Across the country, we’ve seen time and time again that racial tendencies can make their way into policing through things like implicit bias. And here in Portland, we’re no stranger to those issues. And it’s these sort of problems that are worrying young people every day.
So the essential and founding mission of Youth Educating Police was really to build a coalition of young people, police officers, and decision-makers in public policy here in Portland, to come together to build bridges, reinstore trust, and to give young people a voice.
One of the most important aspects of the work we do is just to let people talk in an honest and open way. And our police forums that we hold each year are a way to do that, to bring both sides together. And we just unpack actual events that have happened the past year, as well as changes in policy or changes in training. And we give both sides a chance to comment on them, but we then transition into actual workshops that are active and get police and youth moving together, thinking about each other’s perspectives, and thus they’re able to develop those relationships that can be sustained in schools and out on the streets.
While there’s still a lot of work to be done across the country’s issues, I’m really proud of the fact that right here in my community, we’ve made progress in helping young people see officers as allies and not enemies.
Our training program has been deemed so effective that the City of Portland is actually gonna roll out, in addition to this training in 2020, for every single officer of the Portland Police Bureau. Activism should come from a place to live experience and passion and not just age.