在堪萨斯州（Kansas）威奇托（Wichita）市，地方警察部门与当地“黑人的生命同样宝贵”（Black Lives Matter）分部联合组办了一次烧烤活动。警官们与社区居民共享美食、聊天、跳舞。一位母亲称这次活动是“一个联络感情的时刻”，因为警官们像普通人一样与社区青少年交谈互动。[请见英文报道]  


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当然，跳舞不能取代警务工作。亚特兰大警察局现有50名警官正在努力了解社区居民的情况，并让这些居民也了解他们。他们组办体育活动，并免费给居民上预防犯罪的课。该市的执勤警官能用12种语言与民众交流。

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亚特兰大警察局的警官参加“苏斯博士日”（ Dr. Seuss Day）的活动, 到一所学校给孩子们讲故事。 (图片由 Miguel Lugo 提供)

这些努力受到了居民的欢迎。这也意味着警官的工作环境得到改善。卢戈说：“警官为了开展工作，必须得到社区的信任。”社区居民期待警察在出事的时候来解决问题。但为了在社区和警方之间建立信任，警察不能只在出事的时候才出现。

https://share.america.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/AP_481105927413.jpg亚特兰大的一个帮助警官购买翻修的住房并在该市社区建立纽带的项目的剪彩仪式 (© AP Images)

2014年，欧巴马总统在同年轻的抗议活动领袖见面后组建了“21世纪警务工作组”（Task Force on 21st Century Policing），旨在“增进公众的信任，并在地方执法人员和他们所保护的社区之间建立牢固的关系，同时促进有效地减少犯罪”。该工作组建议实施威奇托和亚特兰大等地所采纳的“社区警务”项目。

欧巴马总统在达拉斯殉职警官的追悼仪式上说：“我们可以学着站在对方的立场上，从对方的视角看世界，这样，也许警官会从那个穿着戴帽衫的年轻人身上看到自己儿子的影子，有点吊儿郎当，但并不危险，而那个年轻人也会从警官身上看到他父母的教诲、价值观和权威。”

“Sometimes communities see us as the enemy,” said Officer Miguel Lugo of the Atlanta Police Department. “But when they get to know the police officers, it changes, and they start seeing us like members of the community — part of their daily lives.”

Lugo’s insight is shared by a lot of good cops and also by neighborhood advocates across the U.S. After recent shootings by police in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and subsequent fatal attacks on police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, police and citizens are taking positive steps to know each other better.

In Wichita, Kansas, the police department organized a cookout with the local Black Lives Matter chapter. Officers and neighbors ate, talked and danced. One mother called it “a bonding moment,” where police and neighborhood youth interacted as regular people. 

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Another time, responding to a situation involving groups of fighting teenagers, a Washington officer diffused the situation by initiating an impromptu dance-off.

Of course, policing isn’t all dancing. The Atlanta department now has 50 officers working to know their communities and making sure residents know them. They sponsor sporting events and offer free classes on crime prevention. The city’s on-call officers can communicate in 12 languages.

https://share.america.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CMY8826-Medium-Edit-1024x682.jpgAtlanta police officers participate in Dr. Seuss Day, reading to children in an Atlanta school. (Courtesy photo)

The effort benefits residents. And it means better working conditions for the cops. “In order for the police to do their job, we have to have the trust of the community,” Lugo said. Communities expect the police to show up when there’s trouble. But to build trust between a community and its police force, that can’t be the only time they show up.

https://share.america.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/AP_481105927413.jpgA ribbon-cutting ceremony for an Atlanta initiative to help police officers buy renovated homes and build ties in city neighborhoods. (© AP Images)

After meeting with youth protest leaders in 2014, Obama created the Task Force on 21st Century Policing to “strengthen public trust and foster strong relationships between local law enforcement and the communities that they protect, while also promoting effective crime reduction.” The task force has called for “community policing” initiatives like the ones in Wichita and Atlanta.

At a memorial service for the Dallas police officers, the president said, “We can learn to stand in each other’s shoes and look at the world through each other’s eyes so that maybe the police officer sees his own son in that teenager with a hoodie, who’s kind of goofing off, but not dangerous, and maybe the teenager will see in the police officer the same words and values and authority of his parents.”