On Thursday (11 June 2020) , the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson will join a community panel to discuss recent events in USA and UK, stop and search, police use of force as well as looking at how to ensure that young people get the right support they need to thrive in a post-COVID19 world.
The panel, hosted virtually and broadcast on YouTube, will be chaired by criminologist and expert in gangs and violence, Craig Pinkney who will facilitate the discussions between the PCC and others including the local councillor Paulette Hamilton, Youth Commissioner, Melvin Riley and Kamran Shezad from the Bahu Trust.
The session will focus on the well needed discussions about what needs to happen in the coming weeks and months to ensure that community tensions do not rise and that there is a proper plan in place to get young people back into education, training and employment.
The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson said: “It’s critical that we have these serious, grown up discussions with our communities which is why I’m bringing together some of leading people to look at what we can do differently to empower young people and make sure their voices are heard. This is a unique moment to see real change and having as many voices heard as possible is key.
“What happened to George Floyd in America was tragic and has shone a light in the most uncertain of times on some of the inequalities that shamefully still exist in our society which are being exposed further by this current COVID-19 crisis.
“These discussions will also help greatly ahead of the meeting of the Strategic Policing and Crime Board next week where I will be putting the public’s questions to the Chief Constable on use of force.
“I am very worried that when the government’s furlough scheme comes to an end we will find a large number of young people out of work, feeling without purpose who maybe at risk of being drawn into criminality. The same for the thousands of youngsters who are still not going to be back in school until September and will have missed 6 months of their education.
“Across the public, private and third sector, we all need to be looking at how we can ensure that young people can get the right opportunities to access education, training and employment. By having these discussions, we can look at how we can correct these problems and do the best for your young people.
Chair of the panel, criminologist Craig Pinkney said: “We now need real action and real reform and I’m hoping that from this conversation we will start to see changes to a system which is fundamentally broken.”
The community panel session will be broadcast live on YouTube from 6.00pm-7.30pm on Thursday 11th June 2020 on the PCC’s YouTube and social media channels.
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