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Local Police Chiefs Meet With the Public for Open Forum Discussion

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Police chiefs from Athens, Ohio University and Hocking College met at the Athena Cinema in Athens Tuesday evening for an open forum discussion with the community.

The “Ask the Chiefs” event, led by Ohio University’s Black Student Union, Multicultural Center and national Pan-Hellenic Council was joined by APD Chief Tom Pyle, OUPD Chief Andrew Powers and Hocking College Police Chief Tiffany Tims.  They took questions from the crowd ranging from police brutality to racism on the police force.

The forum was scheduled in response to a viral video which circulated late last month, showing three APD officers using force to restrain an African American man on Court Street.

Jewel Henderson, an Ohio University junior attended Tuesday’s forum, and says she would have liked to see an event like this before such an incident occurred.

“It’s really unfortunate that it took a situation like this for us to essentially prioritize an event like this,” said Henderson. “Because like Maurice was saying these events happen all the time. Maybe not to this capacity, but they happen in micro-versions every weekend. You can’t deny it. So it’s really unfortunate that something like this had to happen for us to come together as a community.”

The forum lasted until around 9:30 p.m., well past the originally planned end time of 9:00 p.m.  APD Chief Pyle spoke the majority of the time, until Hocking College Police Chief Tims took over at the end, speaking on what changes need to be made to the police forces, such as increased de-escalation and increased community engagement.