NAACP hosts law officers to discuss policing

Event focuses on bridging gap

BENTONVILLE — Some local law enforcement officers participated Monday night in a conversation to help bridge the gap between police and the Black community in Northwest Arkansas.

The event was hosted by the NWA NAACP in partnership with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity’s Omicron Zeta Lamda Chapter.

“The goal of the event was is to open the door for communication,” Coby Davis, president of the NAACP chapter, said.

“We want the Black community to have positive interactions with law enforcement and for law enforcement to see and hopefully understand some of the emotions and feelings many have surrounding police, especially in light of recent events. Our hope is this begins a conversation so our community can continue to grow to be inclusive and safe for everyone.”

Davis said the conversations are long overdue and should have started years ago. He said the purpose is to build bridges with law enforcement and not any conflicts.

Police Chief Steve Gahagans with the University of Arkansas’ Police Department, said he believes lack of understanding is one of the issues between police and community members. Gahagans said it’s important for police departments to get their people out in the community to build better relationships.

Jamie Fields, chief deputy for the Fayetteville Police Department, said she could only address what’s going on in Fayetteville and the department has been stressing for years the importance of officers getting out and interacting with community members.

One of the questions submitted during the webinar concerned training and racial profiling. Sean Mayo, the moderator, asked the questions. Fields said officers have annual training concerning racial profiling, and training concerning biases.

Bentonville Police Chief Jon Simpson said the city will build a new training facility for police and the department will have a simulator not only for shoot-or-not-shoot training, but it will have a program for bias-based training.

Centerton Police Chief Cody Harper said his officers have racial or bias training, but they are also stressing the duty to intervene and holding each other accountable.

Another person wanted to know the process for filing complaints.

Simpson said there’s a process to handle complaints.

He said the department doesn’t have an online process, but anyone can walk in the office 24/7 to file a complaint. People can get a form and leave, but also send an email,” Simpson said.

“We want people to come in and say this doesn’t look right,” Simpson said.

He said complaints are important to police departments because they can’t address the problems if people don’t file complaints.

“We want to know when we get it right or when we miss the mark,” Fields said.

Another person asked about the recycling of police officers from one department to another.

Simpson said the state has a process of decertification of the “so-called bad apples.”

“The recycling of officers that have had problems at one place can’t be tolerated,” Simpson said.

Simpson said the Benton-ville Police Department has a thorough background check that not only takes a look at officer’s past with other departments, but other areas of their lives.

Kenny Yates with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said they reach out to the other agencies when considering hiring one of their former officers. Yates said they want to know if that person can be rehired.

The Sheriff’s Office doesn’t hire an individual if he or she cannot be rehired by his or her former department.

Another question dealt with the different outcomes of last year’s protests in Bentonville and Fayetteville.

Law enforcement had to disburse tear gas last to clear protesters June 1 from the Bentonville square. A rally the next night in Fayetteville ended with the opposite outcome.

Fields said it was a great example of how the community and police can work together. She said it was the largest protest Fayetteville police had ever dealt with. She said they communicated with Bentonville police and were able to learn from the one in Bentonville.

Fields said she was disappointed to see some of the abuse their officers took from some individuals throwing eggs, water bottles and fireworks at officers, but some protesters also stood for officers.

“This was one event that we went into blind,” Simpson said.

He said the initial organizers of the June 1 rally dropped out so police had no one to communicate with and didn’t have an idea of how many people would show up.

Simpson said many of the protesters were peaceful, but there were also many crimes committed with one person shooting a handgun in the air.

A second protest happened a week later and police communicated with the organizers, Simpson said. That rally ended peacefully.

Capt. Derek Hudson with the Springdale Police Department said Monday’s conversation with the questions and other community events have questions that are important and police need to hear.

Tracy M. Neal can be reached by email at tneal@nwaonline.com or Twitter @NWATracy.

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