January 27, 2016
Police building diversity Recipes
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Winning back weeknight cooking
Community Voices Submitted photo
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By Dr. Dwaun J. Warmack
Students participating in the the St. Louis Community College – Florissant Valley and Bellefontaine Neighbors Police Department diversity program are (Front row, from left) Stephanie Lloyd, Nia Chatman, Charvonne Wishom-Johnson, Shyniqua King, instructor Dr. Wesley Bell, Clyde Bayard, (Second row, from left) Scott Brooks, Andrew Clark, Jeremy Jones, Maxwell Otten, Kieth Jones along with Chief Jeremy Ihler.
Partnership between SLCC and Bellefontaine Neighbors PD looks to recruit officers from all backgrounds By Sara Hardin “Diversity is America’s superpower,” says Dr. Wesley Bell, Criminal Justice professor at the St. Louis Community College – Florissant Valley. “When you bring different perspectives into your organization it is only going to prosper.” The organization Bell is talking about is law enforcement, an industry that is historically imbalanced in its diversity. A major challenge for law enforcement has been fostering police forces that are representative of the diverse communities that they serve, a challenge that Bell has been tackling along with Colonel Jeremy Ihler, Chief of Police of the Bellefontaine Neighbors Police Department. “My conversations with Dr. Bell really rolled into the realization of the advantages of an actual partnership to reform the manner in which future police officers candidates were recruited and hired,” said Ihler. “It was an opportunity for the college to become a part of the actual police process. They want to maintain alignment with their education and what is happening in law enforcement.” A partnership was officially formed between the St. Louis Community College – Florissant Valley and Bellefontaine Neighbors Police Department, and both Bell and Ihler took the mission into their classrooms. Ihler, who teaches police supervision at the college, uses his 20 years of experience in the law enforcement industry to raise the expectations for students who aspire to enter the field. In addition to assessing students’ skills in areas such as interviewing and writing cover letters and resumes, Ihler uses his executive perspective to assure that
the prospective police officers are well prepared to enter the field with the right expectations. Setting the bar “The outcome of the project is not selfserving for me, this police department, this city, or even the college,” said Ihler. “We’re trying to set the new bar on how we attract individuals to law enforcement through higher education and involving them in the law enforcement process well before they become eligible to become police officers. For people who are looking to get in this industry, the perception is usually not even close to what the realities are in this environment. This is a long term initiative. Short term results won’t be seen just yet, but we’re trying to reform it to where we can get other cities, colleges and police departments onboard with this style of recruitment and hiring and possibly lead it to become the norm in at least the St. Louis area.” Law enforcement and the training and recruiting process has been the spark of a lot of debate, particularly recently as police encounters with citizens are viewed with growing controversy. Mentioning Ferguson, Bell explains that now is the time to recognize the need for a change. “If we’ve learned anything it’s that there needs to be more cooperation and there needs to be more sharing of resources and working together. This was born out of that idea,” said Bell. “This initiative is a recognition that there are some things we can do to improve our policing and the way police interact with communities and vice versa. This is a comprehen-
sive approach to try and start changing the culture – the way to do that is to do is not only from the top-down but also from the bottom-up. We need to get our young people acclimated into what policing is or what it should be, and I’m so excited to see Chief Ihler open and excited about this partnership.” Many flavors of diversity When speaking of the diversity within the police force that is hoped to be achieved through the efforts of this partnership, both Ihler and Bell agreed that diversity in the areas of ideas and perspectives reflected through officers is just as important as diversity in the more obvious areas of race and gender. “Diversity comes in a variety of different flavors,” said Ihler. “We’re talking about diversity in education, diversity in background, diversity in value that comes into law enforcement. Involving women and minorities and a mix of people who represent the St. Louis metro area is important to changing the value that we bring to the community. It’s not only what we’re looking for, it’s what should be done. As it pertains to higher education, we believe that it enhances critical cognitive skills like decision making, oral and written communication, and the understanding of one’s environment. These are skills that form a foundation of successful police officers. Higher education in law enforcement also raises the level of professionalism in the police industry. Law enforcement has always been behind the curve, and raising that bar is important.” See BUILDING DIVERSITY page 2
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HBA donates $15,000
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