Dover Police Chief Marvin Mailey is one of several law enforcement leaders participating in a Police-Community Relations Town Hall tonight, Thursday, April 26.
Chief Mailey says residents are ALWAYS interested why police officers do certain things and officers appreciate the opportunity to share what they are trying to achieve in the community with residents.
“The theme is to increase trust and legitimacy between the community and the police department. It builds off a previous Town Hall meeting we had about two or three years ago that was held at Whatcoat Church; it was a good forum that night. We had a lot of questions back and forth from the community,” said Mailey.
Mailey says trust remains the number one issue between the community and police - and he believes the trust level has improved in recent years. Chief Mailey says his department is committed to transparency in an effort to build that trust.
“I know we’ve gotten much better, the trust level in the City of Dover. We’ve had certain things come up over the last couple of years and issues that we’ve been very transparent about. So we do that to build trust to let people know that they don’t have to worry about the police department being corrupt or operating in a manner that’s inappropriate,” Mailey said.
The Town Hall is a joint venture between law enforcement, legislators, the First State Community Action Agency, Inc. and Delaware State University.
The event is sponsored by the Delaware Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE).
It runs from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Mishoe Science Center on the DSU campus in Dover.
