CMPD dialogue focuses on police use of force

As a nationwide conversation about whether officers are too quick to use force – especially against minorities – continues, about 300 people in west Charlotte engaged in a dialogue with police on Sunday about when and why officers pull their guns.

Officer-involved killings in Baltimore, New York, North Charleston, S.C., and Ferguson, Mo., have made international headlines and sparked protests in recent months.

Just last week in Baltimore, six police officers were charged in connection with the death of the Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old man who was fatally injured in police custody while being transported in a police van.

Charlotte cases have also caused outrage. Last month, the Mecklenburg County district attorney decided he wouldn’t charge the officer who fatally shot a mentally ill woman in February.

And the Charlotte community is closely watching the case of Randall Kerrick, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer who shot and killed Jonathan Ferrell, an unarmed black man, in eastern Mecklenburg in 2013. Kerrick’s voluntary manslaughter trial is scheduled for this summer.

“We clearly understand that we are responsive to the community in which we serve,” said Chief Rodney Monroe, who, like other officers, was dressed in plain clothes. “There’s no public safety without public trust and confidence.”

In response to the tensions, police in Charlotte have planned 13 community conversations – one in each police division. Their chief weapon: a simulator that allows people to see what it’s like for officers in a use-of-force situation. Officers also took questions from audience members. Police have not said when or where future events will be held.

Antwan Barnum, 15, who is black, said he was encouraged to come to Sunday’s event by his aunt, who is a CMPD officer. He said having an officer in the family gives him a lot of respect for officers but added that he understands the tensions between blacks and officers.

An interaction with an officer, he said, “doesn’t have to necessarily be a bad situation. And I have some control over how it turns out. My aunt tells us just to respond nicely – that you really shouldn’t have anything to worry about if you’re doing nothing wrong.”

This story was originally published May 3, 2015 at 9:16 PM with the headline "CMPD dialogue focuses on police use of force."