Town hall called for local law enforcement conversation with community

Officials from police agencies across the Dover area met at Delaware State University to discuss relationships with their communities Thursday evening.

"You can interact throw ideas out see where people's heads are at and see what they're thinking and just come together as a community," said David Campbell, a DSU criminal justice major.

"It decreases any type of fear that could exist when they're approached for some sort of infraction," said Gerald Rocha, Dover HR commissioner.

In fact, fears over situations nationally were brought up by a concerned student, and they were quickly answered by Dover Chief Marvin Mailey.

"I can tell you that as a police officer, when I see police conduct that's like what you see on tv, I know it hurts every positive thing we try to do that takes us four to five steps back."

Building community relationships has been one of the key goals for Chief Mailey and the Dover Police Department in the past year.

"Community events, they'll come out and speak like being a criminal justice student they come out to us, they came to our career fair this week they came and would come to classes and stuff.  Speak about not only what they do but how they help the community," says Campbell.

The DSU criminal justice major says this is just what the community needs to continue to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the citizens it aims to protect.

"I know a lot of people feel like it's a distance between the community and police safety or police, so it's good to know that we're becoming one and it's not a separation or a big gap," said Campbell.

Also on hand were representatives from the Delaware State University Police, Delaware State Police, along with a couple of state representatives.  All stakeholders say they are supportive of creating an open and honest dialogue between law enforcement and communities across the State of Delaware.