Charleston Forum: Criminal Justice and Policing Panel

Highlights from the Criminal Justice and Policing Panel at the Charleston Forum on June 16, 2017.

Pariticipants:
Former Tampa Police Chief, Jane Castor 
State Sen. Gerald Malloy (D-Hartsville)
DeRay McKesson, Black Lives Matter 
Kassy Alia, Heroes in Blue 
Moderator: State Sen. Marlon Kimpson (D-Charleston)

Kassy Alia: “When it comes to these cases (officer-involved shootings) we need to hear the humanity in them and hear those stories. When one person dies we’re all losers.”

Jane Castor: “We need to understand each other. I expect my officers to understand the community that they’re policing. To understand what is important to them and to understand what standards they want upheld in that particular community and to do that.”

DeRay McKesson: “We’ve seen time and time again when white people have posed a danger to society that there are many ways to deescalate. But with black bodies the only way to deescalate is by killing people and I just won’t accept that.”

Gerald Malloy: “I’m not interested in so much of what we say here today, I’m interested in what happens when we leave from here tomorrow.”