Symposium on Conscious Law Enforcement & Inclusive Practices

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Civilian Engagement, Politics, and Police

Working Session Description

This workshop will explore meaningful ways citizens can engage police toward improving and collaborative public safety as well as social justice. In addition, this workshop will examine current methods to hold police accountable and suggest new and meaningful approaches. In so doing, the workshop will explore the below five topics. Toward this end, this workshop is intended to create a space for deep critique and engagement in a perennial issue, which is citizen-police conflict. 1. Civilian/Police encounters (Casual Encounters, Terry stops, & The Arrests) 2. Public protest toward police abuse and excessive force as well as the lack of police services 3. Civilian Review Boards and Accountability 4. Lobbying Politicians for changes (Qualified Immunity and other Criminal Procedures) 5. Public safety and Citizens (What are citizen roles in their own public safety)

Working Session Call-To-Action

Learning Goals:
1. Discuss how civilians can engage in the criminal justice reform process. 
-Looking at civilian review boards (the nature of them). We’re not making the case that they work
-Rallying behind politicians who have criminal justice reform agendas and holding others accountable for reform efforts.

2. Develop strategies that break down barriers impacting citizens re-entering our communities. 
-Creating community-based programs that are geared towards helping citizens adjust to technology, the economy, and other resources.

3. Explore inclusive practices for engaging under-represented and marginalized communities in constructive political discourse.
-Public forms of protest (i.e., media interviews, actual protests). Discourse we should also think about who has the voice to articulate what the problem is. How tolerant we should be when the discourse isn’t as sophisticated. The victims are entitled to scream out in agony. We can also talk about discourse under lobbying,

At the end of the session, participants will:
-Learn about strategies for civilian engagement with criminal justice reform
-Explore strategies to engage in legislative processes and lobbying
-Develop strategies, practices, and programs to help returning citizens re-enter into communities and the workforce.

Presenter(s)

Kalfani Nyerere Turè, Ph.D.

Amid anti-racial protests and calls to end police violence in America, Kalfani Turè has emerged as one of the nation’s leading experts on policing. Turè, a Black man, former police officer, and Assistant Professor in Criminal Justice at Quinnipiac and a Senior Fellow in the Urban Ethnography Project at Yale Universities, offers a unique perspective on matters of race and law enforcement. Turè has provided expertise and insight to national media outlets such as “The New York Times,” “USA Today” and the “Associated Press,” and has appeared live on CNN. A practicing urban ethnographer, Turè earned a postdoctoral certificate in Sociology from Yale University, a Ph.D. in Anthropology from American University, a master’s in Applied Anthropology from Georgia State University, and a bachelor’s in African/African American Studies and Criminal Justice from Rutgers. In addition, he attained policing certifications at the municipal, county, and state levels and worked as a police officer in metropolitan Atlanta. His areas of interest and research include Race, Place & Urban Crime; Law Enforcement & Urban Community Relations; Police Encounters of African American and Latino Males; Gentrification and Urban Redevelopment; Race and Ethnic Relations; Social Theory; and Ethnographic Methods & Urban Ethnography. Currently, he is interested in exploring the ethnographic encounters of law enforcement toward stigmatized and urban African Americans. He also is co-writing a publication, "Why Black People Should Train the Police." Turè has two book projects underway, “Why Black People Should Train the Police” and “Blue Fragility: Why Police Reform has Failed,” as well, he has trained police officers on implicit bias and related use of force implications.

Dr. Kayla Preito-Hodge

Dr. Kayla Preito-Hodge is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University-Camden. Her research explores the intersections of race, policing, and the larger criminal justice system. Dr. PH received her BA in sociology from Boston College (Go Eagles!) and her Ph.D in sociology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She is an avid supporter of criminal and juvenile justice reform.

Moderators(s)

Kate Heinzel

Shannon Telenko