Police chief: Cookout will let police, community build relationships

Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay is hoping that nothing brings people together like a good barbecue.

After Tuesday’s Black Lives Matter protest, the police chief met with protest leaders about the possibility of replacing their planned second protest, scheduled for Sunday, with a community cookout.

The department and movement leaders will team up Sunday evening to host the First Step Cookout, a community barbecue. The barbecue will start around 6 p.m. Sunday in McAdams Park, 1329 E. 13th St.

“This is a time in policing that we haven’t been at in a long time, and it calls for a different way of doing things,” Ramsay said Thursday at a media briefing. “(The barbecue) is primarily an opportunity for police and citizens to interact and have positive contact, not face-to-face on a skirmish line.”

Community organizer Djuan Wash, of Kansas Appleseed, said Ramsay pitched the idea at a meeting Wednesday afternoon with fellow organizers A.J. Bohannon, Brandon Johnson and Herman Hicks.

The food will be provided by the police department, who will also grill it and serve it, according to Bohannon. He said he is also looking for an activity for the community members and police officers to engage in together as part of the event.

“If you have police serving and people eating they’re still separated, so we’re trying to come up with something we can do all together – side by side, shoulder to shoulder,” he said. “Whether that’s the ‘Cha-Cha Slide’ or whatever, I don’t know yet.”

Cheaper than a protest

Ramsay said the department is seeking donations to help pay for the barbecue, though he said it will ultimately save the department money compared to a protest, which would have required additional officers to work overtime to handle traffic disruptions and other issues.

“This is an opportunity to highlight how police and community members can come together in a really productive way, to make some changes and build relationships,” Ramsay said.

Ramsay identified the planned barbecue as “a first step from where we are today,” and he also highlighted other efforts by the department to improve relations with the community.

He said he has encouraged department staff to use discretion in issuing tickets for minor violations, taking into account the long-term ramifications of a ticket on people’s lives – loss of a driver’s license leading to job loss, for example.

“Ultimately, the police become the face of some of the policy decisions that are made that hurt community members, so one of the things we’ve talked about is working together to improve policies for the future,” Ramsay said.

This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 6:59 AM with the headline "Police chief: Cookout will let police, community build relationships."