by taking ownership of the department again."
Pastor Mark Tyler of Mother Bethel wanted to make clear that police are paid with our taxes.
"They work for us, they can only police because we give them the power to police us, we pay for their weapons, so we should be able to tell them what they aught to do. Not the other way around."
While some left just as upset as they came, others like SEPTA Police Chief Thomas Nestel saw the night as a step in the right direction.
"There's always positive progress when you get the opportunity to talk to people in the community and hear the frustration and the anger. There are people that have legitimate concerns."
Kevin, who has lived in the neighborhood for 50 years, agreed that the discussion was a step in the right direction, and that things are on track to getting better.
"People are angry now, and the only thing that can get the situation solved is meetings like this. An open dialogue. And I think from this meeting, you see the people standing around talking, something positive is going to happen."