Councilman Holds Town Hall In North Miami To Discuss Officer-Involved Shooting
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – There was a town hall meeting in North Miami Tuesday about a shooting making national headlines.
An officer shot an unarmed man, and now the community's voice is being heard.
A voice, it's what many have been wanting and needing since the shooting of Charles Kinsey.
Councilman Philippe Bien-Amie hosted this town hall meeting. The goal us to share ideas thoughts and concerns.
"This is not a North Miami issue or problem, this is a nationwide it affects mainly communities of color for the most part," an attendee said.
"I find it kind of strange that police officers who work in white neighborhoods never need retraining. They don't shoot unarmed people, it only happens in black communities," another person said.
Tuesday night's forum gave neighbors the chance to see that they don't all have the same experiences.
"Protect and serve... and I'm in fear when I see you. It shouldn't be that way," an attendee said.
Most people expressed their understanding for the dangerous situations police face.
"(The) police department in North Miami and the community have generally had a good relationship. Is it perfect? I don't think so, but I think it's better than most," a man said.
But some have a problem with how police and city leaders have handled last week's police shooting.
"I don't feel like the leadership of the city is taking this incident as seriously as it should be taken," another town hall attendee said. "I feel it's inappropriate and unacceptable and elected official to give interviews on TV in the living room in there at all and that's unprofessional it's unacceptable. That doesn't speak well of our city board citizens."
Bien-Amie said he will make it his goal to ensure the police department gets more funding for training for their officers.
