Editor’s note: This story follows one published Sunday (“SPD uses new tech to adapt to future”) about new strategies being used by the Salisbury Police Department to fight crime.

SALISBURY — In the past, a law enforcement agency’s primary focus was to catch the bad guys. But now more than ever, the public expects policing that focuses attention on collaborative relationships between the community and officers to solve local problems.

It is with that in mind that the Salisbury Police Department has continued to focus on a strategic plan introduced by Chief Jerry Stokes and implemented by Deputy Chief Shon Barnes.

The department has been working hard since Stokes and Barnes arrived in 2016 and 2017, respectively, to carry out a vision that addresses not only community partnerships but the implementation of new practices and technologies.

“It’s designed to give our citizens and our police officers an overview of our strategy to reduce crime and improve citizen satisfaction with police services,” Barnes said.

The conversation about the Police Department’s goals began when Stokes took over as chief in 2016. Soon after, he and Barnes began having meetings and one-on-one sessions with the staff “to give them a voice on what they thought we needed to do to be successful,” Barnes said.

The conversation expanded into discussions with local residents through organizations like SNAG (Salisbury Neighborhood Action Group) and the city-hosted Community Action Plan Committee, which held meetings throughout the city.

He said the public was helpful in providing feedback.

“You can’t create a strategic plan that’s your own,” said Barnes. “You can have vision generally of where you want to go, but it’s the shared vision of your stakeholders that’s going to be achieved. And Chief Stokes understands that very well and allowed us to reach out to our various stakeholders to get their input.”

The leaders determined what the agency did well and what it needed to improve upon.

The five goals of the strategic plan are:

• Improve collaboration with external partners and stakeholders: Organize a communication plan with Rowan County law enforcement partners; create a crime intelligence center for real-time analysis; and create public communication strategies through social media.

• Improve communication and coordination within the Police Department: Conduct a weekly crime meeting and monthly stratified policing meeting led by the deputy chief and a crime analyst; redefine a detective position to target juvenile offenders for prosecution or diversion; use the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network firearms cartridge casing recovery machine to help trace guns used in crime.

“This was a constant thing that we heard from the community, and that was communication,” Barnes said.

Often people would say, “I didn’t know y’all were doing this’ or “I didn’t hear about this,'” he said.

Officers wanted to be kept in the loop about major changes. On the fourth Monday of every month, Barnes and the department’s crime analyst meet with key partners that include Rowan County District Attorney Brandy Cook, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, probation and parole office, and 911 center. Spencer Chief Michael James regularly attends, Barnes noted.

• Enhance intelligence operations and investigations: The operational model is stratified policing — analysis of crime, problem-solving and accountability; develop a strategy that coordinates related law enforcement operations including SPD’s Special Investigations Unit and Patrol Division; fund a drone program for intelligence gathering and crime or crash scene documentation.

“We understand that historically we have sometimes struggled with investigations, and so a big part of that goal is specializing our detectives, (an idea that) was presented by our Criminal Investigations Division staff themselves,” Barnes said.

Instead of having a team of general detectives, each one specializes in a different facet — for example, property crimes, violent crime or juvenile crimes.

The detectives also worked on enhancing intelligence through more community engagement.

In the past two years, Salisbury police have solved 100% of the city’s homicides.

“That does not happen without community support and the community caring about victims and wanting to make sure that they live in safe communities. So we take no credit for that whatsoever,” Barnes said.

• Improve training and professional development for the department staff: Collaborate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to receive training on report writing and criminal investigation best practices; create a career development program; develop and implement quarterly departmental in-service training.

“The chief was very specific when he said SPD staff. The chief believes, we believe, that all members of the team are just as important. It doesn’t matter what job you do,” Barnes said.

Barnes said public safety partnerships like working with the U.S. Department of Justice has been a tremendous help.

“They have helped guide us and offered training for some of the things we wanted to do but just didn’t have a mechanism for doing so,” Barnes said. “They’ve added assistance with grant writing, and the real-time crime center does look promising, so we thank them for their efforts.”

The Project Safe Neighborhood collaboration with the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been great for the Police Department, Barnes said, to help “understand some of our prolific offenders and tracking their behavior.”

• Maintain a quality sworn and civilian workforce: Develop a recruiting plan; fund a training budget to support identified training needs; continually monitor salaries to ensure the department is positioned well within the hiring market.

“There was a time when we lost a lot of officers to other agencies and the private sector. We are not experiencing that anymore because our chief is making sure we have a plan for recruitment and retention. He’s monitoring the job market to make sure our salaries are competitive,” Barnes said.

The agency also has a career development program in which a young officer who has an interest in becoming a detective can ride along with a detective. The officer would apply to spend 30 days working on cases and then return to his or her job.

The department has regular physical fitness assessments. Recently, every officer including Stokes, Barnes and the administrative team that includes captains had to undergo assessments.

“We want to make sure they are healthy as well as their mind and talents are cultivated,” Barnes said.

There was a time when the department was understaffed; now it is at full capacity and has overhired officers.

“We’ve increased our diversity. It’s important for people to know that part of maintaining quality — the keyword is quality — is a diverse staff,” Barnes said. “We have more men and women working at any other time in the history of SPD. To me, that’s really been good.”

He said the agency understands there is more work to do to meet a few of its objectives, but a number of goals have been achieved.

Local residents and business owners have taken notice of the progress.

“I think in the last three years, there’s been a really big turnaround, not only with community relations. They are much more on task when we have an issue with a business. They are there to help us solve those issues,” said business owner Liliana Spears.

Spears was part of the community action planning sessions held in 2018. One of the goals of the group was to improve relations between the public and law enforcement.

Spears said she’s seen the department go from “knee-jerk reactions” to becoming more proactive and preventative in their enforcement strategies. She would, however, like to see training in the community about how to respond to or interact with officers.

“Because of the climate where we are in, even a routine traffic stop can become a tragedy,” she said.

She feels that having community awareness and training would make living in Salisbury safer and give people more confidence in the police force.

Fulton Heights Neighborhood Watch coordinator Geoffrey Hoy said he feels that the change in the structure of patrol beats was a great step in the right direction because it meant that officers could become familiar with their area and relate to the people in their area.

“From all appearances, the community trust level has increased, which has assisted in the apprehension of serious perpetrators. It has also been helpful for the Police Department to have stronger and better relationships with other public safety agencies — federal, state, county, etc.,” Hoy said.

Hoy said the arrival of Deputy Chief Barnes helped the department relate more fully with the entire community. He said Chief Stokes’ regular reports during City Council meetings about what is happening on crime and in the department are invaluable.

Local pastor and community activist Anthony Smith said his first brush with the Salisbury Police Department was a contentious one because it came at the time when there had been an officer-involved shooting.

“Some of us held a lot of contention with the Police Department,” Smith said. “You can note the definite change. I do see them touching the community more than they have.”

He said Stokes seems well-read and someone who stays abreast of cultural issues in the community. He said Barnes strikes him as a man who is well-versed in trends and statistics.

“I can genuinely say he is a transformational leader. He is somebody who gets it and clearly understands the issue and has a deep love for the people,” Smith said.

“He strikes me as someone who is a student and someone who is creating a Police Department that is serious about enforcing the law, but being true community stakeholders. We want them to be true, empathetic and compassionate,” he said of police officers.

An example, he said, is the partnership between the Police Department and the NAACP on its violence initiative — Summer Cease Fire — that was implemented a few months ago.

He’s glad that the department has thoughtfully hired a staff that is more diverse but still hears from some in the community about officers who’ve been overheard using racial epitaphs. Smith said he’s confident this is something that will be addressed.

“I do know that they are having very intentional conversation around diversity, cultural differences and de-escalation,” Smith said.

Contact reporter Shavonne Walker at 704-797-4253.