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WILKES-BARRE — Law enforcement officers and youth agreed on one thing Monday — the relationship between the two groups needs work.
Over 20 law enforcement officers and 20 youth attended the first-ever Luzerne County Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) at Wilkes University, allowing both youth and police officers to learn about each other in hopes of fostering a better relationship in the community.
Theresa Kline, community liaison officer for Luzerne County Probation, explained her agency looked at Luzerne County’s DMC numbers which revealed there is a 3-1 disparity in arrest rates in black youth over white youth.
In Hispanic youth, Kline said the disparity is 1.5-1.
“We’re not asking law enforcement not to arrest criminal behavior,” Kline said. “What we’re hoping is that an incident between a youth and law enforcement that might be escalated because there’s a lack of understanding … they (police) move on and don’t come to a point of arrest.”
An open discussion
Students and law enforcement officers crowded the ballroom of the Henry Student Center. Officers from throughout the county were present, including officials from the Luzerne County Sheriff’s Department and the Luzerne County District Attorney’s office.
District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis was also in attendance, and Luzerne County Judge William Amesbury offered opening remarks.
Paris Washington from the DMC Law Enforcement company moderated the discussion and posed questions to both law enforcement officials and youth.
Officers expressed youth tend to be defiant to both their parents and law enforcement. Some youth, however, expressed officers don’t listen to them or their feelings. Some youth also said their views of police officers have been molded from stories of others’ experiences.
A detective with the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office said his office is often “frustrated” that youth will often not talk to investigators despite witnessing crime. Youth participants pointed out that coming forth to law enforcement can compromise their own safety.
Jetiah Foster, 16, heard about the forum through someone at her church and saw it as an opportunity to learn more about law enforcement and how to foster better relationships in the community.
Currently, she called that relationship “non-existent” because of a lack of understanding.
“I think that the forum, so far, is clearing that up,” Foster said.
Robert Collins, an officer with the Wilkes-Barre City Police Department, also thinks the relationship between law enforcement and youth is lacking.
“I think the current state, from the media and national news, is a distrusting state between youth and law enforcement,” he said.
To build trust, Collins thinks mutual communication is key to developing an understanding and to showing youth law enforcement have their best interest at heart.
Foster and Collins both liked the open discussion at the forum. Foster called it “raw” and “real,” but admitted it created a dialogue.
To help continue that dialogue, Foster also thought more forums and lines of communication are needed to help build a bridge between her peers and law enforcement.
Building a bridge
Kline stressed that black youth in the community are critical in establishing a trusting relationship between them and law enforcement.
“If we can facilitate and start that dialogue between youth and law enforcement, it starts with our youth,” she said. Kline also hoped students and law enforcement officers who attended the forum would tell their peers what they learned.
During the open discussion, officers and youth expressed a mutual desire for respect and fair treatment during encounters in the community.
All involved expressed a desire to go home at the end of the day.
“At the end of the day, we all have the same goal — just to get home at night safe,” Kline said.
