HomeMy WebLinkAboutPress Release- Community Review Office Press Conference Details
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FROM: DAWN M. JONES, CITY CLERK
DATE: THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021
SUBJECT: PRESS CONFERENCE TO MEET NEW DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY REVIEW OFFICE
CONTACT: DMJONES@SOUTHBENDIN.GOV
PRESS CONFERENCE TO MEET NEW DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY REVIEW
OFFICE
South Bend City Clerk Dawn M. Jones hired the first Director of the Community Review Office,
Joshua Reynolds, begins his role June 7, 2021. Mr. Reynolds is a certified investigator from
Indianapolis, IN with a demonstrated twenty-year (20) history of conducting discrimination,
harassment, and misconduct investigations in the workplace, higher education, government,
nonprofit, and private sector. Clerk Jones, in consultation with the Common Council, reviewed forty
(40) applications, identified thirteen (13) for first (1st) interview and interviewed six (6) candidates
over two rounds of virtual interviews. The team interviewed Mr. Reynolds April 15, 2021, and May
6, 2021, with members of the Common Council in attendance.
On Monday, May 24, Clerk Dawn M. Jones will host a press conference at 10:30 a.m. in the Council
Chambers on the 4th floor of the County-City Building, 227 W. Jefferson Blvd., South Bend, IN
46601. This press conference is closed to the public and only the media is invited to attend. This is
an opportunity to meet Mr. Reynolds and discuss his role as director of the Community Review
Office, whose goals are to engage stakeholders in creating an environment of civility and respect, in
which police are responsive to the community in an impartial manner without the vestiges of systemic
racism and associated discrimination, and in turn the community views the police with legitimacy
and respect. Mr. Reynolds will manage the Community Review Office, enhance communications
and good will between the police and residents, and maintain records of all complaints. Aggrieved
persons will be encouraged to take part in the process, and Mr. Reynolds will facilitate just and
efficient means to safely, fairly, impartially, and timely conduct investigations of alleged police
misconduct, to reach an independent determination of whether the allegations are supported, and
to make recommendations based on the evidence gained through those investigations. The office
will also work to identify and address patterns of alleged police misconduct and to make policy
recommendations to improve the South Bend Police Department and reduce incidents of alleged
police misconduct.
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Clerk Dawn M. Jones and Director Joshua Reynolds will be available to answer media questions.
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