OCC Hosting Police Reform Symposium OCC Hosting Police Reform Symposium

The event features a panel discussion with prominent community members.

LOUISE RATH (ANCHOR): Onondaga Community College is hosting a symposium this Friday to cap off an ongoing discussion series on policing in the United States. NCC’s Arjun Menon is reporting live from the newsroom with more on the event.

ARJUN MENON: The symposium features six panelists ranging from current and former law enforcement officials to prominent community organizers. OCC Professor Tara Ross says the panelists may disagree on some topics, but they all have one thing in common:

TARA ROSS: They all want to see reform, and they all understand that as much as everyone would like to get everything they want, they understand that anytime you’re talking about reform, you’re also talking about compromise.

MENON: Retired Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy David Wall is one of the panelists at the event. Wall’s focus during the discussion is on scaling back the need for police in everyday life.

DAVID WALL: And it’s become too easy to call the police and ask them to intervene in everyday problems that most of us could resolve.

MENON: The symposium will take place this Friday at 1 P-M over Microsoft Teams. More details and the full list of panelists are on OCC’s website. Reporting live, I’m Arjun Menon, NCC News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Onondaga Community College is hosting a symposium this Friday featuring six panelists ranging from law enforcement officials to prominent community members. The symposium caps off a discussion series entitled “Race and Policing in America,” which featured three previous sessions outlining the history of policing in the United States, as well as problems with the system and possible solutions.

OCC Professor Tara Ross was a moderator at the first three discussion sessions. Ross said the different backgrounds of the panelists will lead to disagreements during the symposium, but she added that all the panelists have one thing in common.

“They all want to see reform, and they all understand that as much as everyone would like to get everything they want, they understand that anytime you’re talking about reform, you’re also talking about compromise,” Ross said.

 

 

Flyer for the symposium featuring a keynote speaker, the panelists, the layout of the event, and pictures of the people involved.
The flyer for the event. NOTE: Yusuf Abdul-Qadir’s title is lead organizer for the Syracuse Police Accountability and Reform Coalition.
© 2021 Permission given by Tara Ross

 

Retired Onondaga County Chief Deputy David Wall is one of the panelists at the event. Wall’s focus during the discussion regards scaling back the need for police in everyday life.

“It’s become too easy to call the police and ask them to intervene in everyday problems that most of us could resolve,” Wall said.

Wall also emphasized the importance of providing mental health resources to the public rather than dispatching the police for mental health matters.

The symposium is this Friday at 1 p.m. over Microsoft Teams. There is no preregistration required and the link is above.

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