U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch Talks About Police Violence in Detroit

WASHINGTON, DC — Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch is kicking off a series of forums on police-community relations in Detroit Wednesday after taking part in a National Night Out event Tuesday with the Detroit Police Department’s 6th and 8th Precincts.

The Justice Department is convening the justice forums in cities across the nation to examine escalating tensions between African-Americans and white suspects and retalitorial violence against police departments, including last month’s sniper attack that left five Dallas police officers dead and seven others injured.

At the regional forum, to be held 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Wayne State University’s McGregor Memorial Conference Center in Detroit and open to the community, local community leaders, youth advocates, law enforcement representatives, and state and local officials will critically examine police-community issues in their respective communities.

Lynch will be joined by U.S.Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan will be joined by Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason of the Office of Justice Programs; Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division; Director Ron Davis of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; and Paul Monteiro, director of the Community Relations Service.

Lynch will also host a Building Respect In Diverse Groups to Enhance Sensitivity (BRIDGES) meeting at the Lebanese American Heritage Club in Dearborn on Wednesday. BRIDGES is a partnership between law enforcement agencies and leaders in the Arab and Muslim American communities in Metro Detroit. This meeting is not open to the public.

BRIDGES meets quarterly to provide a form to address issues of mutual concern and to foster better understanding on topics such as border crossings, no-fly lists, charitable giving, cultural sensitivity, hate crimes, law enforcement policies and procedures and immigration.

The National Night Out event takes place at 6 p.m. Tuesday at 11450 Warwick St. in Detroit. National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, better places to live. In most areas of the country, the program culminates annually on the first Tuesday of August. Neighbors participate across thousands of communities from all 50 states, United States territories, Canadian cities, and military bases worldwide.

Image credit: United States Mission Geneva via Flickr / Creative Commons