During a meeting last week, Mayor John Cooper’s Policing Policies Commission (PCC) Policies Group indicated aims to diminish police and stated that criminals aren’t entirely at fault for their crimes.
Gideon’s Army Founder and CEO Rasheedat Fetuga was the main guest speaker. Vice Chair Amanda Lucas brought on Fetuga to speak, calling her a “visionary.”
Gideon’s Army is an organization that seeks to “eliminate the root causes of the prison pipeline” for troubled youths. The organization assisted in recovery efforts after the tornado hit Nashville this spring. Gideon’s Army was also involved in the Black Lives Matter Nashville rally-turned-riot following George Floyd’s death.
During her speech, Fetuga asserted that police aren’t qualified for some of the aspects of policing.
“Metro police officers are doing jobs that they’re not qualified for. It is not on their job description. Metro police officers aren’t mental health workers, you know, they’re not really ‘first responders,’ like, in the way that we would think. The way that their job is, it can also really increase the risk for mental health issues. There are a lot of issues that arise with the way we do policing in America. Even with the police chief, we’re still dealing with systematic oppression that’s national.”
Fetuga also argued that social determinants of health (SDOH) serve as the main cause for crime. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), SDOH are economics, education, healthcare, environment, and community.
“And then there’s the issue of there being lack of social determinants of health in Nashville communities that are handled by criminalizing people who are unhealthy or people who are in unhealthy communities. So these are some of the issues we see, some of the issues we set out to deal with. Understanding that crime and violence are negative effects, you know, that deeply impact the determinants of health. It’s a cycle.”
Following those remarks, Fetuga made the conclusion that the current policing systems aren’t effective in preventing crime.
“Bringing the police in on the back end doesn’t really make sense because it doesn’t help to create healthier communities.”
As The Tennessee Star reported previously, Cooper established this committee mid-August to review use-of-force policies in Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD). According to the press release, PCC will “make Nashville a model of 21st century policing” to address alleged disproportionate treatment of Black individuals.
“The U.S. criminal justice system has oppressed Black Americans for more years than it has protected them,” wrote Cooper. “It continues to punish African-Americans and people of color at disproportionate rates and in severe ways. Black men are more than twice as likely to be killed in an encounter with police as white men.”
The mayor is also relying on PCC’s work to select the next chief of police. The previous chief, Steve Anderson, retired in an expedited fashion at the beginning of August.
PCC concluded the meeting by remarking that they are “all on Team Gideon’s Army.”
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
What an incredible idiot! Crime is in the hearts of humans and order, and enforcement protect the productive and honest citizens.
Its time for businesses to move out of Davidson County and move to a neighboring county. Get out from under the influence of these pathetic “progressives”. Davidson county is being californicated. STOP IT NOW.
Another lefty idiot running a major city. What is wrong with these people? Gonna hafta leave Nashville. Maybe if I start planning now, I”ll be gone before Antifa starts running things.
The mayor of Nashville has totally lost his mind. if the citizens of Nashville Don’t do something quick it’ll take years for Nashville to recover from him.
Talk about mental illness, how much crazier does one have to get to give any consideration to this panel, Nashville like a lot of the country is headed to ruin if these folks are listened to. What happened to common sense!!!
Cooper is trying and you should have ore respect for thoughtful approaches to policing. Gideon’s Army can provide many worthwhile resources for helping with alternative policing models. Nashville is stepping up ad becoming one of the first major cities to quickly rethink AND reshape policing.
Right. We can see how well such policies work in LA, Seattle, Portland…etc. The failed blue policies are proven failures. If you think otherwise, move to Ca. or NY.
Gideon’s Army joined with the Marxist led-Black Lives Matter Movement because they are aligned in the use of the collective to achieve socialist goals.
Please download and sign the recall petition for Comrade Cooper. I agree with the other comments here. If we don’t get rid of him, it will be a disaster for the city. https://restorenashville.org
His behavior has been despicable and tyrannical toward the people of Nashville. He is the hack party leader of a progressive socialist movement in Metro government, along with Sean Parker, Bob Mendes, Zulfat Suara, Colby Sledge, Emily Benedict, et. al. He needs to be kicked out of office. Soon!
Excellent comments. Stick around…it’s about to get “good” in Nashville! What a joke.
Over and over I had conversations with people during this Election and they SWORE to me that Cooper was a true “moderate”. These were business people, several with small businesses, who SWORE to me and tried to convince me to Vote for him. I kept refusing on 2 basic principles:
(1) There is no such thing as a “moderate” Dem anymore–and he IS Jim Cooper’s brother.
(2) I will NEVER Vote for a “legacy” politician–his brother is a Congressman and John wanted HIS own Legacy in Politics
SO now, his true colors come out. He is a died in the wool “progressive” JUST like mayoress felonious and the hapless briley.
I Voted for Carol Swain, so did my husband. We moved out of Davidson a few months after he was sworn in.
The writing is on the Wall for Nashville. Downtown is going to be overrun with bums, gangs and violence within a couple of years unless there is a serious Governing Course correction. The ONLY way to do that is to elect Conservatives to a majority on the City Council and find/run/elect a REAL Conservative as Mayor. Nashville should BEG Fox to run again, I think people might finally be ready and desperate for him or someone exactly like him.
As for us, we are stuck with a beautiful home that we are having a hard time selling. We keep being told it is a great house, fantastic neighborhood BUT people wont consider Davidson Co: Bad schools, bad Govt and high Taxes–
What a twisted and ridiculous outlook on criminals. Criminals choose to commit crimes, period. People need to wake up. Police Officers serve in many roles, and it shows ignorance to not recognize that fact. This uninformed group will do nothing but continue to spread misinformation and divide Nashville.
Does the left understand how many police officers have been killed in the line of duty while responding to situations to which they want to send “social workers?”
Rasheedat Fetuga is the perfect example of Nashville’s mental illness problem. Fix that and you fix Nashville.
want to see nashville’s future? look at portland. and seattle.
I’ll bet the voters in Nashville regret having cast ballots for pitiful clown.
Mayor Cooper and Congressman Jim Cooper! The two brothers have not served their electorate well. John promised no new taxes! Proposed and raised your property taxes 34% this year. Now he wants to make Nashville, like New York city, Portland Oregon and Chicago! Lawless cities that have peoples businesses and dreams destroyed through riots. The mayor supports defunding the police. The Coopers need to be recalled and replaced immediately. No defunding the Police in Nashville! Let the people recall the Mayor and council vote and also vote on the 34% property tax increase supported by the mayor and council. Taxation without representation.
This is what bat shit crazy really looks like.
Commie Cooper will end up destroying this city with his so called liberal nutcase policies. There is NO respect for an idiot that has time for this nonsense. The police know everyday when they go to work consistently who the criminals are and where the crimes are committed, they have to deal with this scum everyday. If the city survives Commie Cooper it will be a miracle. Cooper will probably nominate someone like Justin Jones to be Chief of Police. Cooper with his degree from Harvard, needs a psychological evaluation followed by a long rest in a nice facility! He is a liberal democratic nut!
Recall the nayor and council! Where do we sign the recall petition? Senator Steve Dickerson is on the ballot on November 3! Please ask where he stands on the tax increase and state oversight over the election commissioners?