The Malden Police Department hired a new Civil Rights Officer Michael Powell and is proud to have this title known to the city. It was a position that was presented to Powell and he took it without hesitation, he had been investigating hate crimes and hate incidents for a while now Powell wanted to make his position known to the public. Powell felt like this will be an important opportunity for the police department and the city of Malden. He wants the people of Malden to feel safe and do not want their rights to be violated.
Powell hopes to be an inspiration towards little kids and young people “[He thinks] that if [he has] a connection with people before [he] became a police officer.” He hopes that he can inspire younger people of all backgrounds. He feels as if “one of [his] stronger attributes [is he is] able to connect with people in a real way.” As time goes on Powell wants to make his position educational towards his younger audience not only for the police department but for the general public as well.
Powell looks forward to people warming up to him and feel more comfortable and to share their stories and so he can address it with all sides of the parties involved. Powell stated that “the more people know, the more people grow.” Some people may not know that some of their human rights have been violated before, and the position Powell has can allow people to feel comfortable talking about certain things that should be talked about more. It is an educational well-known purpose to let people know that they can come to Powell freely even if they are unsure if something leads up to a hate incident, he wants to be involved in the community to understand more of these things.
Powell goes on and states that “America definitely has some healing to do as unfortunately [there is] a lot of division in our country.” There are conversations that need to be talked about that are usually swept under the rug and some people are not comfortable talking about, Powell said “we need to have more difficult conversations that need to be made comfortable.” Having a general understanding of what your rights are is important especially for young folks to get involved with knowing their rights they will have a better understanding and opinion on certain topics.
This new Civil Rights Position has such an important impact on Malden and helps Malden citizens to have a better relationship with the Malden Police Department. It is something that can have such a huge influence on young kids and young adults who question many things in the city that will be great for everyone. It is more than just advocating or being a guardian for folks that are experiencing concerns about their human rights being affected. This new position is something the Malden community can come together and focus on the bigger things.
