Findings from Tampa Mayor Jane Castor’s Task Force on Policing are ready and will be presented to the public via Facebook on Saturday, August 29 at 9 a.m. (primetime, baby).
The findings were collected during task force meetings by a team led by University of South Florida (USF) associate criminology professor Dr. Bryanna Fox (there’ve been two meetings, one in-person and another virtual, a count which Creative Loafing Tampa Bay is seeking to confirm).
Castor and Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan will give remarks during the presentation, and CL reached out to Dr. Fox with a few bulleted questions about the presentation. Fox was short on time and still working on the presentation, but she did tell CL that “each substantive question will be addressed in my presentation tomorrow!” Fox added that the presentation will be an overview of the research methods and the process, and also include a discussion of my findings plus the research that led Fox to each point.
Presentation on findings of mayoral task force on policing
Sat. Aug. 29, 9 a.m
facebook.com/cityoftampaFL
Castor announced the creation of the task force as part of a Juneteenth press conference outlining three a few new standards and practices for the city’s police department.
"The task force will have approximately 40 members from throughout the community and the police department, including but not limited to grassroots organizations, community leaders, business owners, Neighborhood Association members, and the police department,” Castor said on June 19.
The announcement came three weeks after local activists and protesters started taking to the streets to demand accountability from law enforcement and concrete policy changes to address decades of distrust between Tampa’s Black community and police.
At the time, Yvette Lewis, President of Hillsborough’s NAACP branch told CL that she received a direct phone call from Castor about joining the task force.
“I told her I would attend but it can’t be another dog and pony show like Buckhorn’s Citizen Review Board,” Lewis said.
Lewis was referring to Tampa’s Citizen Review Board of the Police Department (CRB), which Mayor Buckhorn formed by executive order in 2015 after a protracted fight with the Tampa City Council over its creation and control. Buckhorn wanted power over the Board and to limit its ability to influence police policy—and he got his way.
Local protest leader Emadi Okwuosa—who was violently arrested by TPD on June 4 before the state attorney eventually found that there was no evidence to support the inciting a riot charge against him—said he turned down an invitation to join Castor’s task force. In a text message, he told CL that he refused to feed into Castor’s “performative promises of change.”
“When we spoke with her in her office she explained she would not be giving into any of our demands and only had intentions of increasing the police budget, so why am I wasting my time trying to help her convince Tampa that she is helping us? She doesn't deserve that credit,” Okwuosa, who’s since moved back to his hometown in Connecticut, wrote. “She shouldn't be given the credit of creating change until change is made.”
A lot has also happened since the first meeting of the task force (June 27, the press was not allowed to attend). Here’s a short recap:
- Castor’s office told CL that the mayor has no intention of firing the police chief.
- Castor also requested an increase to TPD’s budget—a move that most of City Council seems to support.
- Castor staged a surprise press conference on July 16 to discuss her own set of proposed changes to the (CRB), which City Council would have to approve. Lawyers and activists said those proposed changes to the Citizen Review Board fall short.
- An internal report found that use of force has increased by 24 percent under Dugan; the use of chemical agents went up 223%.
- An Orlando Sentinel report finds that Tampa Bay police departments—including TPD where officers are 69% white while the city is 45% white—are significantly whiter than the communities they serve
- TPD tells CL that out of the 926 sworn officers at TPD, 691 have a two-year degree or higher, which is roughly 74% of the force. Just about half of TPD has a bachelor’s degree, and about 16% have an associate’s degree. A 2019 study from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York found that for each college credit an officer had earned, they were less likely to use force—and if force was used, it was often a much lower degree of force
- TPD doxxed Army vet Joneshia Wilkerson, who Pinellas Sheriffs say used a stolen credit card to rent a car, which she failed to return.
- Stuart Flores, an activist marching in a Black Lives Matter demonstration, became the second protester to be hit by a vehicle in South Tampa; Flores was arrested, the person who ran their car into him was not.
- Dugan had a disastrous June 24 interview on Fox & Friends, where he told the hosts his officers would not "take a knee, we’re going to stand up."
- Tampa Police pepper sprayed and arrested Black Lives Matter protesters on the Fourth of July; video released two weeks later disputes the police reasoning for their attack on leaders of the non-violent march down Dale Mabry Highway.
- Dugan announced creation of his own new ‘Community Advisory Team,’ which has dubious requirements for anyone who wishes to apply, including not having a criminal record, which wold exclude protesters arrested by TPD during the protests.
- Congressman John Lewis died, his legacy reminds us that sometimes folks have to get into “good trouble” (and sometimes go to jail) so that they can see results in this never ending fight to create a country that treats Black, brown and Indigenous people equally.
- TPD says only 17% of its officers live within city limits. Tampa's high housing costs is a factor, but it also means that most of the force is made up of outsiders.
- Protesters, in one of many marches since George Floyd was murdered, took the movement to Castor’s house in the Tampa neighborhood of Riverbend.
- Pro-police groups—including some whose members come with dubious criminal histories—painted an unpermitted ‘Bock the Blub’ street mural in downtown Tampa without any interference from TPD. Police launch an investigation to find someone who touched up the ugly public art. Counter-protesters who attempt to demonstrate the hypocrisy of TPD paint a rainbow in nearby Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park were then arrested and charged with criminal mischief; one of them gets beat up in jail while others get groped because of their gender.
- Documents passed to CL show concerning inconsistencies in a police report from 2019, they suggest that use of force numbers could be even higher within the department.
- An August 13 rally ends with a prominent Tampa activist being arrested and sent to the hospital; the protester, Jae Passmore, sees high profile civil rights attorney Ben Crump join her legal team.
- Tampa activists and family of the late Jonas Joseph continue calls for justice for the 26-year-old Black man who saw TPD fire 125 rounds into his car.
- Nearly two months after witnesses saw him drive a truck through Fourth of July protests, TPD and the State Attorney say they’ve charged Noah Armstrong with reckless driving.
- Pinellas County Sheriffs 'bruised and mistreated' a Black Lives Matter activist being arrested for an incident in South Tampa.
- Tampa activists demand justice for Kai Summers, who died in custody of HCSO.
“The work this task force is doing is so important to ensuring that our police department’s policies and procedures align with the evolving expectations and needs of our community,” Mayor Jane Castor wrote in a press release sent less than 24 hours before Dr. Fox’s presentation.
“The Tampa Police Department is committed to building strong relationships with residents across our city," Castor added, "and we look forward to hearing the findings of this working group so that we can continue taking progressive steps forward together.”
The murder of Jacob Blake by Kenosha police officers—plus the treatment of 17-year-old vigilante who killed two protesters in the Wisconsin city—has reignited calls for a major overhaul of police departments across the country.
It’ll be interesting to see how Tampa activists who’ve already organized several actions in the name of Blake, react to the findings.
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