Is Trust in Police a Concern in Lakewood
Crime prevention is a leading concern in Lakewood and yet there was at least triple the amount of public discussion over bike and pedestrian infrastructure than there was over crime. Why? As resident-generated news, the Lakewood Informer tries to find out, starting with an examination of the new police philosophy that residents heard about for the first time in a budgeting meeting.
Do you trust in the police? Is lack of trust the root of all crime? Can we have effective crime prevention by increased trust initiatives? Who do you need trust? to do what? when? Who do police need to trust? It turns out, all those questions are on the table once residents start thinking about it so we should start thinking about what we, as a community, want to see.
Guest panelists: Zane Gordon, Anita Springsteen, Alex Plotkin
Discussion Topics:
– Is there a link between trust and crime?
– Does the City council reject what citizens think? (approx minute 6)
– Does improving trust address the root problem?
– Is lack of transparency the root problem? (approx minute 4)
– Should police handle mental health and/or drug related issues?
– Should the handling of mental health/drug related issues be integrated into police work?
– Or should mental health/drug issues be handled by a separate professional?
– Is transparency an important part of trust?
– Does transparency build trust?
– Is there a leadership deficiency at City Council? (which is causing police related issues)
– Council vs Police? Is there or should there be a “co-operative” connection; or should the Police be totally independent from the City Council? (like City of Morrison’s ex=-police chief.)
– Are Lakewood police ignoring Victim Rights in favor of perpetrator/offender’s rights?
– Conclusion: there is no correlation between trust and reduced crime.
Highlighted Quotes:
(Links included to hear that part of the conversation)
Plotkin: I am worried that people are looking at the pretties and not looking at the core issues like what is causing the lack of trust and what is causing the increase in crime.
Springsteen: At its core its a good idea to have more interaction between police and citizens. What I have seen in four years on Council is that there’s a complete rejection of interaction with the public.
Gordon: I like the idea of community engagement… but these are one on one relationships that take a long time to build… how to systemize this.
Springsteen: A lot of people don’t feel safe with the crime itself, and a lot of people don’t feel safe with the police themselves. … I feel like mental health has not been addressed … I’ve been pushing the STAR program.
Plotkin: Should the police be handling the mental health situations … maybe there should be separate departments but closely coordinated.
Springsteen: Having witnessed the police in action, if the Police Chief would have been willing to talk to me about my experience, I think I could have shed light a lot of light on what’s going wrong. Springsteen shares personal experiences with police.
Gordon: You have broken trust as the victim, as opposed to someone worried about excess force being used… it’s important to recognize there are two different conversations. Gordon shares personal experiences with police. Closure is what’s needed.
Springsteen: The City and County have a failure to follow-up with victims and don’t inform them. Springsteen shares her personal experience with use of excessive force.
Plotkin: The theme seems to be that we need a team of people to respond. A culture needs to be addressed, how are we going to present ourselves to the public …. and actually have public input not just a dashboard.
Springsteen: The frustrating thing with being on Council was trying to have this public conversation and being met with a brick wall. The Council itself was not willing to talk.
Gordon: The jury is out on using social workers in these situations. It’s been tried since the 1920’s. There’s the STAR program and CAHOOTS. These programs work and lots of examples of where it’s crashed and burned, so it’s a fragile system.
Plotkin: When the city sees that you will not be placated, you become persona non grata. There is no good input process to truly talk to the community. You will not just have trust automatically.
Springsteen: Transparency is such an important part of trust. The City seems to hide things, even if they don’t have to. How do we get to the root of the problem when we can’t have the conversation?
Gordon: Sounds like there is a leadership deficiency at the city level, percolating down to multiple departments, not just police. Sounds like there is no foundation to build trust with the police.
Plotkin: That’s what I meant by culture. You have to foster a culture where people feel empowered to ask questions and get answers.
Gordon: There’s a difference between leadership and a boss. What is the stoppage that the powers to be are not allowing true leaderhip to take root. Trust in police and justice served cannot happen without solid foundation.
Springsteen: I like to hear that [the police chief] wants to try something new. But I question what kind of pushback he will get from the force and up the ranks. We’ve had stagnant city leadership for 13 years.
Plotkin: Morrison Chief Mumma showed true leadership by addressing resident concerns, which didn’t always align with what Council wanted.
Springsteen: We are facing some challenges that we haven’t had in the past. Homeless are spending the night in the park now. Car windows are broken out. People can’t ride bikes in the park because of the homeless. These are hard to address.
Gordon: We never really discusssed trust reducing crime. No one really thought there was a correlation.
Everyone had a different definition of trust or different issue to address. This will be a continuing conversation.