MANSFIELD — Jodie Perry thanked those who attended and spoke Thursday evening during a “Town Hall” meeting to discuss police/community relations.
“Thanks for speaking up and sharing your hearts,” Mansfield’s mayor said at the end of a 90-minute plus session at the Greater Mitchell Chapel A.M.E. Church, 182 S. Adams St.
“This is a city that cares. It’s a big reason why I was willing to run for mayor,” said Perry, who took office in January 2024. “I think that the city wants things to be better and they need to be better.
“I do want you to know we do hear what you’re saying.”
What the mayor heard, however, during the session was some citizens sharing highly critical comments about Mansfield police interactions with residents in a public forum that included Safety Service Director Keith Porch and police Chief Jason Bammann.
Many of the comments focused on a May 20 encounter between a 68-year-old Black man and Mansfield police.
That incident has sparked conversations between the community and city leaders, which led to the Thursday meeting similar to another public session in April 2025.
More than one resident at the meeting accused officers of beating the man during the incident. The man in question was arrested by the FBI about three weeks later on drug charges unrelated to the car stop, a case still pending in federal court.
Bammann has said since the May incident that officer actions at the scene “were consistent with the department’s use of force policies and procedures.” He repeated that on Thursday night.
In a July statement, the chief said body-worn camera footage is an “invaluable investigative tool” that “also has limitations.”
“Members of the public and the media sometimes assume that body-camera footage shows ‘exactly what happened,’ when in reality it captures only one narrow perspective. Body-worn camera footage should be considered one piece of evidence alongside witness statements, physical evidence and officer testimony. It should not be viewed as a perfect recreation of an event, as demonstrated in this case,” the chief said in July.
But Bammann and Porch said several times during the meeting they could not comment more on the case from May due it to being an ongoing investigation, other than to say there was “more to the incident” than what had been seen on Cleveland TV news and on social media.
Police use of force during that car stop is what led to Perry and the Mansfield Branch of the NAACP arranging a series of public sessions seeking to improve the relationship.
Some residents said they don’t feel safe, including when police officers are around. One of those individuals was a woman who said she didn’t grow up in Mansfield.
“I came from a city that was very productive and things were being done. The police were doing stuff. They weren’t beating people up,” she said, as others in the audience nodded their heads and agreed.
Perry said, “There are things that we all need to do to work together to make the community stronger. I can tell you I’m committed to it. I believe that the police chief is committed to it and I believe that Director Porch is committed to it.
“There are very serious issues happening in our community, not just with youth, but certainly the youth is probably the most concerning in some ways.
“We hear that you’re saying that you don’t always feel safe, so that’s something for us to talk through and to figure out … how do we better strengthen the relationship with the police in the community,” the mayor said.
Perry and others said future public meetings will follow to continue the dialogue.
“We’ll consider this an an opening to a longer conversation. I’m always happy to sit down and talk with people,” Perry said.
She said conversations with leaders in the Black community have been ongoing since the incident in May.
“We have had very constructive conversations with leaders in the community, pastors, folks in the black community and and others that have concerns. I want you to know that we’re listening for sure and that there’s always room for improvement,” the mayor said.
(Below are photos taken Thursday evening during a “Town Hall” meeting arranged by the Mansfield NAACP Branch and city of Mansfield leaders at the Greater Mitchell Chapel A.M.E. Church, 182 S. Adams St. The story continues below the photos.)
Retired firefighter asks if culture change is needed in police department?
Those in the audience offered a wide range of questions, including queries about which city parks are due for for improvements.
There were questions about what police do with data it collects, what de-escalation training is provided for officers, constitutionality of asking for ID during car stops and the status of the recently reconstituted Mansfield Police Review and Community-Police Relations Commission.
There was lengthy discussion about the need to build greater trust between police and members of the community.
One of the most interesting discussions came during a Q&A between the police chief and a retired firefighter.
Retired Mansfield firefighter Link Briggs asked Bammann — who became chief two years ago — if he believed the culture in the police department needed to change.
“I know cultures. I know firefighter culture because I lived it. I know police culture because I worked hand-in-hand. As a new chief, you say you have a young department. So what is your vision for possibly changing the culture that’s a negative culture within the department?” Briggs asked.
“Every chief has his own vision, so as you change the culture, are you looking or willing to work with people within the community to help you with their insight on what is going on … to help you with changing that culture,” Briggs also asked.
Bammann, who joined the MPD in 1999, said he is “absolutely” willing to work with the community to improve the relationship.
“Here we are, right? We have nothing to hide and I am not the master genius of all, OK? Even if I was 92, we can all still learn something.
“As for the culture, I know Mansfield PD has a bad rap from many, many, many years before retired Chief Porch and I. That’s no secret, but that was not our era. That was not us, OK?” Bammann said.
“The department that was handed to me when (Porch) stepped down, there was no negative culture that I saw, ever thought, and that’s as the assistant chief.
“What I can tell you is that everybody in that police department knows what I demand. That is that we always do the right thing,” Bammann said.
“My vision … this is a violent community, that’s no secret. That hasn’t changed. Chief Porch had visions and put things in place. I’m continuing with those visions to try to reduce that violent crime.
“My vision for this community is that every citizen in this community should be able to go out and walk up and down their sidewalk at any given time of the day or night and do it and feel safe.
“That is my focus. That is a constant work. As things change … as we try to recruit more officers into this department … that is my number one. If we always do the right thing, then we’re in a good spot
“So far as culture, I am 100 percent committed to build that relationship,” Bammann said.
MPD accredited nationally for seventh straight period
Early in the meeting, Bammann provided information on the department’s seventh straight national accreditation through the Commission of Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. The MPD has been accredited for two straight decades.
It’s a distinction granted to less than 5 percent of law enforcement agencies across the country, officials have said.
One of the areas Bammann said he asked CALEA assessors to dig into during their review was the department’s use of force. The chief said use of force has declined 25 percent over the last five years.
During that five-year period, he said, officers had 160,000 contacts with the public and just 400 uses of force, which translates to about 80 per year or about 1.5 per week.
“(National accreditation) is a voluntary thing that we apply for and do. The purpose of this is they help the department, they help me, in how we run operations.
“The biggest piece of this is what we call our general orders. It’s kind of our instruction manual, our guidebook, on how we go forward as an agency, how we handle certain incidents or topics, how we handle training,” the chief said.
“(CALEA) is very good at what they do and they dig deep inside our department, which we want them to do. They guide us with how we draft and develop our policies, all the rules that we have to follow.
“It’s not just that they help us develop and then we tell them, ‘Yeah, we’re doing what you said.’ No, we have to prove that,” Bammann said.
He also went through the process of how the department handles complaints and concerns regarding officers, both internal and external, and how investigations move through the department ranks. He said there were 16 external complaints filed against the department last year.
‘How often is this use of force done in urban settings?’
Crystal Davis Weese, who represents the Third Ward on Mansfield City Council, asked Bammann if the department tracks and breaks down when force is used with residents.
“How often is this use of force done in urban settings? How often is this use of force, if we did the numbers, to people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged?
“When you had those 16 complaints that were done, how many of those were people who are of different ethnicity, people of different socioeconomic (backgrounds)?
“Because that’s what I think the training should look like. I understand what you’re saying about training. I once served on the Black and Brown community coalition. One of the things that I said is … is there cultural competence when it takes place?”
She said it was not just a question of race. It’s also poverty.
“I would like us to really take a look at if these things are taking place and if we find that our excessive force is on people who are less fortunate than others, wear a different skin tone than others, then I think that’s another trend that might need to take place in our police department,” Davis Weese said.
“Because I’m being honest, this isn’t the first time that I’ve sat across from the two of you (Porch and Bammann) and we’ve had some conversations even about excessive force. My part of it is … each time those things took place, it was somebody who looked like me,” Davis Weese said.
Perry said she had not dealt with the police department much before taking office. She led the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development for a decade before running for mayor.
“My background was more in economic development. I think that there’s a lot of assumptions that police aren’t disciplined, and that is really far from the truth. Actually, I think our police department disciplines probably more than any other department in the city.
“From very minor infractions, such as courtesy, like if they’re not using correct language, they will be written up for that and they will be disciplined for it.
“We have a good working relationship with the (police union) and I think that has helped. I do want people to know that we take those (public concerns) very seriously and particularly the two of them (Porch and Bammann). They really have held people accountable and some (officers) are not here anymore because of that. So that that’s something we do take seriously,” she said.
‘People need to know there’s consequences if they’re not doing what they’re hired to do’
Perry said a big part of her administration has been employee accountability.
“We’ve started an internal training program for department heads and the first one was on culture and really trying to get the entire city thinking about the culture. How do you serve the citizens that we’re here to serve? We do spend a lot of time talking and thinking about that.”
She said her actions do not make her the most popular person in the city.
“But it has to happen, right? People need to know there’s consequences if they’re not doing what they’re hired to do,” Perry said.
“I think it’s showing signs of helping. I think that long term, hopefully, that we don’t have to deal with as many discipline things because people will know we hold them accountable. But just the same, that is also true for the citizens and the community culture that we have is also something that I spend a lot of time thinking about,” the mayor said.
“I think there’s a lot of pessimism in the community, and I understand that. I do. I’m not from here, but I grew up in Rochester, New York, which is bigger, but it’s very, very similar. (We had) a lot of the same problems.
“I think we’re making good strides in many areas, but we have lots to do ahead of us. I am absolutely a person that believes in relationships being essential. I look around tonight and there’s many people in the room that I knew long before I was mayor, which has made my job as mayor easier.
“I have people that I can call. They know if I say I’m doing something that I’m doing it. But I’m also still trying to be out at community events available accessible to people and that’s something that I want not just for me, but for the city as a whole.
“If any of you have tried to change a culture, (you know) it takes time. It takes time, consistency (and) honesty.
“I talked about wanting to do (town hall meetings) on a more regular basis, rather than waiting (for an) urgent situation. It’s better if we’re doing this on a regular basis and an established basis so you know us, just as much as we know you,” Perry said
