Tomorrow: Law Enforcment Accountability Task Force Listening Session

Tomorrow evening, an all star criminal justice reform panel will take part in a public listening Session hosted by the General Assembly’s Law Enforcement Accountability Task Force.  It will take place between 6 and 8 pm on Wednesday, December 2, 2020.

This is the second Listening Session convened by the Task Force and will focus on topics such as community policing and workforce development, which includes police recruitment, training and retention.   The Listening Session, hosted via Zoom, will begin with a panel discussion, followed by comments from members of the public. Those wishing to offer comments must register at the Zoom link below.  

Here are the registration link and the Zoom link:

Members of the public who wish to give comments during the Listening Session must register at this link: 

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gnsejn_GQbCsBDjrq8RB9g

The Listening Session will be streamed live on the General Assembly’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmePiLcN2Ee8cWOEBuUxG1g

Panelists scheduled to participate include: 

Moderator Alonna Berry, is the founder and chairwoman of the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence, an emerging charter school in Sussex County launching in the Fall of 2022. Currently, she is responsible for coordinating Gov. Carney’s Executive Order 24 to make Delaware a trauma-informed state, supported through the Family Services Cabinet Council. Berry has held various roles over her career, primarily in education, as a classroom teacher, with the Delaware Department of Education, head of alumni affairs for Teach For America Delaware, and interim executive director of the Milton Historical Society. 

Eugene Young ispresident and CEO of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League and has a background of working in the non-profit community, city, state and federal government. Young co-founded Delaware Elite, a youth leadership development program that provided inner city youth with academic enrichment, leadership training, and access to college. In Fall 2015, Eugene initiated the My Very Own Library project where he brought together private investors and the nonprofit community to promote childhood literacy by providing free books to 6,000 children across the state of Delaware. In 2016, Eugene co-founded Network Delaware, a nonprofit that leverages citizen-led community empowerment, research analysis, and leadership development to enact lasting socioeconomic change. 

Daniel Selekman, known throughout the state simply as Lt. Dan, spent more than 20 years with the Wilmington Police before retiring in 2019. He spent several years in major crimes/homicide as well as community policing. His final assignment placed him in West Center City, historically the most violent and impoverished 36-square blocks in Delaware. For 13 months, and without effecting a single arrest, Selekman’s supportive, holistic approach to policing dramatically reduced crime and improved the quality of life for residents. Selekman is currently the CEO of Community Navigators, a consulting firm that connects health and human services directly to those who need it. 

Lynda R. Williams is president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and currently serves as a professor at Middle Tennessee State University in the Department of Criminal Justice Administration. Prior to joining the faculty of Middle Tennessee State University, she retired from the United States Secret Service after an accomplished career that began in 1988 and culminated with her appointment to Deputy Assistant Director in 2017. 

These panelists will join the Task Force members Rep. Franklin Cooke, Darryl A. Parson, Michelle Taylor, Sherri Tull, Sherese Brewington-Carr and Frank Burton.