The Black Student Association invites Texas Wesleyan and the Polytechnic community to join them next Tuesday at a community outreach event at Martin Hall.

The event, “Officer, May I?,” will focus on overcoming division between the police and people of the community. It is free and will run from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. A reception will follow at Lou’s Place.

“The event is geared toward how to become friends again with the police,” BSA Vice President Trezjon Cothran said.

BSA hopes to help cultivate a better relationship between the public and the police, said Dr. Eddy Lynton, the BSA’s sponsor and assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice.

“It’s about the connection between individuals and the people that are supposed to be there to serve and protect them,” Lynton said.

BSA has arranged for a former Fort Worth Police Department officer, current FWPD officer, and a Wesleyan trustee to come and speak to the Wesleyan community, BSA President Josh Rivers said.

“We’re getting three different perspectives: ‘What is being taught to the community?’ from a professor, ‘What should be done?’ from the officer, and ‘What rights do the people actually have?’ from the trustee,” Rivers said.

Dr. Wafeeq Sabir, who has 25 years of experience with the Fort Worth Police Department, will be sharing some of his personal experiences.

“What we’re hoping for is that he’ll provide students, faculty and staff with techniques, tips and tricks that they can use to deescalate situations,” Lynton said.

Lynton believes that Sabir’s presentation will help people relieve some of the tension that occurs in interactions with the police.

“This is a positive event. It’s not a ‘Let’s beat up the police!’ type of event,” Lynton said. “That’s not the intent at all. It’s about how do we fix where we’re at right now? How do we go from where we’re at to a better tomorrow?”

Also participating in the event are Glenn Lewis, a Texas Wesleyan grad and attorney who is on the university’s board of trustees; and FWPD Sgt. Billie Price, who is also a Wesleyan graduate.

BSA hopes to impact as many people as possible with this event, Rivers said.

“Our target audience is basically anyone that can be affected, from Wesleyan students to high school and middle school students and their parents,” Rivers said. “These are the people having to answer the questions of ‘What do I do? How do I come home? How do I feel safe?’ We want to help prepare them for that line of questioning.”

Rivers expects that this event will be set up like a town hall meeting.

“It’ll start off with a 30-minute presentation, which will include our basic rights and scenarios of what to do and what not to do when interacting with the police,” Cothran said.

After the presentation, Cothran said, the event will allow time for a question and answer discussion.

“That’s a time for everyone to just ask questions and receive knowledge respectfully,” Cothran said.

Rivers feels the people need a chance to ask questions in order to better understand the way the police serve them.

“There’s a lot of questions that we want to answer,” Rivers said. “We probably won’t answer them all.”

BSA hopes that everyone will try to attend their community outreach event because it affects a large group of people, Lynton said.

“The situations that are occurring are incredibly tragic,” Lynton said. “Often times, it seems to escalate based on a myriad of events.”

BSA understands that fear on both sides is what often leads to misunderstanding, but this event is supposed to help conquer some of that, Rivers said.

“I’m pretty sure we aren’t going to save the world in one day,” Rivers said, “but this can be an effective stepping stone to make a community.”

Texas Wesleyan’s Black Student Association held “Officer, May I?” in Martin Hall on Tuesday.

The event was attended by about 70 guests, including Texas Wesleyan University President Frederick Slabach.

“Officer, May I?” was meant to educate people on how to interact with police in a way that is safe for everyone, BSA Vice President Trezjon Cothran said.

“Tonight’s event was very significant for our campus and community,” Cothran said. “It was informative, educational and tremendously needed.”

This event was important because it’s BSA’s first step to help lessen tension between police and the public, Cothran said.

The event featured a panel including Wesleyan Board of Trustees member Glenn Lewis, Fort Worth police Sergeant Billie Price and Dr. Wafeeq Sabir, a retired police officer. There was also a question and answer section.

“Although we cannot change the world, we look forward to changing the community with the hope of receiving the proper recognition to make that impact expand,” Cothran said.

If a person is in a situation where he or she is interacting with a police officer that they don’t feel is being handled appropriately, they should first attempt to speak to the sergeant that supervises that officer, Price said.

“If you can’t get anywhere by speaking with the officer’s sergeant then once you’ve been arrested and get out, make a formal complaint to the internal affairs department,” Price said.

Lewis said the event indicates that police interaction with the public is a problem. In a free country like America no one should need to be told how to act.

“You have to have special training to be a police officer,” Lewis said, “but you don’t have to have special training to be a citizen in a free society and a lot of these things you’ve been hearing about today are just common courtesy.”

Lewis thinks that if a person would not fight his peers then the person should not fight law enforcement, either.

“We have to work on our relationships,” Lewis said. “ Nobody should be afraid of police officers and police officers shouldn’t be afraid of you.”

Some officers are afraid of civilians because they perceive something about them without knowing that person, Lewis said.

“Most of it just amounts to treating each other with respect and common courtesy,” he said.

Price suggested sitting down and discussing in groups what the problem could be between police and civilians.

“[It’s important to find] out what their rights are as a citizen and then find out what the police can and can’t do,” Price said.

Sabir suggested that dinner might be the best way to start a conversation.

“If you want to have a discussion with someone, the best way to get them to open up is to have food,” said Sabir, who gave a 30-minute presentation about how to interact with police officers.

Sabir reminded the crowd that just because someone acted a certain way in a Youtube video and something bad happened to them doesn’t mean his tips aren’t useful.

“These are still some general rules,” Sabir said. “You need to understand that we live in a very complicated and often times uncomfortable society, but these are things that generally will get you home at night and get you back to your loved ones.”