A new approach to policing that makes the community as essential as the men and women in uniform. The Boynton Beach Community Policing program has kicked off and on Monday night local residents got to meet the two officers that will be working in the heart of Boynton.
Valrie Brown-McIntosh is taking a step towards improving her neighborhood.
"To go out there and see how I can be of any impact in a positive way," is Brown-McIntosh's goal.
Valrie's son is 22 and every day she is worried he might have a negative encounter with police just because of a barrier in communication between police and regular citizens.
"I'd love to be able to know that I can feel safe for him when he goes out there and not that he is going to be treated, without someone knowing who he is," said Brown-McIntosh.
It's these relationships with the community that Boynton Beach's new Community Policing program is trying to mend.
"We're getting out of our police cars and getting out and doing one on one with the community officers community people and community stakeholders," said Sergeant Henry Diehl with the Boynton Beach Police Department.
The two faces that will be on foot, segways, and bicycles up and down Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard met with residents for the first time to hear their concerns.
"Make the personal contact where we can laugh or joke about something and not just seeing them as somebody who is there to destroy me," McIntosh said is the ultimate goal.
Goals were set to get more people involved and spread the word that police are trying to get to know the people who live in the heart of Boynton Beach. Brown-McIntosh says at the very least, launching the conversation is a start.
"That they are no longer seen as the enemy, but we actually see them as a part of us," is the hope McIntosh says she has for Police Officers.
Boynton Beach Police encourage locals to like their Facebook page for updates on the next meeting. The flyers will be sent out with the March water bill.
