George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Freddie Gray. Tamir Rice. Eric Garner. Michael Brown. 

These are just a few of the names who were killed by police while the world watched. Another name must not be added from Tampa. Policies must be implemented to ensure that.

In 2017, Black Lives Matter Tampa and the Restorative Justice Coalition sent a list of demands to Plant City and nearby jurisdictions for comprehensive police reform in response to the murder of Jesus Cervantes. A task force created by the City of Tampa must be formed to implement the policies laid out in that document, adapted to current circumstances.

In addition, the Citizens Review Board of Tampa and the Tampa Police Department must implement policies to address the concerns it sought out in a 2018 survey. Among the most important:

• Use of Force: Deadly force should be a last resort when all other options are exhausted. Choke-holds and strangleholds should be banned and punished.
• Bias Training: Police should undergo rigorous programmatic training on removing bias toward communities of color, with advice and consent of local advocacy groups.
• Community Policing: Police officers should be deployed into communities they know best.
• Body Cameras: All officers should be equipped with body cameras funded by the city's budget, not just Federal Grants. Tampering with them, as Louisville officers did the last weekend of May, should be a crime, not just a policy violation. 
• Interactions with Individuals with Mental Illness: Police should be trained to engage with understanding to those suffering from mental health issues.

The Citizens Review Board must also be independent from the police. When Mayor Bob Buckhorn created it after Ferguson, it wasn't enough. It still isn't enough now. As advocates have called for, the Board should be investigative, not only advisory. Jane Castor and the City of Tampa should adopt the tenants from the NAACP's petition from 2016 to transform the board into this body.

As people of every background marched from Curtis Hixon to the Mayor's office on the last day of May, as their voices carried down Kennedy Boulevard and Ashley Drive, they were not only demanding justice for George Floyd - they were expressing frustration for our community. The deep pain runs rampant across our country. It's time for police reform.

Justice must be proactive, not reactive.