An annual effort to bring together law enforcement and faith communities for dialogue proved successful this weekend, with thousands of events held across the country, a chief organizer of the program said Monday.
The National Faith & Blue Weekend saw at least 4,000 events held over the long holiday weekend, the Rev. Markel Hutchins, chairman and CEO of the civil rights group MovementForward Inc., told The Washington Times. In fact, the program’s ever-growing popularity has made it difficult to keep track of events, he said.
“We used to be able to somewhat measure and track Faith & Blue events because we knew the agencies that were participating. But because of the success of the weekend, it has really grown beyond our control — and that’s exactly what we want,” Mr. Hutchins said.
About 65% of Faith & Blue events “that we’ve been able to count” were in smaller cities, while 100% of the major cities participated, he said.
“There are thousands of activities in small communities, as well in Wyoming and in West Virginia, and in Montana and Minnesota and some of these other smaller states,” Mr. Hutchins said.
And the program kept Mr. Hutchins busy over the weekend, as he dashed from event to event across the country. On Friday, he attended a morning meeting in Washington, D.C., where the Metropolitan Police Department hosted hundreds of faith leaders. Then he was off to a rally in New York City’s Times Square, followed by similar meetings in Boston and Chicago.
On Saturday, he flew to Los Angeles to visit the communities of Compton and Watts, noted for high crime and violence, and then to Houston, for a Sunday event with families whose children have been lost to gun violence.
Dallas was his next stop for a gathering that would bring in 100 area faith leaders. His travels were expected to end Monday evening in his home base of Atlanta for a “critical conversation” about the need for police to be more closely connected to the community.
While the larger cities drew great crowds, the Faith & Blue movement has reached smaller communities and been lauded by local officials.
One would think that cooperation between police and civilians should come easily in Roxboro, North Carolina, a community of about 8,100 just north of the Raleigh-Durham area.
But police Chief David L. Hess said “the things that have occurred nationally over the last few years,” which have pitted communities and even city councils against law enforcement, and frayed ties even in cities where “we’ve always had great relationships.”
Chief Hess and Mr. Hutchins teamed up late last month for a series of local events in advance of the national weekend.
“It is incumbent upon us as law enforcement leaders to strengthen those relationships, and Faith & Blue offers a bridge to be able to do that in a way that breaks down barriers and opens up doors of opportunity to maybe even connect with portions of the community that could be difficult to reach otherwise,” Chief Hess told The Times.
Mr. Hutchins said the Roxboro event brought together the community’s law enforcement agencies including the police department, the sheriff’s office and the district attorney, along with faith leaders for a “table of conversation” to share ideas.
“They began to plan out their work together in the year to come to collaborate around the public safety concerns in a way that perhaps has not happened previously,” he said.
In Newport News, Virginia, police Chief Steve Drew attended three Faith & Blue events: a kickoff gathering at police headquarters on Friday evening, and two “conversations” with community members. With 186,000 residents, Newport News is the commonwealth’s fifth most populous city.
One dialogue took place Sunday in Newport News at the Calvary Seventh-day Adventist Church, and another was slated for Monday evening at Restoration Christian Church, a police department spokeswoman said via text message.
Pastor T. DuWayne Privette of the Calvary church told WVEC-TV the event was necessary in light of rising crime rates in the area.
“It’s definitely important because many people, as I’ve gone out into the community, want to have a safe environment,” Mr. Privette said. “And so therefore if it’s safe, then people feel free to come outside in the community and they feel safe coming to church.”
Mr. Hutchins said the weekend events are not “an ending,” but rather an opportunity that provides law enforcement and the local community with “the tools and resources to continue this work throughout the year.”
He said his organization will hold a second training conference in April 2024 to “teach law enforcement agencies how to effectively engage in the community from a research-based scholar-based, data-driven community engagement perspective.”
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.