bit.ly\/4inBpUS<\/a>.<\/p>\nVision, policy<\/p>\n
Candidates were asked to share their respective visions for the future of Brooklyn Center and what policies they believe are most urgently needed.<\/p>\n
Kragness said she wants a future where people feel safe and heard, businesses want to invest and \u201cfamilies feel like they belong\u201d in Brooklyn Center. As for policies, she emphasized the need to fill unused properties.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of empty space here. We have a lot of potential spaces for businesses, for homes and I believe we need to have something put into place where we start acting on that,\u201d Kragness said. \u201cEveryone has a vision of what we could do, I think we should start doing things now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan said her vision involves \u201crebuilding\u201d the city government by \u201cdiversifying sources of funding\u201d and therefore reducing the financial burden on taxpayers. \u201cWe have tapped out our residents and property tax revenue, however, there is a lot of other money available at other levels of government,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Applying for grants and supporting small businesses were noted by Khan as additional priorities.<\/p>\n
Jerzak said his plan for the city\u2019s future needs to reflect the wants and needs of residents. “I meet with people who disagree with me, I return phone calls,\u201d he said. \u201cI think robust discussion is healthy when it\u2019s done with respect and taking in all the perspectives of other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The incumbent council member notably took time out of his answer to compliment the current mayor for seeking consensus during her time in office and said Kragness \u201cwill do a good job of bringing us together\u201d if elected to fill Graves\u2019 seat. \u201cI wanted to give you that compliment, because that is a fact,\u201d Jerzak said directly to Kragness.<\/p>\n
Enger said her vision for Brooklyn Center is a place where people call home. \u201cI think you\u2019ve heard it before, and you\u2019ll hear it again \u2014 safe neighborhoods, businesses that see Brooklyn Center as worth investing in. Good housing options, and that includes quality rentals and real paths to home ownership.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for policy changes, Enger noted she would only be one vote and said she would work with the rest of the council.<\/p>\n
Viste said his vision for Brooklyn Center involves a \u201cbroad approach to public safety\u201d that also honors first responders. \u201cOne policy I think we need to change is expand the use of mental health workers and social workers in our public safety structure,\u201d he said. \u201cThis expansion is cost effective and reduces the burden on stressed officers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police alternatives<\/p>\n
Candidates were asked if any of Brooklyn Park\u2019s expanded response programs \u2014 which deploy mental health professionals, social workers and other law enforcement alternatives to some 911 calls \u2014 should be merged, cut or otherwise changed.<\/p>\n
Kragness said expanded response programs should be viewed as assets. \u201cAs far as merging or cutting anything, I don\u2019t believe that is needed,\u201d she noted. \u201cWhen someone is calling for help, you want to make sure that you\u2019re sending the best person with the best resources to help solve that issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan said she agreed with Kragness and noted it is important to maintain diversity and variety in non-police safety responses. \u201cMany of the non-police safety responses help de-escalate problems, whereas the presence of law enforcement would escalate problems,\u201d Khan added.<\/p>\n
Jerzak said he is supportive of expanded response but suggested Brooklyn Center consider regional partnerships to potentially reduce costs. \u201cI\u2019m also convinced that there are certain departments that do better with those types of responses than others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enger said she fully supports expanded response, but \u201cbefore deciding what\u2019s next,\u201d she \u201cwants to see results.\u201d She noted her goal is to get the right response to the right people based on data gathered by the programs so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to use that type of data to see what we\u2019ve learned so we can choose the model that works best for Brooklyn Center,\u201d Enger added.<\/p>\n
Viste suggested that the city might need to invest more in expanded response programs, not less, but he plans to look at the data before making decisions. \u201cIn general, I don\u2019t think that merging is likely to be useful, I think expansion is the likely path the data would lead us in,\u201d Viste said.<\/p>\n
Surveillance<\/p>\n
Candidates were asked to share their stance on the use of Flock cameras or similar camera technology in the city. The Brooklyn Center Police Department has deployed 10 automated license plate readers with funding through a Minnesota auto theft prevention grant.<\/p>\n
Four of the cameras are along Brooklyn Boulevard, another four on Shingle Creek Parkway and two along Logan Avenue North.<\/p>\n
Kragness said she \u201csupports tools that law enforcement needs\u201d but is \u201cagainst invasion of privacy.\u201d She claimed residents might have been more accepting of the ALPRs if there was more outreach and education prior to their implementation. \u201cI did police ride-alongs and I was told the Flock cameras do not do face recognition and things of that sort,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Khan said she heard for \u201ca lot of residents\u201d who expressed concerns about surveillance and said the city should examine the technology further before allowing its continued use. She also recommended the city host a community discussion about the cameras and the information they collect.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not want a police state, we do not want invasions of our privacy,\u201d Khan said. \u201cWhile we want police to have all the tools they need to do their jobs, there has been a lot of misuse of this technology throughout the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerzak said he supports the use of ALPRs as one tool to help solve crimes. He described the technology as \u201ceffective and appropriate\u201d but also said it is \u201cfair\u201d to have privacy concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cSupporting this technology doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have robust safeguards and guardrails in place,\u201d Jerzak added. \u201cWe have a robust policy to be sure that it\u2019s not abused, and if it is, discipline can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enger said she supported continued use of the cameras \u201cwith oversight\u201d and cited the system\u2019s 30-day data-retention period, among other guardrails outlined in the BCPD policy.<\/p>\n
Viste said it would be best for the city to stop using ALPRs. He noted the technology is \u201cmore invasive than many residents realize\u201d and argued the cameras can do more than just photograph license plates, as the name would suggest.<\/p>\n
In Viste\u2019s view, the process by which ALPRs were implemented in Brooklyn Center did not appropriately involve residents. \u201cThe current use of the cameras in the city is a police department initiative that the council did not weigh in on,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we are going to be building a surveillance state, that needs to be a council decision with robust residents\u2019 input.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The local chapter of the League of Women Voters sponsored a Sept. 8 candidate forum featuring four individuals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[111224,39465,98,9185,39456,9186,100,99,29032,39474,129687,129688,129689,8041,129690,129691,113167,129692,1092,5800,129693,9,24,63,112285,129694,129695,39458],"class_list":["post-346520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-alexander-koenig","tag-april-graves","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-center","tag-brooklyn-center-city-council","tag-brooklyn-center-police-department","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-council-member","tag-dan-jerzak","tag-gretchen-enger","tag-incumbent-council-member","tag-kragness","tag-law-enforcement","tag-law-enforcement-alternatives","tag-law-enforcement-needs","tag-league-of-women-voters","tag-mark-viste","tag-mayor","tag-minnesota","tag-nahid-khan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-planning-commission","tag-similar-camera-technology","tag-teneshia","tag-teneshia-kragness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}