President Of Broward County PBA Tries To Get Black Prosecutor Dismissed For Sharing His Thoughts On Police Brutality & Police Reform
We are starting to see small changes following the nationwide protests against police brutality which sparked after the death of George Floyd. Many people are urging each other to still keep the momentum going to push for even more change, and one Florida prosecutor has already started drafting up a plan!
Jeffrey Chukwuma, who often goes typically by “Caesar,” is a prosecutor from the Office of the State Attorney’s 17th Judicial Circuit in Broward County. He recently shared a list that he and his brother came up with as a “starting point” for reforms. Chukwuma shared eight suggestions aimed at holding police officers accountable to improve relations with the community. He shared some interesting suggestions like “all cops must be required to wear bodycams” and if they do not have footage from their backup device, a “suspect should walk immediately.” Now again, these were just suggestions and Chukwuma did not state that violent criminals should walk free if incidents are not caught on bodycams, as some news sites claimed he said.
Chukwuma has also made it clear that he is “speaking as a private citizen and not on behalf of his job,” and has “zero bias against police officers.” Despite that, Broward County PBA President Rod Skirvin, who was made aware of Caesar’s online post, wrote a letter to State Attorney Mike Satz asking for Chukwuma; a concerned American, to be dismissed for sharing his ideas on social media.
In a letter addressed to Michael J. Satz, Skirvin expressed his concerns and noted that Satz’s office recently terminated another prosecutor for what she posted online:
“You recently terminated a prosecutor for a social media post that bore no relation to perform adequately her job. Since then, another one [of] your prosecutors – Mr. Jeffrey Chukwuma – made a more alarming post that should lead to his dismissal.”
According to the The Sun-Sentinel, the prosecutor Rod Skirvin is referring to is Amy Bloom. She reportedly lost her job just hours of going on Facebook for calling anti-police brutality demonstrators “obnoxious protesters” and “animals.” After deleting her original post, she explained in another that she was referring only to violent demonstrators and looters.
To note, Chukwuma did not give rouge officers a bad or insulting label and did not encourage his followers to demand any police department to implement any of his suggestions. Many of his followers even commended him for “brainstorming.”
Now despite the minor backlash from Skirvin, The Broward State Attorney’s Office rightfully stood behind Chukwuma:
“Mr. Chukwuma expressed to us that he was trying to articulate reforms that could be made to cause greater transparency, and therefore increase credibility of law enforcement in our community,” Satz wrote in a reply to Skirvin. “Mr. Chukwuma advised us that his suggestions were aspirational and in no way indicate a bias against police.”
Socialites, check out his list below and join the conversation by sharing your thoughts in the comment box below!
RELATED: UPDATE: 4 Police Officers Fired Following Death Of George Floyd