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Brookings Human Rights Commission Minutes
Monday, March 08, 2021
Meeting held via Go To Meeting App
Attendance: Matt Rhodes (county representative & chair); Jason Meusburger (vice-chair); Lawrence Novotny,
(recorder); Marilyn Hildreth ; Nieema Thasing; Keith Theroux (police liaison); Kas Williams (SDSU liaison); Casey Bell
(human resources staff)
Absent: Dan Berg; Shedrick Flournoy (student representative); Meagan Irvine-Miller; Zahra Najl; Erinn Thomas; Roger
DeGroot (school liaison); Marci Gebers (police liaison);
Guests: Dave Erickson, Brookings Police Chief
The meeting convened at noon.
Since there was not a quorum, a discussion was held instead of a formal meeting.
BHRC had received a request from CLEAR (Community Law Enforcement Action Response) Partners, a citizens group
that supports community-focused policing through increasing communication between civilians and law enforcement.
CLEAR is preparing a panel discussion to facilitate the best options for mental cases that are a challenge for Brookings
Police Department. CLEAR is asking the BHRC become a co-sponsor of this panel.
Erickson stated the police are dealing with mental cases in a variety of different ways. Any proposal to change the
operations of the BPD would have to be approved by the city manager.
Is the Brookings Mental Health Task Force that was created several years ago still functioning? Erickson was asked to
see if the task force would be willing to expand.
There were a lot of questions regarding the request.
BHRC needs to know the following before acting on the request.
What are the goals of the panel discussion
What topics will be covered
Who are the speakers
What will be the format – in-person public forum, virtual meeting?
Is a monetary commitment required from BHRC
Is BHRC expected to advertise the panel
Recommendation from the police department that there needs to be a conversation with the key players in this and that we
need to move slow with this.
BHRC has concerns with hosting something that could make a considerable change in the police department.
Novotny will communicate the concerns to CLEAR.
Meeting adjourned at 12:32 pm.
Submitted by Lawrence Novotny, recorder