Veterans group meets with mayor, seeks police partnership
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The National Association for Black Veterans met with Mayor Joe Hogsett Tuesday, just one day after the group sent a letter with concerns to his office.
The group’s commander, Curtis Godfrey, believes the organization’s perspective can help Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
In part of the letter sent to the mayor and IMPD, the group also known as NABVETS claimed “on too many occasions, an officer has irresponsibly used unnecessary violence against someone who posed no threat.”
Godfrey said, “Veterans, we’ve been there. We’ve been behind that gun. We’ve had guns pointed at us so we understand what it means and all the time you don’t have to be in control. Sometimes, you have to digress to de-escalate the situation, sometimes even walking away.”
After the meeting, Mark Bode, a spokesperson from the mayor’s office, shared this statement with News 8: “The Mayor was pleased to meet with the National Association for Black Veterans this afternoon, to listen and respond to their concerns surrounding public safety in Indianapolis. We applaud their commitment to our community, and we will continue to collaborate with them and other local groups as we seek to promote equity and justice in our city.”
Godfrey would not go into much detail about specific discussions or how a collaboration with his organization and IMPD would work. However, he said, there are more meetings set for this week.
He expects a plan for a partnership to be made public sometime in the next two days.