By Anna Bedell

The second annual “Conversation at the Park” drew a crowd of around 150 people, smaller than last year’s event, but which allowed for more interplay between citizens and members of the Bristol Police Department, Board of Education and the city’s Diversity Council which rotated between groups in 15-minute intervals.

The event, sponsored by the Mayor’s Office, Bristol Parks, Recreation, Youth and Community Services and the Bristol Eliminating Substance Use Together coalition, was held last Wednesday, Aug. 4, at the Rockwell Park amphitheater.

Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu welcomed participants.  

“It’s just to get the conversation to continue to hold us accountable and to also just give us feedback on how we can make Bristol, a community that is beneficial for everyone,” said Zoppo-Sassu.

In 2020, the first Community Conversation was sparked by the death of George Floyd, with 200-300 community members in attendance. 

Group 1 Conversation

Bristol Police Chief Brian Gould, a 28-year veteran, was one of the keynote speakers and led the conversations as the first group gathered to listen and ask questions.

“I have officers that are currently in the police academy that are willing to talk to you about their current experience in the academy and why did they selected the Bristol Police Department,” said Gould.  

“I have two officers that just came out of the academy, to tell you about their time in the academy and their first days working at the Bristol police department and what that’s all about.”  

Gould said there were new supervisors present that were recently promoted, a sergeant that was promoted and an entire command staff here from just about the majority of our divisions in the police department.

All were willing to answer any questions by the community.

Jaymie Bianca, a recent graduate from Hartford’s Trinity College, was the first audience member to ask a question.

Bianca who obtained degrees in Educational Studies, Human Rights, and English, was concerned because she has a brother with disabilities. 

“I was always really interested with how police are governing our town or our city but also what kind of training is in place to ensure that we are protecting people with disabilities,” said Bianca. “Because that requires you to hold them for training and so I just wanted to know a little bit about that.”

Gould continued to answer questions, as he addressed Bianca as well as the audience.

“We have officers that have been trained in crisis intervention,” said Gould.  “So, they’re specifically trained in medical first aid and all that stuff, so they have experience dealing with that as well, and can you just touch on that really quickly about where we are with percentage wise, I think we’re at.”

With 75 officers currently trained, Gould said his plan is to have the entire police department trained but there have been restrictions due to the pandemic.

Group 2 Conversation

The Diversity Council, which had a stronger presence this year, was the second group. Their main focus was the concerns of the community and how to help those in need.

Local resident Erick Rosengren addressed the council during the conversation.

“I was just at city hall today dropping off some paperwork and a gentleman asked me for 75 cents,” said Rosengren. “Some of the shelters in New Britain are closed down, so some people were coming to Bristol to get their food through the bus line. I saw a lot of people going back and forth also heard that one of the needs was bus passes for a lot of these folks.”

Emergency Preparedness Coordinator and health educator Alexa Steele said there’s a lot of public stigma surrounding the homeless, and it will always remain which is a big barrier to making people feel comfortable.

“We’re focusing on vaccine education right now, we actually have a grant with a community center and a human resource agency, to get vaccine access, to focusing on inequities in the communities of color and underserved communities,” said Steele.  “So, we’ve been doing that also trying to get the vaccines out every week.”

Group 3 Conversation

The community rotated to the final and third group, with vendors as the backdrop amid tables set up for residents to explore.

Local teacher Deborah Bailey brought up the topic of critical race theory.

“I have Facebook, seriously disappointed with people used to like saying that they’re they will not allow the children to learn and discover for themselves,” said Bailey. “I’ve always taught the good the bad and great stuff, the bad stuff, some stuff in between.”

Bailey talked about some of the challenges of remote learning that affects her students as well as herself.

“We are not allowed to ask them to turn their cameras on because it’s an invasion of privacy,” said Bailey. “We are not allowed to see in their homes unless they are going to show us, I don’t know what they look like.”

Bailey said when they reopened in April, the kids didn’t have to come back. That was one of the reasons she decided to stay another year.

“I said I could not go out like, for me, I’m speaking as a teacher,” said Bailey. “I think we did a good job; I think we did the best we could.”