Lee County NAACP working to improve relationships with law enforcement

In an effort to get ahead of racial issues between police and the people they’re sworn to protect, the Lee County NAACP met Thursday with local law enforcement.

The NAACP wanted to talk about how to improve their relationship with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the Sanibel Police Department and the State Attorney’s Office, and make sure officers don’t abuse their power to prevent the kind of things we’ve seen in Atlanta and Minneapolis.

“In our Lee County Sheriff’s Office, I’m very, very confident, in fact,” said Sheriff Carmine Marceno. “We had a use of force not too long ago where one of my deputies used force while somebody was handcuffed. It immediately was brought to our attention and immediately that officer was removed from service.”

State Attorney Amira Fox said she wants to hear how her office can improve, calling her job the gatekeeper of the justice system.

“And sometimes that means we’re on the same page as law enforcement and sometimes that means we’re not,” she said.

Marceno said that after recent discussions with the NAACP, he wants his deputies to have diversity training throughout the year from people like the NAACP’s Abdul’haq Muhammed.

“The profession that officers are in, it’s important that they understand the social-economic dynamics of that community and be clear people are understanding that the more effective they can be and having good outcomes in their interactions,” Muhammed said.

The NAACP said these discussions allow them to look at what policies are in place and how these agencies can improve. That process could take months. James Muwakkil, president of the Lee County NAACP, said they’ll then offer law enforcement their recommendations.

The NAACP will be meeting next week with Fort Myers and Cape Coral police departments.