Like many of you, I spent the evening of Aug. 30 watching video of a disturbing incident involving Indianapolis citizens and law enforcement. While thankfully no one was seriously injured at Shortridge High School, incidents like these will only continue unless we address the broken relationships between police and the communities they serve.
IMPD will conduct a thorough review of the incident, and I expect their review will lead to proper courses of action. Unfortunately, many reading this will not share in my optimism.
This doubt underscores the long-standing divide in police-community relations. These divisions are not new, and Indianapolis is amongst hundreds of cities across the country facing the same challenges.
But like you, I believe our city is capable of great things and can move beyond generations of misguided conflict to enact meaningful social progress. Last year, a bipartisan group of City-County Councilors began efforts to do so by facilitating public conversations on police-community relations.
Citizens told us they often do not understand what legally can and cannot be done when engaging with police officers, including during common interactions such as traffic stops. Police officers shared concerns about the current state of community relations, which negatively impacts morale at IMPD. Citizens shared their own concerns about the well-being of IMPD officers.
Above all, participants expressed a lack of shared expectations and potential outcomes during police-community interactions. The conversations were extremely insightful and highly productive.
Earlier this year, the council shared a report with key findings and an initial list of potential principles for increasing community-police trust. At the same time, IMPD expanded implicit bias training and made both its general orders and compliment/complaint database available for public view online. These are noteworthy steps toward the ultimate goal of developing collaborative, more defined protocols for police and citizen engagement.
We are now planning for future efforts, which involve clarifying the rights and expectations of both police officers and citizens, hosting additional conversations and ensuring engagement protocols begin to navigate a path toward improved police-community relations.
Representatives from IMPD, the Indianapolis FOP, Greater Indianapolis NAACP, Indiana Latino Institute, Indianapolis Urban League, Indiana Black Expo, IUPUI, IU Public Policy Institute, African American Coalition of Indianapolis, the Race and Cultural Relations Leadership Network of Indianapolis and others will work together to engage with rank-and-file police officers, crime victims, research experts and community advocates who deal with these issues every day
Later phases include a campaign to educate and train citizens and police officers on protocols and additional opportunities for open dialogue.
Trust must be earned on both sides, which requires time and dedication. It also requires a willingness to be open, honest and — most importantly — empathetic. Participants during these initial conversations exceeded that bar, proving Indianapolis can be and do better when we all come together.
There will be difficult moments, including incidents similar to and worse than what happened at Shortridge recently. It is important to recognize such engagement as unacceptable and to seek appropriate justice in each instance, but we cannot allow these moments to define our city and overshadow the majority of police officers and citizens who want safer, more supportive communities.
We must always remember it is not — nor has it ever fundamentally been — us versus them. There is only us.
Vop Osili is president of the Indianapolis City-County Council.
Vop Osili, Indianapolis City-County Council president. (Photo/John Hurst)
