GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Instead of a potential confrontation, Grand Rapids police and community leaders now have planned a "conversation and collaboration” outside police headquarters on Sunday, Oct. 21.
An "All Kids Matter March" on headquarters was planned for Sunday after officers investigating a shooting put handcuffs on a 12-year-old girl last week. It was the at least the fourth time an unarmed, innocent, African American children were handcuffed in less than two years.
But after a meeting Wednesday, Kent County Commissioner and march organizer Robert S. Womack and Police Chief David Rahinsky agreed to change the event into an open forum. They say they want to continue the conversation around community and police relations.
“It is really time for better communication between the community and the police,” Womack said Tuesday when asked about the protest he was planning. “But we need the police to meet us halfway.”
“I think we continue to improve,” Chief Rahinsky said Tuesday while explaining the decision to handcuff the 12-year-old girl. “The officers did as they are trained to do. I think the policies we have put in place have made us a stronger department but there is still work to be done.”
The open community forum is scheduled to start at 5:00 P.M. Sunday at the Grand Rapids police headquarters on Monroe Center Ave. It is supposed to last for an hour and a half. There will even be light refreshments.
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