Dorotha Penn
“There should be respect for each other; more concern about the community and each other. There are times when police don’t show respect and there are times when the residents don’t show respect – from the young people to the old. People need to come out and get involved. Stop complaining and do more caring.”
Kamile Kalina
“In our block (Austin community) we have good relations with the police, but we’ve worked at it for many years. And usually once a year we have a cook-out for the police and say ‘thank you for all the efforts.’ We also have telephone ‘trees’ established on each block so that when there is something that needs attention, we all call, so we get good response time. But we also tend to police our own community a lot. We don’t let the kids gather, we don’t let people throw trash. We’ve been known to clean our own streets on Saturday mornings before the street cleaners come through. We’re just very vigilant, and I think that makes it easier for the police. And when we call, they know we mean business. In general, they have been very supportive.” (‘Trees’ is an old-school term. In many block clubs, members refer to themselves as ‘branches’ in their neighborhood).
Frank Dent
“Well, it’s very difficult to say what can improve the relationship between the policeman and the Austin community. I have friends who are policeman and I always give all policeman some type of acknowledgement that we understand they are doing a job. They are there to protect all the citizens of Austin -not just famous people, but you as an individual. They can just acknowledge by waving at the officers, letting them know we’re watching them and we are friends too. And stop, sometimes, to have a basic conversation with officers, and the officers have to do that too. They have to extend their friendship to the people in the community.”
Donna Kanapes
“The police can be more responsive and enforce
the law. That would be nice.”
Michael Barnes
“We need more community relations with police in the community – more programs, more meetings and a real effort to show that police and communities can work together successfully.”
