Testimony Before Legislative Committee Underway On Improving Policing, Racial Equity In Nebraska

OMAHA–(KFOR June 8)–The first of two listening forums on policing and racial equity in Nebraska got underway Monday morning in Omaha, where members of the Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee heard from people wanting oversight of the state’s justice system.

One of the testifiers, UNO professor and Ralston School Board member Jay Irwin, recommended looking at de-funding police departments across Nebraska.

“And by de-funding the police, what I mean is to start lowering the amount of money we spend on policing,” Irwin said. “It’s possible that de-fund isn’t the correct word and divest or reallocate is a better word.”

Morgann Freeman was among a group of protesters in Omaha recently that got tear-gassed by officers. She recommended to the committee eliminating police quotas for tickets and arrests and not allowing those to evaluate an officer’s performance.

“If your officers are only worried about numbers and they’re not worried about the actual people that are leading to people being killed, people being brutalized, people having PTSD from just seeing a police officer pull up behind them, you aren’t doing it right,” Freeman added.

Shani Dozier of Omaha later testified that people are given promises of accountability and action being done, but nothing happens.  Dozier said it’s empty rhetoric and it’s time to move on.

“I feel we need to invest more in helping black people make their communities better and not additional investments in police or prisons,” she said.

Dozier elaborated by saying more could be done to help those in poverty to raise the minimum wage because poverty breeds crime, ignorance and violence. She also added that poverty, as a positive, promotes hard work.

The Judiciary Committee will have another listening session 9am Tuesday in Lincoln at the NET headquarters near 33rd and Holdrege.