Sunbury Police Chief says citizens’ commission is a good idea
SUNBURY – It’s an educational approach for citizens to get a better idea of the daily life of their local police officers.
That’s why Sunbury Police Chief Brad Hare thinks the city’s newly created citizens’ police commission is a great idea, “I’m looking at it as an educational kind of thing…to educate the public on ‘this is what we do and this is why we do it,’ and these are the tools we are given to do what we do. So I think it’s more of a liaison between the community and city officials.”
Hare says it’s not going to be a huge board, and he and city officials are discussing the commission’s parameters and objectives.
When asked about national police brutality issues, Hare says de-escalating incidents has always been the main goal of Sunbury police.
He says smaller towns like Sunbury have an advantage, “It’s trying to get things done without having to worry about taking somebody into custody or arresting them right away. We’ve been doing that training, actually for years. And with a smaller department in a smaller community, we know most of the citizens of Sunbury. When you’re in a larger department in a larger, metropolitan area, some officers just don’t know some people, and that’s where it sometimes gets heated.”
Sunbury Police is continuing expanding its department and is gearing up to move to a new location. More on that in a future story. You can listen to all of Hare’s comments on the WKOK Podcast page.
