Two stories have brokered international attention of the Omaha Police Department within the last two weeks.  The first is a major lawsuit by the ACLU against 32 individual officers, the police chief, and the police department as a whole.  This is over the Seward Street Incident that occured last March (featured video).  The second is a video that was posted by the OPOA Facebook page, in which a toddler is witnessed swearing.  The police union claims that this video was posted as an example of the "Thug cycle," but in the process they labelled a two year old as a gangster and encouraged incredibly racist replies and divert attention from the socio-economic problems (aka the poverty of North Omaha) that are the true reason why violence continues.

For The People Omaha is an activist group that wants police oversight, and believes without oversight there can be no positive relationship between the police department and the community.  Jean Stothert, as mayor, has the job of meeting with us and discussing solutions to these problems.  She refuses to fulfill her duties, however, and instead she marginalizes and ignores us.  This is an unacceptable situation.  By signing this petition, the mayor and the police department will be put further into the limelight, with the hopes that she will actually concede and get out of our way as we build a better relationship and brighter future for the people of Omaha.