POLICE & COMMUNITY: REDUCING VIOLENCE TOGETHER

Police & Community: Reducing Violence Together

Explore peacemaking and violence, particularly between communities of color and police, in an innovative format that brings knowledge and experience together in new ways to find new solutions to a pervasive social challenge. In this collaborative seminar, community leaders and members of law enforcement will learn from each other and a group of guiding content consultants, made up of a global leader in conflict negotiation, a historian of conflict, a retired police captain and a community leader and activist. This seminar is meant to foster real dialogue that brings about real change in cities across the country.

Content Curators and Facilitators

Rev. Byron Bland, Stanford University

Reggie Lyles, Retired Police Captain, Novato, California

Dr. Christopher Ocker, San Francisco Theological Seminary

Rev. Floyd Thompkins, Director of the Center for Innovation in Ministry

Rev. Byron Bland – Associate Director of the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation and the King Institute of Stanford University. Byron has negotiated conflict at the highest level, in some of the most difficult circumstances, including Northern Ireland, South Africa, Israel and Palestine.

Reggie Lyles – Retired Police Captain for Novato, California. Reggie spent his career in law enforcement, reshaping policies in community policing and hate crimes, and developing a youth mentor program.

Dr. Christopher Ocker – Professor of Church History at San Francisco Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union

Rev. Floyd Thompkins – Director of the Center for Innovation in Ministry. Floyd has spent years as a chaplain, pastor and community leader, starting transformational programs in local communities.

Any pastor, police officer or community leader who is active in building bridges between the police and communities of color.

Learning Objectives

• To establish a cohort of leaders who are interested in furthering peace and justice between communities and the police
• To deepen the questions that shape the dialogue between leaders and the police, hopefully uncovering root causes of tension
• To expose the participants to the pioneers of some of the more successful approaches to community change
• To have the members of the cohort support, challenge and clarify each other’s efforts toward peace and justice in their context

Format

• A two-hour online discussion of literature, history and pertinent issues around peace and conflict negotiation with Facilitators, which will address individual seminar participant issues in their communities.
• Two to four cohort feedback discussions of community issues undertaken by seminar participants, facilitated by Rev. Floyd Thompkins, Director of the Center for Innovation in Ministry.
• A two-hour online meeting for feedback from the Facilitators about the community work that that was done by seminar participants, with suggested areas for improvement.

Delivery Mode

Online

Pricing Details

$150, but FREE for community activists and members of law enforcement. Email innovation@sfts.edu for a discount code.