The Grand Rapids Office of Oversight and Public Accountability (OPA) hosted a “Know Your Rights” event for students at Grand Valley State University on Sept. 18.
The event featured Meegan Zickus a bioethicist, attorney and GVSU professor and focused on educating students about their “constitutional rights, public safety procedures and best practices for interactions with law enforcement.” The group spent the majority of the hour-and-a-half program discussing police interactions and how to best diffuse intense situations.
The OPA was created in 2019 and was developed to “serve as the liaison between public safety and our Grand Rapids community.” OPA hosts a number of different communal events throughout the year based on educational and safety content. They hope the events will help to better prepare people and to establish trust with public safety officials.
The “Know Your Rights” program focused on what to do if the police stop a student in their car. GVSU student Sitlali Padron said besides learning practical procedures, she also learned not every stop is going to be the same.
“Knowing that if a cop stops you, you need to put your hands on the dash and make sure you’re not making subtle movements, and not making them afraid,” Padron said. “You never really know what’s gonna happen to you. I’ve learned that I should just stay calm, collected and just do what they ask me, and just basically stay silent.”
Students were advised if in doubt, to stay quiet and to call for assistance from someone like an attorney.
Through the “Know Your Rights” event, students learned valuable lessons to protect themselves and others when interacting with police officers. Students also had an opportunity to ask questions about any specific interactions they had concerns about and how to be safe and cautious when in a police interaction.
The “Know Your Rights” event raised awareness of police interactions and taught students and community members alike to stay vigilant.
“I always wondered what would happen, now I know,” Padron said. “It’s good to know.”
The OPA hosts several other community events throughout the year based on education and resident feedback. They offer Community Informed Law Enforcement Training (CIT), a joint initiative of OPA and the Grand Rapids Police Department, inviting the community to “submit ideas or proposals for training it would like law enforcement to participate in.” The OPA also has a yearly event called the Project Clean Slate GR to help people get certain parts of their criminal record expunged as well as a Social Equity Job Fair component and job readiness training.
