Officers have to interact. So they get to see the other side of policing so they are more aware of what we do on an everyday basis and not just what they see on tv. Our first guest is from the Richmond Police department. Chief, thank you for joining us. Guest good morning. Host there a national withrsation going on Building Trust in the community. Give us her perspective of not only what happens but what it does to this general idea of Building Trust in the community you serve. Guest i believe it opens our eyes as a Law Enforcement community. Trust is required in order for us to be a lawful and legal end. We have to carry that trust. At ferguson come it was a sad to chew ferguson, it was a sad situation. You had an officer who had a negative encounter based on the relationships the community have. At baltimore, the loss of life at the hands of Police Officers and they created turmoil and you see a better station because of that. We have been having conversations and it is important we listen and learn and act appropriately to these negative encounters we have across the country. As you listen and learn, what are you hearing from these conversations you are having . Guest i am learning we have to change as leaders the way we train our officers and the way we communicate with the community. Building trust takes time, communication, a shared responsibility and shared goal. We have to continue to engage and work with them. As far as building the trust, increasing the communication, what do you think works in the situations . How do you do those things . Guest in the city into thousand five, the chief came in and created the concept of Community Policing. What the last 10 years, the men and women of the Richmond Police department really get it. I take over as chief in february. For the last 10 years, crime has been going down while the population is going up. There really arent a lot of complaints in the city. That is a testament to the ability and relationships the Police Department have fostered in the city. Peoplehen you speak to in the community and you talk about the use of force, how do you communicate that, especially with instances of shooting there . How did you indicate what happened to so the sense of trust goes forward and they know everything there is to know about a situation that occurs . Guest for me, two weeks ago, i had my first case where one of my officers had to use force resulting in death. There was an uproar in the saying that the police stood over this individual, empty the magazine, reloaded. But this was an armed felon who shot one of my officers so it was important to get front in front of that. I always tell the committee having the open dialog let the case take its course. I was not on the scene, my investigators were not on the scene. We have four precincts in the city and i went to every community to introduce myself and listen. Listening, learning, and then we react as an agency to provide the quality of services the citizens and Community Expect and it is all about relationships. Has set Ae Department model for the region to say this is how you do it. Host it was during the shooting incident, one of the things you said is that this is not ferguson or at least implied that. What does it mean that you even have to say things like that in light of what we deal with today . Guest i thought it was important. It was only that portion of the community where there would be uproar. When i said this is not ferguson , i refuse to have a community on out and create havoc and civic disorder when we dont have all of the facts. This wasnt a case where an officer was rogue. Officers who are Compassionate Care and are committed to the community. I think it was important to put that out there. People believe in trusting their officers and when you have a situation like that and i dont wish that on anyone my officers are not out here looking to shoot. This was a situation where my officer received a call for a person armed with a weapon. This was not racial profiling, harassing a person in the community. It is important for me to reassure the community there is going to be a fair and impartial investigations and im not the one who made the determination. To our Attorneys Office to make the determination. Guest of the morning, chief Alfred Durham to talk about police and community relations. If you want to ask him questions about this topic of policing and community relations. Chief, generally as you tell your officers, what is the general philosophy when it comes to policing . What is the approach you use . At the father of policing in the u. K. He created the metropolitan Police Department and scotland yard. One of the things he said in my the policeis he says are the public and the public are police. We are human beings also. I tell everyone i speak to, we make mistakes. Leader, i desire responsibility to ensure we train our people appropriately, adhere to the policy and i impose discipline where it is needed. Credibilityy is with to legitimacy and transparency for the people we serve in the community and that is so important for me. Host our first call comes from william from tennessee. You are on with chief durham. Is one my question when police are called or pull somebody over and , whys an altercation cant they just shoot them in the leg . Tells noy dead man tales. If they are alive, they cannot tell the history. But there is a video, they will go to court. You want to tell me they are stronger than the police . They workout, they run. Part of the idea was the idea of when to use force and that is something your department has to deal with a lot. Guest i cannot tell an officer when to use force. They have to make that assessment and a quick assessment if there is a threat. The color mention something about traffic stops. Caller. The community is asking the questions how should be conducting on traffic stops. I believe education is very important. Level, wethe officer pass out information, go to community meetings. We are telling people to comply. Put your hands on the steering well, have your drivers license, insurance and just comply and listen to the officer. Bad days officers have but we should not be expressing our feelings toward a citizen contact. It is important there is communication on both sides. Communication is key to every conversation with citizens. Ohio. In hamilton, caller i have two things i want to comment on. I believe civil asset is why a lot of the officers are trying to spend time work for lurk for people, trying to be revenue generators. Taxpayers paying a decent salary to these people so they dont have to go out and try to find property they can confiscate from people to build revenue for the police force. I get tired of hearing so many people talking about most of the officers are good cops. That sounds wonderful but all it takes forever to prosper is for good men to stay silent and when you have this wall of silence and police protecting each other, they are witnessing the police that are brutal and not being fair to the public and they stay silent. Why arent the good officers doing everything they can to get the that officers out of their district and off the force . That is a good comment. First, i will talk about the asset forfeiture. We dont believe that is a salary revenue generator. There are federal laws that mandate we get certain funding from seizures. The wall of silence, that is true. There is a culture and police and sometimes that is hard to break. One of the things i First Published in our policy was that anyone in the department that has any knowledge that anyone has caused a violation of policy, they have are the end of the shift to notify the internal affairs division. Ithink it is serious because am listening, learning, and acting. Ken in virginia is a Police Officer. Caller good morning. Guest good morning. Caller i was a Police Officer. I am a federal agent now. I was a Police Officer in camden for five years. Something i was taught is to walk the beat. You have to understand the community and be a part of it. A lot new officers that get in the field dont understand what it is to live in the community. For the previous color that spoke about there being a wall of silence it is the same in the community. Sometimes communities are reluctant to help but every community has different needs that need to be addressed. Police officers cannot solve all of those problems. I used to work with a lot of children and i still do. I go back home often in the summer to philadelphia and i work with youth but it starts in the home. There is a fundamental respect among people. To take off your uniform, you are a human being like everyone else. Respect ofd the human beings and living but everyone once to build homes to celebrate living. It is a tough job but the biggest call of being a citizen might get an impression the wall of silence exists but it is insulting when there are good officers out there and you have to call someone. You dial that number, you will get a Police Officer to respond and no one else. Guest that is a great comment. One of the things my Community Knows is i dont believe in sitting behind the desk. My officers see that. One of the things i created will we talk about engaging the community is walking beats. By no fault of the officers we do what we call chased the radio. Opportunity toan offer a greeting and salutation to the residencies serve. I created permanent walking beats in every precinct. This was my commitment to the community to increase the walking beats. Most of the original officers didnt volunteer. Volunteers now to walk because the original officers say this is the best thing. Culture,alk about culture and how we do business. If ferguson hasnt taught us anything, people want results and they want back from the community. We talk about police and the public. We cannot do it alone. We have about 214,000 in the city, a small population. About theres nothing we cannot do to reduce crime in our cities and neighborhoods. Do most of the officers of your force live in the Richland Metro area . Guest there is no requirement my officers have to live in the city but most importantly, these people are committed. A couple weeks ago, we had badges in baseball. I had officers go out there on their own time playing baseball for about 25 youth. These people are committed. Communitycing and relations is the topic. We are joined by chief Alfred Durham. Johnny from south carolina, you are next. Caller thank you very much. 60sw up in georgia in the and i have about experience with of them weret most white. I was starting with my friend and it was a white policeman and got out of the car and threw me against the wall for no reason and called me all types of names. I didnt say anything. They got back in the car and drove off. Seen ay times have you black policeman shoot a white person . You havent and you probably never will. They know better. You know . This policeman beating this woman on the highway, beating her with fists on camera. Nothing happened to him. Woman and aa white black officer, he would be gone. Guest we talked about use of force. If the officer has to make that assessment and they had to eliminate the threat. Toell people, we dont shoot kill, we shoot to eliminate a threat. I think this is a conversation no longer is brute force tolerated in the community. People when i was a younger officer, i am not arresting you, i am rescuing you because sometimes people just need help. Respect and ith have several people come back and say because the way you treated me, im changing my ways. For those Law Enforcement agencies and the officers who continue to be abusive and violent, they get what they deserve. Host have you ever had to use deadly force in your time of service . Guest i have not. 28 years of service and i have never had to use force. Host to the colors point callers point, talk about how video and cell phone. What do you think this has done as far as policing across the nation . Guest i appreciate people videoing. We have to look at the totality of the story. A lot of times, the images out , the people dont want to cooperate but they are quick to put it on social media. You have to have the full package. This happens everywhere. We continue to convey to our officers, you may not see it but it sees you and it is important our officers know there is no crime against a citizen videotaping. One of the things im looking to body cameras. My officers are looking to embrace that technology because there is a fear every time they go out to do something, they are being secondguessed about their actions and that is what we dont what officers to do because a lot of officers are out there by themselves taking actions for the community and being chastised for the actions they take that are very important. Host re looking for federal funding for the body cameras . We apply for a grant that we have not heard back from yet. We are excited. Policies, retention schedules we have to work in, privacy issues. Re are lot of arts to this parts to this. I want the community to have input because once it is all said and done, we want to have people standing behind us. Made in a vacuum but a collaborative effort by the Police Department and citizens. Host next is christina from fremont, ohio. Caller hello. Thank you. Community, there have been quite a few corruption incidents. Personal experience was with my cousin murdered five years ago by the officers. Felon. Unarmed it was an unloaded weapon. He was not aware of the police being there. They surrounded the house. It is in court at this time so i cant talk too much but the gun the police came out. No one communicated anything to him. Teamsent in an armed swat while he was asleep. They didnt know if he was alive and sent in tear gas. They didnt try to communicate with him at any point. He jumped and they killed him right there. It is very sad because it is not only happened to my family, it has happened to seven other families. I feel like the body cameras would be such a good thing for our communities, to help gain our trust, for all of us to see hange, to have that extra seeing what they are going through. Itt happened with my cousin, wasnt 7, 8 hours before the police even left the house. All of that eight hours of what was happening, the officers going through the home. We could have seen that on the body cameras, they could have used in court to help them. I feel the body cameras are such a great step in the right direction and i really pray we can get these for our communities and i commend all of the officers. I know they have a tough job. I know there are good cops out there like there are good people out there. I just really feel like at this point, the body cameras is a great step in the right direction. Host chief, go ahead. Guest i cannot get into the circumstances surrounding her cousins death but i offer my condolences. Again, i think we have to listen. We have to listen to the community and make the necessary adjustments in our training, policies, and the way we do business. Host charles from mount vernon, new york. Charles is a Police Officer. Host i was a new york city Police Officer and i was a training officer. I was impressed with the chief with the beat patrol. I grew up in harlem and most of the officers in harlem were white but we really never had a problem with them because we saw the same officers all the time. They knew us, our parents, everybody. Now you have officers just coming where you dont see the same officer twice in the same community. Am 69 years old i dont hang out on the corner. They just walk up to you. I remember when the stock and frisk law came out of the early 70s. It was not stop and frisk. It is stop and question with probable cause etc. Frisk, it is a pat down but they eliminated the probable cause clause in new york. I was impressed with the beat the beat cap is the best. It is the most expensive but the best way to get the community with the police. And we had an experience with the College Community where we had observers from the College Writing in the police car. Iding. Guest you are right. I remember growing up in washington, d. C. Guy, 62cer was a big and we respected him. , hee did something wrong was taking us home to our parents and that is what it is about. In our training academy, we go through six month of training never taking them to the street. Send them out into a Public Housing community, hispanic community, Homeless Community just to interact. Once they get out there and not have any expectations of what they will encounter. The chief joining us with our discussion on police and community relations. The numbers on your screen. If you live in richmond and want to call and talk to the chief do you get the sense of general animosity . Guest not at all. I tell you, just the relationship. Our Faith Partners here plays an important role. We have citizen academy, Youth Academy, senior academy. We have a myriad of programs to engage our youth. We have our Young Adult Police commissioners, our explores program. I have only been a chief for six months, but the men and women have set the foundation and created a bond with the community. There are sections of the communitys that are challenging. One thing i noticed is that it seems to me that the youth certain youth in the community, they have this certain right of passage that they have to be disrespectful to authority and adults and that is creating some problems and challenges. One of the things im working on along with the superintendent of public schools, we are locking up a lot of young kids, youth, our future. Just fights, using profanity. We are the ones introducing them to the juvenile Justice System and we wonder why they have problems with our police, so we are looking to do a Creative Program in just working with the schools and it will be a