
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 22, 1995                   TAG: 9502220062
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

COMMUNITY, RU AND POLICE PLAN TALKS

University students, members of the community and law enforcement officers will be invited to participate in a "community dialogue" as part of an effort to improve relations between students and police. The City-University Joint Commission on Public Affairs on Monday unanimously endorsed the idea, initially proposed by commission member Betty Jones in the wake of student complaints about police behavior.

The session will be held on the Radford University campus in April.

Last fall, student complaints about treatment at the hands of city police dominated discussions at two commission meetings. In October, a student leader told the commission that police often overreact to complaints involving students, but are reluctant to act when students themselves complain. The previous month, two students said an officer acted improperly when he broke up a daytime party at an off-campus residence.

A student commission member also related that she'd heard fellow students say they are so afraid of getting arrested by city police for public drunkenness that they drive home from parties and bars instead of walking.

The planning committee hopes to get three dozen or so participants together to engage in "people-to-people dialogue," Jones said. Participants will gather in groups of eight to 10 people with a facilitator to discuss issues of concern. Jones said the facilitators will help keep the dialogue constructive and on track.

She also warned against inflated expectations. "This is a beginning step," she said, "not an end in itself."

The session would not be an attempt to mediate past disputes, she said. "If it gets to the point of mediation, we'll have to stop it."

Jones said small group facilitators will be recruited from the City of Radford Prevention Coalition "so they would be more neutral." They will get about three hours of training from Community Education and Prevention Services of New River Valley. The coalition, a new group composed of various community segments, is exploring "what the city's youth need and want" and includes young people in its membership, Jones explained.

Radford Deputy Police Chief Jonny Butler, a commission member, said reaction to the community dialogue proposal within his department has been mixed. He also questioned the dialogue planning committee's suggestion to include participants from the Virginia State Police.

"They don't deal with students and they don't deal with local problems," he said.

Jones said the state police expressed interest in the community dialogue but did not have to be included. However, the planning committee also wanted to make sure enough police officers were available for the April get together, she said.

Commission Co-chairman Paul Harris seemed to support including the state police. "They deal with some of our students out on I-81," he pointed out.

Jones is optimistic that the community dialogue will prove beneficial. "I can't imagine it being anything but positive," she said.

by CNB