By Kelly Montes
This Friday, July 24, 2020, Morris County Prosecutor Frederic M. Knapp is hosting a “public” virtual community forum on use of force by police officers.
This seems to be the trend in community policing, as Ocean County is hosting their event today and Burlington County held their forum last week. But do not be fooled, a controlled discussion is no discussion, it’s a lecture.
Tone deaf: This charade of a so-called community forum is hosted by and almost entirely occupied by law enforcement. With a minuscule presence of only two civilians/religious leaders, they are purported to speak on behalf of the vast variety of the impacted community.
Very curious to know how those two civilians were selected and what have any of them ever said before, publicly, about police use of force, accountability and professionalism, or any of the other topics that are supposed to be “discussed” this Friday.
This panel does not include even a single civil rights attorney or criminal defense attorney. Most likely so there is no pushback.
It is critically detrimental when ill-equipped people either prop themselves up or are propped up by others, to speak on behalf of everyone else and about important and complex issues such as those to be discussed Friday; particularly in discussions with public officials and in public forums.
It tends to give the unimpacted and disinterested, if not outright opposed, community at large reason to undermine focus on the issues and those who are impacted by the issues.
What is this panel really going to say substantively about social justice, use of force, police accountability? Is this panel of law enforcement really going to acknowledge the fact and reality of how its culture and system has impacted communities of color disproportionately, the poor, those without influence?
Are either of the two chosen civilians intellectually equipped with enough knowledge and understanding of the intricate systems that perpetuate the existence of the problems that are issues?
And submit questions and comments via email, really?! So the comfortable ones can be cherry picked and time given to prepare and rehearse a response?! How transparent, a community forum without live questions from the community. So much for accountability.
This charade is so blatantly disingenuous that it’s not even suspicious looking. It is clearly a public relations stunt that is certainly geared toward a key demographic of the population that is not effected or really interested in the issues that are purported to be discussed.
With that being said, Fredric M. Knapp, here is my challenge: Open the discussion on the slated topics and others to members of the public.
For the good of our community and the interests of fulfilling the good of what such a real conversation is capable of, I ask that this forum field live questions in real time and be live-streamed on the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Facebook page.
The fact that members of the public have to pre-register to gain access to this alleged “community forum” is ludicrous. Provide a meeting ID and password to the Morris County community at large without requiring pre-registration to access what would otherwise be an impactful event.
Will you accept this challenge?
Kelly Montes is a Morristown activist.
Editor’s note: The views represented above are the author’s, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication. The Morris County Prosecutor and the state Attorney General are presenting Friday’s virtual forum at 3 pm to “strengthen relationships between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve and to address areas of concern before conflicts arise,” and to “obtain your view on the police use of force,” according to the prosecutor’s website. Scheduled panelists include police chiefs from Chester and Long Hill, the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Morristown, and a prison chaplain who serves on the board of the NAACP’s Morris County chapter.
UPDATE: The prosecutor’s office on Wednesday afternoon announced one panel change: Morristown’s acting police chief will be replaced by the president of the Morris Interfaith Clergy Council. Questions may be submitted online during the event, according to the prosecutor’s office.
