'We don't need retraining; we're constantly training'

Rochester Police Chief Michael Allen (Courtesy photo)

ROCHESTER - President Obama may have tasked a newly appointed commission with coming up with ideas to improve community policing, but Rochester Police Chief Michael Allen said his department is already way ahead of the curve in the area of outreach to the community and engaging minority youth.

"We don't need retraining; we are constantly training," Allen told The Lebanon Voice last week.

In the wake of police killings of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Mo., and New York, President Obama has appointed Philadelphia police chief Chuck Ramsey to head the commission

In less than two months they are expected to report back to the president to reveal the best practices to create police accountability, transparency and trust. They will also propose how the federal government can work with state and local communities to institutionalize these best practices.

Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have indicated this is a dialogue that needs to be heard nationwide.

In both Ferguson and New York grand juries decided not to indict the officers, but racial tensions continue to simmer in some cities across the country.

Allen thinks the idea that police departments nationwide need fixing is unfortunate and, in the case of his department, simply not true.

"There's good and bad in all professions," he said. "This gets sensationalized and paints a bad image of police officers. Our officers are highly trained and very community oriented. And we seek to build on that and have built very trusting relationships with the citizens of Rochester."

As far as minority interaction with police in Rochester, the city has for several years participated in Disproportionate Minority Contact, a program run by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

The program is designed to identify the reasons why minority youth are more apt to become involved in the criminal justice system and ways to minimize that involvement.

Most of the work comes in the form of direct outreach with Rochester's minority youth, Allen said.

Other Granite State cities involved with the program include Manchester and Nashua. Rochester has been involved for several years.

Allen said his officers undergo community policing training, including engaging with minority youth, at the state's police academy and that training is built upon once they put on a Rochester Police uniform.

"We are ahead of the curve with regard to our level of training," Allen said.

That said, he added he'd like to think the commission the president has formed will end up with some ideas that can be productive.