New Britain Common Council Ad-Hoc Listening Session Remarks
Good Evening Alderman Dyson, Osborn, Rosado, and Santiago and fellow community leaders:
I first want to thank the committee for the opportunity to have our community leaders come together this evening. We are here because of Mayor Stewart’s leadership for calling on this committee to provide recommendations to her and the Council on studying the “feasibility of establishing a Citizen Review Board”.
This is an important discussion for our town to be having. However, in order for discussions and negotiations to occur, we need to be on the same page — so then we can avoid talking past one another. It is my hope that we can have a true community roundtable discussion once this committee presents a written plan for the Council’s consideration. Ensuring that everyone is heard, on the finalized plan is critical for the success of this process for our City.
Back on March 22, 2016, the Council and the Board of Education came together for a historic discussion — right in this very chamber — to have a conversation about our city’s education and finances. Our city has not experienced another one of these “summits” since. The times we are living through now call for another one of these true community discussions with the public and community, policy, and political leaders all coming together!
In an effort to positively add to tonight’s listening session here are four concrete and actionable policy contributions on behalf of New Britain Pride (with more to come):
- A reformed Police Commission or Citizen Review Board should include a minimum of three LGBTQ+ seats to ensure our queer population is adequately represented. The Mayor should consult the Chair of New Britain prior to appointing these individuals to the institution.
- Twenty percent (20%) of any reallocated New Britain Police Department (NBPD) funds, by the Council, must be dedicated to improving the lives of the LGBTQ+ community. (With a 2% reduction of the NBPD budget, this would equate to a roughly $72,000.00 investment in our community.) These funds should be allocated to the Community Service Division of the Parks and Recreation Department. The Mayor, members of this Council, and the Administrator of Community Services understand there are substantial policy objectives that we can accomplish together with the support of additional funding.
- Have the NBPD & the Police Commission adopt Recommendation 2.12 from the 2015 Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Police. This recommendation states: “Law enforcement agencies should establish search and seizure procedures relating to LGBTQ and transgender populations and adopt as policy the recomendations from the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) to cease using the possession of condoms as the sole evidence of vice.”
Both Chief Chute and Chief Wardwell have been proactive in working with us on updating policies regarding, (a) strip and body cavity searches and (b) treatment and detention of transgender individuals; however, there is always more that we can do to update our policies to make them more LGBTQ+ friendly. We do have access to a “condom policy” for the Chief and Commission to review at an appropriate time.
- Allow the community to have input when designing training. Simply put — allow “Community-based training”.
Once again, I want to thank the Mayor — for her leadership for calling for this committee. Our Council liaisons Alderman Smedley and Alderwoman Saavedra — for your constant support and dedication to LGBTQ+ issues, and for this committee for hosting this listening session. To our fellow community leaders, we look forward to engaging with you in the near future. Thank you and I am prepared to answer any questions which members may have.
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Comments as prepared for delivery for the New Britain Common Council’s Ad-Hoc Community Listening Session on June 24, 2020, at 7:00 pm.
