In an effort to strengthen relationships and reduce crime in the community, the Arlington Police Department has adopted a new program directed toward church congregations. The OneCOP (One Congregation One Precinct) program aims to improve relationships between officers and the public by working with faith-based organizations to connect officers with the churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues in the area they patrol.
Arlington is the first Texas city to join the Atlanta-based program.
On May 15, several church leaders participated in simulated police training exercises to understand what officers face daily. The weapons used in the scenarios were fake, and the participants did not use ammunition. However, the situations were based on real-life police incidents.
“I found myself panicking a couple of times myself thinking about real-life situations,” pastor Tanley Ferrell, with Treasures of Excellence Ministries, told Fox 4. “It’s very difficult. Not something I wanna do but something I have great respect for.”
Neighborhood improvement and crime prevention activities, as well as cultural sensitivity training, are intended to be part of OneCOP. It will also provide a direct channel for church leaders to express community concerns about police and police reform.
“We need these partnerships. Crime is not a policing issue. It’s a community issue,” Arlington Police Chief Al Jones told NBC 5 DFW.
All beliefs are accepted into the program. More than 500 invitations were sent to faith-based organizations in the city to recruit religious leaders to help foster a common understanding between communities and law enforcement.
“It’s about leveraging the power that these faith-based organizations have to bring about public safety to focus on our commonalities,” said Rev. Markel Hutchins, CEO of MovementForward Inc., which oversees the OneCOP program.
“We have to do something different. We’ve spent the last several years marching on each other, and crime and violence continue to escalate. What we have to do now is march to each other,” he added.
