VIDEO: Community And Law Enforcement Working Together

CHICKASAW COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)-The relationships between law enforcement and their communities have been strained this year, with the spotlight on officer-involved shootings across the country.

As a result, some departments in North Mississippi are dealing with just the opposite, outpourings of support from the community.

“We look to the community for help,” said Chickasaw County Sheriff James Meyers.

Everyone wants to live in a safe community, but in order for that to happen, it’s extremely important for both the community and law enforcement to work with one another.

Sheriff Meyers said when the community and law enforcement are actively engaging with one another it helps solve and cut down on crimes in the area.

“There’s no way for the Sheriff’s department or the police department, there’s now way for us to do our jobs and do it properly unless the community is behind you,” said Sheriff Meyers.

In Chickasaw County, Sheriff Meyers said the relationship between law enforcement and the community is a good one.

“We have a lot of support form the community,” he said. “Anytime something happens, we get a lot of phone calls. If we put the word out that we’re looking for an individual or maybe looking for a certain vehicle we get all kind of calls in at 911, and if something happens to one of our officers people are calling with support.”

And that same support is shown in return.

“If something happens to our residents, our law enforcement is quick to stand up and be ready to help,” said Sheriff Meyers.

And residents in Chickasaw County aren’t shy about showing their support to their officers.

“It’s a blessing,” said Sheriff Meyers.  “You’ll be out eating lunch or supper, and when you get ready to pay the cashier or the waitress tells you that somebody already took care of your ticket, it really makes you feel good.”

To help keep this momentum going, Meyers said he encourages his deputies to go out in the communities and get to know the residents and business owners in the areas they’re patrolling.

“One thing we try to do here in the Sheriff’s office is, the way our county is broken up, we have two different judicial districts, one in Okolona, one In Houston, so I have officers that live in every part of the county and I think that really helps.”
Sheriff Meyers said in Chickasaw County, they have different events such as coffee with a cop and spaghetti dinners to help keep both the community and law enforcement actively engaged with one another.