On June 9, 2020, the Davidson Town Board directed staff to conduct a review of Davidson Police Department policies and procedures to ensure we continue to model best practices in community policing. The direction included a review and comparison of recommendations from 8 Can’t Wait and President Obama 21st Century Task Force on Policing; and a review of annual police data reporting.
On July 14, 2020, Davidson’s Chief of Police Penny Dunn presented to the board an outline of the above listed project recommendations with a comparative analysis to the Davidson Police Department policies, procedures and operations. Details on the department’s current application of these concepts in its own policies, procedures, and operations can be viewed through the below links.
Link for presentation recording (here)
Link for PowerPoint (here)
Chief Dunn also provided an overview of the police department’s annual Biased Based Policing report for the calendar year 2019 data.
As part of the Davidson Police Department’s commitment to the community to hold themselves to the highest standards, Chief Dunn offered up a list of next steps she and the department intend to take in the coming weeks and months. First among them is to make previous “No Agenda” public meetings with the Chief possible through a virtual platform. The Davidson Police Department is actively seeking community feedback on the information presented July 14th.
Please access the above links and watch at your convenience. We then ask for input through SpeakUp here. Residents may also provide feedback by emailing policeinfo@townofdavidson.org. We look forward to hearing from you about what we are doing well and what we need to improve upon.
Steve Justus over 4 years ago
A quote from the power point presentation, "Based on a review of all 2019 data, no patterns or trends have been identified indicating a need for corrective action" Based on the arrest data presented in the report the arrest percentage for blacks is 29% and for whites is 65%. The percentage of blacks in the Davidson population 4.4% is and whites is 87%. Though not a pattern per se and a trend cannot be assessed from a single year's data, the arrests are disproportionate to the population on a percentage basis. It is premature to determine that no corrective action is necessary. Would like to see the arrests in absolute numbers. Would like to see the arrests by race and place of residence. The following quote I agree with "Dive deeper into the data to better analyze all contributing factors that cause a disproportionate impact to people of color. Work with the racial equity toolkit to ensure best practices are being followed and the department is holding itself accountable." Would like to see the budget for the police included in this discussion. And I would like to know if a multi-disciplinary public safety force is being considered.