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Meeting held to work on improving community-police relations

EAST PITTSBURGH, Pa. — A meeting was held on Tuesday in Wilkinsburg on Tuesday to focus on improving community-police relations.

A panel of Senate and council representatives, as well as police chiefs from different areas, discussed how police can improve and what many departments already do to create relationships with their community.

"The shooting in the back of Antwon Rose it was something that I thought needed to be addressed and that’s why I asked for this joint public hearing," said Rep. Ed Gainey.

There's a major call to improve police and diversity training.

"Police officers possess an awesome amount of power. They possess more power than the president of the United States," said Wilkinsburg Police Chief Ophelia Coleman.

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"I want to talk about diversity education and  how we make sure when these officers get on our street they know who we are and how every ethnic group in America helped build this great land," Gainey said.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said his department has been busy for several years with community policing and outreach enhanced training as it relates to use of force and de-escalation.

A letter from Black Political Empowerment Project maps out recommendations for police to improve. Some of the points are:

  • Merge smaller police departments
  • Get more money for Allegheny County to police smaller communities
  • Process to revoke officer's license when appropriate

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