REMARKS
Council Member Stevens discusses community requests for police and the need for resources
2:16:13
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109 sec
Council Member Althea V. Stevens acknowledges that community members often request more police presence but argues that additional resources are needed to address underlying issues. She emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to community safety and crime prevention.
- Stevens confirms that community members frequently ask for more police
- She stresses the need for resources to address poverty and lack of community facilities
- Stevens advocates for reevaluating current programs and gathering data to support effective interventions
- She highlights the importance of addressing racial disparities in policing practices
Althea V. Stevens
2:16:13
And, I just wanna also say, chief Madri, you're not lying.
2:16:18
People in my community are always asking for more cops.
2:16:21
That is when I'm at the precinct council meetings, that is what I hear often like, we need more cops, we need more cops, but you know, and I always reeducate them that we need more resources.
2:16:29
Right?
2:16:29
Like even if we get more cops it's gonna continue to happen because what happens poverty is going to drive the crime up, and so we have to make sure that we are infusing the same amount of resources that we are infusing cops.
2:16:40
And so I say it all the time which is why my, well my inspectors love me because I'm like, I'm trying to get you to do your job and not everybody else's job.
2:16:47
You are not a social worker, you are not a you are not, you are not gonna do all the things that it's a good that needs to get done.
2:16:52
You don't have to you shouldn't be doing homeless services.
2:16:55
You none of the things, and so my job is to help you guys get the resources so you don't have to be there.
2:17:00
Right?
2:17:00
So you are correct and you're not lying and I do wanna make sure that that's being said because I hear that all the time.
2:17:05
We need more cops.
2:17:06
And I'm like, is that what we need?
2:17:08
Is that gonna solve the issue?
2:17:09
No.
2:17:10
We don't have any community centers.
2:17:11
The kids have nowhere to go.
2:17:12
Oh, why they standing in front of the building?
2:17:14
Where they gonna go?
2:17:15
Who's gonna let them come in their program?
2:17:16
So I think we have to work together to make sure that we are figuring out how do we get more resources.
2:17:22
Right?
2:17:22
I think, you know, us together should be going to the mayor saying like, you see these areas, we need more resources.
2:17:28
And I know they've tried to do different things with like Saturday night lights and all those things, but as we can see it's not working the way we want it to work.
2:17:34
So then what we should do is go back and say, let's reevaluate it to see what else we could do, and this is why I'm always saying, because I'm the chair of DYCD and ECS, and which is why I'm always saying, well how do we evaluate that?
2:17:44
How do we know it's working?
2:17:46
Cause if if we don't have the data to back it up, then we can't say it's working.
2:17:49
And today the data is showing that we are criminalizing certain people, and so that's why for me it's like how do we now figure out how to move forward and change this.
2:17:57
So the next time we come, we're reporting on how we've changed it and what that really looks like.
2:18:02
And so that's how I really wanna focus the conversation.
