(Woodland, CA) – June 7, 2019 – During the dates of June 4-6, 2019, police officers, prosecutors, and other leaders in the criminal justice community from California and Oregon attended a training at the Glide Church in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco. This “21st Century Leadership Training” was billed as an immersion experience for public safety and civil leaders who are addressing issues of homelessness, addiction, mental illness, poverty and despair in their communities. From Yolo County, Assistant Chief Investigator David Marshall attended along with Deputy District Attorneys Frits Van der Hoek and David Robbins. Additionally, Public Defender Tracie Olson and Kristin Cline, who is a social worker at the Woodland Police Department, attended.
Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig coordinated this program with University of Oregon Police Chief Matt Carmichael and Rabbi Michael Lezak of the Glide Church. Reisig stated, “This training is intended to help leaders explore their understanding of the ways we all work together to serve challenged communities to improve the quality of life for all of our citizens. Put more simply, we want to build better empathy for police and prosecutors, in particular, when working with the homeless.”
“Learning how to connect with our communities happens in our communities,” Chief Carmichael said. “Just like Glide itself, this program teaches us and reminds us that we serve everyone, without reservation.”
In December, 2017, Reisig and his Chief Deputy Jonathan Raven visited the Glide Church. As part of the two-day program, they toured the Tenderloin and served lunch to hundreds of people seeking services from Glide. “Many of us have served lunch to the homeless before,” said Raven. “The Rabbi told us that we would also be eating with homeless. He told us to wait in line with those waiting for lunch and also to eat at a table with them on our own. This was both eye-opening and enlightening.”
This professional development program was designed to provide criminal justice professionals and civic leaders a unique perspective on the skills necessary to deliver an effective level of service to our diverse and complex communities. The non-traditional leadership program provides attendees an opportunity to learn and grow as leaders through the immersion experience in a deeply troubled neighborhood. It may also empower local leaders to return to their communities with new thoughts, ideas and tools needed to address local challenges. Those invited to attend included, Police Officers, Firefighters, Emergency medical technicians, Prosecutors, Judges, Public Defenders and Victim Advocates.
Olson said “the training was inspirational. The three-days cemented my feelings that there is so much more we can and should be doing with our homeless population in Yolo County.”
Reisig, Chief Carmichael and Rabbi Lezak are in the process of planning future trainings at the Glide Church.
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