7 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,July 1,2021 insidehalton.com 905-469-3232 1459 Nottinghill Gate, Oakville delmanor.com Retirement Living located in the heart of Oakville. In-person tours now available. At the one-year anni- versary of the death of George Floyd, I wondered what the perspective of good police officers was on such a tragic event. I noticed how when an officer is convicted of be- ing unreasonably rough and racist or blatantly pro- filing, the news and videos in the widespread media create a negative percep- tion about all police offi- cers. We know it's wrong to label all police officers as prejudiced, but how do law-abiding officers think and feel, and what do they do when a bad one blem- ishes their profession? I took it upon myself to contact my local police de- partment to inquire fur- ther. I was fortunate to be able to interview Sgt. Ryan Smith, Halton Police's eq- uity, diversity and inclu- sion officer. I asked him how honest police officers feel when blatant human rights are being violated by the peo- ple we are supposed to trust to protect us. "Sometimes, when we look at the mainstream media, we find ourselves always being consumed with the negative and the discussion that all officers are engaged in misconduct and are racist, when that's just not true. "However, I am aware that there are officers across North America who shouldn't be officers, or are engaging in activities on a daily basis that are counterproductive to the goal of officers." Sgt. Smith also feels that the police need to be honest and transparent, noting, "Like the murder of George Floyd, which it is a murder. Words are power- ful and we need to call it what it is. In addition, as you can imagine, it makes good officers feel disap- pointed in the actions cre- ated by bad officers." On a positive note, Sgt. Smith mentioned that the Halton Regional Police Service uses special train- ing to help eliminate rac- ism. Programs include cre- ating possible scenarios of real-world situations and how the officers are expec- ted to react as new situa- tions arise and then change. Part of being in the job of a police officer is to build relationships with the di- verse community that they serve. That means engag- ing with African and Ca- ribbean communities here in Halton, and gaining trust and breaking down any barriers that exist. The Diversity Engage- ment Table meets regular- ly to have police officers and Black community members interact and find the root cause of distrust, address it and work togeth- er to find solutions. One of Sgt. Smith's roles is to understand the needs of specific citizens and help cure the strained rela- tionships. "Yet," he added, "I know that developing a feeling of trust takes time. "What we need to re- member is that there are still a lot of officers out there that are doing good work. They have good in- tentions and come to work every day with the sole purpose of serving the community in the best way possible." Luci Oakes is a recent Grade 8 graduate of East- view Public School. LOTS OF POLICE 'DOING GOOD WORK' OPINION HALTON'S DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION OFFICER WEIGHS IN ON RACISM AND WHAT'S BEING DONE TO ELIMINATE IT, WRITES LUCI OAKES "Part of being in the job of a police officer is to build relationships with the diverse community that they serve." - Sgt. Ryan Smith LUCI OAKES Column SCAN FOR MORE Scan this code for more local opinions.