Officers from the New York Police Department bring the controversial topics of racial profiling and police brutality to Denison in a forum at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday (Sept. 27) in Slayter Auditorium. This forum on law enforcement tackles important issues affecting urban and rural communities throughout America, featuring two highly decorated police officers with very distinct views on policing the streets: Lt. Eric Adams, founder and president of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement and Sergeant Thomas Kennedy, the highest decorated officer in NYPD. This debate is free and open to the public.

With police-community relations at a dangerous low, these two officers will offer their unique and thought provoking insights in order to educate the public on the role of the police force in modern society. The forum will discuss whether police brutality and racial profiling are real and systemic problems or if they are controversial concepts created by and fueled by the media or by persons with private agendas.

Lieutenant Eric Adams experienced police brutality firsthand when, as a 15-year old, he was pummeled by two white officers at a New York City precinct house after being arrested for a criminal trespass. Since becoming an officer in the NYPD in 1984, Adams has been a champion for human rights and against discrimination toward the African-American community.

A former Chairman of the Guardians, the fraternal organization for African-American Officers, Adams also developed Operation T-BOC (Take-Back Our Community), a plan to make neighborhoods safer through cooperative efforts of law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. In 1995 Adams founded the 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement, a group dedicated to educate the African-American community on how to relate to the police and to speak out against inequities in law enforcement and social issues. He has been an outspoken voice in many of the city's police brutality cases including the shooting death of Amadou Diallo and the arrest and beating of Abner Louima.

As a 19-year veteran, Kennedy has spent the majority of his career as a uniformed patrol officer and as plain clothes and narcotics details officer patrolling the streets of Central Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn. He has survived eight armed confrontations, although suffering three gunshot wounds resulting from these conflicts and has effected over three thousand felony arrests.

Kennedy is a member of numerous police fraternal organizations such as NYPD's Emerald Society, Honor Legion, the National Police Defense Foundation, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Sergeants Benevolent Association and the Patrolman's Benevolent Association. His front line exposure to many high pressure situations, including the racial tension built between the African-American community and law enforcement stemming from the city's highly publicized police brutality cases, has made him an outspoken officer in the defense of "proactive policing." He takes a strong stance shielding the conduct of police when dealing with the African American community on issues of police brutality, racial profiling and other relevant policing matters. He is an executive consultant toLaw and Order Special Victim's Unitand has just completed his first novel,When Bullet Hits Bone, a semi-autobiographical story from the streets of New York.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

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Barbara Stambaugh

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Director, Media Relations

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stambaughb@denison.edu

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(740) 587-8575