The Greensboro Police Department has created a new division to improve communications with the community. A series of meetings will take place throughout the city in December to explain how it will work.
It's called the Office of Community Engagement. The division officially launched November 17th. Its goal is to find meaningful ways to connect with residents and business owners.
“What we want the community to do is trust that we're here to serve them and you do that by better communication,” says Greensboro police Capt. Nathaniel Davis.
He adds the community meetings in December will give residents a chance to learn more about what they do.
“We want to be able to set these stages, so that people can come out and have that type of relationship with their police department,” says Davis. “We would love to have a goal in a year or so where people are inviting us into their environments into their meetings.”
The department has come under scrutiny after a recent New York Times story found significant disparities in how Greensboro police handle race.
Davis says the new division is not a knee-jerk reaction to the article, but has been a topic of discussion for several months. The first community dialogue meeting will take place on December 2 at the Windsor Center.
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