police chief so , if the Mayor does not have your communities ’ best interest at hand then the probability of him / her appointing a police chief that has your best interest is low . We must make sure that the leaders of our community put crime at a premium and if not they will not get our vote .
Another thing that we can do is make sure the police department knows who we are . As a commander , I got to know a segment of the community because they were at every meeting and public appearance that I made . Whenever those people called with any issue their phone call got a quick response because I did not want to have to deal with them at my next meeting saying that I was not responsive to their calls . Always making yourself seen works but you must also let the police department know that you will not tolerate your community being disrespected .
8 . Are you currently doing anything yourself to build up that trust that people have in law enforcement ? If so , what ?
One of the things that I am doing is going around speaking about Police / Citizens Encounters . I have been conducting seminars on the 3 police / citizen encounters ( street , car , home ) that citizens will most likely have with the police . Since the rash of police misconduct cases around the country , we as a people cannot depend on the cops to make sure these encounters are safe . We need to know what to do when stopped by the police . I give out very important tips during this seminar that will ensure you “ live to see another day ”
9 . What are your thoughts as it pertains to where we are politically as a country ?
There is no secret that there is a serious political divide in this country but , for me , local politics is what moves the needle politically . National politics is real messy and does not always trickle down to the little people . However , your school board president , police commander , local councilman , etc . can effect you and your family immediately . Look at Furgeson , after Mike Brown was murdered by the police officer . How does a community which is over 90 percent black only have 3 black police officers in its entire police department and not one black school board member ? We have to take local politics more seriously if we want to change things politically .