In a tense world between Blacks and police officers, the time has been way overdue to hold an event in the attempt to bring the community back together. Zone 5 Police Station held its first open house on May 28 in a continuing effort to improve police and community relations.
“Citizens, officers, their families, lawmakers, and anyone else were able to attend. We just want to give the community a chance to come down, meet our officers, see our station, see our equipment, and help bring the community and the police closer together,” Zone 5 Commander Jason Lando said.
The open house took place at the Zone 5 Station located on Washington Boulevard. The event was free and food was served as well. The station was open to all residents, business owners and community leaders. Many families and community residents attended the open house.
Zone 5 covers the eastern portion of the city, which includes Homewood, Larimer, Friendship, Highland Park, and Garfield. The relationship between some in these neighborhoods and the police has been strained and rigid over the years, due to the many police brutality cases and fatalities that have taken place.
The idea for holding an open house came from community feedback that was received at several public meetings. The community felt it necessary to start holding meetings to interact and get to know those who are here to protect the civilians.
“They want to get to know the officers, the people that patrol their neighborhoods,” Lando said. “And we thought, what a great idea to just open our station and invite people down, and just make a nice evening out of it.”
“Holding an open house was a good idea, and a creative way to bring the community together and remind us that the police do care. I appreciated this, and would like to thank Zone 5 for putting this together,” Keyshawna Lewis, of Garfield, said.
Lando also stated that the event was enjoyable, and an opportunity to show a side that is not often seen.
The open house featured Zone 5 equipment and specialty vehicles borrowed from the special deployment division.
Representatives were present from specialty units—SWAT, Bomb Squad and Motorcycle Division.
Zone 5 is pleased to announce that this will be a first in a series of open houses to come.
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