Candace Avalos column: Stop calling the police and call your neighbors instead Updated Mar 15, 2021; Posted Mar 14, 2021 Screenshot from the jam board at the Portland Committee on Community Engaged Policing’s core patrol services town hall, held on Thursday March 4 via zoom. Facebook Share Candace Avalos Avalos is a Portland State University educator, co-founder of the Black Millennial Movement and chair of Portland’s Citizen Review Committee. A resident of Portland, she also serves on the city’s Charter Review Commission. Her column appears on the second and fourth Sundays of the month. Since I began my work on Portland’s police accountability board almost four years ago, I have witnessed the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement in moving forward the conversation on changing our institutions of policing. More political candidates are talking about policing issues on the campaign trail. Portland voters overwhelmingly passed a charter amendment to revolutionize our system of police accountability. And the general public has become more engaged in these conversations and want to be part of the solutions. Last year’s racial justice movement sparked a fierce debate across the country prompting a range of reactions about how police should evolve or if they should even exist at all. But no matter where you fall on that spectrum, the movement for police reform can find common ground in the goal to reduce the overall need for a law enforcement response in our society.