A group of nearly 300 students shared courageous conversations with local law enforcement at the University of West Georgia recently during the academic year’s first Blue Mocktail Townhall event.

The event, co-hosted by UWG’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion and UWG Police Department, brought together students and members of the university police department, as well as representatives from Carrollton Police Department, Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and Villa Rica Police Department.

UWG President Kyle Marrero said the event was “truly extraordinary.”

“The energy, engagement and positivity toward building a vibrant, safe community were evident and tangible,” said Marrero. “I’m grateful to everyone involved in organizing the event, as well as all the officers who participated and students who came with open minds and engaging questions to learn more about our vision for safety here at the University of West Georgia. This is a conversation that never truly ends, but this event was a great step forward in the ongoing work we’re doing to build bridges between our students and law enforcement.”

The goals for the event were for students to become familiar and have conversations with members of law enforcement, both at UWG and in the Carrollton and Carroll County community, and also to improve student perceptions of police, with event organizers surveying students before and after the event to see how their perceptions changed.

Blue Mocktail Townhall events are an outcome of UWG’s Protect Our Pack initiative, a crime suppression partnership focused on ensuring a safer campus community started in 2017. Dr. Yves-Rose Porcena, UWG’s chief diversity officer, said the Blue Mocktail Events are crucial in building bridges between students and police.

“Our goal is to promote better interaction between students and police officers and to create an environment in which they really talk to each other,” Porcena said. “This event benefits both students and law enforcement. Students get to know more about the men and women who have dedicated their lives to protect them, and the police officers learn more about the students they’re sworn to protect.”

During the first half of the event, students interacted with members of law enforcement directly in small roundtable discussions. One officer from any of the local agencies was assigned to each table, answering questions and having conversations with students who also gathered around the table. The officers would rotate, allowing students to converse with officers from multiple agencies throughout the event.

A panel followed the roundtable discussions, with UWG Police Chief Tom Saccenti; CCSO Chief Deputy Brad Robinson; and VRPD Chief Michael Mansour speaking on the importance of the Protect Our Pack initiative and answering more questions from students.

Saccenti said he was proud to see a large delegation of officers from city and county agencies, as UWG students have easy access to UPD officers but don’t often interact with local law enforcement.

“Officers from those non-university agencies get to see a different side of our students they’ve never seen and ask them questions about what their interests are and why they chose to attend UWG and join our community,” Saccenti said. “It’s all about humanizing the badge. We want to build up the rapport and trust with our students across all agencies, and the Blue Mocktail Townhall events are great opportunities for us to interact and have great conversations with our students in a safe, engaged environment.”

CDI and UPD host the biannual event once each spring and fall. The next Blue Mocktail Townhall event is tentatively scheduled for January 2019.