The Truth Staff
Members of the Toledo chapter of the New Order National Human Rights Organization met with Toledo Police Chief Mike Troendle and several of his assistants on Friday, June12 at Police Headquarters to discuss issues that have arisen between the department and Toledo’s Black community.
“It’s sad how these officers are not from our community but they work in our community,” said New Order founder and national president Gerald Rose several days before the scheduled meeting. He added that residents too often feel like “strangers being judged by their surroundings rather than people being understood.”
So the purpose of the meeting, from the point of view of the New Order members was to seek answers, accountability and honest conversation. By that measure, the meeting was a success, said local chapter president Ideshia Shumaker.
The meeting, while not scheduled to deal directly with some of the city’s recent incidents, such as the pushing to the ground of a handcuffed 15-year-old girl, the officers ridiculing youngsters for living in “poverty” or the shootings at the Old West End Festival which injured 12 people, these events were certainly mentioned during the meeting, said Schumaker. And for the most part, she said, brought up by the officers, with regret for the first two events.
“They said they were truly embarrassed,” she said after the meeting.
However, the main topic of the meeting was how to proceed. “We talked about the types of events where we can come together,” said Shumaker. “The ways in which we can combine the community and the police.”
The police officers are planning to organize community meetings and contact New Order so the organization can coordinate their own efforts at brining out the community to participate.