Building Bridges with Law Enforcement

This week, members of our Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) met with two local law enforcement agencies—the Morrisville Police Department, and the Wake County Sheriff’s Office. We have shared several pictures of these kinds of police meetings, but you might be wondering what happens during them.

(L to R) Judah Segal, Jorie Slodki, Janis Zaremba, Morrisville Police Chief Pete Acosta

JCRC Law Enforcement Liaison Janis Zaremba arranges these meetings as an introduction to JCRC, the Jewish Federation, and the Jewish Community in general. They also include JCRC Chair Judah Segal and Federation staffer Jorie Slodki.

Meeting with the Wake County Sheriff’s Department

Our group meets with the police chief and other members of their staff. We explain what the Federation is, what we do for the community, and our relationship to synagogues and other Jewish organizations. We have also created a packet to give to the police that gives an overview of questions like: What is Judaism and Jewishness? What are common Jewish objects? What is antisemitism? What is the relationship between Jews and Israel?

As we go through the packet, we explain how this information can be useful to the police, and why antisemitism is a problem for EVERYONE, not just Jews. We provide real-life examples of how this knowledge has been useful in recent crises. The Police Departments have really appreciated this information and said they’ve learned a lot.

We also tell them about how the Jewish population in Wake County is growing fast, and we want them to be prepared. One Police Chief said, “So what you are saying is, when someone asks ‘What’s it like to be Jewish in Wake County,’ we want people to respond ‘Move to our town! It’s great here!’”

Over the next month, we will be meeting more police departments. The meetings won’t be the end of our connections with law enforcement. We already have next steps with the departments we’ve met to continue our positive, proactive work in making Wake County a welcoming and safe place where people can live Jewishly.

JCRC representatives with Wake County Sheriff Gerald M. Baker