‘Unity in the Community’ opens discussion between Sioux City youth and police

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) - Police departments have been continually working to better connect with the communities they serve, and Saturday afternoon local students got the chance to sit down and discuss topics important to them with Sioux City P.D.

Teens from Sioux City were invited out to the Boys and Girls Club of Siouxland to participate in the first Unity in the Community event for students.

“The mission of Unity in the Community is really bringing folks together, having those conversations, and allowing for that humanization to happen. And so one of those areas that we hadn’t really targeted was youth,” said Unity in the Community’s Vice President Margarite Reinert. “And allowing them to be a part of the conversation since they are the future of our community, we feel, is critical.”

The event was designed to bridge the gap between law enforcement and our youth. And a great place to start, is with a panel discussion where students could sit down with officers and ask them questions that have been on their mind.

“One personal question I’ve always wanted to ask started back in 2020, when the George Floyd incident was really prevalent,” said one of the panelists, West High senior Mahogany Van Pelt. “I’m a firm believer that not all cops are bad, there are good cops; but a question in my mind has always been when you see your partner or someone in the police force doing something wrong, why has there been an issue in calling that out.”

A word that was mentioned more than once across KTIV’s interviews throughout the event was ‘humanize’. And everyone from the organizers to the officers, to the students shared the same sentiment.

“I think humanizing the officers is very important. Police officers are only police officers for maybe eight hours a day, then they go home and they’re mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, husbands, and wives,” said Sergeant Tom Gill with Sioux City P.D.” And all our officers are usually involved in other activities: they might coach, they might teach, they might do other things other than be a police officer.”

“I feel like that’s where a lot of current world issues stem from; outside of racism and other things, I feel like there’s not humanization and not a lot of understanding. So to just sit down and talk and know, ‘you’re not just a police officer, you’re a human. I’m not just a black girl, I’m also a human,” said Van Pelt. “And to make that connection, I think that’s really important.”

Unity in the Community has many events just like this one throughout the year. The police department’s annual block party is scheduled for June.