Coral Springs Police Announce Community Ambassador Program To 'Build Trust Within The Community'
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The Coral Springs Police Department announced a program that aims to rebuild community trust in law enforcement.
The new initiative will be known as the Community Ambassador Program (CAP).
To that effect, they are looking for citizens to engage and serve as ambassadors.
Officials said that the mission of the CAP is to engage with ambassadors to build a stronger foundation, develop greater understanding and improve transparency.
"Trust is the bedrock of any relationship. It is important that the public and the police have tough conversations to better understand each other's point of view. I welcome tough conversations and controversial topics. Having open and honest conversations is the first step to understanding. Understanding leads to transparency and trust. That is what we seek with this program," said Coral Springs Police Chief Clyde Parry.
One of the goals of the program is for CAP to provide a means for citizen ambassadors to learn more about the police department, engage in timely and controversial topics, increase direct interactions with our citizens, review good police work, and examine our use of force incidents.
Officials said CAP will be comprised of up to 16 participants, who meet the following criteria:
- Must be a resident or owner of a business operating in the City of Coral Springs.
- Commit to serve as an ambassador for a two-year period.
***High school students (at least one from every school that serves Coral Springs) may serve for one year
***City Commissioner may serve one year
- Regularly attend the bi-monthly meetings held at the police department during evening hours (attend at the
minimum four of six yearly meetings).
- Engage and willing to discuss all topics, regardless of controversy (no topic is off-limits).
- Be willing to research topics before meetings and submit questions and talking points before each meeting.
- Share take-a-ways with the community as an ambassador.
If you are a member of the community and are interested or know someone willing to serve as a Community Ambassador, please click the link below and complete the short application. CAP Application