Police connect with communities during Wichita Neighborhood Night Out

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Neighborhood Night Out events around Wichita Tuesday afternoon gave people a chance to meet neighbors and local first responders.

Officers with the Wichita Police Department also attended gatherings, allowing people to get to know them as part of a larger effort to build trust with communities and combat crime.

A big crowd showed up at the Urban League of Kansas building Tuesday evening in one of the several Neighborhood Night Out events.

The Urban League serves low-income people, connecting them with resources. Its clients can sometimes have reservations when it comes to law enforcement, according to the organization.

“That’s the start of a relationship so that when you see a police officer out someplace, you can say, ‘Oh, that’s Officer Williams,'” said Lavonta Williams, Vice President of the Wichita branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

The area where the Urban League is located, near 9th Street and Grove Street, has its own community police officer, Thomas Grindley.

He is aware there have been violent interactions with police in other parts of the country.

“Part of the reason we come out to these is to say, ‘Hey, you know, those things are happening. We can’t be blind to those things happening, but what can we do to better that for here?'” Grindley said. “‘What can we do to build our relationship so that when you need the police, you’re not afraid to call us?'”

“Wichita police department has embraced that we can’t just show up and arrest people,” said Kristi Barton-Edwards, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Newman University. “That’s not gonna solve crime problems in the city.”

The WPD changed its approach to community policing in the past decade, according to Barton-Edwards.

Embedding people like Officer Grinley in communities allows them to hear about issues from people with lived experience, Barton-Edwards said.