BUFFALO (WBEN) - In the wake of the protests taking place around the country and specifically in Buffalo, Mayor Brown announced a series of action steps to initiate police reform on Wednesday afternoon.
"This is what a culture shift, the beginning of it, looks like," said Dr. Dani Johnson, co-chair of the Buffalo Police Advisory Board and member of the Free the People WNY Coalition. "It takes folks who are asking for it, who are advocating for it, but it also takes members of an administration who are in positions to do something about it to do it. So, we are very encouraged."
Some of the immediate police reforms include stopping arrests for low-level offenses and overhauling the ERT when it comes to peaceful protests.
Christian Parra, who serves as an organizer with Citizen Action and lead organizer for the Free the People WNY Coalition, also spoke at yesterday's press conference. He made it abundantly clear that Buffalo is nowhere near perfect, but some of the actions announced by Brown are a solid first step.
"This is just the first step," said Parra. "This is the beginning of a revolution that's happening in the City of Buffalo for people of color and low income families that are impacted by the mass incarceration systems.
"To me, this is only the beginning," Parra continued. "We have been meeting frequently - I have direct contact with the mayor now, so whenever we want meetings, he has stopped what he was doing to come see us. So, I'm just - I'm not going to say happy - but I think it's going towards the next steps of building a just community..."
"I think that the measures the mayor has outlined is a great start for sure - it will have a direct impact on how folks are treated when they do encounter the police," she said. "The thing with organizing work and systemic change is that it takes time. Every mentor that I've had who has been in movement, organizing and social justice work for years have said that you have to be persistent, and you have to be consistent.
"What happened today and what happened in our meetings, the sincerity and the intention behind what was the conversations, we are confident that it's going to lead to more things," Johnson continued. "It's baby steps."
