In case you need a kick start for writing your own letter(s).
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| Sheriff Chris Swanson, Genesee County, MI, Inside Edition, 6/1/2020 |
September 14 2024
UPDATE
In July, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson ended the for profit video phone system in the county jail that preyed on inmates and their families. Sheriff Swanson admitted on NBC Nightly News that the system was profitable for the department but was racist and wrong and that he was ending it and looking and rethinking how his budget would to allocated. He said he was returning to in-person visitations between inmates, their families and friends. I was among those who expressed my belief in ending this program. I am thankful for doing the right thing.
June 4, 2020
Chris Swanson, Sheriff
Genesee County Sheriff's Department
1002 Saginaw Street
Flint, MI 48502
Dear Sheriff Swanson,
Thank you and please extend my thanks for all of the officers and staff who acted to protect protesters’ free speech and their safety over this past week. Thank you also for your honest and direct position on what happened to George Floyd. Putting citizens first in Flint and Genesee County is the community attitude I know this area to exhibit. I continue to be so proud of Flint as we band together in times of need. You have built trust with weekend that other departments around the country struggle so hard to deserve.
I am a Flint resident who is active in civil rights activities in this area, in particular those to end systemic racism.
With that said, I am reaching out to law enforcement leaders to ask them to revisit their department’s founding charge: “To Protect and Serve,” and asking them to go back to these roots with their fellow officers and department staff as they interact with their citizens in need.
Please remind officers that we are not enemy combatants and the role of the military is not the role of the law enforcement.
Could we please shift the approach to citizens from “guilty until proven innocent” back to “Innocent until proven guilty?”
Could we please act first to protect and serve rather than find guilt?
I am reminded of 12-year-old Tamir Rice who held a toy gun and was shot by a police officer within seconds of exiting his police car. Not even asking Tamir’s name or determining what the situation was. Or Stephon Clark of Sacramento who was shot in his grandparents’ backyard with a cellphone in his hand. No attempt by the police to determine his name or relationship to the property and occupants first.
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| Swanson and Resident, Newsweek, 6/1/2020 |
Could we please stop profiling our citizens of color as potential criminals?
Clearly, of all of the citizens and undocumented residents of the United States, more are decent hope-filled human beings than criminals. As human beings, don’t we then deserve the presumption of innocence, even without the law that promises to guarantee us that right. That guarantee along with too many U.S. promises of equity have failed miserably to ensure that if “All Men are created Equal” then we are all indeed treated equally.
I know the focus at this time turns to de-escalation strategies once protests turn to riots and that is certainly appropriate. Prior to the protests themselves, could we remind police officers that while they are empowered, that power does not extend to appointment as Judge, Jury and in too many cases, executioner?
Please use transparency as you move forward with commitments to alter training and enhance community relationships. Involved citizens on boards, committees, or commissions that would track your department’s achievements toward the actions you’ve committed to. Those actions focused on eliminating systemic racism within your department and among the individuals representing it. Let your citizens be the watchdogs of your actions as you act to rebuild trust with your citizens.
Finally, your department interacts with many other law enforcement and health entities that are also challenged by embedded system-wide racism and the attitudes bred by such cultures. Please challenge these entities as well, especially as you hand-off your detainees, to “protect and serve,” to “do not harm,” as these “innocent until proven guilty” citizens and others risk victimization all over again to racist indifference, neglect or violence.
Police Departments, I believe, have the power to effect change well beyond their own structures and employees. They have the potential to drive the entire legal system to change its racist laws and treatment of parties of color before the courts.
Thank you for your consideration of my suggestions.
Sincerely,
Donna Ullrich
Flint Citizen
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| Detroit Free Press, 6/1/2020 Update 2024 Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson (seen here high-fiving a marcher at a George Floyd protest) announced on NBC Nightly News this year that the county jail would end the racist, classist policies. This includes the high-priced for profit phone system in the jail that replaced visits between families and inmates. Full disclosure: Lawsuit associated |
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