CHARLESTON, W. Va. — How does one prevent Charleston, West Virginia from becoming the next Ferguson, Missouri?
This is what Wayne Crozier, Pastor and Founder of Abundant Life Ministries located in Charleston’s East End wondered when he asked Charleston Chief of Police Brent Webster to participate in a community forum on police interactions and diversity at the church.
Webster accepted and brought a host of officers with him Wednesday night, many with years of experience and one a young officer, new to the force.
While the recent events between cops and the black communities in Ferguson, Cleveland and New York have brought about an “Us vs. Them” narrative, the forum’s aim was to put both groups on common ground.
“I wanted to humanize,” Crozier said. “Allow some of the police department to see that we love our children, we love our families, but also wanted the community and the church to see that police are people too. Behind that badge, behind that uniform, that’s a man.”
Webster, Dallas Staples former Chief of Police in Charleston and the officers took the communities question and attempted to answer them the best that they could, no matter how difficult.
They explained their use of force policy and the misconceptions that come with it, such as the only time they pull their gun, it is only because there are no options left and they cannot fire warning shot because “what goes up, must come down.”
Though he wished he could, Webster could not honestly tell the people there that a officer-involved shooting would never occur in the city because there are simply too many uncontrollable factors.
“It’s hard to 100 percent prevent,” he said. “But events like this tonight, those are things that you can’t put a value on how important they are in building relationships. It’s a work in progress because we’re all human, police and the public. Fortunately we don’t have many events like that, thank goodness.”
Another question that was brought up by both sides was how could they build a police force that better represents the diversity of the community which it serves.
While the officer were asking how they could recruit more young minorities, the community asked how they could prepare their sons and daughters to join the force.
Corporal Errol Randle, a black man who grew up in a family of proud law enforcement officer, said he the department learned a lot about reaching out to the youth. He also recognized while he always had a positive outlook of police, many black youth do not.
“We have to promote law enforcement. We have to instill in our kids how honorable it is,” he said. “We as a police department, we have to let people know that we want you to be part of our team and that we’re a family. We need to be one with the community and we work better if you work with us.”
The community in attendance lauded the work of the officers and how they have made numerous efforts to reach out to the community and have tried to handle sensitive situations.
Webster and Crozier said they hope to have more community forums in the future.