In the wake of last week’s Black Lives Matter rally in Bremerton, community leaders and law enforcement official say they are working well together.
“Chief Strachan and I have a great working relationship,” said Pastor Johnson, of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church. “The chief has attended numerous community events in which he was invited by us including NAACP, PYA, and PACT meetings that have helped build effective partnerships in Kitsap County with police and community.”
Mount Zion was one of the sponsoring churches of the rally on Dec. 14. More than 100 people participated in the rally which began at the Ebenezer African Methodist Church on Park Avenue. The group walked to the Opal Robertson Teen Center, where several people spoke and urged young people — especially the black men and boys in the crowd — to be careful when interacting with police.
The march was in response to incidents in New York City, Cleveland and Ferguson, Missouri, where unarmed black males were killed by police officers. The deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York and Tamir Rice in Cleveland have sparked marches, protests and some rioting across the nation. Ultimately, many are searching for answers to what has been viewed by some as police violence and racial injustice.
While some who attended noted that there were no law enforcement officials at the event, both Bremerton Police and Kitsap County Sheriff’s officials said is was merely that they were not aware of the event in time to attend.
“I had a conflict and couldn’t attend,” said Strachan. “The import point to be made is that we don’t just show up at a rally. We have ongoing relationships with those groups, not just a reaction to a specific flashpoint.”
“Our outreach is strong and will continue to be strong.”
For example, the chief said the department is part of the Police and Community Task Force (PACT) which meets on a regular basis. Recently, police officials presented data to PACT participants about traffic stops and tickets based on race.
“We talked about it in an open and honest way,” Strachan said.
Discussions also have included changes to the department’s “use of force” policy and its undocumented status policy.
Members of PACT also have been at police officers training to view what is being taught about use of force.
The department participates in Partners for Youth Achievement (PYA) which is aimed at helping high school-aged youth succeed through mentoring and development.
“We’re working to see that are young kids succeed,” Strachan said.
Kitsap County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Scott Wilson said both Sheriff Steve Boyer and Sheriff-elect Gary Simpson were aware of the rally “second hand.”
“Undersheriff Gary Simpson wanted to attend, and planned to do so, but was already committed to two other engagements and was pressed for time,” Wilson said. “Gary was able to stop at the Opal Robertson Teen Center and meet with organizers of the Black Lives Matter rally after the walk. He was en route to another commitment at the time.”
As for Boyer, “The sheriff (Boyer) was similarly swamped,” said Wilson.
Wilson said the sheriff’s office has been engaged with minority community outreach groups throughout Sheriff Boyer’s administration. Boyer reached out to various minority leaders and group affiliations shortly after taking office, Wilson said, including the NAACP, the CLCA (Community Leadership Coalition & Alliance) and the PAT (Police & Community Together), and others.
“We’ve met with these groups and representatives from the U. S. Department of Justice recently,” Wilson added.
He said it wasn’t a lack of concern or any other reason that sheriff’s representatives weren’t at the march, “we simply didn’t know with enough lead time before the rally to organize KCSO attendance.”
