MAHONING VALLEY Police organization endeavors to improve race relationships

Only about six departments attended the first meeting.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Understanding cultural diversity and communication between police officers and members of the community will be the focus of a new police organization comprising various law enforcement agencies around the area.
Law Enforcement Agents for Change held its initial meeting in Boardman on Friday, but the turnout was not quite what Youngstown Detective Sgt. Delphine Baldwin-Casey, the group's organizer, expected. Several dozen police departments were invited to attend.
Who was there: Representatives from Canfield, Liberty Township, Youngstown, St. Elizabeth Health Center and Campbell police departments attended. Casey said she had hoped more of the larger townships and departments in surrounding communities would have participated.
"The low turnout will not hinder my desire to get this going. My attitude is, if one person in attendance goes out and does something, that is better than doing nothing," Casey said. "I just like to give the benefit of the doubt to the others that maybe the time, date or place was not right."
All police agencies are still welcome to join the organization, which will meet once a month until becoming established, then move to once every three months, Casey said. The next meeting will be later this month.
Casey, a cultural diversity trainer and instructor, said the purpose of the organization is to be an agent for change in individual law enforcement agencies in improving cross-cultural relations with police and the community. Many police chiefs, she said, may not be completely up to date on what is being taught about diversity to aspiring police officers in training classes.
"This type of training was not available when many of us were going through Ohio Peace Officer Training," she said. "One of the hardest things to talk about is race, and we all agree that there needs to be an open discussion about race not only in the community but within our own departments."
Department programs: Casey said representatives could then take information from the organization and commit to long-term programs within their respective departments.
The organization will look at various diversity issues such as race, gender and sexual orientation. The organization will also tackle a variety of sensitive social topics such as racial profiling and sexual harassment. The goal in dealing with these issues is to make individuals aware of appropriate and inappropriate actions and responses, Casey said.
More long-term goals are:
U Officers would educate the public about the role of police officers and their standard operating procedures.
U Officers in each agency would participate in community awareness or outreach groups.
The organization's members are looking to meet with representatives from the Urban League or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the near future.
jgoodwin@vindy.com