Good move by the Tampa Police Department—led by interim Police Chief Ruben Delgado—to organize a community forum in East Tampa as the city experiences an increase in shootings and homicides. “I’ll do these in every community until we don’t have to,” stressed Police Chief Delgado.
Since communities of color are impacted disproportionately when crime rates rise, the police initiative was critically important on several fronts. It announced plans to form a commission to find ways to reduce gun violence and to add five bicycle-patrol officers to the Department’s East Tampa district to engage more with the community. It was also an in-person reminder that community policing has to be more than a white-board bullet-point or a feel-good cliché. It has to be a collaborative effort between officers who know the area and its residents and have earned a level of trust and the locals—anti-snitch culture notwithstanding—realizing they must be part of the solution. It must be about policing and pro-activity–but not profiling. It’s also about helping the police–not enabling a code of silence that perpetuates stereotypes and enables criminal activity, especially acts of violence. In short, law enforcement and community engagement must be inseparable. Call it enlightened self-interest. Or call it helping those to help themselves and a community-prioritizing police force.
TPD Major Calvin Johnson underscored the existential reality at the East Tampa forum. “How are we going to reduce crime and reduce the prison population? He asked. “You’re the key to it.”