the Paterson Police Department's undergoing a major transition now that the state's taken over and last night New Jersey attorney general Matt platkin held a listening session to hear directly from community members about their concerns which they've been vocal about in recent years alleging a culture of police misconduct that's led to the death of several Paterson residents while in police custody senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has more on how that first listening session went and how the community's feeling about the state's takeover of its police force I get the pain that this community has felt and I also know the trust between law enforcement and this community has been broken attorney general Matt platkin promised Paterson residents gathered at St Luke's Church that he'd come to listen to hear their concerns about how police treat people especially those in mental crisis platkin took command of Patterson's Police Department March 27 only weeks after the controversial police shooting of Najee Seabrooks who'd suffered an emotional breakdown and called for help his mother made an emotional plea to the AG all I want is Justice for my son Naji see books as he did a lot for his community and I hope the community is behind him behind him he's behind you residents told personal stories about their encounters with police they're wary of promises platkins bringing in a New York City Cop Isa Abbassi to enact reforms here Advocates who work with Patterson's poorest folks and najee's family emphasized over and over the department needs more than a cosmetic fix when you talk about retraining no it's not Street training they should have been fired for that at the very least we need terminations we need accountability because if you're talking about accountability we need to see it people need to feel that if they call 9-1-1 for help they're going to get help they're going to be met with resources and assistance and not met with violence or death your officers need to all be fired not retrained they curse they harass the insult platkin explained his powers are limited that he can't get involved in political scandals or election lawsuits plaguing Paterson city council as for firing bad cops are there people who shouldn't be there probably yeah are there people who we will address yes politics bubbled up regardless it is a sad Ray a is not in this place tonight it's a tragedy and a travesty the mayor reportedly said he wasn't invited but others made a point of asking platkin to understand problems are deep systemic and will not yield to Simple Solutions they want support they want funding and they need fundamental recognition in exchange for full cooperation is deeper than you coming in here what has to happen is the people that are working here need to know that everybody with a hoodie and a criminal residents asked platkin to push Beyond his arrive together program designed to help police deal with mental health incidents they want a crafted patterson-centric response this woman's son struggles with emotional issues so I appeal to you all to please put policies in place for mental health policies that do not involve sending a militant police force to respond all right plaque can vowed he'd take their concerns personally Patterson's new police chief who's still working in New York City will hold similar meetings here later this month in Patterson I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight news [Music]