FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 21, 2017

CONTACTS:
Erin Grady (CLDC)
(541) 687-9180
Ibrahim Coulibaly (NAACP)
(541) 606-3007

Eugene Advocacy Groups Ask to be Part of the Process of Hiring a New Police Chief

EUGENE, OR – A coalition of social justice and human rights groups in Eugene called Human Rights Work, have released their first letter to the city asking to be a part of the hiring process of the new chief of the Eugene Police Department. The group will be sending members to the Human Rights Commission meeting on June 20th, to speak to a representative from the city and find out how they can be a part of the hiring as early as possible.

“I was part of the hiring process of the Springfield police chief, and it was not satisfactory at taking community opinion into account. We were not included until the last step. We hope that the Eugene hiring process genuinely includes community opinion from the beginning and at every step of the way,” says Ibrahim Coulibaly, member of Eugene Springfield NAACP. The letter is as follows:

Dear Mayor Lucy Vinis, City Council of Eugene, and City Manager Jon Ruiz,

We, Human Rights Work, are a coalition of Human Rights and Social Justice groups that have come together to bring our voices, opinions and concerns to the process of hiring a new police chief for the City of Eugene. We are requesting a meeting with the City Manager to discuss our values, concerns and how we can be a part of this process. We are made up of Eugene groups and organizations that represent and advocate for a better, more equitable life in this town for all its inhabitants. Specifically, we represent groups that are traditionally under-represented in city decisions, and that are on the receiving end of racism, sexism, cissexism, classism, homophobia and other kinds of oppression. We realize that the decisions and management of the Eugene Police Department are decisions that affect the safety and well-being of our communities, as well as the expenditure of our tax dollar resources, and we want to be a part of this hiring process.

We believe in a police force that maintains public safety, respects people’s rights, supports people’s health, helps facilitate the rehabilitation of those who need it and fortify peoples’ ties to the community. We want a police force that minimizes harm, prioritizes de-escalation, works with community groups, arrests sparingly and moves to end policies and tactics that result in racially disproportionate outcomes. We want an EPD that respects the city’s Inclusivity Ordinance and the potential extension of it. We have seen ways that the EPD meets these needs for our community and ways that it needs to improve in order to accommodate the diversity of humans who live here.

The City Manager has said that this will be a transparent process, and we hope to know more specifics of what that will look like. We are asking to be a part of this process as early as possible. Specifically, we would like to be 1) involved in the hiring of a national recruiter and in the recruitment process, including providing review and contributions to the job description and list of qualifications desired. 2) We would like our values to be included in forming criteria for reviewing applications. 3) We also want to have a seat (or several seats) at the table in order to assess potential candidates and make a choice, including attending interviews, attending discussions of candidates and observing the decision making process.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
NAACP
Centro Latino Americano
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)
Friends of Sanctuary
Civil Liberties Defense Center
TransPonder
Occupy Medical
350 Eugene
Trauma Healing Project
Eugene Springfield Solidarity Network
CALC
United Front