Attorney General Holder to Hold Roundtable Meetings in Five More Cities as Part of Justice Department's "Building Community Trust" Initiative

On the heels of President Obama’s national call to foster strong, collaborative relationships between local police and the communities they protect and serve, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today the upcoming cities where Attorney General Eric Holder will hold regional roundtable meetings as part of the department’s Building Community Trust initiative.  Those cities are: Cleveland, Memphis, Tennessee, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Oakland, California.

The roundtables will serve as an opportunity to bring law enforcement, elected officials and members of the community together to discuss next steps that the administration will take to improve relationships between law enforcement and the community, increase the integrity within our justice system, and share best practices for policing.

The Attorney General hosted the first such Building Community Trust roundtable meeting at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Monday.  There, he discussed President Obama’s announcement to create the Task Force on 21^st Century Policing, the federal review on the use of military-style equipment for local law enforcement, and the new Community Policing Initiative to fund up to 50,000 additional body-worn cameras for law enforcement agencies.  At a community town hall meeting held at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, the Attorney General announced that the department will soon release new guidelines on the use of racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies. 

The next Building Community Trust roundtable meeting will be held in Cleveland on TODAY DECEMBER 4, 2014, at 2 p.m. EST.  The meeting will include law enforcement, local officials, community leaders, student leaders and faith leaders.  Additional details on the other four upcoming regional roundtables will be released in the coming weeks.

ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER HOLDS BUILDING COMMUNITY TRUST MEETING IN CLEVELAND:

WHO:           U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder

U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach for the Northern District of Ohio

Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta for the Civil Rights Division

WHEN:        THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2014

2:00 p.m. EST

WHERE:     U.S. Attorney’s Office

801 West Superior Avenue

Cleveland, OH 44113               

PHOTO SPRAY AT THE BOTTOM (Media Gather Time: 1:45 p.m. EST)

NOTE:  All media must present government-issued photo I.D. (such as a driver’s license as well as valid media credentials. Press inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to Kevin Lewis at kevin.s.lewis@usdoj.gov or Sabrina Curtis at  sabrina.curtis@usdoj.gov.