The Greensboro Justice Coalition, which includes the Beloved Community Center, Democracy Greensboro, the Good Neighbor Movement, Greensboro Rising, Guilford for All, the Homeless Union of Greensboro, and the Sunrise Movement, urges all who support justice in Greensboro to come together to demand that the Greensboro City Council:
1. Settle the Smith family lawsuit fairly and stop spending $300 an hour on defense lawyers which only prolongs the process and costs taxpayers more and more money.
2. Apologize verbally and in writing to the Smith family and the community for the police cover-up of the homicide of Marcus Smith which has been aided and abetted by this City Council.
3. Release, to the public, all of the personnel and disciplinary records created as a result of all internal disciplinary investigations into the eight GPD officers present when Marcus Smith was hogtied. If those records are considered confidential personnel records then we demand that City Council release them under the legal exception that release of these records is essential to maintain public confidence in the level and quality of police services.
4. Ensure that serious and swift consequences are meted out to those police officers that hog-tied Marcus Smith and those officers that stood by and offered no resistance to the hog-tying and no aid to Mr. Smith while he was in their custody.
5. Institute an ordinance (Law) that bans hogtying and limits the excessive use of force.
6. Invest in mental health workers as an alternative in crisis situations to intervention by the police.
7. Adopt the policy as written by GCJAC that requires the police to get signed permission before conducting a search without a warrant.
In Solidarity, Greensboro Rising
On September 15 the Peace and Social Concerns Committee reviewed these demands for justice and recommends that New Garden Monthly Meeting support this call for action by Greensboro’s City Council.
Contact: Bill McNeil.