Post updated at 8:26 p.m. Saturday, July 27:
A diverse group of community members shared their perspectives on Lawrence police Saturday, voicing concerns ranging from how officers could show more compassion and preparedness in crises to making downtown feel safer.
Several dozen community members gathered at Lawrence High School for a partnership workshop hosted by the Lawrence Police Department and the U.S. Department of Justice. The two-part workshop aims to “improve trust and develop partnerships between police and community members.”
Participants split into six small groups to identify the positives and negatives of the LPD’s interactions with the community, ultimately narrowing it down to three “barriers.” A second session next weekend will focus on solutions.
Facilitators wanted groups to be organized “homogeneously.” One included law enforcement and city employees, and another included members of civil rights advocacy organizations, for instance. Groups identified points ranging from positive and upbeat moments such as citywide celebrations to critical conversations about crisis control.
At the end of the workshop, people in attendance voted on the top five most pressing issues by placing dot stickers on pages where each group listed the top barriers they identified.
The No. 1 issue, community members voted, was “A sense of them vs. us.”
Another top-scoring issue was a lack of understanding and training for police to deal with cultural and racial differences among community members. Some people may communicate their feelings in different ways, for example, Andrew Dalager said.
“It’s really easy for a person to become frustrated because they don’t feel heard,” he said. “When not heard, it’s easy to become agitated — and now that’s resisting or obstruction.”
Many people felt strongly that officers weren’t equipped to handle high-stress, potentially traumatic situations with care.
Natasha Neal, mother of Lawrence teen Isaiah Neal, who was shot and killed last month, said the first two responding officers who arrived didn’t take the proper lifesaving measures at the scene of her son’s death.
“I was supposed to take in the fact that officers pulled up, never took my son’s pulse and never did CPR,” Neal said. “Then they really had the nerve to tell me (the responding officers) were new and seeing all that blood might have traumatized them.”
Neal also said police should put themselves “in our shoes” when responding to crises. This was echoed by many other people, particularly in Neal’s group, who said they believed officers needed to make a greater effort to be empathetic during a time of crisis. Some recalled specific moments where they were led astray by officers during times of high stress.
Despite the concerns regarding crisis response, community members praised the work LPD has done through school resource officer programs and their presence at large community events.
Throughout the workshop, community members made an effort to recognize that creating a better relationship with police isn’t only the LPD’s responsibility, but the people’s as well.
Lois Orth-Lopes said her group, which included many members of NAACP and Justice Matters, believed the community sends “mixed messages” to law enforcement about what they want.
She said many people say they don’t feel safe downtown or at the library, “but then when we see the police taking action, we question them or pull out our cameras.”
“We are a community that does not want to fill our jails, and yet we get upset with plea bargains. And so I think as a community, we have a lot to think about,” Orth-Lopes said. “… We are sending so many mixed messages that it gets difficult for anybody to know what we want from them in the police department.”
People in attendance ranked that as a top-5 issue, too.
Other high-ranked issues included that some people may not respect authority, and police uniforms may create a psychological barrier of fear and mistrust; also, community members pinpointed a lack of trust between the public, law enforcement and the justice system.
Neal, who has been an active advocate for community justice in Lawrence for years, said she appreciated the workshop, but she wants to see actual change. She said she felt like that never happened after the city hired contractors to do a full review of the police department back in 2020.
“We could do this all day long, but I want to see the results in the future. I want to see what six months looks like, I want to see what next year looks like,” she said.
The second part of the workshop, intended to focus on solutions to the barriers that were identified, is set for 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, also at Lawrence High School.
Hosts ask that people register at bit.ly/RegisterSPCP. They said people are welcome to come to the second session even if they didn’t come to the first.
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— Reporter Mackenzie Clark contributed to this article.
Natasha Torkzaban (she/her), a contributor to The Lawrence Times, is a current senior at Lawrence High School. She was an editor-in-chief of The Free Press at Free State High School before becoming an editor-in-chief for The Budget at Lawrence High School for 2023-24. Read her work for the Times here.
Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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