We recently received a request from Fred Miller of Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, asking to join one of our meetings to promote the work they’ve done with Troy Police Department.
We are not interested. This is our full response.
Dear Fred,
We received your request to come to our meeting “to share information about our work with the Troy Police Department and the May event … and answer any questions. We only need 10-15 minutes on your agenda.”
You’ve done work with the City of Troy and the Troy Police Department for two years with no community involvement until now. To presume that 10-15 minutes to talk at our membership about your solutions to problems we were never originally consulted on underscores that this is nothing but a public relations campaign to whitewash the Troy Police Department’s long history of reckless and hateful violence.
We are not interested in exposing our members or the community to your pro bono work to overhaul the TPD’s reputation. We are connected to this community as residents, students, workers, parents, and neighbors. When we received this invitation, our first step was to check who else you’ve included in this long process up to now. We were made aware that you have not reached out to prominent Black-led organizations, and your work has lacked transparency and real outreach. By removing the voices of those most impacted by police violence, you told us everything we need to know about your event.
You are not welcome in our space, because you represent cops, not the people of Troy. Cops hurt the people in our community. This is a fact. The Times Union’s editorial board released a statement today on the city’s secrecy around police disciplinary records, and the long history of violence against Black and Brown people in Troy. Meanwhile all media outlets are covering how an officer killed a young man while driving recklessly through a dangerous intersection.
The people in our communities do not need to be subjected to your PR campaign about emotionally disturbed persons training and six new community officers. The City and TPD have repeatedly ignored years of outreach, activism, political involvement, social justice work, requests from leaders and non-profits, an executive order from the NYS governor, and the cries of 11,000 people in the streets of Troy.
We provided our recommendations publicly in the past. We’d like to know how many of those were considered in your work. You can share the status of that free labor in writing.
Troy DSA encourages anyone who received a similar invitation to boycott this meeting in May.
-Troy DSA
Troy DSA 