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East Haven Police bridging gap between citizens and officers with black history training

EAST HAVEN – The East Haven Police Department is undergoing specialized training in African American history as part of a pilot program. New Haven Police Office...
East Haven police

EAST HAVEN – The East Haven Police Department is undergoing specialized training in African American history as part of a pilot program.

New Haven Police Officer Jeffrey Fletcher, a 21-year veteran, is trying to change the future by looking at the past, hoping to educate officers on the past and how it relates to law enforcement today.

This program is fueled by recent tension between citizens and police.

Traveling with selected artifacts and memorabilia from Jim Crow days to the Civil Rights Era, Fletcher is hoping to bring a greater cultural understanding to the community.

“We can teach what we call cultural awareness of this history and what and where the mistrust originated,” Fletcher said. “I believe it’s the uniform that has the presence that gives off that mistrust because of the negative things that happened years ago.”

He said during these times police were perceived as the judge, jury and executioners of African Americans.

“In order to understand the future, you gotta understand the past and know the past before we can move on,” he said.

The “Images of America” collection embraces the teachings of tolerance, diversity and unity.

It includes pictures, segregation signs and documents. Many of the artifacts he said came from his mother’s collection.

Proving it has come a long way from its rocky past, the East Haven Police Department was the first to volunteer for this specialized training.

In three days of training, the department is taking proactive steps to open up dialogue on the difficult subject matter.

“To learn about the other cultures, in this case the African American culture,” East Haven Deputy Chief James Naccarato said. “And understand a little better when they do that motor vehicle stop and they have that interaction with them to maybe what they`re thinking, why there`s this mistrust with the police department.”

Both Fletcher and members of the police department gathered at Joseph Melillo Middle School, Wednesday night, to share their efforts with the community, but nobody showed up.

They’re still hopeful programs like this will spread to other police departments across the country to help bridge the relationship of the African American community and Law Enforcement community both locally and nationally.

“It's not only with African Americans it's with everyone’s history because I think everybody’s history is critical especially today,” he said.

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