Three city officials meet to discuss and finalize locations/venue, as well as dates, for the three public forums requested at the CRB meeting.
Based on the ideal locations discussed, the city officials schedule the three public forums for Oct. 9th, 10th, and 11th.
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Representatives of Duluth NAACP, SURJ, PRISM, Twin Ports Democratic Socialist of America, The Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights Coalition, Twin Ports Save the Kids, and other community groups invite Chief Tusken to have a conversation with them.
During this conversation, the group asked if Chief Tusken would request the City Council table the riot gear vote due to community concerns. The Chief declined to make that recommendation and the NAACP issued a statement (“Public statement regarding the potential Duluth City Council vote on the Duluth Police Department’s purchase of riot gear”) recommending the vote be tabled and a community forum be planned involving at least two members of the Citizen Review Board (CRB).The Chief never reached out to plan such a community forum and stated later that he didn’t know if there would be such a forum.
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Chief Tusken attends the NAACP General Meeting to discuss the cancellation of the forum and next steps.
Chief Tusken asked if the NAACP was interested in planning a forum and the members present at the meeting expressed interest in collaboratively planning a community-oriented “Use of Force Forum”. The Chief did not follow up with the NAACP after the meeting and did not provide information on next steps or how the NAACP could engage in planning, other than to “reach out to [him]”. Chief Tusken also stated at the NAACP meeting that he would not be reaching out to any other community organizations to plan, as (according to him) only the NAACP had issued a public statement. He did not follow up with the NAACP or any other community groups after this meeting.
Community leaders gather to talk about the upcoming FBI sponsored forum on the use of force.
After a conversation expressing questions and concerns about the forum, a group of community leaders decides to draft a letter to the Duluth Police Department (DPD) and the FBI sharing why they are not planning to come to the forum and making suggestions about how to make a forum more accessible to the community.