BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
I'm north Omaha reporter Melissa Wright and as part of my job I talk with many different types of people. On Saturday i attended a community meeting in north O hosted by neighborhood leaders and Omaha Police chief Todd Schmaderer. Part of the discussion that day was about the Omaha Police Officers Association, its social media presence and a statement about unity following an officer involved shooting.
OPOA's statement says in part it is committed to building a stronger more united community. But neighbors told police chief Schmaderer that OPOA's Facebook posts are contradictory, pointing out that the majority of posts are about crimes committed by young Black men. This is state senator Terrell McKinney.
"They keep antagonizing the community but we also have the sheriffs office. That's plastering our kids on social media when they run away from raids, which is honestly against the law but we skirt round it. So, when we talk about having community policing we have to gotta have a conversation about the OPOA and we also need to bring the sheriffs office into the conversation," Said McKinney.
I took those concerns directly to OPOA president Patrick Dempsey.
"I think a good majority of our posts if there's mug shot posted. One is that the story is very alarming to the citizens of Omaha and the citizens should know what happening in their city. They should know somebodies out of control behavior or these mugshots come with a story a lot of times," said Dempsey.
This is Pastor Portia Cavitt.
"It's very hurtful it's demoralizing. It's another racial profiling that we see and we come, 60 years from the civil rights movement and this is still happening." said Cavitt.
"I think our Facebook page does a very good job of informing the public..we address topics all across the board from crime to great events that happen across the city that we support to public concerns like street racing, that affects everybody in Omaha. Just one specific post is hard to narrow down that we're in the wrong when we do so many good things with that social media platform," said Dempsey.
I asked Dempsey about race in OPOA's social posts.
"That is not something we even look prior to making a story or we seeing that information. like I said before, alot of our members provide 'here a crime that's happening in Omaha that is extremely alarm," said Dempsey.
I also asked how the OPOA plans to build a stronger community. He says open communication will solve much of the problem. He added that he encourages community leaders to reach out to him with conversation. I also asked the police department to interview chief Schmaderer for this story, but so far no response. I'm Melissa Wright, your north Omaha neighborhood reporter.
