By Hank McCoy
Coral Springs’ Police Reform Task Force has already begun looking into improvements to policing after holding its first meeting.
On June 18, Coral Springs Police Chief Clyde Parry, City Commissioner Joshua Simmons, city staff, and local activists met to discuss new ideas for policing, along with where improvements could be made.
“None of us really knew what to expect when we went into this meeting,” Parry explained, “I think that everyone who attended it got something out of it.”
At the city commission meeting, Chief Parry reviewed some of the topics they tackled.
Chokeholds, for example, were something that wasn’t ever really taught in the department; however, they added language to their policy to ensure the ban of chokeholds.
When it came to body cams, Chief Parry explained the Coral Springs Police Department had a body cam program. Disciplinary actions for turning off a body cam range up to termination. CSPD is also looking for funding now to begin the roll-out of body cams to their school resource officers.
The task force also discussed the Duty to Intervene policy, among others, which Commissioner Simmons said is also for responding officers. This is after the police officers stood by while an officer in Minneapolis kneeled on George Floyd’s neck until he died.
Chief Parry explained the language for the Duty to Intervene policy was 90 percent finished and that it requires officers explicitly to intervene if a member of law enforcement is doing something wrong.
“We aren’t just focusing on the social media trends — we focused on really detailed and intimate items within our department, and we’re going continue to do that,” Commissioner Simmons explained. “This isn’t just a knee jerk reaction — we’re actually doing something that’s going set us up for the future to be even better.”
City Manager Frank Babinec explained through the city’s communication and marketing department they’ll be developing a video series where Commissioner Simmons will sit down and talk with law enforcement officers and community leaders around the topic of police reform to make sure the city is meeting the residents’ needs.
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