In wake of Tyre Nichols death in Memphis, calls for oversight of Jacksonville police
A small but nonetheless vocal crowd called for police reform in Jacksonville and nationwide Sunday afternoon during a rally for justice following the recent death of Tyre Nichols in an encounter with Memphis police.
About 50 people including community activists, family members of those killed in Jacksonville police shootings and others demonstrated peacefully outside the Duval County Courthouse as part of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee-led rally as part of the nationwide call demanding justice for Nichols.
JCAC, along with other Jacksonville community activists and organizations, is advocating strongly for the creation of an independent Public Safety Oversight Committee to provide accountable civilian oversight over the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Organizers read aloud the names of Jacksonville residents as well as Nichols and George Floyd, both of whom died following encounters with police.
“Unfortunately, that list keeps growing,” Michael Sampson II, a JCAC community organizer, told the crowd.
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Sampson said despite marches and rallies involving millions of people nationwide demanding police reform, that list of the dead is getting longer.
“Every day, every year, that list keeps growing! And there are those out there that want that list to keep growing. How much more can we take?” Sampson said. “How much more can we have to deal with before something happens? Before we have a change?”
Sampson also said none of the families of those shot by Jacksonville police have seen justice, which is they, too, were there protesting.
The gruesome video released Friday showing Nichols being savagely beaten by now-fired Memphis police officers is only the most recent crime against civilians by police, said those at the courthouse rally.
Veteran community activist Ben Frazier, president of the Northside Coalition, said “killer cops are still out on the streets in Jacksonville. It is in fact discriminatory law enforcement culture that says Black lives don’t matter. The bottom line is Black lives do matter and they matter no matter who takes them,” Frazier told the crowd.
JCAC and other community activists say the creation of a Public Safety Oversight Committee is needed and long overdue in Jacksonville to hold police accountable.
The organizations are working toward a 2024 ballot initiative to create such a committee, which will be a public watchdog.
Jacksonville is one of the few major Florida cities without some form of a citizens' review of police conduct, said Christina Kittle, a JCAC leader. “We decided to do a ballot initiative so for 2024 it can be up to the people to decide what we want to see in our city. We can let the people decide how we are policed. We can let the people decide what public safety looks like in our city.”
What happened to Tyre Nichols?
Video released Friday shows Memphis, Tenn., police officers brutally beating Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, shouting expletives and using pepper spray and a baton on him while he called out for his mother in a Jan. 7 traffic stop that left him hospitalized and, three days later, dead.
Police struck Tyre Nichols at least 13 times, kicking his face, side and head, punching his head and chest, and striking him with a baton. After the beating, as Nichols sat propped up against a police car moaning in pain, police gathered nearby, calling Nichols names, checking on each other and laughing.
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Jacksonville sheriff 'shocked and horrified'
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K Waters in a statement Saturday night said he stands with the community in condemning the behavior of the Memphis officers.
Waters said he was “shocked and horrified” by the images and reports of the circumstances resulting in Nichols’ death.
“The actions of those officers are reprehensible and inexcusable. There is no policy in the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office or any law enforcement agency in this country that permits such brutality,” Waters said.
He said the Memphis officers “abandoned their fundamental oaths to serve and protect” the public.
“Those officers’ actions do not reflect the culture of law enforcement in our agency or in this country. We are a society of laws, and no one is above the law,” said Waters, who also offered his and Sheriff’s Office’s prayers and “deepest condolences” to Nichols’ family and loved ones.
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Deadly police shootings in Jacksonville
The new year already has seen two Jacksonville police shootings:
On Jan. 19, Jacksonville police shot and killed a man — identified as 38-year-old Eric Nathaniel Thornton — who the Sheriff's Office said was armed with a hunting knife as he confronted narcotics detectives trying to arrest him.
On Jan. 20, a Jacksonville police officer was wounded, and a man was shot and killed by other officers when a burglary investigation evolved into a shooting. The man, identified as Leon Burroughs, 39, had been armed with a black, semiautomatic handgun that investigation showed was used to wound the officer, according to the Sheriff's Office.
In 2022, Jacksonville police shot and killed eight suspects; four others shot by police survived, according to Times-Union records. In 2021, three suspects were killed by officers and four others were wounded; and in 2020, eight suspects died in 14 police shootings in the city and one other was deemed self-inflicted.
Earlier attempts at police accountability
In October 2021, then-City Council President Sam Newby shut down the city's Safer Together Committee, a committee formed a year earlier by then-City Council President Tommy Hazouri to examine the relationship between police and the community.
The committee chaired by council members Joyce Morgan and Michael Boylan was tasked with convening workshops that let residents share experiences that "shaped their attitude regarding our community policing" and enlisting advice from experts.
A report filed to the committee by consultants in August of that year said Jacksonville needs police reforms, including creation of a civilian review board, and must confront "the elephant in the room, namely, the level of mistrust among the African American community regarding policing in general," the Times-Union reported.
Following the resignation of Boylan from the committee and the consultants' report, Newby said the committee had concluded its work.
Fearing the committee's report would go nowhere, Michael Sampson of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, said "The fight for police accountability must continue. City leaders must choose who they serve: the people who are crying for this process to continue or those who think the status quo is good enough."
A pledge to be more transparent
In late December, just weeks into his term as Jacksonville Sheriff, T.K. Waters pledged greater transparency by the Sheriff's Office, including more timely release of bodycam video of police shootings.
"I vow that the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office will be as open, honest and transparent as the law allows," Waters said. "We do this out of respect for the people we serve, and we will earn their trust so together, we can build the foundation for safer and more secure Jacksonville for all."
In addition to police bodycam footage, Waters said the public also should expect quicker release of information on criminal investigations into officers, but only if JSO is the only department investigating it. Information about officer shootings as well as in-custody deaths of suspects and inmates will be released within 48 hours of those incidents, he said, according to WJCT News.
This report contains information from USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville activists rally for poli9ce oversight after Tyre Nichols videos
