Modesto summit seeks to bridge gap between youths and police

Teens who don’t trust cops. Those who want to be cops. Who’ve had good and bad experiences with them. Who’ve never even met one.

The aim of next month’s Law Enforcement Youth Summit in Modesto is to bring a cross-section of the above – up to 120 high school juniors and seniors – together with officers for a day of talking, listening, doing and learning.

“This came about from an idea from the Rev. Dr. Darius Crosby, a member of our clergy council,” said Modesto Assistant Police Chief Rick Armendariz. “He wanted to do something that connected our youth and law enforcement because there’s a lot of misinformation out there and a lot of unknown information, and it’s imperative to not only have open lines of communication with adults but with the youth we serve.”

Adults in Stanislaus County communities have a variety of opportunities – from town hall and Neighborhood Watch meetings to Coffee With a Cop gatherings to National Night Out celebrations – to share questions, comments and complaints with law enforcement, Armendariz said. But youths typically aren’t heard from much.

The summit, though, will devote five hours to teens. It is on a school day, and participating school districts are taking the lead in selecting student attendees and will transport them to the Sheriff’s Department training center on Cornucopia Way.

The summit will include a forum discussion among youths and representatives from police departments, the sheriff’s and probation departments and the District Attorney’s Office. A panel of law enforcement officers also will answer questions, Armendariz said.

A victim of police brutality in his youth in Los Angeles, Crosby said he wants the summit to help tear down walls of fear and misunderstanding.

When a portion of a community has a lack of communication with law enforcement, a gap develops and can result in hostility, Crosby said. “Some of it is ignorance, preconceived notions about police – and that might be vice versa.” So giving youths the chance to sit down and talk with officers should help narrow that gap and give each side valuable insight, he said.

Crosby last year worked on a youth summit of a different nature – written questions gathered from youths were presented to Modesto Police Chief Galen Carroll. The most frequent question submitted, Crosby said, was, “When police stop us, what do they want from us? What do they want us to do?” Carroll’s answer was simple, Crosby said: Just comply. Do what the officer says.

“Ten times out of 10, it will come out in your favor, 10 times out of 10 it will end peacefully,” the minister said.

Such was the case with his own 22-year-old son, who a few months ago was pulled over for the first time ever by a police officer, Crosby said. He was pulled over for a defective tail light, followed the officer’s commands and simply was told of the light problem and to get it repaired.

The Law Enforcement Youth Summit will not be just hours of talking, Armendariz assured. Students interested in participating will be placed in various simulations with hands-on opportunities, he said. “Not just use of force, but decision making – real-time kinds of scenarios of what law enforcement sees on a daily basis,” Armendariz said.

Also at the summit, students in Rene Guevara’s digital media class at Downey High School will present a video capturing a variety of youths’ voices on police and issues of concern. The teacher said he was asked at the close of the last school year to have his class tackle the project.

“It was pretty surprising to see they wanted a true representation of youths’ perspective of law enforcement – they gave us carte blanche to record what we see,” said Guevara, adding that the students have not yet begun filming but will interview a diverse group of young people at various schools.

Armendariz said law enforcement departments won’t see the video until it’s screened at the summit, but he anticipates that a lot of the perceptions aired will not be accurate. A lot of opinions, he said, are formed “based on general media – not just news, but movies, TV, music.”

Because of popular but factually inaccurate TV shows like “The Shield” and movies like “Training Day,” he said, “There’s so much Hollywoodization – if that’s a word – of law enforcement.”

This story was originally published September 6, 2016 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Modesto summit seeks to bridge gap between youths and police."