Pastor Mike asked Sheriff Troy Berry the following questions:
- Mr. Berry
Why have you not taken a public stance against the profiling and murdered of black men and women? What are you doing about your own officers with numerous complaints?
- Being an officer is a stressful job. Have you and your leaders considered or would consider doing psychological testing and counseling to evaluate their mental health? I work with behavioral scientists and mental health instructors and I believe for an officer to kill an unarmed black man is rooted in learned hatred but also mental instability.
- When an officer pulls a black person/male over, is there a different protocol? I'm asking because there are a lot of cases, hundreds if not thousands of cases where traffic stops resulted in killing and usually unarmed.
- How do we stop racism?
- What is white fragility?
- Let's just put it out there - people are crazy! Like many mayors in hot zones are saying, the people involved in violent protests are not protesting for solutions - they're seeking revenge. What can you offer as a respectable black sheriff to stem the tide of revenge and change the mentality of the black community to partner towards written legal change and solutions? Are there think tanks out there that they can join to help the write up bill solutions to their representatives, community partnering with CCSO, etc?
- Lord willing, I will never find myself in a situation like the individual who recorded the death of Mr. Floyd on their cell phone as he was being murdered. However, if I do someday find myself the witness of an officer using excessive force or behaving in a way that seems out of line, what should I do? Is it safe and lawful for me to try to intervene? To verbally try to deescalate the situation? To physically step in, seeking to protect the citizen being abused? Should I call 911 and will that make a difference? Or is my only safe recourse to pull out my camera to record, so that at least I'll have evidence if this incident of abuse results in yet another life lost?
- Not saying it's true but does race play a big role in how we're treated? Being afraid of getting pulled over...if I fear my life is in jeopardy can I as a black woman continue riding until I find a safe place to pull over?
- Why do we as black people feel we have to take extra precaution to extreme measures when being pulled over? We know that it's a chance we may not make it out alive just from that one traffic stop, especially seeing the vast differences in situations how a white person is handled vs a black person. We are dealt much more aggression and force than our white or other race counterparts.
- For the sheriff: As a polished and experienced leader, you perspective is different than the police we need to speak with. When will there be an opportunity to speak with the daily grind officers? The ones that are often the true face of the police department because they are the ones the public generally interacts with? For true progress, this needs to be a nonpolitical process and get into the grit conversation. That happens between the real parties who frequently have friction. When will events for those types of conversations take place?
- Sheriff Berry, Would you be open to holding transparent monthly community meetings for the service districts? This would include the commanders, shift supervisors and deputies. This is COPE where we can integrate with the deputies and supervisors who patrol our neighborhood. We could talk about the Neighbors App, Ring cameras, concerns etc. on a monthly basis. Would you be open to engaging transfers, new hires and staff with the community as well? Share a fSheriff message monthly as your open
- There needs to be an organization under the DOJ branch that investigates all police-related deaths, external from Internal Affairs or police organizations, to hold police accountable. The current investigative agencies are too close to the police departments. What currently exists and how can that change happen?? What action are you taking to help improve that process? Currently, too much internal bias exists (and we have several LE members in our family and still recognize this as an issue).
