Courageous Conversation Series:

Re-imagining Public Safety in our community

This event will feature guest-panelists that are subject-matter-experts on this topic from both police leadership & "Impacted-Families".

Bridging the Divide: Understanding the Human Cost on Both Sides of the Badge on “Use-Of-Force” & “Use-Of-Force-Fatalities” in our community, which Spokane ranks 3rd in the nation for Officer-Involved-Fatalities. This event will feature guest-panelists that are subject-matter-experts on this topic from both police leadership & "Impacted-Families".

The list of the panelists are as follows: Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall, Spokane Police Ombuds Bart Logue, Debbie Novak (Washington Coalition for Police Accountability-WCPA), Kurtis Robinson (Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission-CJTC), Jim Leighty (WCPA), and Cynthia Manycolors (WCPA).

The goals and/or purpose for this event is to foster an open & honest dialogue about the Spokane Community/Police Relationship at this moment in time, with the hopes that this could start a more collaborative process between all “parties & stakeholders” together working on “Re-imagining Public Safety in Spokane”. The SHRC’s hope with this “Courageous Conversation” series is that the Spokane community will benefit greatly & gain a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding Police “Use-Of-Force” and “Use-Of-Force-Fatalities” by hearing from all impacted-stakeholders. Therefore, the SHRC is committed to “enhancing” the community-dialogue on these matters. These dialogues are focused on the fact that there is a humanity behind these very numbers & statistics on “Use-Of-Force-Fatalities” –as well as the impact that those fatalities have had on all our human-family. Due to the serious nature of these matters, these are the following guidelines for all participants of the “Courageous Conversation” series events: Listen from the Heart, which means to listen in an open and non-judgmental way; Speak from the Heart, which means we speak our truth, we speak honestly and with respect; and Utilize empathy from the Heart, so that we are guided by compassion and not our Ego’s in these “Courageous Conversations”.

By attending library programs, you are agreeing to potentially appear in photos/videos taken at our locations that may be used in promotional materials including social media.

We strive to make events welcoming for people of all abilities. To request accommodations (i.e. hearing assistance, ASL requests, or other ADA inquiries), email sday@spokanelibrary.org. 

For all event information inquiries, email telref@spokanelibrary.org or call 509-444-5300.

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