Police Commission welcomes new HRC liaison

Presenter: The Eugene Police Commission welcome a new liaison from Eugene’s Human Rights Commission. At the June 12 meeting, Chair Jensina Hawkins:

Jensina Hawkins (Eugene Police Commission, chair): I’d like to welcome Commissioner John Bradley, who is joining us from Human Rights Commission. He has been designated as the liaison from HRC, who is replacing Dr. Silky Booker.

Commissioner Bradley, if you would, please share some about yourself, why you wanted to come join us on the Police Commission, and then an update from the Human Rights Commission.

[00:00:29] John Bradley (Eugene Police Commission): Sure, thank you, Chair. My name’s John Bradley. I’m a social worker. I work with mostly combat veterans, veterans of the United States military in my regular day job in leading other social workers who also serve combat veterans and veterans of the military.

[00:00:48] I want to serve as a liaison because I’ve felt and believed for many years that policing is concurrently one of the most difficult and one of the most important things that we do, one of the most important things to get right. And so good, robust policies that both protect our rights and protect safety are very important…

[00:01:13] I also worked with folks, individuals, who have been, unfortunately, the victims of abuse by law enforcement officers.

[00:01:26] So on both sides, I’m very interested in ensuring that both law enforcement and our public, for neighbors, ourselves, we’re, we’re living in as much harmony and peace as we possibly can, which I know is the aim of everyone on this Commission and everyone in the community…And so that’s why I’m here.

[00:01:46] And one of the reasons that I serve on the Human Rights Commission as well.

[00:01:53] Related to updates for the Human Rights Commission: Chair, thank you so much for attending the last HRC meeting, very much appreciated by all who attended and by everyone on the Human Rights Commission. Really honored to work with you all here. So thank you for accepting me.

[00:02:09] And of course, the HRC and the Police Commission have several work plan items that intersect. We have a nexus of interest in several areas that I’m interested in, that HRC is interested in, and immigration, of course, being the primary one right now, and immigration policy.

[00:02:28] We also review every month in the HRC, the hate crimes report, and very much appreciate (Police) Chief (Chris Skinner), the, Lt. Williams’ attendance in that and his responsiveness to HRC committee members and commission members.

[00:02:44] We also review the hate and bias crimes report (that’s separate) on a monthly basis.

[00:02:51] We also in HRC will have elections this summer for a new chair and vice chair. And we just finished accepting nominations for our annual ‘Human Rights Community Leadership Award’ ceremony, which will be held on the 22nd of June from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the downtown library.

[00:03:15] We’ll also have a panel discussion and honor that—an organization and an individual who are champions of human rights in the city.

[00:03:25] Presenter: Police Commission Chair Jensina Hawkins:

[00:03:27] Jensina Hawkins (Eugene Police Commission): (To Commissioner Bradley) It’s my understanding that Chair (Blair) Burrell and Vice-chair (Thomas) Hiura are both rolling off of Human Rights Commission, is that correct?

[00:03:35] John Bradley (Eugene Police Commission): That is my understanding, Chair.

[00:03:37] Jensina Hawkins (Eugene Police Commission): We will miss working with them.

[00:03:40] Presenter: Meet your new liaison to the Police Commission, Human Rights Commissioner John Bradley, who announces the upcoming ‘Human Rights Community Leadership Award’ and panel discussion June 22 starting at 1 p.m. at the downtown library.

The panel discussion, Reimagining Resistance, includes individuals who have been successful with their resistance efforts for local human rights in the past year.