The Police were out in force to listen to the community. On May 23, five representatives from the police department, Greenbelt Community Relations Advisory Board (CRAB), city councilmembers and about 25 citizens used the Greenbriar meeting room for about two hours to discuss police and citizen relationships.
The audience, made up of people from many parts of Greenbelt, had only good or neutral things to say about their experiences with the Greenbelt police, even as participants were repeatedly asked to voice their individual stories. Questions and concerns, however, included the vote of no confidence in Acting Chief Thomas Kemp by the local police fraternity, the record-low number of police in the department, and areas of Greenbelt that have higher crime rates.
This was the second of three scheduled listening sessions. The first was held in Franklin Park on November 29, while the third is set for Tuesday, June 13 at 7 p.m. in the Community Center. The session was moderated by Rashawn Ray, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Maryland who studies police and communities nationally and has been working on a long-term local study of police and community interaction. “Greenbelt is one of the areas we don’t hear about, which is good,” he said, because people are more likely to complain than praise.
Read more about the police forum in the June 1 News Review