HARTFORD, Conn — A task force created by Connecticut Legislatures for police transparency and accountability in working to address concerns in our state.
This meeting follows days of protests across the state of Connecticut. Sunday, protests were seen in Hamden, West Hartford, and in Manchester.
Joined by state officials like the attorney general, state legislatures, and the governor, the group met Monday in light of the response to the deadly arrest of George Floyd in Minnesota.
“We don’t need to wait until a George Floyd situation happens before we act accordingly,” Co-chair Daryl McGraw said.
“I’ve been doing this a while and I haven’t seen anything like this. This is an opportunity because this going to change behavior,” Milford Police Chief Keith Mello said.
While a lot of the discussion focused on how police are trained on things like the use of force, de-escalation tactics and laws to help prevent a tragedy like George Floyd, Chief Mello says the discussion should go beyond that.
“We can pass laws we can talk about mandates but you can’t just mandate and legislate behavior, it is up to us as chief to manage culture.
Mello along with others in the meeting highlight when officers join departments they are all coming from different walks of life so reform has to go beyond just new mandates and laws.
One of the goals for this meeting is to also establish the next meeting date so the task force can begin working on ways to implement suggestions into action. For now, that date is set for June 22nd at 1 pm.