This course has been postponed until fall 2017. Please contact Patience Kamau, Zehr Institute program director, at patience.kamau@emu.edu for more information.
The announces a six-session course about police and community justice partnerships this summer. The course will be co-taught by Officer Vanessa Westley, a 25-year veteran with the Chicago Police Department, and Lt. Kurt Boshart, who recently retired after 28 years in the Harrisonburg (Va.) Police Department, where he led the department’s .
Institute co-directors Dr. and Dr. will also join some sessions. The Zehr Institute is a program of the at 草莓社区.
The course will begin Wednesday, June 28, from 3-4:30 p.m. (EST) Eastern Standard Time and continue through five consecutive Wednesdays. The final class will be Aug. 2. Cost is $99 (no additional fees).
鈥淕iven issues around policing in this country, we are seeing increasing interest among both police departments and communities in restorative justice,鈥� says Zehr. 鈥淩estorative justice offers a more positive way to approach wrongdoing, but also possibilities for transforming police/community relationships. 聽This online course offers an opportunity to explore these possibilities.鈥�
The course will be an introduction into restorative justice with an emphasis on its applications in law enforcement. Participants will explore innovative ways to incorporate restorative justice within an agency and in collaboration with their communities. Through presentations and interactive discussions, examples of implementation, including case studies in many police agencies throughout the United States, will be showcased.
The course builds upon a November 2016 co-hosted by the Zehr Institute and Harrisonburg Police Department in Virginia. Agencies from four states 鈥� California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Virginia 鈥� were represented by executive leadership, who have led or continued to lead implementation of restorative justice practices in their respective jurisdictions. Expert practitioners also attended, including Zehr. [Read the and .]
Participants were in agreement that utilizing restorative justice principles鈥攂eing proactive, using good communication skills, building relationships and social capital by empowering and including community members 鈥� called for a holistic culture shift from 鈥渢he top down and back up,鈥� from new recruits to administration, said Chief Joe Garza, Reedley (Ca.) Police Department. At the same time, they agreed that many police departments, and individual officers, are already doing this kind of outreach, though perhaps under a different name.
Westley is currently program manager for the 鈥淏ridging the Divide,鈥� a joint program of the Chicago PD and the Metro YMCA. She is also special projects coordinator for the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy Revitalization effort launched in 2013.
Through DePaul University鈥檚 Center for Urban Education, she leads the community engagement training program, and is also聽 a restorative justice and 鈥淎rt of Hosting鈥� practitioner and trainer.