South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg talks next steps in police shooting review

[babylonsister]

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg talks next steps in police shooting review
By Jeff Parrott South Bend Tribune 7 hrs ago
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg updates the city’s common council on steps his administration will take in the wake of the Eric Logan shooting.


SOUTH BEND — Mayor Pete Buttigieg on Monday told the city’s Common Council that he’ll ask the Board of Public Safety to conduct a “community-oriented” review of officers’ use of deadly force, body cameras and suspect pursuit policies, and he pledged to implement any resulting policy changes by the time he leaves office at year’s end.

Buttigieg said he’ll ask the board to host a series of public meetings “that will allow for an opportunity both to educate the public and for the public to educate us ...”

The mayor gave the council an update on his administration’s response to the June 16 fatal shooting of Eric Logan, who is black, by white officer Sgt. Ryan O’Neill, something the city and nation are closely watching in light of Buttigieg’s presidential campaign.

A judge recently granted St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter’s request to appoint a special prosecutor to decide whether any criminal charges against O’Neill are warranted. A police department internal investigation also is underway.

The South Bend Fraternal Order of Police has accused Buttigieg of prejudging O’Neill for political gain as he seeks the support of black voters across the country. But after the council meeting, Buttigieg told The Tribune that the way he’s speaking about the case, his plans to seek more minority police recruits and his call to seek more public input into police policies, don’t mean that he assumes O’Neill did anything wrong.

“I think these steps are urgent no matter what the investigation determines,” Buttigieg said. “If an investigation comes back and says that the shooting was not avoidable and that the officer followed every policy, we’re still left with the fact that there is tremendous concern and anguish, even, in the community over the relationship between the police department and communities of color. What we saw in the days and weeks after the shooting is much bigger than the incident itself.”

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https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/south-bend-mayor-pete-buttigieg-talks-next-steps-in-police/article_13e5227a-0c2a-5158-a6f5-35552280ad14.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I'm glad to see Buttigieg is facing this problem head-on and not ducking it.

He is a forthright man and he does not evade his responsibilities.

The problem IS long-term and will take time to find the best way to fix it.