\nEach candidate stressed the importance of working with the local community as a way of addressing problems ranging from gang violence to quality-of-life issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll never arrest our way out of any crime problem,\u201d stated Malik Aziz, deputy chief of the Dallas, Texas police force. \u201cWe have to get inside those preventive programs and deal with youth through police activity leagues, or athletic leagues. We have to engage with non-government entities and not-for profit agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interim Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown said the city has dedicated significant resources to deal with the spike in violent, youth-based offenses.<\/p>\n
The department, she said, has \u201cbuilt significant partnerships with Family Services as a means of addressing those youthful offenders, and finding ways to divert our youth to look at being, at some point in their lives, productive citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose partnerships encompass everyone in that community \u2014 the schools, the clergies, the citizens, the parents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bryan Norwood, chief of the Richmond, Va. police department explained, \u201cSome of the challenges that we face \u2014 they can all be met through reaching out to the community and working together to solve problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who\u2019s going to partner with the police department to solve a problem, we\u2019re going to seek them out.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"chief\"](\"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/chief-600x450.jpg\")
<\/a><\/span>James Borden<\/span><\/span><\/div>\nPast Successes<\/strong> Deck-Brown described the \u201cCharm School,\u201d a personal enrichment program for young women in Raleigh underserved by existing community partnerships.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the time they have completed the four-week [program] they are well dressed; they understand importance of having skills,\u201d she said. \u201cThey leave as a better youth, as a better person than we found them, and that requires many partners from the community both in the public and private sector.\u201d<\/p>\n Norwood discussed the Young Adult Police Commissioner program he has established in cities such as Richmond.<\/p>\n \u201cWe brought people from every area high school together, not to recruit them to the vocation of police work, but to make them better at whatever they want to do with their own lives,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m proud to say that after about seven years we have a 100 percent success rate: every man or woman that\u2019s come into our program has gone on to the vocation or college of their choice.\u201d<\/p>\n Aziz talked about the Police Athletic League he helped re-establish in Dallas in 2007.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did everything from teaching kids how to play golf, to basketball, to football to soccer, to chess to debate to field trips to science and engineering ,\u201d he said. \u201cThrough the Police Athletic League, we were able to provide a stable foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n The three also touched on mistakes made in their careers and how they had grown from them. One of the biggest lessons each learned was the important roles that honesty, integrity, transparency and teamwork play in a position such as chief of police.<\/p>\n Moving Forward<\/strong> \u201cI spent the last 24 years preparing myself for the leadership role that I seek now. Many people have asked \u2026 why don\u2019t I stay put? I could become chief of police in Dallas,\u201d Aziz said. \u201cLeaders don\u2019t do that. They seek opportunities and they go after them and when they find a great place to work, they seek it out and put forth an earnest effort in order to go after those things.\u201d<\/p>\n Deck-Brown briefly went over her career with the Raleigh Police Department, where she began in 1987 as a patrol officer after graduating from East Carolina University.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I went to undergrad, I applied to one college,\u201d she said.\u201cWhen it came time to look for a career, I applied here. My father told me, ‘honey, don\u2019t put all your eggs in one basket,’ and I did, because I knew this was what I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Norwood said he recently had to consider switching vocations, but quickly realized he was right where he belongs.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been a police officer since I turned 21 years old,\u201dhe said. \u201cI love this job, I love serving communities, I love bringing people together \u2026 there\u2019s nothing I\u2019d rather be.\u201d<\/p>\n Community Feedback<\/strong> He described his role at the department as \u201cserving those that protect and serve.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want the city manager\u2019s job, to have to pick,\u201d he said. \u201cAll three of them gave great answers.\u201d<\/p>\n The Rev. Jemonde Taylor of St. Ambrose church said he was surprised at the forum\u2019s focus on community involvement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt helped break a misconception I had about a police force being anti-crime only,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt was good to hear so much talk about partnering with so many different entities. I thought the city manager did a good job of presenting a strong slate of confident people.\u201d<\/p>\n Allen said it could take several weeks before he comes to a final decision. After the meeting, he said it was fortunate that Raleigh had attracted such an outstanding group of candidates.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of those notorious things that gets city managers fired is police chiefs. If it goes bad or it doesn\u2019t work out as it should \u2026 I don\u2019t want to make a bad decision,\u201d he said, grinning.<\/p>\n He said, fortunately,\u201cby the time we get down to the finalists, any one of them could be chief.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" More than 75 people met the candidates for police chief during a public interview Thursday. City Manager Russell Allen led the session and asked the three prospects questions from residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24061,"featured_media":17229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,23],"tags":[1128,899],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24061"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe finalists each gave examples of past partnerships they had created within their communities.<\/p>\n
\nIn addition to their three-minute responses to the questions, the candidates were also given time for closing statements.<\/p>\n
\nSteve Yoho, a retired welder and Raleigh police department volunteer, said he found the public forum very informative.<\/p>\n