Community based initiative arising out of the tragic aftermath of the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis and the subsequent nationwide Black Lives Matter solidarity protests demanding the structural transformation of policing. Overview: The Task Force to Re-imagine Policing and Public Safety is a community based initiative arising out of the tragic aftermath of the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis and the subsequent nationwide Black Lives Matter solidarity protests demanding the structural transformation of policing. This Task Force is the result of conversations from recent town halls with community members, faith leaders, service providers, elected officials and Denver Department of Public Safety to move toward action and healing. Goal: Our goal with this Task Force is to identify the best ideas and practices both from Denver and around the nation, and develop a comprehensive community-based approach to policing and public safety. While other cities across the nation are engaging in similar work, what makes this initiative unique is that it is completely community-led. This initiative is a collaboration between many community partners, covering a wide range of people groups and areas of expertise. Method: The methods to achieve this goal will be through convening a community-based task force, consulting with subject matter experts, identifying research-based solutions, creating comprehensive public policies, generating and disseminating a report of findings and recommendations, and advocating for public policy changes.
History of Task Force Formation
On June 4, 2020 the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance (GMDMA) met with Mayor Hancock. During that discussion I suggested convening a committee similar to the Use of Force committee, only with an eye towards reimagining the entire concept of how we do public safety, not just addressing certain aspects of policing practices. Mayor Hancock agreed to support such community-based approach and the idea to convene a Task Force was born. How do you create a community task force? I believe the best way to create a community-led, community-based task force is to directly ask the community who should be on such a task force. So on behalf of GMDMA, I reached out to other community organizations: Interfaith Alliance of Colorado, Together Colorado, The Conflict Center, and Project VOYCE. Together we planned two town hall meetings to hear from the community as to what they believed a public safety model for Denver should look like and what organizations should serve on this task force. We also created a questionnaire that was distributed throughout Denver on multiple media platforms. That questionnaire can be found in our Feedback section. We received hundreds of responses, with powerful insight. The respondents also gave recommendations for many of Denver’s leading community organizations to serve on the Task Force. Invitations we sent out and over thirty community organizations agreed to serve on the Task Force.
