GATESVILLE, Texas — Calvin Ford was born and raised in Gatesville and not only faced racial injustices personally, but heard that people weren't happy with the way the justice system runs in Coryell County.
"I had heard a lot of the minorities were talking about the criminal justice system here and they weren't happy with a lot of it," Ford said.
Long before the national unrest surrounding George Floyd's death began in our country, Ford met with Coryell County District Attorney Dusty Boyd to discuss ways to unify the community.
Both Boyd and Ford sat down with staff members from local school systems, the county prosecutors office, the mayor of Gatesville, city councilmen, local pastors and members of the community. Together they created a program called "MAPS," or Minority Advisory Panel Support
"This is created so five panel members come into the district attorney's office once a month," Boyd said. "And they actually hear about criminal cases from the county and can give us their input about how they feel about that as a community member and we give them insight on what we're dealing with and navigating through."
This is still in the works and Boyd hopes the first panel will be able to come in at the end of July. The panel will be voted on by community members who can attend larger meetings that will happen once a month. The panel will rotate every few months. Details are still being worked out.
"Think of it like a toy you get for Christmas that needs to be assembled," Boyd said. "Right now we are still putting all the pieces together."
Ultimately, members of the minority panel will be able to voice their opinions on cases in the county and how they were handled by law enforcement.
"We aren't just talking about making a change we are actually doing it," Boyd said. "We are actually having them be involved in how decisions are made so they can learn from us and we can learn from them."
The chief of police in both Copperas Cove and Gatesville, as well as the Coryell County sheriff, are on board with this.
Many people are involved in making MAPS a success. This includes Coppers Cove native and Baylor football superstar Robert Griffin III who, all the way from Baltimore, is all in on changes being made in Coryell County.
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