Crime is a hot topic. So is the relationship between law enforcement and the general public. That’s why Savannah-Chatham police spent about two months planning an open forum on public safety with a Department of Justice liaison.
And at first glance inside a meeting room toward the back of West Broad Street YMCA on Saturday afternoon, one might think the two-hour discussion garnered a decent turnout.
But subtract police, court officials, the city-employed moderator, elected officials and reporters from the room and you’re left with eight people. Take away neighborhood association presidents and that number drops to six.
To be fair, the forum had only been advertised earlier this week, and it’s the last weekend before public school starts back in Chatham County.
And despite the low turnout, the event wasn’t a bust, according to police Capt. Ben Herron.
“One thing that I look at is that even though you didn’t have the numbers, you still got the input,” said Herron, who oversees Downtown Precinct. “... Rather than just focus on achieving what we’re setting out to do as far as getting input that creates dialogue, we’re going to have to get on (residents’) agendas and go to them.”
Improving relationships
A main goal of the forum was to brainstorm ways to improve the relationship between police and the public — particularly African-Americans, said Walter Atkinson, the Justice Department’s Community Relations Service liaison for the eight-state Southeast region.
Saturday’s session was the second time Atkinson has been in town for the initiative — the first was a meeting in West Savannah. The second time around, organizers were trying to build on ideas presented at the first session, said Sala Menaya, the city of Savannah’s organizational development director. They’d already identified some priorities in a plan to improve relations and public safety: bolstering communication, pushing relations with individual police precincts, broadening programs that help residents, enforcement of youth curfews and community accountability.
There’s also a clear need to engage young people in conversations about violence, crime and interactions with police. But that means the young people who are at risk for being hurt, hurting others and getting in trouble — not the ones who typically show up at police forums.
“They’re not going to come out,” said Ronald Williams, president of the West Savannah Community Organization. “You have to go to them... That’s the same thing with churches. A lot of folks don’t go to church, and some of these ministers have got to get out to them. We’ve got to approach these young folks and not be afraid to approach them. We’re so afraid to say anything for the retaliation that we don’t communicate.”
Ideas were raised about finding positive role models for kids — musicians with good messages, faith leaders, folks who’ve turned their lives around after growing up on the streets. Atkinson said a likely part of the action plan moving forward is to go into schools and talk to kids for ideas.
“Young people — whether they’re middle school or high school students — you’d be surprised how innovative they are in regards to the type of solutions they feel will work for them,” Atkinson said.
But, Williams said, it’s the kids who don’t show up for class who really need to be reached.
“We don’t have problems with the ones in the schools — maybe a couple of them,” Williams said. “But the streets, we’ve got to attack the streets. That’s the only way.”
Presenting a plan
Looking at the newest stats available, violent crime is up 22 percent in Savannah and unincorporated Chatham County from the same period last year. Property crimes are up 9 percent. Metro police have investigated 150 shootings, nearly 120 serious assaults without guns, 22 homicides and 31 rapes this year.
Several ideas arose at the forum. One was having a community fair to reach young folks. Another was finding community activists and neighborhood leaders on a street-by-street scale and getting them involved in pushing dialogue.
Eventually, a plan with recommendations based on community feedback will be presented to Police Chief Joseph Lumpkin, said Herron.
Now they just need some more of that feedback.
“It’s sad when I come here and I look around, and — where’s the community?” said Alderman Van Johnson, one of three City Council members who showed up. “I know this was advertised.”
Other discussions included inquiries about upping support systems for ex-prisoners returning to life on the outside. Nic Roberts, the community outreach attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia, was there to answer questions on the topic. She mentioned the establishment of a Savannah-Chatham council on re-entry, which met June 30 and included elected officials, police, clergy, academics and key figures involved in housing and helping returning ex-prisoners.
Part of that effort includes studying post-incarceration employment, stigmas toward those convicted of crimes and encouraging businesses to give former prisoners a chance. Law enforcement officials here have long said that joblessness contributes to an atmosphere of hopelessness in which former prisoners return to crime to pay bills.
“Nothing helps with self-esteem like a job,” Johnson said.
It wasn’t immediately clear when the next forum will take place, but Herron said he, Menaya and Justice staffers would share what they learned Saturday and build on a plan.
One thing everyone seemed to agree with Saturday is that more people need to get involved — in discussions like the forum, in watching their neighborhoods, in keeping an eye on kids, in reporting crime and opening dialogue that calls for results.
“It takes a village,” Menaya said. “... We’re all responsible for what’s taking place in the neighborhood, and if we stay quiet, nothing is taking place.”