Opelika PD Gives Update on TOGETHER OPELIKA Campaign
The Opelika PD held a press conference Monday morning to give its concerned citizens and local officials an update on their new community initiative, TOGETHER OPELIKA. TOGETHER OPELIKA is a campaign to develop open dialogue setting, establishing the best relationship between the community and the Police Department. Last October, the Opelika Police Department launched the TOGETHER OPELIKA
One of the main goals was to lower crime and increase community engagement. Since the start of the campaign, there has been a decrease in robberies and thefts compared to the previous year. There’s also been an increase in the community’s involvement with crime prevention and assistance in solving crimes.
The department has attended over 75 community events and meetings since October of 2020,” says Opelika Police Chief Shane Healey. “We have been developing new ways to engage and educate citizens and through our increased participation within the community we have started to see trust build for our officers.”
One way OPD has increased community engagement is through their partnership with Critical Insights Consulting, LLC. They helped facilitate community engagement and policing leadership workshops with the Police Department employees and members of the community. These workshops are centered around effective communication, behavioral attributes, critical thinking and relationship building. This resource will also be utilized within our hiring process through placement, training and evaluations.
The department is optimizing every tool at their disposal in order to have a more accurate accountability for officer training and development.
