i Impact PC met last week to promote conversations about numerous community issues, with policing at the forefront of the discussion.
The latest goal of the i Impact PC group is to figure out how Plant City Police Department can be more “effective” at both policing the community and earning its trust.
The group, led by Danny McIntyre, hosted a meeting at the Trinkle Center on Aug. 11 that focused largely on that topic. McIntyre spoke at length about the need to talk about police interactions with the community and invited several of the 30-plus attendees to share their initial thoughts as well.
It was more of an ideas workshop than the preparation of a move for swift, immediate action. McIntyre wanted to get a feel for what’s on the minds of those in the community both in person and online, for which he encouraged everyone to take a series of surveys.
One asked participants which issues i Impact PC hopes to cover meant the most to them. Fifty-four people ranked the following nine issues in order of importance: the war on drugs, “effective policing,” local economic development, workforce development, youth programming, leadership development programs, local government decisions, minority business development and inequality in the justice system.
Twenty-eight percent of voters, 15 of 54, chose youth programming as the number one issue that needs to be addressed in the community. In second place with 17 percent of the vote (nine of 54) was inequality in the justice system. Leadership development, local government decisions and minority business development each got six votes (or 11 percent per category). The war on drugs, “effective policing,” local economic development and workforce development each got three votes (or six percent per category).
The one most relevant to the Aug. 11 meeting was about “effective policing” and was created Aug. 10. Though this category was not the top priority of those who took the first survey, it was the clear-cut choice for second place with 15 votes. That 11-question survey asked users to describe their interactions with PCPD, their views of PCPD and law enforcement in general and their thoughts on what “effective” and “ineffective” policing are. This was expanded upon in the meeting, as attendees discussed what police could improve upon to build more trust with the community officers swore to serve and protect.
“We’ve got to get the black community, and the police also, we have to engage with each other,” Angelo Murray said. “We’ve got to start with the kids. Those are the ones that, right now, are most important. If we get the kids comfortable, I think some of the things that’s going on, we can move forward.”
Roderick Henderson, who has been advocating for a citizens’ review board in Plant City, spoke about a June meeting between Plant City-based activists and community leaders meant to highlight a current PCPD policy that could potentially cause a problem.
“In May, with the issue with George Floyd in Minnesota, we wanted to see what our policies were here in Plant City,” Henderson said. “I don’t have any issues with our police department but I do have issues with police, period. We just want to figure out what the policies are so those same issues that happened in Minnesota don’t happen in Plant City and we can work on prevention. After we went over the policies, we held a meeting with Chief (Ed) Duncan, Mayor Rick Lott and City Manager Bill McDaniel to discuss policies we have. The only issue I see in our policies is that everything is under the discretion of the Chief of Police when it comes to disciplining and complaints… that right there, I have a problem with.”
The other aforementioned topics will be discussed at future meetings and forums. McIntyre has posted the rest of the surveys to the i Impact PC Facebook page.
The group held another meeting at 6:30 p.m. last night, from which details and further survey results were not available at press time. Anyone who wishes to attend future meetings can get more information on the Facebook page. Masks and RSVPs are required.
