The Lafayette Police Department hosted their first “on the road” community relations event this evening at the Martin Luther King Center.
Every month the department’s community relations committee meets at the police department, but today their meeting was held at the center. Public Information Officer Cpl. Bridgette Dugas said the event, “Bringing the Community Together!” included a lot of talking, even more listening, as well as information about public resources for citizens.
“We’re here to touch base with the community to see what our needs are and what we can do as a department to do better,” Dugas said. “We like to stay transparent and we want to know what’s going on in the community and keep our ear in the community so we know what needs everyone has, and what these neighborhoods need from us as a department. So by doing this, we come out here, we hear what people have to say, what they may be concerned about, and we focus on getting that together in the department.”
Dugas said it’s important for police officers and residents to have these conversations.
“We hope that the community sees that we’re here, and we’re making a commitment to the community to say we’re here and we’re listening,” she said.
