COMMUNITY OVERSIGHT NOW TOWN HALL - JUNE 29TH

Community Oversight Now - Town Hall There is a town hall on June 29, 6:00-8:00 pm at Gordon Memorial UMC hosted by Community Oversight Now and the Tennessee State Conference of NAACP (in partnership with the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights).

The town hall is part of a continued push for a Community Oversight Board (also called a Civilian or Citizen’s Review Board) that has funding, statutory and investigative powers. These are some concerns:

• There are nearly 700 citizen-initiated complaints each year against the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), 95% are decided against citizens.

• The “Driving While Black” report assessing 2 million MNPD stops from 2011-2015 found that blacks are disproportionately the targets of police stops and consent searches.

• Statements from the District Attorney and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation offices – in response to the Jocques Clemmons killing - have noted institutional bias in the action of the MNPD.

• More than 100 cities established community oversight boards, yet Nashville does not have one.

• Civil rights leaders called for a community oversight board for Nashville 20 years ago.

• The Obama administration in the “President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing” endorsed strong community oversight.