Sgt. Christopher Gray takes time to make positive contacts with the community, especially children, as an integral part of policing and building trust
By Beatriz Valenzuela
The San Bernardino Sun
October 10, 2016
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- On a recent Sunday evening, Jerry Segura heard a commotion outside his San Bernardino home. He looked outside, saw a San Bernardino police vehicle and heard raised voices. Curious, he went outside.
Sgt. Christopher Gray, in full uniform, tossing a football back and forth with three young men, who moments earlier had accidentally struck the windshield of Gray’s police SUV.
“He’s got a great arm,” Gray said, when one of the young men threw a long bomb that forced the officer to sprint backward through the intersection of 16th and Genevieve streets.
After a few tosses, young children and curious adults came to watch.
“You never see stuff like this,” said Segura as he stood on his front lawn watching Gray lead a group of neighborhood children in a set of pushups before he handed out badge stickers. “I think we need to see more of it. I mean, look at these kids. They’re all excited. It’s a very good thing for the cops and for the people. It builds trust.”
Segura’s stepson, Paul Malacara, 12, came outside in his ROTC uniform shirt and sheepishly asked Gray for a picture.
For Gray, a 14-year veteran of the San Bernardino Police Department, taking the time to make positive contacts with the community, especially children, is an integral part of policing and builds trust.
“Especially with everything that’s happening in the nation right now, it’s really important to build those relationships,” the 38-year-old Gray said.
In recent weeks, police across the country shot and killed black men and a 13-year-old boy: Tyre King, 13, in Columbus, Ohio; Terence Crutcher, 40, in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Keith Scott, 43, in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Alfred Olango, 38, in El Cajon. Closer to home, the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old Carnell Snell Jr. in Los Angeles on Oct. 1, sparked outrage from the community even after surveillance video appears to show Snell with a handgun moments before his death.
“I truly believe that if you treat people with respect you will get respect back,” Gray said.
Community policing
Gray’s commitment to community policing was reinforced when he spent two years in the department’s Crimes Against Children Detail where he interviewed neglected and abused children.
“That’s when it sparked in me to try to be positive toward people and especially these children because maybe they hadn’t had that before and maybe that one positive word could make a difference,” Gray said. He carries a dog-eared and highlighted copy of Simon Sinek’s book, “Start with Why” in his patrol vehicle. The book highlights practices that help build positive leaders who inspire others.
His commitment to San Bernardino and its residents has grown.
“You have to ask why,” he said. “Why are things the way they are and how can that be changed?”
That questioning and looking inward is a part of community policing, said Larry Gaines, chair of Cal State San Bernardino’s Criminal Justice Department.
After identifying the problems plaguing a community or neighborhood, law enforcement and the public must start working together to get those problems fixed, Gaines said, but it can be a difficult proposition.
“In some neighborhoods there are long-standing issues with the police,” Gaines said. “What happens is the police need to work with the community to develop some level of trust. It’s more difficult in some neighborhoods than in others.”
Even the way police engage with residents can have different connotations — positive or negative, Gaines said.
“The overwhelming contacts they have with people is negative,” Gaines said. “(They) give them a ticket put them in jail, tell them they can’t do something. That is something very hard to overcome. It really gets down to the most basic level where police officers try to have more positive interactions with their citizens and hopefully it will overcome some of the negatives.”
There have been mixed reactions to the effectiveness of community policing. Some studies indicate that despite a positive effect on citizen satisfaction and trust in the police, no statistically significant impact was found on reported crime.
One study published in 2014 in the Journal of Experimental Criminology, also noted increased citizen satisfaction with police after the strategies were put into place.
A lack of consistency may be to blame for the low numbers.
“Anyone who says community policing doesn’t work, those departments may not be implementing it correctly,” said Gaines. “This isn’t something you can do once and leave it at that. They have to constantly work with these neighborhoods. A lot of their efforts may be disregarded initially but over time they may be able to win over some of the people.”
Even during the recent volatile vice presidential debate, both Donald Trump’s running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Hillary Clinton’s pick Sen. Tim Kaine agreed that community policing and working with those who live in the cities and neighborhoods is vital.
“At the risk of agreeing with you,” said Pence during the debate, “community policing is a great idea.”
Gray’s take on it is not a one-man mission, though.
There are several officers in the department who also make it a point to take advantage of rare lapses between calls to interact with citizens.
“There are officers out there buying Slurpees for the kids and doing a lot of the critical community policing,” Lt. Rich Lawhead said.
During a recent event at the Waterman Gardens complex, which has long had a reputation for being a rough part of the city, several uniformed officers showed up to dance and play with the children and residents.
Through various programs including Coffee with a Cop, Community Clean-Ups, Community Police Academy and officer-initiated positive contacts, the department is actively trying to build that bridge between residents and the police.
According to Gray, officers are encouraged to make positive contact, which can be as small as shaking hands or having a quick chat.
In his 14 years in law enforcement, Gray has done assignments that could have hardened some people, but he instead sees the need to reach out and engage.
“He’s spent several years on the SWAT team, he’s a go-get ’em gang guy, but he still knows how to talk to kids and how to interact with the community,” said Lawhead. “I wish we could clone Chris. Not just for officers in our department but other agencies can learn from his policing style.”
Backflips and crushing crime
Darlene Maldonado first met Gray last month when the smiling sergeant was patrolling her neighborhood near Sepulveda Avenue and 13th Street.
Her children and their friends were out playing basketball when Gray drove by.
“The best way to get me out of my patrol vehicle is to show me a basketball or football,” said the fit Gray, who used to play baseball when he was younger.
With no pending calls holding, Gray took advantage of the short lull to play a little basketball with the youngsters.
“A lot of times when you see the cops it’s usually not to play a game. It’s usually to arrest someone,” she said. “This way when they see him they aren’t afraid.”
During that first game, one impish little girl gave Gray a challenge: If she completed a round-off, a kind of cartwheel, he’d have to bo a back flip.
“Well she did it in the middle of the street so I had to do it,” Gray said with a smile.
That afternoon, in uniform, the former gymnast executed a perfect back flip to astonished cheers and hoots from the children.
Since their initial meeting, Gray returned to check up on his “buddies” and to play another quick game.
Children came pouring out of their homes to play with the ninja cop — as one boy called him — while neighbors watched and snapped photos.
One driver slowed down to thank Gray.
After a quick game, Gray told the children he would have to leave soon and he was again challenged to show off his gymnastics skills.
“OK, I gotta do a back flip, we gotta take a group photo and then I gotta crush crime,” he said.
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