Officers Join the Peace Party

From the Peace Party Blog

Kansas City, Missouri School District Safety Officers Join the Peace Party

July and August, 2015 brought 60 Safety Officers, Supervisors and On-Site Police Officers from the Kansas City, Missouri School District to the Center for Conflict Resolution (CCR) for Conflict Skills and Restorative Justice training. The four trainings, each lasting two days, is funded by the district and has redefined the word ‘lively’. Gregory Winship, Brian Goines and myself shared the facilitation and covered topics such as the ‘School to Prison Pipeline’, trauma awareness and resilience, the ‘Protective Use of Force’ (Marshall Rosenberg), observation versus judgment and active listening.

Each group of 15-20 officers had it’s own personality but most if not all of the participants gained a different perspective of conflict and their role in helping to solve it. The picture above shows a group of officers in the midst of an activity called ‘Human Sculpture’. They worked together to depict a punitive discipline model then a restorative or inclusive model and presented their two sculptures to class.

Greg tells a powerful story

One of the most popular elements of the training was the conflict style profile that each officer completed at the beginning of the first day. One participant, who scored very high as a directive person, came back the second day and reported that he had a conversation with his wife about his style. He said to her, “I’m ‘directing’ at work but not at home…right?” Her reply, “Oh no, you are totally ‘directing’ at home too”.

Brian and Annette lead a trauma awareness activity

The best part of the trainings for me has been the privilege of listening in on the discussions about the work the officers do and hearing the care, compassion and energy they have for children and youth.