Crime & Safety

Redwood City Police Chief Identifying New Ways To Resolve Conflict

Written by Bay City News

Redwood City's police chief, a Stanford Law School expert, and a local attorney will participate in panel discussion in San Mateo Thursday to focus on ways to manage conflicts.

The panel is hosted by the San Mateo-based Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center. The center offers a neutral, third-party facilitator to help groups work together more productively. The panel, "The Outcome is in Your Hands," begins at 4 p.m. at 1 Franklin Parkway.

The community briefing is part of a four-part series. Thursday's  discussion will focus on how mediation and talking out issues can resolve disputes, repair relationships and improve communication. Attorney David Cherniss, Redwood City police Chief JR Gamez, and Janet Martinez, director of the Gould Negotiation and Mediation Program at Stanford Law School, will speak with Anne Bers from the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center about how mediation can be used in a variety of settings including by law enforcement and the court system.

Cherniss, who works with youth and families as the managing attorney for juvenile mediation programs and probate court investigations for the San Mateo County Superior Court, said he would be addressing questions about how mediation services benefit the community.

Gamez said he planned to highlight the various ways his department has used services offered at the conflict resolution center. Since becoming chief about a year and a half ago, Gamez said he started holding town hall meetings. In order to make sure more residents were heard at the meetings, he brought in facilitators from the PCRC to lead smaller working groups.

"It worked really well," he said. "We were able to figure out what would be the best policing plan for the neighborhood."

He said he also looks to the PCRC to help police mediate disputes between residents.

Gamez said police spend a lot of time responding to disturbance calls, which are often between neighbors with longstanding feuds.

"These little things sometimes grow into very large things," Gamez said. "Sometimes up to a homicide. These things can escalate and become violent."

A third-party mediator can be brought in if the two parties agree to sit down and discuss things, Gamez said.
 
"This cuts down on service calls in these same places," he said.

He said the city's planning department has also used the PCRC services.

Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.