On Monday, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards issued the following statement reaffirming her commitment towards criminal justice reform in the city:
“For many years, I have been an advocate for meaningful criminal justice reform that would provide greater safety for those communities that are traditionally marginalized and not well served by our existing justice systems, especially our African-American residents.
Like many cities across America, we must take stronger actions to remove systemic racism from all government institutions, including the Tacoma Police Department, and I commit to being a leader in that effort.
As a city, we must develop a long-term approach to reforming our criminal justice system and, in doing so, we must incorporate perspectives and feedback from members of our community as well as the insights of trusted community leaders and experts in this field.
At the same time, we must move immediately on interim measures we can take to make change within the Tacoma Police Department putting greater emphasis on community engagement and support in law enforcement work.
Last Thursday, Woodards directed City Manager Elizabeth Pauli to fire the officers involved in the death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man, who died after being restrained by four Tacoma Police officers.
