A week has passed since the latest Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the nation in response to the police killing of George Floyd. Now, activists across the country are demanding concrete changes in their local police departments.
Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner held a press conference Friday, in which he promised police reform within the department.
Skinner said departments across the country can learn from their mistakes to make necessary changes. “We think about where we have systems in place that are just not contemporary, or maybe just flat out wrong, and we identify those things and we try and fix those things,” Skinner said to a group of reporters on Friday morning. He added that he hopes Eugene can “lead from the front when it comes to police reform,” and be an example to the rest of the country.
He said that he signed an executive order Thursday night putting “carotid restraints,” which block airflow and blood from going to the brain, under review with the police commission and immediately suspended the hold’s use by EPD officers — except for when lethal use of force is authorized.
The restraint has been banned by a number of police departments across the country in response to a police officer cutting the air supply to Floyd, killing him.
EPD is also learning from its own mistakes to make changes going forward. Events on Sunday night, like the attacks on protesters and a journalist by police, are being investigated by Mark Gissiner, the city of Eugene’s independent police auditor.
Gissiner said that he and his team will be reviewing “body-worn video” from every night of the protest to get the full picture of police use of force.
Since Sunday night’s escalation of violence from police and a brief blockade of an EPD SWAT team on Monday night, police officers have largely allowed for protests throughout the city. Skinner said that, “we have 100% utilized our drones to be able to monitor from several hundred feet” to follow the direction of crowds and provide them with “safe” transportation around the city by blocking off streets, adding that images from across the country of people with “ill intent” driving through crowds of protesters shows the need for such safety mechanisms.
Throughout the week, Skinner said that EPD and protesters have entered into a “symbiotic relationship” where they have extended faith to another in hopes of avoiding violent confrontations.
“Buildings can be replaced. Glass can be replaced. Inventory can be replaced. Human life, It’s hard to replace those things,” Skinner said.
Gissiner and the Police Auditor’s Officer urge community members to continue filing complaints at their website.