CHESAPEAKE, Va. — The Chesapeake Police Department is drawing back the curtain for the community. Police reform is a big topic across the nation and officers are opening the lines of communication with citizens.
On Wednesday, people who went to the Chesapeake Christian Center got a crash course in policing.
“Dialogue, I think it is major,” said Chesapeake Christian Center Pastor James Davis. “As long as we are talking, we can solve problems.”
After the death of George Floyd, Pastor Davis wanted to strengthen the relationship between the police and the community.
“We just felt that we needed to address some things together,” Pastor Davis said.
He pulled in Captain John Landfair, commanding officer of Chesapeake’s Second Precinct.
“We recognize that people in the community have questions about what the police do and how they do it, and can the police do this, can they do that,” Captain Landfair said. “So, we really want to help address some of those questions and concerns.”
Officers left no stone unturned, going over use-of-force tactics.
Captain Landfair said an officer’s number one tool isn’t a weapon.
“Just the presence of a uniformed officer, most of the time is all that is needed to diffuse the situation,” Captain Landfair said.
Officers also addressed recruitment issues, especially when it comes to minorities. They said 15 percent of the department is made up of African American officers.
Chief Kelvin Wright said he is constantly working to strengthen his team.
“Are we perfect? No,” Chief Wright said. “We have people that do the job, people are not perfect. But each and every opportunity we have with someone is an opportunity to get better.”
Myra Bass was one of 50 people to join the conversation in-person and online. She’s happy to talk to officers face-to-face.
“We have to overcome the fear, have those conversations, and speak to one another,” Bass said. “All the officers did a very good job in communicating that.”
Pastor Davis said this partnership will only grow stronger as time goes on.
“I see the community, the police department, evolving,” Pastor Davis said. “Evolving in terms of the policies, how they do things. Because even though you have the law, policy, code, we also want to be relevant in the time that we are in.”
Chesapeake police officers and church leaders hope to hold another forum with the community in a few months. You can reach officers with questions here.