Building bonds

BA orgs take part in “Chief on the Beat”

 

By STEPHAN VELASQUEZ, 11

 

Saturday, November 16, The Dallas Police Department hosted a community outreach event at Harry Stone Park. The purpose of the “Chief on the Beat” program is to create relationships with the local neighborhoods and establish trust. The Band, Belles and JROTC all preformed at the event to show that BA supports the local police department and the community. All three clubs did an excellent job as usual and the event organizers were happy to include the BA organizations. The primary focus was to deal with the crime and to establish neighborhood leadership.

 

The program hopes to establish a sense of trust within the community through neighborhood leadership. The fair included other Dallas safety and health departments. I wide range of city services used the event to inform the community. One group of wide interest was the Dallas Police SWAT Team. SWAT gave a presentation on equipment and tactics used in the field. This allowed the local community a chance to interact with the Dallas Police Department and learn more about what the process is during various situations involving DPD.

 

Dallas Police Chief Donald Brown believes these outreach events can build important connections between the department and community.

 

“It’s hard to build relationships in a crisis like during a police call,” he said. “We would rather have an established rapport in place with the community when a crisis arises.” 

 

11.21.14