But the incident highlights how Dayton police are meeting with citizens one-on-one to address their complaints and to explain their actions.
The city is among a small number of U.S. communities that give citizens opportunities to meet with police when they feel officers were rude, discourteous or behaved inappropriately, the department said. Dayton is expanding the pilot program citywide.
The conversations are part of Dayton’s strategy to build trust between law enforcement and the community.
“That’s how you build those bridges of trust — you’ve got to get people to come together and have open conversations so we can understand each other better,” said Dayton police Lt. Andrew Booher, who helped establish the program.
Dayton is expanding the police officer-citizen mediation program to all parts of the city, which Booher says will create more opportunities to clear up misunderstandings and prevent resentment from building up or spreading.
On Aug. 15, Dayton police Officer Randy Betsinger pulled over Michigan resident John Felton in west Dayton for not signaling 100 feet before making a turn.
Felton captured Betsinger on a cell phone video saying, “You made direct eye contact with me and held onto it when I was passing you on Salem (Avenue).”
The video gained national attention, and Felton accused the officer of trailing him for miles without justification.
City management said the traffic stop was legitimate but apologized for any miscommunication that occurred during the exchange. Officials said Felton’s stop occurred during an aggressive traffic enforcement initiative aimed at reducing drunken driving crashes.
Felton agreed to engage in a conversation with Officer Betsinger facilitated by the Dayton Mediation Center, officials said.
But Felton hired an attorney, who postponed the mediation until an internal affairs investigation is complete, said Michelle Zaremba, director of the mediation center. Felton’s attorney did not return requests for comment.
Complaints about the behavior of police officers are investigated internally and focus on whether officers violated department policy, officials said.
Of the 154 recorded complaints against Dayton officers last year, a few resulted in findings of policy violations, department data show.
Internal investigations, despite their importance, do not help clear the air and try to alleviate any lingering resentment stemming from a police-citizen encounter, officials said.
But the East Patrol Operations Division in early 2014 launched a program that allows citizens to sit down with officers or supervisors and discuss situations in which they felt officers were rude, did not provide service or acted with a racial bias.
The voluntary conversations at the mediation center allow officers and citizens to discuss events that led up to a complaint, and the program was created to help address incidents like the one involving Felton, Zaremba said.
“During these sessions, citizens can talk about their experience with the officer, clear up misunderstandings and miscommunications during their experience and possibly create a mutual understanding of the situation,” she said.
About 16 U.S. communities had citizen-police mediation programs in 2002, according to a national study.
New York City has a mediation process that allows citizens and officers to talk and try to reach a mutual understanding. More than 90 percent of mediation sessions are successful, according to the city’s civilian complaint review board.
The St. Louis Police Department last year started a pilot program to mediate citizen complaints. Some supporters said these sessions are a strong alternative to the traditional internal affairs investigation process, which they say are unlikely to resolve complaints.
Of the 34 complaints referred for Dayton’s program, about seven citizens who complained declined to take part in a sit-down and about 14 could not be reached or did not return requests to participate, said Janet Mueller, a mediation contractor at the center.
But 13 cases resulted in successful conversations.
During those private, confidential meetings, officers can answer citizens’ questions about their policing procedures and decision-making, she said.
In a neutral setting, mediators help people express their feelings and guide conversations to ensure they are productive, she said.
Officers can provide insight or context about how they do their jobs and why they acted a certain way.
Citizens get a chance to explain why they felt wronged or mistreated, and police get to hear about how an interaction was viewed from a different perspective, Mueller said.
“It’s hard to understand what it’s like to be a police officer, if you’ve never been a police officer,” she said. “And it’s hard to put yourself in the shoes of citizens.”
Citizen-police mediation sessions have the potential to facilitate better understanding between parties in conflict, said Ronnie Dunn, an associate professor of urban studies at Cleveland State University.
Citizens can learn more about the challenges of police work, while officers can learn how their actions impact citizens and potentially have adverse collateral effects, Dunn said.
Eric Anders, 37, who lives in east Dayton, said he felt harassed after being stopped and interrogated multiple times by the same police officer.
Anders said he got into legal trouble a couple times 15 to 20 years ago when he was “young and stupid.”
But he said he’s changed and did not deserve to be stopped just because he had a criminal record.
About a year ago, Anders sat down with the officer’s supervisor at the mediation center.
Anders talked about his experience and shared his frustrations.
Anders said his relationship with police improved significantly. He said the supervisor felt the problems stemmed from communication issues.
“We talked our problems out and shook each other’s hand,” he said.
Miscommunication or missing facts that led up to a traffic stop or exchange can leave citizens feeling mistreated, said Lt. Booher.
Officers do not always explain why they are aggressively patrolling an area because they are focused on their task, rushing from call to call or do not want to reveal too much to a potential criminal, he said.
Mediation sessions can provide valuable context not shared during the original encounter, he said.
In one case, a Dayton resident became upset and complained after he was detained by police while going door to door looking for driveways and walkways to shovel for money, Booher said.
But the neighborhood had been hit by a string of daytime burglaries, and police were on the lookout for suspicious behavior, Booher said.
Citizens who are supplied with more complete information often rethink their complaints or positions, he said.
“The officer sometimes learns, if I were just to explain myself a little bit about why I was there, that may have negated any kind of complaint,” Booher said.
On a couple of occasions, officers thought they were being upfront but learned that their words or actions came across as overbearing, Booher said.
One bad experience with police can lead to years of resentment and can impact future interactions with law enforcement, Booher said.
Furthermore, he said, citizens who have bad experiences share their stories with family and friends, who then form their own negative opinions of police.
Police officers have tried to form relationships with community members by sitting down for friendly chats during the Coffee with a Cop events.
Officers are going into area schools and painting murals alongside elementary children to fight blight and promote positive perceptions.
Last week, Dayton officers took part in a spaghetti dinner and community meeting at the Desoto Bass community with the goal of trying to form relationships.
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