| <No.556> |
| Community Policing Aims to Create Safer Neighborhoods |
|
Through the years, the city of Long Beach has struggled
with gang violence, poverty, and racial tensions
among residents
and with police.
Community activist Darick Simpson has been working to improve relations
by coordinating meetings
between young people and officers.
Simpson says in a city where more than 30% of youth under 17 are poor,
poverty plus racial differences become the causes of conflict.
"With any differences come some misunderstanding,
because people bring their culture,
they bring that history
into the workplace, into schools."
While racial differences can cause conflict,
Simpson says he has seen improvement
over the years.
Last year, the city saw its lowest violent crime rate
in more than 40 years.
So far this year,
the numbers are even lower.
Don Rodriguez works with the young people in the city,
and says officers are more involved with the community
than ever before.
"Now we're seeing
more community people involved in the policing,
working with the police,
police getting a better feel of the community."
Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell says
in past years, officers would tell the community
what the problems were
and try to fix them.
But that philosophy has changed
into one of "community policing" -
partnering with citizens and community leaders
to solve deep-rooted problems in the neighborhoods.
"We build a team.
And when you have a team,
when a crisis comes up,
you're not dealing with it by yourself.
And too often
when we see things get volatile across America,
whether it's a racial issue or another similar type of issue -
it's often because there aren't those pre-existing relationships
in place."
But he says even successful partnerships are not a guarantee
that conflicts won't happen.
"We will always have issues that arise.
We will always have that potential for conflict.
It's not if it happens,
it's when,
and more importantly, how we deal with it
when it does happen."
McDonnell says officers need to continue to reach out to young people,
and form relationships
in order to change negative perceptions about the police.
Elizabeth Lee for VOA News, Long Beach |
|
|
|
