It's a rare city where the police department has a light and friendly relationship with the local Black community. Raw numbers alone show how much more often Black people are stopped by police, and the abuses go far beyond the numbers.
One of the region's Black-run organizations, BASE Southern Oregon, set up a police liaison committee to keep an ongoing dialogue between the Black community in Jackson County and several of the police agencies. The Jackson County Sheriff has signed on, along with the police chiefs of Medford, Ashland, and Central Point.
Karla Narcesse chairs the committee and joins us for an interview.