Background
Following a successful Police-GMC friend soccer match, a new relationship between the two organizations emerged. The enthusiasm from this relationship is culminating into a much larger project aim at improving relations between the community and BP Police Department. When relations improve, community is safe. The work of creating safe and vibrant neighborhoods where residents raise families, work and play should not be left only to the police alone, but is also the responsibility of residents. To this end, GMC is committing to collaborating with key partners such as the Police and other local organizations to ensure this goal is met. The ultimate objective of the project is to build trust and confidence between the community and Police. Our specific goal is to bring members of the community and the police department together to review the relationship through series of listening sessions with the view of putting forth strategic recommendations to the department. GMC plans to carryout extensive outreach efforts to recruit diverse community members including youth, adults and community leaders and other partner organizations. Community Listening SessionsAgain, with support from BPPD, GMC will recruit active participants and facilitate series of meetings between community members and police. We are looking at November 4, 2016 tentatively to actually begin hosting the meetings. The meetings will be focused on specific themes from which series of questions would drive the discussions. Video presentation or role plays of the themes would set the tone for the discussions.
