TU: Community-police dialogue is a win-win for all

Times-Union

http://jacksonville.com/editorials/2017-01-11/community-police-dialogue-win-win-all

What’s the best way to bridge the disconnect that exists between some in our community and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office?

It’s by being willing to address it in honest fashion.

That’s why Florida State College at Jacksonville should be applauded for recently hosting a “Community Conversation” forum that brought together present and former members of JSO’s command structure, FSCJ professors, students and other citizens to discuss the relationship between local law enforcement and Jacksonville’s residents.

The conversation, one of three that FSCJ will host over the next several months, was held at the school’s Kent Campus.

It drew a sizable and engaged audience.

And it played a productive role in advancing the mission of building better bonds between our police and our citizenry.

The challenge is pretty clear:

If we want to prevent the relationship between Jacksonville’s police and community from regressing to angry voices, violent disruptions and clenched fists, we must seize opportunities that allow law enforcement and residents to have calm conversations, civil discourses and open dialogues.

REMOVING THE DISCONNECT

FSCJ Director of Campus Security Gordon Bass, who held several leadership positions during a nearly 40-year career with the JSO, made a number of compelling points during the forum.

Bass told the audience that removing the disconnect between law enforcement and many residents means acknowledging that it does exist but resisting the temptation to exaggerate the severity of the problem.

“We have our set of issues (in Jacksonville),” Bass said.

“But we don’t have many of the problems that we’ve seen all across the country.”

Bass said one reason Jacksonville has not seen police-citizen relations deteriorate to the point of street unrest and demonstrations — unlike cities like Baton Rogue, Charlotte and Baltimore — is because the JSO has been embracing community-policing techniques that encourage officers to build relationships with residents in the neighborhoods they protect.

“The police represent the public, and the public represents the police,” Bass said in explaining how community policing can work to unite law enforcement and citizens on the street level.

“It takes work, but it pays off,” Bass said.

“The officers need to build relationships. And the citizens need to see the perspective of officers and the issues they confront each day.”

JSO Assistant Chief T.K. Waters, who has experience policing some of the city’s toughest neighborhoods, echoed Bass.

Waters said the police department recognizes that being consistently accessible and visible to residents — and not just during moments of conflict and crisis — can break down barriers of lingering distrust.

“We’re not robots,” said Waters, who noted that people often rush to “dehumanize” JSO officers and unfairly dismiss how much they care about the community they serve and protect.

“We’re open to change,” Waters said.

“We’re open to doing things differently. And we’re having some success.”

Waters said that one way many citizens can help the unification process is by becoming more open-minded about developing partnerships with police — and encouraging their children to view officers as people to respect rather than fear.

Too often now, Waters said, a conversation between an officer and a citizen starts out with “an expletive (toward the officer), and it can lead to an escalation that’s needless. That’s why we need to build that mutual trust and respect.”

A MODEL WORTH EMULATING

The JSO’s growing emphasis on community policing could particularly pay dividends because, as FSCJ criminal justice professor Kimberly Hall told the audience, the strategy is making a difference in other cities.

Hall said police departments in cities ranging from San Diego to Arlington, Texas, have relied on community policing to make gains in fighting crime in individual neighborhoods.

“Community policing is a philosophy, not a program,” Hall said.

“It really (promotes) partnerships and problem solving because it allows law enforcement and the community to work together.”

And it’s by working together that our police and our community can build bridges.

And tear down walls.