Citizens and law enforcement officers come together for haircuts, communication - WBTV
“We’re not trying to have conversations after something happens,” one police captain said.
Citizens and police officers came together on Sunday to work toward improved relationships and increased trust.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Over the last couple of years, police and people of color have had many moments of tension across the country.
In 2020, the death of George Floyd led to protests across Charlotte for 10-straight days. People in the Queen City took to the streets, calling for justice and equality.
There were also protests following the Michael Brown and Keith Lamont Scott shootings.
Since then, better communication and relationships have become top priorities between police and the Black community.
This afternoon in Charlotte, Black men from the area held a town hall meeting designed to fuel that conversation, all while giving haircuts to people in the local community.
Topics the meeting discussed included the hiring and training practices for officers, mental health and youth violence.
“It makes me feel good,” Shakor Jasper said. “It makes me feel like there’s more changing now.”
Organizers also emphasized the need for younger generations to continue such conversations.
“This was a most impactful event for the kids,” 100 Men of Charlotte president-elect Duvale Murchison said. “I mean they had the District Attorney here. They had a chief of police from Matthews here. They had a captain from CMPD.”
Jasper, who is 14 years old, is one of those kids.
“Just improve our youth when we’re young you know? Like start off with little kids first because that’s our future,” Jasper said. “Instead of working on adults we gotta work on our kids as well.”
Members from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department were there as well.
“We’re not trying to have conversations after something happens,” CMPD Capt. Lucas Bieth said. “You know one person’s children is like my children. What would I want for them? I would want the best, safest world with the most opportunities and shame on us if we can’t do anything and everything, we can to try to take care of them.”
Problems within the community can’t be fixed overnight, but with programs like Cops & Barbers, people can begin to talk and build trusting relationships over something as simple as a haircut.
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source: http://www.wbtv.com/2022/04/25/citizens-law-enforcement-officers-come-together-haircuts-communication/
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