The newest round of Chattanooga Police Department graduates from the cadet training program learned the value of community involvement after recently completing their community immersion project and presenting their findings to the public.
The immersion project, an initiative founded four years ago by former police chief Fred Fletcher, is a way to make future officers more comfortable in their new roles and more aware of the needs of the citizens whom they will serve. And community members get a chance to become more comfortable dealing with police as well.
Community members hear about the experiences and findings of the newest round of graduates from the Chattanooga Police cadet training program during a presentation at The Camp House. (Photo contributed by Chattanooga Police Department)The 14 cadets, who officially joined the force Aug. 2, each dedicated over 65 hours to this project, working with different members of the community and familiarizing themselves with cultures other than their own. The main groups the project focused on were citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities, those with mental illnesses, African-Americans, Hispanics and Muslim-Americans.
The immersion project typically engages these minority groups because together they make up over 40 percent of Chattanooga's population and the police force wants to ensure that every officer knows how to talk to and handle people of all different backgrounds, said Assistant Chief of Neighborhood Policing Glenn Scruggs.
"We are trying to see where there are any gaps that we can bridge," Cadet Kristen Thomas said of the overarching goal for the project. "We are trying to see what we can do differently as a police department in these groups just to make relationships better between us and them."
The Chattanooga Police Department has received backlash from certain communities in the past for how officers have handled some situations, the most recent being a controversial video of an officer removing an unlicensed African-American teenage girl from a vehicle in June.
With the help of the cadet immersion project, the CPD wants to ensure that everyone feels heard and safe, according to the cadets, and that all groups in the community have a mutual, tension-free relationship between themselves and the officers.
Thomas and fellow cadet Daniel Cabrera were among the group of police trainees assigned to the African-American community. Knocking on doors to have conversations with citizens and interviewing those willing to share their concerns and beliefs with the future officers helped to build respect between each other, they said.
"Stereotypes are out there," said Thomas. "... 'Put the stereotypes aside and treat everyone fairly' is what I took away from [the project]."
"You need to work with the community," Cabrera added. "Get out there and play with the kids, just talk to people in the streets to help understand them better."
He recalls speaking with a former vice lord as part of his effort to get to know everyone in the local neighborhoods. The man, a known dealer of illegal items and substances in the past, said he views police as a threat to himself, even though he is on a crime-free path now. The man gave advice to the young cadets to simply talk to the folks in the area so they don't associate police with danger instead of a helping hand.
Cadets immersing themselves within the Muslim-American community ventured to a local restaurant owned by a Muslim family. The cadets had a meal with the owner to discuss the culture and do's and don'ts of interacting with members of that particular community, offering tips on how to be respectful of their beliefs and religion.
Manfred Charboneau was one of the cadets assigned to the Muslim-American community.
"What I learned was that Chattanooga is a melting pot with lots of different cultures here," he said. "Just talking to people and seeing what their concerns are is the same across all ethnic groups."
After their 65 hours were completed, the cadets presented their findings and takeaways from the community immersion project to the public on July 19 at The Camp House in downtown Chattanooga.
"This group did very well," said Assistant Chief of Neighborhood Policing Glenn Scruggs. "They trained, they interviewed, they shared a meal with people. They figured out what the community needs from the police department.
"Chief Fletcher brought a lot of innovative ideas to the department, but I think the community immersion project is my favorite because it's so needed," he added. "The cadets get into these communities and find out what we are doing well and what we could be doing better."
Email Carley Olejniczak at colejniczak@timesfreepress.com.