Befriend the Police

In a workshop recently held at the African Community Services of Peel office in Brampton, On, the topics crime and safety in our communities were approached by teens, adults and the guest of honour Constable Andrew A. Cooper.Constable Cooper, a 17 year veteran on the force, is an African American officer for the Peel Regional Police who is dedicated to serving, protecting and educating the public on safety and crime. Currently he is involved in the Diversity Unit which provides a multi cultured team of police officers to deal with the ever growing diverse population of of the Peel region and also deals with bridging the gap between police and the public. Not surprisingly, the main discussion that took place was firmly based on police-public relations.

It turns out it is not only the youth that have a deep rooted dislike for these authority figures, the adults as well complained about bad treatment and an abuse of police power by arresting officers. There seems to be an overwhelming fear for the police which causes a huge distress for the police because there has to be mutual cooperation between high authority personnel and the community. Answering the question: what has to be done in order to dwell in a peaceful community, Cooper responded by stating "there has a be an effort put forth by the community as well as the police so that we can all work together to make our society safer".

The police have already taken initiative by taking part in the Neighboring Police Unit which is a selected amount of police officers who go to different schools in the community to educate as well as interact with the children and teachers. This is indeed a tremendous effort on behalf of the police and they deserve kudos for this. They are also involved in creating basketball, soccer and other sports related activities that involve interaction with community members. "The community has also been doing its part in coorporating with police and investigators" says Cooper. After the murder of a 18 year old black male in 2005 , who was on his way home after a basketball tournament in Brampton, investigators were really in dire need of assistance from individual witnesses and families but were getting nothing. After many interviews, an average of questioning periods per an individual or family, police were still not getting any leads. "It's like everyone was scared of something"; but eventually they saw the need to help a grieving mother and to remove ruthless criminals from the streets. Answers started pouring in and in no time the shooters were apprehended.

It is proven that when police and the public work together with one mind, crimes are solved and when possible, prevented! Therefore as citizens of a democratic nation it has to be our duty to do our part in insuring that our families are safe by becoming officers who protect and serve our communities.