Holder heading to Chicago for Ferguson ‘community trust’ session

WASHINGTON — In the wake of Ferguson — and now Staten Island — where white police officers were not charged after being involved in the deaths of African American suspects, Attorney General Eric Holder and his Justice Department is launching a ”Building Community Trust” initiative. Holder is in Cleveland on Thursday and will at a later date be in Chicago for a sesion to help build “collaborative relationships” between police and the communities they serve. Below, from the Justice Department: WASHINGTON – On the heels of President Obama’s national call to foster strong, collaborative relationships between local police and the communities they protect and serve, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today the upcoming cities where Attorney General Eric Holder will hold regional roundtable meetings as part of the department’s Building Community Trust initiative. Those cities are: Cleveland, Memphis, Tennessee, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Oakland, California. The roundtables will serve as an opportunity to bring law enforcement, elected officials and members of the community together to discuss next steps that the administration will take to improve relationships between law enforcement and the community, increase the integrity within our justice system, and share best practices for policing. The Attorney General hosted the first such Building Community Trust roundtable meeting at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Monday. There, he discussed President Obama’s announcement to create the Task Force on 21st Century Policing, the federal review on the use of military-style equipment for local law enforcement, and the new Community Policing Initiative to fund up to 50,000 additional body-worn cameras for law enforcement agencies. At a community town hall meeting held at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, the Attorney General announced that the department will soon release new guidelines on the use of racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies. The next Building Community Trust roundtable meeting will be held in Cleveland onTHURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2014, at TBD p.m. EST. The meeting will include law enforcement, local officials, community leaders, student leaders and faith leaders. Additional details on the other four upcoming regional roundtables will be released in the coming weeks. ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER HOLDS BUILDING COMMUNITY TRUST MEETING IN CLEVELAND: WHO: U.S. Attorney General Eric HolderU.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach for the Northern District of OhioActing Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta for the Civil Rights Division WHEN: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2014 2:00 p.m. EST WHERE: U.S. Attorney’s Office 801 West Superior AvenueCleveland, OH 44113 PHOTO SPRAY AT THE BOTTOM (Media Gather Time: 1:45 p.m. EST)