Many efforts are underway to help law enforcement officers better understand the communities they’re responsible for and recruit those from different communities to the profession.

Three months after FOX40 reported about efforts underway in San Joaquin County, there’s some progress.

Richard Barries, the chief of the Department of Public Safety in the Stockton Unified School District and president of the Central Valley Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, joined Sonseeahray to share an update.

Barries started LEAD, the Law Enforcement Application Development Program, in June to help diversify law enforcement offices.

“The goal of the LEAD prgram is to create departments that are reflective of the communities that we serve,” Barries said. ” I truly believe that police officers that are from the community have a better understanding of the challenges that the city faces.”