FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Two South Florida members of Congress are hoping to ease law enforcement tension with the public after the high-profile shooting death of Michael Brown and other recent incidents with police.
Reps. Alcee Hastings and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz acknowledge that a lot of communities don't trust law enforcement, especially in South Florida cases, including cellphone video showing a Fort Lauderdale police officer slapping a homeless man and other officers allegedly involved in racist exchanges.
Dillard High School class president Aaliyah McCrary told Local 10 News that most of her classmates don't trust police.
"They're not really seeing the positivity behind everything," McCrary said. "They're seeing the negative outlook, and if people could see more of the positive then they would have more trust toward law enforcement."
On Tuesday, McCrary joined Hastings and Wasserman-Schultz for a roundtable discussion with Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel and several community leaders, working on a plan to rebuild that trust.
"This isn't going to be easy," said Wasserman-Schultz. "We didn't develop these problems overnight. We are all willing to acknowledge they exist, and we all acknowledge there have been some steps that have been taken to avoid a Ferguson."
Local 10 News asked Hastings about the most recent incidents involving the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.
"We don't want to see an explosion, and (want to) go forward," Hastings said.
No one from the city commission in Fort Lauderdale attended Tuesday's roundtable discussion because they had another meeting to attend. The group plans to meet with mayors and police chiefs across South Florida.
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