Community Corner
Indio Vigil Honors George Floyd, Supervisors Condemn His Death
"Progressive agencies like Indio don't wait for a crisis to make changes that we know need to be made," Indio's police chief said.
INDIO (CNS) — A candlelight vigil in honor of George Floyd and other black lives lost to alleged police brutality was held in Indio.
Members of the group "We Are Indio" were among about 100 people gathered at Miles Avenue Park, 82540 Miles Ave., southwest of Indio Boulevard Tuesday, and wrote the names of nearly 100 black people who were killed on a sidewalk, KESQ reported.
"It's important to keep those legacies alive, let those folks in the community know that we're here, that we stand for change and we demand change," one of the event's organizers, April Skinner, told the station. "It's important as a community to know that we come together. We're united as a front."
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Indio police Chief Mike Washburn told the crowd his department has rewritten 96 policies this year alone.
"Progressive agencies like Indio don't wait for a crisis to make changes that we know need to be made," Washburn said.
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Meantime, in Riverside, the county Board of Supervisors declined to vote on a proposal to review policies for the sheriff's department.
The motion was offered by Chairman V. Manuel Perez on Friday in the aftermath of Floyd's death in Minneapolis and unrest across the nation.
Perez's motion, which would have called for Sheriff Chad Bianco to meet with County CEO George Johnson to review the department's use-of-force and other policies, did not get the required second it needed from another board member, the Press Enterprise reported.
"I saw a man that was killed right there on the street on video while nobody intervened -- while a cop was sitting on top of him," Bianco told the Board. "That hurt everything I am, as a law enforcement officer and us as a law enforcement community, as we all watch that you will not find one law enforcement officer in this country that would stand behind what they did."
Bianco said his department is "completely" transparent and pointed out that the department's policies are available for public viewing online.
Supervisors did vote to approve a resolution condemning what happened to Floyd.
— By City News Service
