If anyone asked if TV shows tell you everything you would want to know about police departments, you might be tempted to answer “Yes.” Nobody asked me before, but I found out recently that the answer would be a resounding “No.” I first interviewed our Chief Laura Fahnestock and she invited me to meet her staff at the next evening’s “National Night Out.” I’m glad I did both, since even though I met only a fraction of the whole force, I learned a lot about what our department does to keep our growing town safe.
The Chief
You may already know that Chief Fahnestock’s father was a Captain with the Raleigh Police Department and that she is a seasoned champion of community collaboration for safety. You might also know that since she has been Chief, the crime rate has shown double-digit drops, making us one of the 10 safest communities in the state. She is also one of those leaders who focuses on enabling the people she manages. Combining her enabling philosophy with thorough training and experience accounts for the reports I got from all levels inside the building. A typical spontaneous offering was “Chief Fahhestock is the best boss I’ve had in over two decades of police work.”
Inside the Building
My first stop was at the Medicine Drop Box. Expired or unused medicines present potential dangers to children, attractions to abusers, and pollutants to drinking water. The police department participates in Operation Medicine Drop by providing a box available 24/7 right inside the front door. Nearby was a display for R U OK? This is a totally free, automated telephone-dialing system designed to provide a way to check on elderly, sick, homebound, or disabled persons. A one-touch reply ensures they are ok, but failure to reply results in an officer making a home check, also at no charge. These services were described by Renée Smith, a civilian Evidence Custodian who has been with our department for nearly six years after having had 12 years’ experience with the Raleigh Police Department.
My second stop inside was at a table with Lieutenant Scottie Hinton, a Patrol Services Division Supervisor. There I learned about the multi-diversity training of patrol officers. You can’t collaborate with someone until you understand what they know and can do. Powerful family and neighborhood loyalty are not the norm in our internet age but expecting and supporting such connections where they exist, while still upholding the law, can make a huge difference in outcomes.
Next, I met Investigator Bryan Stancil of the Investigations Section/Property Crimes Unit. He informed me that many scams originate from overseas and if money is sent out, it is nearly impossible to recover. So, his most important safety advice is to learn about how scammers work and how to prevent them from getting their hands on your money. A year ago, our police department scheduled a Fraud Awareness and Prevention Seminar. Officer Stancil’s information about how difficult it is to collect from international scammers convinced me that it would be a good event to report on when another is scheduled.
Out Back
Hunger motivated my next stop, resulting in an outstanding oatmeal-cranberry cookie that I ate at a table with a family co-headed by a woman with her primary mother-and-teacher job description written on her T-shirt: “Raise Good Humans.” Her kids (from oldest to youngest) were impressed with the police officer’s uniform, a gun, and a balloon. Last year it was the canine unit’s dog. “Humans connecting with humans” could be a motto for all the officers I met that evening.
I followed the pleasant cookie respite with a visit to the Special Response Team led by Lieutenant Tim Smith. This is a part-time unit within the department consisting of officers from various work units in the department. The array of equipment shown at his booth included a battle belt, hand cuffs, magazines, ballistic vest, communication system, tourniquet, and a sling link for the injured. This was supported by 16 hours of training per month to ensure that when an emergency happens, no officer has to think through what to do. All this equipment and training, however, prepares the department for only a handful of events per year, like high-risk search warrants, hostage rescues, or vehicle take downs. The department has a half dozen officers on the team who spend most of their time in other departmental units.
Sergeant Clara Dula of the Patrol Services division was circulating among the picnickers at the time and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting her. Before being promoted to Sergeant, with responsibilities for supervising a squad of police officers, she spent six years as a School Resource Officer. She is happy in her current position, but judging from our conversation, her promotion and re-assignment was not applauded by the kids. Rather, when they are lucky enough to encounter her around town, it’s still “Hi Sarge!” School Resource Officers provide gang resistance and bullying awareness training. Surely one of the most important functions of a police department committed to community safety is to teach young people how to resist those few peers who have not yet learned the value of living safely with others. The biggest impact of Sergeant Dula’s school experience was learning “to look at juveniles in a different light.” That surely impacts her current position, for she seems to have generalized this learning to all of us humans. She offered that the career she chose was good for any young adult and pointed me in the direction of two new officers.
Officers Christina Pappan and Ryan Schulte were in a tent at the back of the lot. They took divergent routes to become part of the force, Officer Pappan by being a member of the Explorers Program. She worked through the department’s connection with Explorer Scouts to receive training in police procedures, as well as criminal and constitutional law. Explorers participate in crime prevention activities and events, ride with police officers on duty, and assist officers at special events. Officer Schulte graduated from North Carolina State University in Criminal Justice before having specialized police training. He believes that the degree helps with ambitions to move up the ladder. In both cases, they love their careers. Officer Schulte made a special point to appreciate all the support that officers receive from the community.
Abuse Initiatives
Inside again, the conversation turned darker. Investigator Cindy Perna had a display showing three women who were killed by their partners. Special Victims Investigators find that cycles of promises, attention building, bullying, and manipulating occur over and over. One of the three victims, named Britny, was murdered in my own neighborhood a few years ago. More recently, NC Senate Bill 600, called “Britny’s Law,” makes it possible to use a pattern of abuse to convict someone of first degree or premeditated murder. What I found fascinating at this table was the work of the organization called “InterAct,” a community partner of the department. Most of us know that abused children very often become abusers, and worse, that often serial killers were once abused children. I have had friends who were once abused children and ended the generational recurrence of abuse by transforming their own behavior.
As a society, we need to end abuse as early in life as possible. First, we must recognize it. InterAct works toward this goal by their very useful description of healthy relationships. If we wait until a relationship has erupted into abuse, we often see nothing but punishment for the abuser. If instead, we begin as early as possible, whether in life or in relationships, to show the beauty and rewards of healthy collaborations, then we have a better chance of improving the safety of those we love. InterAct saves lives through their crisis hotlines (https://interactofwake.org/), emergency shelter, and court advocacy. But they also help to rebuild lives through their Counseling and Solace Centers. Ultimately, they secure safer futures through community awareness outreach and youth education. Women are the best-known victims (one-third report abuse sometime in their lives), but men fail to report, and the number of male abusers suggests that abuse of young males is common as well.
InterAct’s literature helps to turn the message around. The only way to have joyful relationships is to make partners feel comfortable, both physically and emotionally; to defer when it is agreed that one person is more knowledgeable in a particular situation or subject matter; to talk things out so that each person gets a chance to present her or his opinion, have it understood, and ultimately feel good about themselves. Whatever the reason, abusers try to control their partners. But this means that they never can rise above themselves to really enjoy their partners. Rising above themselves means replacing control with collaborating. Collaboration, in turn, enables the joy of creating more than any one person can create by themselves.
Collaborating for Safety
All in all, I learned how much the police department focuses on collaborating with the community to make a safer place for us all. And they are succeeding. The improvement in our crime statistics over the last few years is truly remarkable. I believe this is a direct result of improved collaboration between the department and the community. The Barbershop Rap Session Community Conversation, Coffee with a Cop, and National Night Out are working. The police with us are creating more than we ever could by ourselves. Chief Fahnestock closed her interview with an important message to the community: “Continue to work with us and be our partners to create a safer Fuquay-Varina, because it is only in partnership that we are effective.”
