People in a community want a safe place to live, where they are treated with dignity and respect. It is important for police and residents to work together on these shared goals.
As a council member, I was proud the council appointed a new traffic court judge and reduced the fines for marijuana possession of less than an ounce. As a result of these changes, we reduced the number of tickets issued by the police department in 2017 by 30 percent.
As Mayor, we will:
- Develop proactive programs to provide mentoring and other community-based programs to prevent youth from becoming juvenile offenders. Leverage existing re-entry programs that help youth integrate into positive environments.
- Create a Citizens Review Board to assess complaints and accusations. It will independently review police incidents, misconduct or abuse of authority by members of Clarkston’s Public Safety Department.
- Modify the recruitment benefits plan to increase the police staff and develop retention programs to keep the existing force.
- Require staff to enroll in cultural sensitivity and bias training.
- Provide more engagement between the community and the police department. Increase visibility of staff with more foot patrol and cycling, once staffing meets the appropriate threshold.