NAACP Chairman Roslyn Brock said law enforcement and African-American communities need to come together to talk about their concerns to help ease tensions, but lawmakers must also address aggressive policing nationwide.
Brock spoke Monday in New Haven at an event aimed at improving relations between police and black communities. FBI Director James Comey was scheduled to speak later in the day.
The gathering observed a moment of silence to remember the victims of the Paris attacks.
Brock said the NAACP is calling for mandated police body cameras, cultural competency training for officers and more diverse police forces.
U.S. Attorney Daly and @NAACP Chairman Roslyn Brock speaking at today's Building Bridges conference in New Haven. pic.twitter.com/kriUBcanuo
— U.S. Attorney CT (@USAO_CT) November 16, 2015
The event, titled "Building Bridges: The Community and Law Enforcement" and held at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, was organized after New Haven-area clergy contacted local federal prosecutors after nine black parishioners were shot to death at a church in Charleston, South Carolina by a white man last June.