national night out aims to promote

partnerships between

police and their local communities

something that's becoming increasingly

important in new jersey

as state leaders reform law enforcement

policies

the annual event was held last night

after being canceled last year due to

the pandemic

melissa rose cooper takes us to

community events

in newark in jersey city as part of our

ongoing series

chasing the dream focusing on poverty

justice

and economic opportunity food family and

fun

as residents in newark got a chance to

spend quality time with others in the

community

as well as those committed to serving

and protecting them

it helps out a lot it helps our life it

makes people more confident that they

are doing something

the events part of a national night out

aimed at bridging the gap between the

community and law enforcement

the event was canceled last year amid

the pandemic and during a critical

moment of social justice protests in our

country

creating a link between community and

police is an important issue here in

newark

where a federal consent decree forced

the city to reform its police department

after excessive constitutional

violations i think it's clear

particularly over the last year and a

half that the public demands

that police reform they change their

policies they change their

trainings and address crime issues at

the same time

and it's absolutely essential for the

police to be able to work with the

community to work with the public

to solve crime and the only way you're

going to do that is if people trust the

police enough

that they're willing to at least speak

with us and have relationships with our

officers

jersey city which also underwent its own

series of reforms after complaints of

excessive force

is hoping to do the same it's no secret

that the cities everywhere have faced

real challenges

and you see more and more gun violence

whether it's in new york city

or jersey city or uh cities

across the country like chicago la every

city is kind of experiencing the same

thing and there's a lot of reasons that

it's happening

but you know at the root of the solution

has to be good relationships with the

community and the police department so

that's what we're trying to do today we

do it more often though

that bridge the gap between the police

and the community what

efforts are being made to actually mend

and fix relationships or

fix the ills that are actually going on

within the community

i think that starts by looking within a

department and also again consulting

with the community and working closely

with the community

to see exactly what their needs and

their wants are but that's exactly what

jersey city's police director says

has been her goals since stepping into

the role earlier this year

we have a lot of different initiatives

like park talk and walk

so that the people can feel safe out

here our senior citizens

to know that policing is out here we put

a training bureau together

so that we can help our cops to be

better so the same training that we give

our cops we offer it to the community as

well

so that they can be educated on what it

is that our cops are learning

so they're learning together and that's

important for the police to know

the community and that way the

community respects them and can always

call on them

plans are in the works for more

community events to happen in both

newark

and jersey city officials say they're

committed to building

and keeping strong relationships with

their residents

for nj spotlight news i'm melissa rose

cooper

major funding for chasing the dream is

provided by

the jpb foundation with additional

funding from the peter g

peterson and joan ganz cooney fund

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