Top cops join marches, say police departments need additional help
“When I hear people say let’s defund the police, I think more funding should be placed there to add social workers into our field. We can’t build another silo,” said Griffith Police Chief Greg Mance.
Portage Police Chief Michael Candiano said police, like teachers, are being called upon to address simmering societal issues. He said evaluating police candidates, providing better training and more body cameras takes more money, not defunding.
“They all cost money. Our budget has been cut repeatedly all these years. To talk about taking more money away, it takes away a lot of options,” Candiano said.
Nearly every community in Northwest Indiana has witnessed a protest rally or march since the May 25 death of George Floyd, 46. He died after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground for nearly 9 minutes with a knee on his neck. A 17-year-old girl recorded the incident on her phone and shock waves reverberated across the world.
Most of the local protests drew a widespread police presence, but little violence or vandalism.
Griffith cooked up hamburgers for protesters, while Candiano said Portage police now have regular meetings with the community to build better connections.
The nationwide protests led to calls for police reforms – all the way from defunding and dismantling police departments to punishing officers for failing to report police abuse.
In Indiana, the state Black Legislative Caucus leaders want a ban on police chokeholds and the establishment of a statewide criminal justice commission, among many recommendations released last week. If the state ignores their platform, they want local mayors and city councils to enact the reforms.
In Gary, Mayor Jerome Prince just established a new citizen panel to review the use of police force. The commission will make recommendations to Prince on policy and legislation. All members would attend a citizens’ police academy.
Prince cited 13 citizen complaints against police in 2019. Three were for excessive force and three were for officer-involved shootings. Two men died after they were shot by police in separate incidents last year.
In 2018, Griffith became one of the first departments in Indiana to add a full-time social worker in response to 911 calls that officials said could be resolved better with social services, not police action.
“We recognize that for the most part, the things we deal with are social issues… Often times, an officer has only 10 or 15 minutes to deal with issues that takes years to create,” said Mance.
In Griffith, like other municipalities, police respond to calls concerning mentally ill or homeless people, drug overdoses, welfare checks, and domestic and neighborhood disputes.
Griffith’s social worker follows up the police call and tries to connect the person in need to services and long-term solutions. Mance said citizens often don’t get the services they need until they end up in the criminal justice system.
Candiano agrees, saying there has been a small backlash against his police officers after Floyd’s death. Responding to a shoplifting complaint at Walmart, Candiano said some onlookers made a profane gesture at police.
“The problem is some of these sectors of society have been neglected and police departments have become a catchall – mental health calls, homeless call, bats in the house… if somebody has a concern, they call police,” he said.
Floyd’s death has turned a bright spotlight on police and appears to be a tipping point in establishing meaningful reforms.
Both Mance, Candiano and other local police officials say they didn’t know of a department that still uses chokehold techniques, which many said should be banned.
“It’s not a practice employed by many departments I know of,” said Mance who said chokeholds weren’t part of his training in 1999.
Mance, who knelt during a June 6 protest in Griffith, said the death of Floyd impacted him.
“I’m ashamed these things have taken place and continue to take place. It means we as a profession have to work harder. We have to build relationships that have been lost. I think law enforcement has become extremely guarded and criticism is somewhat hard to take.”
Mance and Candiano say screening potential officers is crucial to reducing abuse.
“Most departments do a very good job of screening the officers. There’s a polygraph, psychological exam, and deep background investigations. There are occasions in other departments where political favors become involved. Those, in my opinion, are by far the ones who misrepresent what police do,” said Mance.
Sometimes, the officer needs help after years of witnessing people in their worst moments.
“The mental health of officers is not properly evaluated. They were deemed of sound mind when hired, but through years of service, some become in a way, broken. If you don’t have department that’s monitoring, they’ll go out on street and make mistakes that hurt people,” said Mance.
Candiano said there still may be some officers with the so-called “warrior mentality,” but he said today’s police officer must be more well-rounded.
“They are communicators, counselors. I’ve seen a difference in the type of officers since I’ve been there. There’s much more of community policing. In smaller communities, we have guys who are Little League coaches and resource officers at schools.”
Since the Portage protest June 1, Candiano said he’s sending officers into the neighborhoods to meet and make connections and not just to answer a call.
As community meetings continue, Candiano said he’s noticed citizens didn’t realize reforms the department has already made. “I think there’s a bit of a disconnect in what occurs and some of the perceived policies,” he said.
“The protest was amazing, there was such good collaboration between the community and organizers. I could not have asked for that to go any better. We are having good conversations now,” he said.
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