DOTHAN, Ala.— Every year, every month, every week, and every day, black families around America have tough conversations with their children about how to handle police interactions.
It is a conversation most black or brown youth are very familiar with.
“In many communities ‘The Talk’ is how you act when you engage with law enforcement,” said, Dwayne Bryant, President and founder of Innervision International Inc. “I think that is absolutely crazy. I think that is absolutely bananas because there’s no empowerment there. That particular talk is a talk of fear, so what I say is we need to have the new conversation.”
Bryant says people need to shift the narrative from fear to knowledge.
“Empowering young people to understand what their roles and responsibilities are, empower them to understand what the roles and responsibilities of law enforcement are, empower them to know what are their rights, and what they don’t have to do,” Bryant said. “What I realize in working with many young people, most of them they think they know the law, they don’t have a clue and their parents don’t have a clue either which is why they make many, many mistakes.”
Oftentimes, when decisions are made from fear, people act irrationally. They say things and act in ways they normally would not.
Dothan Police Department officers say they’re trying to build the relationship between the community and law enforcement. One way they are doing this is through their community outreach programs.
“Today it’s good that we have an outreach the police department that wants to do for young people, but it’s got to be a group it’s got to be working on both sides,” said, Jimmy Young a utility worker for wiregrass park that works with the community and police department on the daily.
When it comes to officer accountability, Sergeant Taiwan Truitt says the department is strict.
“I can tell you with this department, they really monitor what we do,” Truitt said. “If you do it the wrong way, they are going to deal with you, and rightfully so. It should be that way.”
