Greensboro residents are continuing to call for an end to safety frisks and regulatory stops by police.
More than a dozen residents continued to call on the city council to approve a change in policing at a meeting on Tuesday. It comes as the city council is set to review body camera footage from a controversial traffic stop in May.
The video in question could be a key element as the council weighs its response to local policing concerns. Footage circulating on social media shows an officer pointing his weapon into a vehicle with three occupants and threatening to shoot.
Residents who spoke at a recent city council meeting want to see the adoption of a written consent policy for searches.
Jason Hicks, who was among them, says Black and brown communities are disproportionately impacted by current policing tactics.
“Regulatory stops don't keep us safe and don't reduce violence. They criminalize Black existence, waste taxpayer money, and destroy the trust that real public safety depends on,” Hicks says.
Officials are delaying a decision until they’ve had an opportunity to review body camera footage from the incident.
Council member Tammi Thurm says she wants the city’s legal team to review a previously proposed written consent policy that was voted down.
“This is not something that we can rush into," Thurm says. "But it's something that we need to look at."
If Greensboro adopted a policy, it would join cities including Fayetteville, Durham, and Asheville.