A group of concerned residents took to the streets of DeSoto on Saturday to demand greater transparency, integrity, and accountability from the city government.
The protest took place at the DeSoto Police Department.
“I’m not here to protest the DeSoto police in general. There are a number of concerns that we are protesting, but the Police Department as a whole is not one of them,” said Author Anderson, Chair for Precinct 3602.
“The leadership of the Police Department has been a concern for a number of people, coming from both inside the department—from officers and staff members—as well as outside, from residents,” added Anderson.
Anderson, along with multiple residents, organized the peaceful protest regarding the “Better Together” campaign.
According to the group’s website, it “aims to make DeSoto a more transparently governed city.”
“This isn’t a protest against the police in general or the department at large. It’s a protest of someone who is not good for the city based on the evidence we have. That person I think is the DeSoto Police Chief, who needs to be replaced.”
Additionally, Anderson is also calling for a change to the Citizens Police Advisory Committee.
“I think the Citizen’s Police Advisory Committee is ineffective and it has been for some time and the people who founded it have admitted that they believe that it has not been implemented in the way it was truly designed. It needs oversight. It was designed to be an oversight board,” explained Anderson.
The campaign is part of a growing movement calling on local officials to fulfill their promises to the community.
“The protest is aimed at making the entire city better, and protesting injustices is part of that,” said Anderson.
Holding a poster that highlighted three key demands—transparency, integrity, and accountability—Anderson emphasized that this is the message he wants the rest of the city to know.
These calls to action suggest that some residents feel the city has yet to fully deliver on the commitments associated with the campaign.
Anderson told the DeSoto Tribune that this public demonstration is just one of a series of protests that will take place across the city.
It remains to be seen how city officials will respond to these demands, but the visibility of the protest suggests that the conversation is far from over.
As DeSoto continues to grow, the relationship between city leaders and residents will likely be key to ensuring a better DeSoto.
“We need to increase transparency, we need to increase accountability, and we need to increase integrity for the entire city, and we need to make sure that that happens in the Police Department as well as the City Council and more broadly throughout all of the city units,” said Anderson.
