The Citizens Review Board (CRB) presented the crowd control and riot gear policy to the Duluth Police Department (DPD) at a public meeting. Several news stations covered the event, held at Denfeld High School. During the Q & A portion of the event Chief Tusken’s answers to questions about the policy frequently relied on the “culture” he has built with the DPD, and on his personal good intentions. There are no pieces of the policy that require public input prior to change, and we highlighted several other issues with it on our Facebook site this past week. The community also had the opportunity to talk with policy group members and several city councilors who were present.
IMPACT: the community was left with no guarantees about how the policy would be enforced for law enforcement agencies from outside of Duluth working within the city, and we received only verbal promises about how changes to the policy will be handled (by bringing them to the CRB). Comments were collected by the CRB, but it is unclear what will happen with them beyond “review.”