OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong is working on a different approach to stop the violence in communities across the city.
“I think what we all can agree on is we want to live in a safe city,” Chief LeRonne Armstrong said.
Conversations towards solutions — The latest effort from the Oakland police chief building on his belief that forging relationships between officers and the communities they serve is the way to a safe Oakland.
“We don’t have to arrest our way out of this problem. We can build relationships with people to make better decisions to make our community safer,” Armstrong said.
Oakland Police Commission Chair Regina Jackson joined Chief Armstrong for Wednesday’s discussion.
Jackson is also the president of the East Oakland Youth Development Center and she applauds the new efforts by the chief.
“This kind of approach is returning to the leadership and officers in the communities, building relationships, building social capital amongst those that can help them with their jobs the most. We see what’s going on, we see where the gaps are, we know who the kids are,” Jackson said.
Wednesday’s conversation followed a meeting Chief Armstrong held with a small group of residents at Arroyo Viejo Park.
The chief plans to hold these types of meetings twice a week in different parts of the city.
“Learning from the community about how we can be better and build trust with them, was something I thought was important. We’ll be going around the city, beat after beat, sitting down having just small convos. Not about having big large discussions, let’s have small intimate conversations where people can actually help you solve problems,” Armstrong said.