Beyond the Conversation

Tools of Engagement

Once a goal for community engagement is set, the next challenge is planning out engagement activities on the ground. To navigate the options, we've compiled a short list of possible "tools," or different routes to take when engaging communities. Each tool below offers a short description and examples of different situations where it can be used.

Town hall meeting

Across the country, police departments hold countless meetings with members of the public. Usually these are regular beat meetings to inform the public about crime statistics and to learn about quality-of-life complaints. Sometimes they are special meetings held in response to specific crises or incidents. And on rare occasions, some are held to invite the public to comment on agency policies and practices.

But based on our observations, as well as from conversations with both police officials and community members, these meetings tend to suffer from a number of problems:
• No clear objective in mind
• Police can dominate the conversation
• Turnout is poor and doesn’t represent the diversity of communities
• The meetings end with no agreement on what to do next