Stakeholders gather to demand change within the Lakeland Police Department

POLK COUNTY, Fla. – Advocates and community members came together to call for action and demand change within the Lakeland Police Department.

During a visit to a Winter Haven church on Sunday, activists, pastors and dozens of congregants shed light on what they called police misconduct.

“American police will not allow men who have been victims of assault in their own way to become victims again of the police in Lakeland, Florida,” said attorney Bobby DiCello.

Lawyers pointed to cases like that of Antwan Glover and also a 16-year-old whose arrest in Lakeland went viral in May after a video appeared to show police officers beating the teen with clenched fists and using a Taser. The video did not show what led to the incident.

Community members said they wanted accountability, fairness and transparency.

“You heard Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech 60 years ago: ‘I Have a Dream.’ Sixty years later, I speak to you and tell you that I have a nightmare,” said Rev. Clayton Cowart.

“Our place is to live in the same place as you,” said Ira McCloud, presiding bishop of Jesus Christ Church of God the Bible Way.

DiCello said the first thing they would now demand is a dialogue.

“We want these men to be able to answer for what happened to them,” DiCello said. “We are demanding a meeting with the police chief of the city of Lakeland, and we are demanding that he sit down and address the actions of his officers.”

Another group, the Tampa Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (TAARPR), listed demands for the city of Lakeland.

These included the establishment of an elected Community Commission on Social Security and Accountability and the expansion of the powers of the Civilian Review Board.

“We will stay here until the bitter end, until the police are truly held accountable,” said Valentina Beron of TAARPR.

ABC Action News has reached out to Lakeland Police regarding the community’s demands for change, and we are still waiting for a response.