A Chicago police officer for 20 years, Shanita Foster said she is working every day to bridge the gap between the community and police, especially in Black and Brown communities.
“We need to have a better relationship with the police,” she said. “Most neighborhoods that you go to—they’re afraid of the police.”
The veteran officer started a youth outreach program after her cousin was killed in 2016 called Neighborhoods Uniting Kids in Excellence, then during the pandemic she launched Bridging The Gap in hopes to build trust in the community.
“The goal is to get the officers to work with children because we want them to be able to break that ice be able to communicate,” she said. “We’re not here to hurt you or harm you. We’re here to serve you.”
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Since launching, Officer Foster has partnered with the Community Police Relations Foundation hosting different events and activities in the city to engage the youth, from a night of basketball to boxing to skating.
The goal of the efforts is to bring officers and teens together to strengthen and foster relationships.
“We had officers out here playing basketball. We're human just like you,” she said. “We want to make it home just like you and we want to make sure you feel safe in your neighborhood.”
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But the officer admits it hasn’t been easy.
“So much negative impact in our community is that police are bad, you can’t trust them,” she said.
“We got to change that, we got to change the narrative to that. You have a lot of officers that go above and beyond, and working programs to try to build that connection with their communities. It’s very important right now because we need the police and the police needs the community. We have to work together as one.”
Last year she took her program on the road, visiting police departments in 15 other cities, including New York City, Dallas and Philadelphia to see what’s being done to bridge the gap.
“It makes me feel like there is still hope, despite what all that we see on the news that’s happening in the news,” she said.
“It’s a lot of work to do and if we come together united, we can make the change.”
