Trust and Safety: What Communities Want From Police
Author(s)
Jordyn Reiland
Writer
RadioEd co-host Jordyn Reiland chats with Assistant Professor Ajenai Clemmons about community policing and what people need to both be safe and feel safe.
The Denver Police Department crest is shown on a squad car. Assistant Professor Ajenai Clemmons, who is currently working with the Denver police force, researches how departments can increase safety and earn trust in the communities where they work.
Hosted by Jordyn Reiland and Emma Atkinson, RadioEd is a triweekly podcast created by the DU Newsroom that taps into the University of Denver’s deep pool of bright brains to explore the most exciting new research out of DU. See below for a transcript of this episode.
Show Notes
What makes you feel safe? Is it a familiar voice on the phone, a particular place, friends or family by your side, your spiritual beliefs or even a favorite blanket?
What about a person outside your personal circle, like a paramedic, a lifeguard, a firefighter or a police officer?
20-year-old Joseph said that people should feel safe around police officers, but that isn’t always the case in Durham, North Carolina—where he lives—and elsewhere.
He says, “I think that police officers almost have to have a—not necessarily nurturing aspect, but kind of like a—sense of safety about them. Because you should feel safe around police officers, you know? I don’t necessarily know how to put that in a word, but I think that you should definitely just feel safe around police officers.”
So how can police departments increase safety and earn trust in the communities where they work?
University of Denver Assistant Professor of Public Policy Ajenai Clemmons’ research answers these questions that can extend beyond North Carolina.
On this episode of RadioEd, co-host Jordyn Reiland chats with Clemmons about how the men she interviewed made sense of policing in their neighborhood—and what they needed to both be safe and feel safe.
Clemmons is an assistant professor of public policy at the Scrivner Institute. She researches the policing of marginalized communities in democratic contexts, particularly the United States and Europe. She teaches courses on the politics of the policymaking process, intersectional inequality, as well as state violence and local security.
More Information:
What the Durham Police Department Can Do to Enhance Safety and Earn Trust
