close

Reducing police, community barriers

2 min read
article image -

CALIFORNIA – Reducing the barriers between white police officers and minority citizens can be accomplished, in part, by simply putting out a pot of coffee at the police department to welcome residents inside, the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh said.

“More than ever you have got to get to know the residents,” U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton said as a guest speaker Friday at a homeland and international security conference at California University of Pennsylvania.

“We simply have to find ways to see each other more clearly,” Hickton said at the conference sponsored by Cal U.’s criminal justice department and the NAACP.

He said the killings last year of black males by white police officers in New York, Cleveland and Ferguson, Mo., caused many minorities to lose confidence in law enforcement.

The minority communities “see police as armed enemy forces” that are not interested in protecting them, he said.

Meanwhile, police feel unappreciated and are puzzled by the lack of cooperation from minorities in helping them solve crimes in their communities, Hickton said.

He said Pittsburgh has put itself in a better position to avoid such conflicts under a number of efforts launched in the city since 2010.

A community relations group was formed that year to study the problem in the city.

“We began by having listening sessions,” Hickton said.

“The process was not easy. There was a huge disconnect.”

A crisis response team was formed in 2012 to deal with polarized groups “so things don’t spin out of control” and to ensure facts got out to reduce tension, Hickton said.

Surveys were then sent out, and the replies “disrupted and dismantled misconceptions,” he said.

The efforts helped to show communities that police departments are not defined by a small number of bad officers, and that the communities are not defined by a small number of criminals.

“We developed a model to strengthen the foundation of the community,” Hickton said.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today