PORTLAND, Maine — Portland City Councilors met over Zoom Tuesday night to discuss the city's police policies and procedures. Recent nationwide and statewide protests about policing motivated the council to have this conversation as soon as possible.
"We had a different agenda planned for this meeting tonight," said City Councilor Belinda Ray, "but we're hearing so much from the community and seeing such important events across the country that we felt we needed to get right to this work."
"The police chief has graciously and hurriedly put together materials for us," said Ray.
Portland Police Chief Frank Clark was at the center of the discussion Tuesday evening. He conducted a PowerPoint presentation which explored the department's existing policies and procedures.
The presentation included a look at the department's hiring processes, training, and disciplinary standards, and the city’s use-of-force policy, which is currently being rewritten. The policy will be renamed the “response to resistance” policy, Clark said.
Clark was also peppered by questions from city councilors.
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City Councilor Pious Ali says whether or not the department's policies and procedures are in need of significant change, this is a worthwhile discussion to have.
"There's always room for improvement," Ali tells NEWS CENTER Maine.
Ali also says this discussion is also overdue, indicating the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests have been a turning point.
"Over and over we say we need change with the relationship between police and black people and this time we say no more," says Ali.
The meeting was the first of several discussions about policing the Portland City Council has planned. While this meeting was not open to public comment, City Councilor Belinda Ray says there will be future opportunities for the public to weigh in on these discussions.