The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is planning six town hall meetings to gather input on a body camera pilot program, which is scheduled to roll out by this summer.
Some local civil rights leaders were upset JSO hadn’t been holding public input meetings all along.
Ben Frazier spoke on behalf of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference to City Council members this month at a committee meeting.
“This is a community issue,” he said. “Where is the community?”
His statements followed a presentation by JSO of the work they’d done crafting a body camera pilot program. Frazier’s concern: Police should have had the community weigh in much sooner.
But Tuesday, SCLC, Urban League and NAACP leaders met with Sheriff Mike Williams and other officers involved in the body camera process to discuss working with the community.
The Civil Rights organizations want the cam policy developed in public and strict consequences for policy violations.
An SCLC statement said, "We are cautiously optimistic that this meeting will strengthen the relationship between the black community and JSO.”
The Sheriff’s Office responded in an email sent to WJCT.
“Obviously, as part of my continuing dialogue with civic and business leaders on important issues, having a discussion with three civil rights organizations together specifically about body cameras, was a great opportunity,” Williams was quoted as saying. “We are much more aligned in our thinking than detractors would like to believe.”
JSO said the community input meetings will be set up in six regions of the city. Dates and locations are to be announced.
Lindsey Kilbride can be reached at lkilbride@wjct.org, 904-358-6359 or on Twitter at @lindskilbride.
