Allan Appel Photo
More block watches. More cops on walking beats. More basketball games and pizza parties for kids and community clean-ups where cops participate out of uniform. More adults overcoming fears and befriending the intimidating young men on streetcorners.
Those were some of the heartfelt suggestions that some 50 residents from Dwight to Beaver Hill and West River to Westville offered Chief Frank Limon (pictured with street outreach worker Maurice Blest Peters) and beat cops during the first in a series of “community dialogues” at the Barnard School Wednesday night.
None of the ideas was new. But as he heard them, Chief Limon said they showed that despite an uptick in crime, community trust in the police is growing and citizens increasingly are getting energized to, as he phrased it, “take back their streets.”
“The police are doing all they can. It’s up to the community to step up,” West River Community Services Corporation Vice-President John Fitzpatrick told Officer Julie Hill. She recently started patrolling his Monitor Park stretch of the neighborhood.
“I walk a yellow Lab and pick up trash,” he said, inviting her to come over and talk when she drives by.
That pleased Hill, a two-year veteran of the force. “A lot of people don’t want to talk to us,” she said.
The event, organized by Community Mediation, was a bit of a love-fest for cops. Back in November community members met with Chief Limon without beat cops around. The aim of that meeting was to vent complaints, and vent people did.
Click here for a full schedule of upcoming dialogues with the chief along with summaries, by neighborhood, of concerns expressed at the fall meetings.
Before hearing from neighbors Wednesday night, Limon summarized the four chief themes or complaints that had emerged at the November meeting: Stopping guns from getting onto the streets; dealing with officers who are overly aggressive; shoring up programs for kids; and the need for a better phone-answering system at police headquarters. He said all are being addressed.
Wednesday night was a time for brainstorming. For Limon that meant in part for him to confide, “Behind this badge I’m a father with two kids and a wife.” He said he shares the vision expressed that the essence of neighborhood is to walk down the street any time day or night, knowing the people you pass, buying a soda safe and sound at the corner grocery.
City street outreach worker Maurice Blest Peters endorsed the idea of more block watches but cautioned that that shouldn’t create an “us and them” situation further ostracizing those young guys on the corners: “You’re not their target. Talk to them. Maybe they’ll tell you why they’re there. They’ll come at the end of the day and tell you they want to get off. Don’t divide and conquer. We want to be able to stroll the street together.