Malden Forms Advisory Group To Review Police Use Of Force Policy

MALDEN, MA — As part of Mayor Gary Christenson's UniteMalden2020 initiative, the city has formed an advisory group to review the Malden Police Department's use of force policy. The goal of the group is to work on the Obama Foundation's pledge, which the city signed onto in June.

The group will be tasked with the following:

1. Review police use of force policies;
2. Engage the community by including their input in the review whether by a survey or other means;
3. Report the findings of the review to the community and seek their feedback; and,
4. Reform policies by offering recommendations.

Group members were invited based on their connection to the city, expertise working on racial equity, knowledge and experience with police use of force policies and working toward an intersectional approach.

Lead by Karen Colón Hayes, the group members are as follows: Neal Anderson, Jay Bhimani, Kelli Collomb, Isadel Eddy, Ben Hartzell, Darren Josey, Amanda Linehan, Shaina Lu, Carey McDonald, Erga Pierrette, Tamerlie Roc, Joel Stevenson, Olympia Stroud, Birukti Tsige, and Stephen Winslow. For more information on the pledge: https://www.obama.org/mayor-pledge/.

The group has been meeting and reviewing the Malden Police Department's current use of force policies. It will with the police chief and the community to seek feedback before making final recommendations. Agendas and notes are posted on the city's website.