Midland councilman John Norman is suggesting changes to the police department in response to the Tye Anders arrest, CBS 7 reported.
Norman proposed creating an advisory board or a community liaison officer position, according to CBS 7. This would be part of a "new policing model" to unite the community with the police and city officials.
Midland police arrested Anders, a 21-year-old black man, on May 16 for evading arrest after he allegedly ran a stop sign, NewsWest 9 reported. Police said Anders continued driving until he reached his grandmother’s home on Pine Street. Anders' attorney, Justin Moore, told the station there was no traffic violation and the stop was based on racial profiling. Anders has been released on bond.
In response to a tense City Council meeting on the Anders case, Norman told CBS 7, "We will continue to have these conversations, but now with the same passion and frustration directed towards the solution. It's one thing to bring frustrations to the table. It's another to bring solutions to these frustrations. We have to be intentional about what we want, what we demand, what we deserve as citizens who have the same God-given right to live peacefully amongst each other as anyone else within this city.”