We asked Durham’s new police chief about gun violence, officer vacancies. What she said

Patrice Andrews, the next Durham police chief, will oversee a force fighting rising gun violence, high staff vacancies and the possible loss of more positions later this year.

Andrews, the current chief of police in Morrisville, will start in Durham on Nov. 1.

As of Oct. 9, the Bull City had 631 shootings this year, with 219 people shot and 34 deaths, according to police data.

The Durham Police Department has 70 vacancies among its 537 allocated sworn positions, a police spokesperson said.

And earlier this year, the City Council agreed to transfer five vacant police positions to a new Community Safety Department and to consider 15 more positions later this fiscal year.

The News & Observer spoke with Andrews on Tuesday. Some of the questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Gun violence

N&O: What steps are you planning to take to address gun violence in the city?

Andrews: Violence cannot solely be solved or mitigated by the police department. Successful initiatives and successful endeavors that reduce violent crime are made of collaborative efforts between our community and the police department. So really we want to start emphasizing that.

I want to be able to assess what strategies the Durham Police Department currently has done. My predecessor, Chief Davis, did a fantastic job establishing a solid foundation here. So I need to assess: What are we doing? And then: What have we done well? What are the not-so-great things that we’ve done? What resources out there can we use to reduce crime?

Who can we bring with us? What are our partnerships? Who are we not leveraging in the community that would be critical stakeholders?

That really, for me, is one of the first things I need to do when I get into position here.

N&O: How do you plan to work with community-based groups and advocates in Durham to address the causes of gun violence and other criminal activity?

Andrews: One of the things that I want to be very purposeful about is meeting with those grassroots efforts, our community advocates, and talking to them to find out: “OK, so these are the things that I know that the police department has done, provide me your view on how effective it has been. What would you change about it?”

Any new initiative that we would be working together to bring forward, I would want to have community input. So if we were doing something that would affect a specific community in Durham, I certainly want to have the stakeholders and community representatives for that neighborhood at the table.

We can’t do this alone, and so our responses should never be done alone.

N&O: Many of those involved in gun violence are young people. How do you plan to engage with young people in the community and intervene when they may be on the path to becoming a victim or perpetrator of gun violence?

Andrews: There are several programs that the Durham Police Department has that specifically work with the youth of our community. Our GIRLS camp was the first time partnering with Neighborhood Improvement Services this past summer, where we engaged with our youth and had conversations with them about violence. Really listening to them talk about how they feel about their own communities and some of their fears.

We rely heavily on our faith based institutions here in Durham, but also some of our grassroots [groups]. We have a lot of organizations here that are already doing great things for the youth within our community.

How do we become a partner, and be a partner on their terms? If they say, “Well, we don’t you to wear your uniforms. That’s not productive.” Then we want to be a partner on their terms.

I believe there are a lot of opportunities that we have to embed ourselves with our kids, because they do matter. Their lives do matter, and they do have futures.

Community perception

N&O: Where do you think the public’s perception of the Durham Police Department is at the moment? How do you plan to bridge trust with the community?

Andrews: I know that there is a mixed view of the Durham Police Department. I recognize that.

We’re in the city of Durham, which is one of the greatest cities and has a rich history deeply embedded in civil rights. The fact that law enforcement historically has been used as an arm in which to oppress people, we have to recognize that.

There are people that still do not trust the police. We can’t diminish someone’s feelings simply because it’s not our own, but what we can do is say, “What can we do to make you feel better about us?” And that is not something that happens overnight, but people want to be heard.

Recruitment, retention and morale

N&O: Like many police departments, Durham has struggled recently with officer recruitment, retention and morale. How do you plan to address these issues?

Andrews: We want to make sure that we’re including officers at the table. So if we’re talking about morale, and specifically as it affects our officers, if we are wanting to know why they stay — those are questions that we really need to have a series of conversations with our officers. Asking: If you were to leave, why would you leave? And not waiting until they put in that notice.

Obviously we know that this is a nationwide issue for police agencies, but we know that there are things that we could do here within the organization to help stem some of the loss that we’re having. I’ll be looking at what we are working with right now.

N&O: Earlier this year, the Durham City Council cut positions from the police department, and may cut more in the future. What kind of relationship do you envision with elected officials, and how do you plan to communicate the department’s needs?

Andrews: Our relationship with our city administrative staff is critical. So I will be working very purposefully with our city manager as well as our deputy city manager on communicating with council, and making sure that we are communicating on both sides of the aisle.

I think that’s very important and very, very key as we move forward to establishing goals in the future.

This story was originally published October 12, 2021 at 3:52 PM.