A group of former police officers and volunteers are now using their knowledge to build relationships between first responders and the communities they serve, and it's changing lives. They're this week's KRLD Difference Makers.
Robert Benitez served in the Dallas Police Department for more than 30 years but he says his work now is even more important.
As part of a non-profit called One Community and in Spanish Una Comunidad, Benitez, and other retired officers and volunteers - work to bridge the gap between police departments and the communities they serve - simply by having meaningful conversations.
“We primarily focus on building trust and community between the local police departments and the community through the program called Shop Talk. We work primarily in the Hispanic and black communities. We work together by organizing different meetings over different time frames and bringing in the police and the community to the barber shops to talk and communicate and ask any kind of question about anything within the police department,” said Robert.
Benitez says he sees that the program is working when there is an uptick in tips the department gets from the community, all working together for one goal.
“They call the police because they met the police in the barber shop and they identify [the suspect] and the police are able to make an arrest on an aggravated robbery or a shooting. That tells me this is working because trust has been built and tips are coming in that help police departments solve crimes,” Robert said.
But more importantly the conversations that bring restore trust and provide healing.
“You see the difference,” Robert said. “Now what you see is we bring trust back and we bring things together and its healing.”
We're proud to call Robert Benitez and One Community this week's KRLD Difference Makers.
If you know someone making a difference in the community, send us an email at differencemaker@krld.com.
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