As part of Mayor Christenson’s UniteMalden2020 initiative, an advisory group to review the Malden Police Department’s use of force policy has been established. The specific goal of this group is to work on the Obama Foundation’s Pledge which the City signed onto back in June. At the request of the Mayor, AGOP (Advisory Group for Obama’s Pledge) was formed.
The group’s charge is to navigate these 4 steps:
- Review our police use of force policies;
- Engage the Community by including their input in the review whether by a survey or other means;
- Report the findings of the review to the community and seek their feedback; and,
- Reform policies by offering recommendations.
Group members were invited based on their connection to the city, expertise working on racial equity, knowledge and experience with police use of force policies and most importantly, working toward an intersectional approach. In the spirit of transparency, the group members acknowledge that although we are aiming for a true representative cohort of our city, we may not be fully represented as of yet.
The group has been meeting and reviewing the Malden Police Department’s current use of force policies. We will be meeting with the Police Chief and the community to seek feedback before making final recommendations. Agendas and notes are posted on the City’s website: https://www.obama.org/mayor-pledge/.
Lead by Karen Colón Hayes, the group members are as follows: Neal Anderson, Jay Bhimani, Kelli Collomb, Isadel Eddy, Ben Hartzell, Darren Josey, Amanda Linehan, Shaina Lu, Carey McDonald, Erga Pierrette, Tamerlie Roc, Joel Stevenson, Olympia Stroud, Birukti Tsige, and Stephen Winslow.