North Charleston, South Carolina. Following a town hall meeting on Tuesday night, North Charleston community leaders are calling for increased civilian oversight of local law enforcement.
Advocates at Ralph M. Hendricks Park urged “community control” over policing. They want a democratically elected body of citizens to decide who and how to police their communities.
Denise Scott, whose brother-in-law Walter Scott was fatally shot by a North Charleston police officer in 2015, said the current incident served as a reminder that reform is still needed.
“When the community called and said it’s going to be another Walter Scott, my heart started just jumping,” Scott said. But we need to do a lot more.
Walter Scott’s death garnered national attention, with many believing it was racially motivated. Ten years later, Denise Scott stated that many of her concerns remain the same.
“We are here making a plea to North Charleston police department to hear us,” pointed out Scott.
Erica Veal, a co-founder of the Lowcountry Action Committee, advocates for an elected civilian board with the authority to examine and establish police rules, budgets, and investigate suspected misbehavior.
“We don’t want another advisory board, we don’t want another review board,” Veal went on: “we want community control.”
According to community leaders, this need for citizen involvement stems from years of systematic issues inside the police force.
“Continuing to throw money into the police budget hasn’t made us safer,” Veal pointed out. “They have continued to brutalize police officers since Walter Scott was brutally murdered in 2015 by a North Charleston resident. Every year, the funding increases, and they continue to brutalize the police.”
According to a statement from North Charleston Police Chief Ron Camacho, they are currently meeting with the Lowcountry Action Committee.
“We are in the process of scheduling a meeting between Low Country Action Committee representatives, Chief Camacho, and Mayor Burgess. The goal of this meeting is to have an open and productive discussion about their concerns and to work cooperatively toward a common understanding and solutions.
We appreciate transparency, dialogue, and collaboration, and we are looking forward to a fruitful discussion that will deepen our community partnerships.
Community organizers stated that they are willing to collaborate with the city provided they believe their voices are heard.
“If the city of North Charleston is willing to heed our demand for community control and our material needs are improved that’s the only partnership, we’re interested in,” Veal told reporters. We need to have control over who polices our communities, how they police them, and how resources are allocated in them.”
