A panel of clergy, police officers and community members came together Thursday in hopes of finding a solution that will prevent fatal police shootings like those that have recently made national headlines from occurring in Tampa.
Over 100 people came to the forum at Beulah Baptist Institutional Church. Many stressed the importance of community policing, which some say will build stronger relationships between local law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve.
Tampa isn’t doing enough, said Debora Barr, a Tampa resident.
“We need to have community policing programs again,” said Barr. “Once we have things like that, you're not going to diminish all of these issues, but at least it will lessen it to where Tampa won't have the kinds of tragedies that are happening across the country.”
One week has passed since five law enforcement officers were killed by a black gunman in Dallas. A few days earlier, two black men, one in Louisiana and one in Minnesota were fatally shot by police officers despite posing no apparent threat.
Building community relationships with police officers is the solution to preventing fatal shootings, said Pastor Dr. W. James Favorite.
“We are killing each other because we don't know each other,” said Favorite. “Police will find it very, very difficult to shoot a citizen that they know.”
According to Favorite, the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County used to host community-police relations workshops for over 20 years until 2005. Police officers and citizens had the opportunity to spend time with one another, exchange ideas and get to know each other on a first-name basis during these workshops.
Dianne Hart, a Democratic candidate for State House of Representatives District 61, said she has not seen police officers outside of their cars since the workshops stopped, and communities need to start seeing them.
“We really need police on their feet walking through the projects and talking to the youth."
Tampa Police Chief Eric Ward agreed and said his goal is to reinvent the way they do policing in Tampa to get the officers out of their cars and back into the community.
“We need get the officers to understand the community, engage the community and create a constructive dialogue,” said Ward. “By engaging the community and creating that dialogue, the community will understand that the officers are human and officers will understand that they're charged with protecting the community.”
Nearly half a dozen police officers and sheriff's deputies also attended the forum and listened to community members as they expressed their concerns.
Notably, however, there was not one white law enforcement officer in attendance at Thursday’s forum.
“My suggestion to the chief is to do everything within your power to encourage white officers to show up at meetings such as this,” said Delossa Harris, apostle of End Time Ministries. “If we're truly and honestly sincere in our efforts to bring about peace, justice and unity, then [white officers] have to show up at meetings like these.”
Police officers and elected officials who are in a position to implement change must work towards bettering our community and ensuring the safety of its members, said Barr.
“It has to start with those who can do something about it,” she said. “Change has to come. We all need to listen. We all need to exchange ideas. We all need to solve it together.”
This article appears in Jul 14-21, 2016.