Parsons Police First in Kansas to Achieve Peace Officer Agency Certification – Newstalk KZRG

The Parsons (KS) Police Department has announced that it has received national certification from the Police2Peace organization as the first law enforcement agency in Kansas to complete the peace officer agency certification process.

“This process involved agency-wide training that was federally funded and a list of progressive agency steps to refocus our community policing efforts,” Parsons Police Chief Robert Spinks said. “Fortunately, our agency has been involved in many of the key requirements of the Police2Peace process as a normal part of our evolving agency work over the past half decade. Our staff has not been surprised by any new program as we have only honed the core philosophy of our operation to achieve this certification.”

“Today’s communities are looking for the heart behind the badge. Chief Spinks and the Parsons Police Department show their commitment to this and therefore represent the best of policing today,” says Lisa Broderick, Police2Peace Executive Director.

Police2Peace is a national nonprofit organization with a diverse team and board members from the national community and the policing profession, working across the country from small departments to large agencies.

Police2Peace’s mission is to unite police departments and communities around programs that uplift and heal them. The vision is to redefine and reimagine policing on a national scale so that it is empathetic, effective and only with police officers serving their communities as peace officers.

Police2Peace aims to convert 1/3 of the nation’s 18,000 police and sheriff’s departments serving 100 million Americans into peace officers within five years.

“The Police2Peace program is a reaffirmation of our agency’s commitment to increasing community confidence in the department while controlling crime,” said Parsons Deputy Police Chief Dennis Dodd.

A community listening session was also moderated by Police2Peace staff on Tuesday, July 30, giving members of the community an opportunity to ask and answer questions about Parsons policing, along with the Police2Peace philosophy as a way through which police personnel provide services to the community.

During Police2Peace’s training for all police personnel with additional specialized training for police leadership on Wednesday, July 31, a specific presentation was made to Parsons City Commissioners, City Attorney and City Manager Debbie Lamb.

Police2Peace also developed and administered a community survey that will be used by other agencies across the United States to serve as a uniform feedback measure. Results of the Parsons survey, which will be conducted annually at no cost to the city.

We are launching national police reform by changing the culture of policing because the public is demanding a less aggressive approach to public safety and community dissatisfaction with the police is high. Over the past 4 years, after growing the idea from introducing the PACE OFFICER wording to police agencies and communities, we launched The Peace Officer Promise in May 2022 and will launch the accompanying online training curriculum in June 2022.

“We believe Police2Peace will be a long-term partnership with our agency,” said Spinks, “They are expanding the delivery of programs across the nation that transform departments into peace officer departments, with peace officer curriculum and technical assistance to operationalize the change. I hope that over time this will bring our agency closer to our community through community programs for better engagement, police-based programs for training such as de-escalation and peace initiatives that bring stakeholders together.”

The Police2Peace process is not a one-time training event, it is an ongoing process of evolution of the Parsons Police Department over the years. So far, the Parsons Police Department has met the following measurable goals to achieve its Peace Officer Agency Certification by Police2Peace:

Police2Peace Checklist for Parsons PD

• 80% of police personnel have completed Police2Peace training (currently 88% have
  completed 100% training by October).
• The agency uses advisory groups: Public Safety Advisory Council.
• Conducted community listening sessions.
• Conducted a community survey that was developed and analyzed by Police2Peace,
  results are pending and will be shared with the community. This was done without
  cost to the city.
• An internal audit of the agency led to the following steps:
• The city ordinance updated the establishment of the police station (last made
  with an ordinance of 1877), which embodies the concept of Effective Police2Peace
  Empathetic and fair police.
• Peace officer patch on police outer vests.
• Peace officer insignia on SRO and Police polo shirts.
• Revising job descriptions to revise job titles to include the verse “peace officer”.
  public safety officer.
• Re-branding in police literature with “peace officer”.
• Inclusion of the Police2Peace community policing program as part of the new program
  employee orientation training.
• Inclusion of Police2Peace curriculum during annual continuing training for
  reinforce this as a positive agency culture.
• Public announcement (advertisement in the newspaper, TV interviews) regarding the adoption
  Police2Peace philosophy.
• Adding a new webpage on Police2Peace.
• Engage in transparent policing such as using press releases, community alerts
  and email/text alerts etc.
• Use social media to increase community outreach (Facebook, X, and NextDoor.com).
• Audit the agency’s internal culture, policies and procedures.
• Participation in community events (LCC Orientation and job fair, SRO k-12, Coffee with
  a police officer, Katy Days, created a police charity golf tournament, organizes annual Crimes
  Prevention fair and other events).
• Police personnel take the peace officer’s oath of office (programmed to prevent crime
  October during National Crime Prevention Month).