More than three dozen people came before the Tampa City Council on Thursday, calling on them to abolish the Tampa Police Department and reallocate financial resources from the police back into the Black community.  

Many also called for the firing of Police Chief Brian Dugan, who has come under fire over the past month for his handling of the confrontations between the police and protesters which have taken place during demonstrations against racism and police accountability. 

Mayor Jane Castor and the council also received biting criticism at times during the meeting, with citizens saying that they have done nothing over the years to hold the police department accountable. They listed several controversial police shootings that they say had gone unaddressed, as well an as incident that made national headlines this week. 

Last Thursday, a TPD officer drew his weapon and trained it on 23-year-old Joneshia Wilkerson for several minutes, informing her that the Nissan Altima she was driving had been reported as stolen. Wilkerson was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car, but was ultimately released without being charged.  Chief Dugan said that suspects in stolen vehicle cases can be violent and his officer was correct in drawing his weapon. 

But the TPD later released personal information about Wilkerson on their YouTube channel (some of that information has now been removed).

City Councilman Bill Carlson called the incident “concerning,” and called for city staff report back to the council next month regarding privacy rules and the TPD’s usage of social media in regard to releasing personal information. 

“We have a police chief who is a liar,” said Bernice Lauredan. “I was there when he teargassed us. I was there when they shot rubber bullets at us.” 

Dugan has denied that the TPD has used tear gas in any of the protests, telling WEDU’s Florida This Week on June 12 that what the TPD has deployed is “more of an irritant.”

The call to defund the police is a national movement that has emerged since the death of George Floyd. While some activists have said that the call is really to re-allocate financial resources from law enforcement, others at Thursday’s council meeting called for an outright abolition of the TPD. 

“You all need not just be not racist, you need to be anti-racist,” Sadie Dean with the Restorative Justice Coalition. “Stop investing $6 million plus dollars into Parks and Recreation and put it into the Black community. Stop giving TPD a budget of over $120 million and invest in the Black community.”

But Jarvis El-Amin said that the council would never defund the police, and asked instead for the council to “de-annex” the Belmont Heights area of East Tampa and let the community start their own municipality. 

Bishop Michele B. Patty called on the council to tear down Fair Oaks Park Community Center in East Tampa. The facility has been called dilapidated by residents in the Black community, who say the city has neglected it for years. They’ve called for the city to build a new center. Mayor Castor has said that she supports renovating the building.

Members of the public were also angry because they were not allowed immediate access to the ballroom inside the Tampa Convention Center where the meeting was being held. After an hour of waiting, the crowd grew impatient, especially after they were informed that they could not bring signs into the meeting. Some citizens said the police had knocked down activist Jae Passmore, who was at the council meeting walking with crutches and a boot on her right foot, still in pain following an incident last Sunday in Hyde Park Village. That’s where the driver of a pickup truck drove directly at her, resulting in a concussion and injuries to her hip and right leg.

Council Chair Guido Maniscalco said at the end of the meeting that out of respect for the citizens, public comment should now start at the very beginning of the meeting. The council passed that proposal unanimously.

While all that was happening, Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren announced that his office had concluded that there was no legal basis to file charges against any of the five Tampa Police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Jonas Joseph, a 26-year-old Black citizen who allegedly pointed a gun at officers on the night of April 28.

The Joseph incident has been one that citizens have questioned in the recent protests.