photo by: Department of Justice

The Lawrence Police Department in coming weeks plans to host a two-day program to strengthen police and community partnerships.

The public program — split into two half-days on July 27 and Aug. 3 — will involve Department of Justice facilitators who will help identify issues and collectively create solutions with community members.

“It requires a diverse group of participants with open minds ready to communicate openly, honestly, and productively,” a news release from LPD said. “Anyone willing to share with a solutions-based spirit is encouraged to attend.”

Police Chief Rich Lockhart said he has been looking for a such a program since he came to Lawrence.

“I’ve always said I want our officers to police our community the way the people want to be policed,” Lockhart said in the release. “When I heard the Department of Justice facilitates a program to help strengthen our partnerships and continue the dialogue moving us in that direction, I knew they were the experts to bring on board.”

LKPD’s Office of Diversity and Community Engagement is organizing the event. Its commander, Lt. Myrone Grady, is hoping for a big turnout.

“Some of the silence between law enforcement and certain community members (is) longstanding, in fact, generational,” Grady said in the release, “so these discussions may not flow easily. But we believe the hard work can bring mutual understandings and those are things we can follow up on and partnerships we can continue to build.”

All Lawrence community members are invited to attend. Registration is required and attendance at both sessions is encouraged as solutions generally come during the second day’s work, the release said.

The workshops are from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 27 and from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 3. Both sessions are at Lawrence High School, 1901 Louisiana St. Registration is required; the form to register can be found at https://bit.ly/RegisterSPCP.